‘Survivor: Philippines’ rankings: Will Malcolm and Denise make the merge?
Can somehow rename “Survivor: Philippines” a name like “Survivor: Holding Pattern”? That’s what we feel like at the moment. Everyone saw Katie Hanson’s exit coming a mile away, and with that we have a first here: rankings that are exactly the same as the week before already. While some people dug their holes even deeper this past week, there was no one who really made a huge move or got themselves in a much better position than they were in the week before.
As we’ve said time and time again here, we just our rankings based on a criteria that includes everything from edit to gameplay to of course the alliances and structures of their given tribe.
Kalabaw Tribe
4. Denise Shipley (last week: 4) – Let’s hope that somehow, there is a merge coming up. Otherwise, Denise will once again be in some hot water thanks to a diminishing tribe. If there is another twist coming (which has been the suggestion), she is clearly the luckiest player on this entire season.
3. Carter Williams (3) – Is there a chance that Carter could go home over Denise? Sure, and she could make the argument that he doesn’t do that well in challenges, and he seems to be almost insufferable at camp. Personally, we just don’t see the guy being anything more than a mid-jury player, so why not have him gone sooner?
2. Jeff Kent (2) – Jeff’s the biggest obstacle to Carter leaving, mostly because he has him wrapped around his finger (probably the one he didn’t use in the four-finger handshake). We still are not 100% certain that he really is the best player on this whole season, but we have been surprised with how passionately that we are playing this game.
1. Jonathan Penner (1) – There’s really just one thing that Penner’s placement comes down to here: the fact that he has an immunity idol that guarantees him another week. This means that he will likely heading to the merge, and at that point anything can happen considering the mess that is Tandang, which could very well pull a Timbira and collapse under its own craziness.
Tandang Tribe
7. Michael Skupin (7) – This tribe is a complete mess, is somehow Skupin managed to get himself in an even messier situation by eating all of his tribe’s rice. Is he really the worst returning player ever? It’s hard to really say that about a guy who has still not been to tribal council this season. Fun fact: Skupin has only been to two tribal councils in two seasons on the show.
6. RC Saint-Amour (6) – The only thing saving RC right now? That Tandang hates Skupin more than her. The biggest thing she can hope for is either a tribal swap, or a merge that gives her the opportunity to flip to the other side with another alliance member or two.
5. Artis Silvester (5) – We have really yet to see anything positive about Artis’ game, as he has come across as negative, constantly unhappy, and really not that great of an asset. Luckily for him, there are two bigger fish for the dominant alliance to fry.
4. Abi-Maria Gomes (4) – It’s really hard to say something here that has not been said already, mostly because Abi’s weaknesses are the same ones that they have been for the entire season: she has an immunity idol, but we’re not sure she knows how to use it just yet.
3. Pete Yurkowski (3) – While Pete does seem to have this figured out, he also seems to be far too arrogant for his own good. Sooner or later, this guy is going to slip up, and will probably be hanging his head in shame as a result of it.
2. Lisa Whelchel (2) – Once again, we wish we had more news to say here … but she’s still not a threat. As a matter of fact, Blair’s really a perfect person to take to the final five since she’s fairly loyal, not a challenge threat, and she may be easy to beat at the end of the game.
1. Malcolm Freberg (1) – Malcolm is only here because Tandang has for whatever reason appointed him a golden god. They are going to regret giving him so much attention, especially since he is still being smart with the fact that he has an immunity idol is keeping it from everyone.
Who do you think are the strongest players right now?