‘Survivor: Philippines’ rankings: A new tribe, a new life for Malcolm Freberg
Now, the tables have finally turned on “Survivor: Philippines.” Rather than sitting at the bottom of a terrible tribe in Matsing that may be challenging Ulong from “Palau,” as the worst to ever play this game, two players finally have a new lease on life in Malcolm Freberg on Tandang and Denise Shipley on Kalabaw. While their respective new tribes are making some pretty stupid decisions, we have to give both of them some credit for doing what we really can just describe effectively as making the best out of a situation that was not necessarily in their favor.
We’re going to be shaking things up with the rankings here; since there were three tribes last week, it’s honestly hard to compare; so with that, why not start fresh just like Malcolm and Denise? In case you’re a first-time reader, we’re basing these rankings on everything from performance to threat level to also edit in order to determine who are the serious contenders, and who are the ultimate pretenders still left in the game.
Kalabaw tribe
5. Katie Hanson – At this point, we vote Katie just “lucky to be there.” She was terrible in the past challenge, though maybe not as terrible as Jeff Probst made her out to be. She is luckily on a tribe that does seem capable of winning another challenge soon, but even if she does make the merge, we just don’t see where exactly she would fit.
4. Denise Shipley – We’re prety confident that Denise could make inroads with the three men if she has enough time, but if Kalabaw loses two more challenges straight, we’re simply not sure if she will have that. She does have a really great edit, though, so we still would not be shocked to see her go far this season.
3. Carter Williams – Let us be clear: there’s no way Carter is winning this game. He’s dull, absent, and he’s the biggest casting mistake CBS has made since Rick in “South Pacific” or Purple Kelly in “Nicaragua.” If he was the winner, he would have surfaced on our screen before now.
2. Jeff Kent – While Carter is the worst casting, we admit that Jeff really is the biggest revelation. We’re not necessarily saying we love the guy and want to cheer for him to win, but hats off for actually trying to play the game and make alliances! He really seems like a celebrity who wants to play like a normal person, and not someone just trying to extend his career.
1. Jonathan Penner – Penner still has the idol, and with his social game going strong again he’s clearly at the top of the Kalabaw pecking order. This is where this tribe made a mistake: he was too valuable a player to get rid of, but the ladies are Carter were silly to actually not make an alliance with this guy earlier. He’s one of the few players not afraid to take an alpha male like Jeff to the end, and he knows he could beat him.
Tandang tribe
7. RC Saint-Amour – We’ve said that we have sympathy for RC in recent weeks, but we don’t anymore after watching her run off and pout after seeing Malcolm and Pete talking to each other. Rather than just sitting around and being upset over what happened to her in the game, she should instead be trying to find a way to rise from the ashes.
6. Artis Silvester – We don’t really know who this guy is other than the fact that he hates what Skupin did with the mask during one of the challenges. He’s a non-factor, so there’s no point talking about him.
5. Michael Skupin – Not only does Pete want Skupin out, but he now also has an extra ally to help him make that happen in Malcolm. There’s no better way to say that Skupin is in big trouble, and thus far, we haven’t really seen anything from him in two seasons to show that he is enough of a strategic mind to save himself.
4. Abi-Maria Gomes – She has the immunity idol, but we’re still not sure she knows how to use it given that Pete would find a way to ruin her game in a split-second if it worked to his benefit. She needs to find a way to get power over him, or she’s toast.
3. Pete Yurkowski – Pete’s a classic case of a player that we admire for their aggressive nature, but we also roll our eyes at for making moves when he doesn’t have to. First, it was sabotaging RC; then, it was telling Malcolm about the idol he has. These dumb decisions will come back to bite him someday, even if it does not in the immediate future.
2. Lisa Whelchel – Lisa has evolved from being the outcast to basically the game’s version of Jordan Lloyd from “Big Brother.” She contributes, fights hard in challenges, and doesn’t cause any problems. Therefore, she’s almost so much of a non-threat that she could really be a threat to win in the end.
1. Malcolm Freberg – It’s really Tandang’s fault that they have a new tribe member who is ranked #1 here, since they did this to himself. Not only does the guy have everyone wanting him on their side, he also has an immunity idol; to make things even crazier, he can use Pete’s idol against him. We don’t think anyone in this game is this well-equipped to survive in the long-term, even if he is a threat after the merge.
Who do you think is the biggest threat to win this game at the moment?