Survivor Philippines: Palau is the second season of the Philippine version of the reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed on the island of Peleliu in Palau.Survivor Philippines Season 2 Invades Palau Islands , Survivor Philippines blog The season aired on GMA Network five times a week from August 17, 2009, until the live finale on November 13, 2009, when Amanda Coolley van Cooll was named the winner over Justine Ferrer and Jef Gaitan by a jury vote of 4–3–0, earning the ₱3,000,000 and the title of Pinoy Sole Survivor.
Format changes
Pre-merge individual immunity: Before the merge, the tribe that won the immunity challenge had the power to give one member from the losing tribe immunity at the next Tribal Council. Isla Purgatoryo: A secluded area with minimal supplies where voted out contestants competed against each other in duels to remain in the game. At the merge, the winner of the duel returned to the game and the twist was retired. This twist was based on the duels from the sixth Swedish season and the Island of the Dead twist from the first Israeli season, and later appeared in the American version as Redemption Island. Blood pearl: In addition to the black and white pearls from the previous season, this season introduced the "blood pearl", a red pearl that automatically gave the holder two votes at the next Tribal Council; if the blood pearl is lost, the holder would then receive three votes. Final Tribal Council: This season, three finalists faced the jury vote instead of two. In case of a tie, the seven jurors would revote between the tied finalists.
Contestants The 16 players were initially divided into two tribes, Airai and Koror. On Day 23, the remaining players were merged into one tribe, Sonsorol. All three tribes were named after states of Palau. Airai and Koror also share their names with tribes from the seasons of the American production that were also filmed in Palau: Survivor: Micronesia and Survivor: Palau, respectively.
Contestant Original tribe Switched tribe Merged tribe Main game Isla PurgatoryoJustine Ferrer Returned to game Carol Gementiza 45, Iloilo City May Marie "Maya" Segovia 32, Batangas City Vladimir "Vlad" Nesas 24, Las Piñas Troy Perez 27, Metro Manila John Louie Ang 24, Pasig, Manila Crisanto "Cris" Bolado† 39, Quezon Province Marvin Kiefer 18, Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental rowspan=10 Tara Jane Macias 19, Cebu City Francia Floresca "Echo" Caceres 20, Bicol Suzuki Sadatsugu 21, Tondo Shaun Rodriguez 31, Zambales Mika Batchelor 25, Palawan Charles Fernandez 21, Dagupan Jef Gaitan 19, Laguna Justine Ferrer 29, Caloocan Amanda Coolley Van Cooll 25, Mindoro
Season summary
+Challenge winners and eliminations by cycle Episodes Isla Purgatoryo face-off Challenge winner(s) Eliminated Finish No. Original air dates Winner Eliminated Reward Immunity1–5August 17 to 21, 2009 None rowspan="2" 1st voted outDay 3 6–10August 24 to 28, 2009 None 2nd voted outDay 611–15August 31 to September 4, 2009 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 3rd voted outDay 9 16–20September 7 to 11, 2009 4th voted outDay 1221–25September 14 to 18, 2009 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" Cris,Charles,Echo,Marvin,Mika,Suzuki rowspan="2" 5th voted outDay 15 25–30September 18, 21 to 25, 2009 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 6th voted outDay 18 30–35September 25, 28to October 2, 2009 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" rowspan="2" 7th voted outDay 21 35–40October 2, 5 to 9, 2009 rowspan="2" rowspan="2" None rowspan="2" 8th voted out1st jury memberDay 25 41–45October 12 to 16, 2009colspan="2" rowspan="6" rowspan="2" 9th voted out2nd jury memberDay 28 10th voted out3rd jury memberDay 2846–50October 19 to 23, 2009 SurvivorAuction 11th voted out4th jury memberDay 3151–55October 26 to 30, 2009 12th voted out5th jury memberDay 3456–60October 30, November 2 to 6, 2009 13th voted out6th jury memberDay 3761–63November 9 to 11, 2009 None 14th voted out7th jury memberDay 3864–65 November 12 and 13, 2009Jury vote Second Runner-up First Runner-up Sole Survivor
Episodes Days 1–3 (Episodes 1–5) First Reward Challenge: Using a map to guide them, tribes traverse the obstacle-filled island while toting two ammo crates filled with supplies for each tribe. The tribes must follow the designated route and not take the paths that were marked by exclamation points, for the island is infested with exploding landmines. The first tribe to reach the other side of the island wins the first reward. Reward: The winning tribe would have their two ammo crates with them; the losing tribe would take only a bolo knife. Second Reward Challenge: The members of each tribe are divided into two: one group of six puzzle seekers and another group of two puzzle solvers. The puzzle seekers, harnessed to each other, enter a partially submerged maze to retrieve twelve bundles of puzzle pieces and exit through the opposing tribe's entrance. The puzzle pieces are passed to the puzzle solvers, who would untie the pieces and solve the puzzle. The first tribe to solve their puzzle wins the second reward. Reward: A piece of flint. Immunity Challenge: Each tribe would dig out a stone monolith weighing and carry it between two balance beams and over a wall before placing it on its new portal. Once that is done, two tribe members would jump into a sand pit and search for the immunity idol. First person to find the idol wins immunity for their tribe. Additional stipulation: If Koror would win the challenge, they would get their supply crates outright. If Airai would win, they would decide whether or not Koror should get their supply crates.
