Philippines: Episode 7

I'm so excited at how the alliances played out this week! It was pretty unique I think that two alliances could unite so unanimously over voting out the veterans. While technically they didn't succeed at this due to Penner's craftiness, they are well on their way to getting rid of the returnees. It would've been easy for both alliances to try & win over RC & Skupin but this was so much better and done so much less often!

I think that the overall average intelligence level of the competitors is higher this season than it's been in recent seasons. I also think that the producers have done a good job of mixing things up enough so that players are forced to play outside the "formula."


The Standings:

FYI: Your scores may look a little strange. This is because I forgot to subtract out the "sitting out a challenge" penalty last week. This has been fixed now though!

Giant Bloody Brazilian Cola - Moon: 59 points
[1. RC (21.5 pts)]2. Skupin (13.5 pts)
3. Jeff  (9.5 pts)
4. Abi-Maria (14.5 pts)

Love Line: Old Balls & Tiaras - Doug/Bri: 46.5 points
1. Penner (19.5 pts)
2. Denise (8 pts)
3. Artis (13.5 pts)
[4. Katie (5.5 pts)]

The Clap - Bag/Leah: 42.5 points
1. Pete (15.5 pts)
2. Carter (15.5 pts)
[3. Angie (0 pts)]
4. Lisa (11.5 pts)

I'm on Dregs! - Michal: 12 points
1. Malcolm (13 pts)
[2. Dana (-4.5 pts)]
[3. Dawson (3.5 pts)]
[4. Russell (0 pts)]

Power Rankings:

1. Love Line: Old Balls & Tiaras - Doug & Bri are going to stay at the top of my power rankings until Penner gets voted out. He had a spectacular idol play in this last episode & now he has 3 more days to either find a new idol or make new alliances. This man is clever & I'm not going to count him out until he's actually out. Denise & Artis are doing very well for themselves too, and I could see both of them getting far.

2. The Clap - I don't expect Carter to win many more individual immunity challenges. Honestly I didn't expect him to win any! That was a nice point boost for a competitive team. I think Lisa could be a real threat too, especially with her multi-alliance options.  Pete is probably the figurehead that will be turned on once the riffraff have been eliminated, but he could still bring in some big points before then. Overall I think this team benefitted the most from the outcome of this episode.

3. Giant Bloody Brazilian Cola - It was inevitable that Moon would lose someone soon, but Jeff is probably his MVP right now & he doesn't seem to be in any danger quite yet, and losing RC isn't a big deal. It's always risky though when you tell people "I just want to outlast so-and-so" though. There some kind of bad karma that immediately puts you on people's radars once "so-and-so" is gone. Plus in this new alliance Jeff could easily be singled out by the Yellows as a threat & get the boot. Moon should be hoping Jeff still has some moves in him!

4. I'm on Dregs! - Malcolm seems to be in a secure position right now & I'm happy he didn't win this immunity because I don't want people to view him as a huge threat yet. Still, I need him to start bringing in some major points pretty soon if I'm going to have any chance. Really glad that it was Lisa who found his idol & not anyone else! She's the only one where that situation could have played out like it did. I hope this "forced" alliance goes far; Denise, Malcolm & Lisa are all my favorite players right now!

Douche of the Week:

I'm voting for RC this week because she annoyed me SO much at final tribal. Her weird fake fight with Abi-Maria while maintaining this creepy smile & staring at Jeff the whole time was extremely uncomfortable to watch.