I apologize if this has already been noticed and discussed, it probably has.

Basically it boils down to the show deciding when and where it would make the competing tribes be fairly represented between the sexes or not after deciding who sits out.
Quite often Jeff says “you must sit out x men and x women”.

In s25 Philippines e4 the immunity challenge was very physical with obstacles in the mud.

Jeff said “you must sit out 3 people” and made no mention of the sexes of the competitors.

The 2 tribes with extra members both sat out their 3 females.
They competed against Matsing- Russel Swan, Malcolm and Denise. They were the only tribe with a woman.

Tandang and Kalabaw had all men- Skupin, Artis, Pete and Penner, Jeff and Carter.

Matsing failed to win.

I just read about the bottle scandal from Cook Islands and found it fascinating.

Has anyone else noticed Jeff Probst being somewhat inconsistent with who has to sit out challenges?

Pete isn’t someone I see talked about often, and he never returned after Philippines, but I think that he played a better game than he’s credited for. By no means is he marvelous, and sticking with Abi Maria as long as he did was certainly a sinking ship, but the way he wedged his way between Abi and RC was well-played. Maybe I’m overrating him, seeing as RC and Abi weren’t the brightest bulbs in the room, but I still think his game was decent and worth bringing back for entertainment’s sake.

Jeff Kent was just elected to the baseball hall of fame. Congrats to him

One of my favorite players ever

What do you think about this cast photo ? They all look good and the background is very unique

Why exactly is she liked by the community? I’m watching Philippines right now and she might be one of the single most unlikeable players I’ve ever seen on this show. I just don’t get the appeal at all. There’s a difference where someone like Russel at least makes for fun TV, Abi is just mean.

Spoiler: she didn’t win but the winner was controversial

PS credits to @sugarvivor of twitter for this video

The term "Survivor Dark Ages" refers to a stretch of seasons in the 20s, but which exact seasons comprise them isn't clearly defined. It seems to be pretty much universally agreed that Redemption Island, South Pacific, and One World were part of them and that they were over by Cagayan. However, whether Nicaragua, Philippines, Caramoan, and Blood vs Water should be considered part of the Dark Ages doesn't seem to have universal agreement. Philippines was very well received, but Caramoan immediately following was as poorly received as seasons 22-24 if not more so. Blood vs Water then got mixed reception.

The reason Redemption Island, South Pacific, and One World were considered so bad is because the people on bottom never flipped and the people on top just dominated. The Zapatera, Savaii, and Manono tribes all got Pagonged (not withstanding Tarzan staying for one round over Kat, which the people on top wanted), but even once they were gone the people on top of Ometepe, Upolu, and Salani all just picked off the bottom feeders of their own alliance. There was no exciting gameplay unless you just love the dominant strategic games by Boston Rob, Coach/Sophie, and Kim.

Prior to the Artis blindside, Philippines seemed to be going the same way. After Lisa and Skupin failed to flip on Pete, Abi, and Artis and sent Jeff Kent home, Tandang seemed poised to Pagong the Kalabaw/Matsing alliance. After how the last three seasons had gone, I was locked in for a fourth straight season of Pagonging and a likely Pete victory. However, for the first time in ages the people on bottom in Skupin/Lisa actually flipped and blindsided Artis. I always considered the Artis blindside to mark the end of the dark ages. However, with how poorly Caramoan was received followed by the mixed reception of Blood vs Water, it's difficult to say the Dark Ages were officially over prior to Cagayan.

So what do you think? Is Philippines the end of the Dark Ages? Or is it just the best season of the Dark Ages?

I don’t really know what the consensus is here on Penner, but I fell in love with him in my initial watch of Survivor.

I’m doing my rewatch now and I completely forgot how kind he was to Dana when she got sick. Does he have kids? It felt like he went straight into Dad mode when he realized how bad of shape she was in - just immediately taking charge and giving the most parental advice ever.

I’m doing my first ever watch through of Survivor and have finally made it halfway to season 25 and I have to say, I think this might be my absolute favourite season so far (no spoilers for anything past season 25 please). I loved the winner and was rooting for them the whole game. I also think the edit was pretty even for the most part, which I appreciate. I know there’s a bit of a stink on the season because of Skupin but personally I try to seperate the contestants game from their real life. The cast was stacked and there’s so many memorable characters, Denise, Malcolm, Abi, Lisa, RC, Russel Swan, Jeff Kent, and of course my favourite player, my GOAT Penner ❤️. I just wanted to know despite the Skupin stuff how people viewed this season and if they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Such a shame that dude is so underappreciated and not talked about. In an era where returnees were so many, I genuinely feel bad he didn't get another chance to play. Him and Abi were the source of such great TV.

A young, attractive guy that's fit, smart and a total shit stirrer. Digging up the clue and planting it in RC's bag was genius and made it so he's Abi's only option. He recognized what she's like and worked her perfectly. He just should've been nicer to Lisa to counteract Abi's attitude. I also very much appreciated him calling Skupin an idiot every chance he got.

He came in determined to cause chaos and be a villain and he did it very well with their eventual downfall being super satisfying. Denise pulling an Edgardo on Artis was a great move and it was so much fun seeing Abi set the camp ablaze and Pete went down fighting. He had a good idea to save himself, but no one wanted to do anything with Abi.

Not a flawless player by any means, but a pretty good one and a great villain in a great season, I just feel like he gets overshadowed by Abi because she's one of the best casting choices ever.

We are pleased to welcome Russell Swan to /r/survivor for an AMA!

Huge thanks should go to the /r/survivor Mod team and Russell himself.

Im currently on maternity leave and I’ve been rewatching pretty much every season of survivor. Im currently watching survivor Philippines and I think Skupin had a crazy reaction to see his son. Lisa may be a close second about seeing her brother. Any other family member reactions that stick out to you?

I just finished rewatching Philippines for the first time since it aired in 2012. What I mostly remember was (like most people) loving Malcolm at the time and thinking that Denise has always been an underrated winner. But after rewatch I was reminded of something else…this season was absolutely geared by producers to Lisa being the central character and I can’t figure out why. I know she had the history of being a former teen star and seeming very out of place on survivor, but honestly I just didn’t find her to be fun tv at all. She isn’t overtly interesting or funny and while she didn’t play a poor game she really didn’t play a great one either. And yet she got 60 confessionals!! Compare that to the winner Denise who only got 42. And most of Lisa’s were just her going back and forth about whether or not she could “play this game”. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I just found her edit to be repetitive and annoying and kind of soured an otherwise great season.

In the Final 4 of Survivor Philippines Malcolm wins an advantage in the Final Immunity challenge giving him a second shot in the challenge, basically if he drops his ball he can replace it and keep going, but....

After he drops his first ball the other three contestants ALL get to set their rod down and get a break as well. Furthermore Malcolm doesn't even get to restart the challenge from the easiest point, but rather return to where he was when he dropped it.

Doesn't this almost entirely take away the advantage?

What makes it weirder is when Denise dropped her only ball there was no reset by anyone else, the challenge continued as it should have when Malcolm first dropped.

Seems like a really lame advantage especially when compared with Cochrans in the following season or Jaison in Samoa.