Day 1: Upon arrival at the island, first on a military vessel, and then on two small speed boats, the castaways were met by Paolo at the island. He called out the oldest male and female castaways, Cris and Carol, and the tribes were formed through a schoolyard pick, along with the distribution of buffs. After the tribes were told that they would only have the clothes they were wearing with them, they were immediately put in their first challenge. In the first reward challenge, internal and external conflicts between tribe members about direction kept Koror off track, thus enabling Airai to advance further and take the win. The dynamics of each tribe seemed to have continued when they reached their respective camps; differing opinions prevented Koror from focusing their efforts on their shelter, while Airai's shelter was finished quickly due to division of work, with Troy providing coconuts for sustenance. But at night, with both tribes unable to make fire, the members of the tribes had to huddle with each other for warmth. At Airai, Troy flirted with his female tribemates while at Koror, Charles went down with a fever, making Suzuki and Echo huddle him for warmth.
Day 2: At Koror, Charles was well enough to help around, thanks to his tribemates' compassion, while Echo built a bench for her tribe. At Airai, while the entire tribe was taking a bath, Troy restarted his flirting with Mika. Back at Koror, knowing they would eventually go to Tribal Council early, the tribe members discussed about voting plans and decided that Carol, whom the others saw as more of a talker, be the first one off. In the second reward challenge, while Koror was the first to exit the maze, untying the puzzle bundles hampered the tribe's progress, enabling Airai to come from behind and win their second consecutive challenge. Back at Airai camp, Amanda became the first one to make fire. Mika and Jef confided to each other about a gender-based voting strategy within Airai. At Koror, along with Justine's talk to unite the tribe, the tribe's resolve to vote out Carol became stronger. Back at Airai, Shaun, Vlad, and Troy were also planning a gender-based voting strategy of their own.
Day 3: At Koror, Tara, Justine, and Echo asked each other about the boys they would eventually keep, which would be Suzuki and Marvin. At Airai, Jef and Mika were planning to sway Cris to the ladies' side, not knowing that Shaun, Vlad, and Troy were already urging Cris to vote with them along gender lines. In the immunity challenge, atrocities once again plagued Koror, enabling Airai to pull away and win immunity. As an added twist, Airai was tasked to choose a member of Koror to be immune from elimination; they chose Carol due to her age. She pulled out one eye of the immunity idol to reveal an immunity bracelet which she would wear at Tribal Council (the other eye also had a bracelet, later revealed to be the symbol for the current inhabitant of Isla Purgatoryo). Citing strategic purposes, Airai also opted not to give Koror their crates. Back at the Koror camp, Justine voiced her disgust over Carol's immunity, saying that she is only a "display". The tribe then searched for other options on whom to vote off. When Tara asked Charles whom he would vote off, she became enraged when she heard her name from Charles. Their conversation turned heated, but they later reconciled, with Charles suggesting to Tara that she vote against him. There was talk that either Justine or Charles was the one to be the first to be voted out as they were seen as the weakest. At Tribal Council, it was revealed that Justine is a trans woman, something that was "confirmed" by Echo and Tara. Despite Justine's special case, because of her perceived weakness, she became the first castaway to be voted out of Palau, 7–1.
Days 4–6 (Episodes 6–10) Reward Challenge: With letters painted at the front and back and standing on a ledge, tribe members would try to spell the answer to the riddle being given by the host. Each member must traverse the ledge and can only touch one tribemate at a time. The first tribe to form the riddle's answer wins a point. First tribe to three wins the reward. Reward: Fishing gear. Also, if Koror would win the challenge, they would get their supply crates outright. If Airai would win, they would once again decide whether or not Koror should get their supply crates. Immunity Challenge: Tribes squabble over a coconut placed in the middle of a field and take it to their goal at the other side to score a point. The coconut could be passed between members in any way except overhead. The first tribe to score three points wins immunity.
Day 4: Talk among the Koror tribe members was mostly about Justine, especially on how they found out too late about her being a transsexual. Unknown to them, Justine was sent to Isla Purgatoryo, where she was met by Paolo, who told her about her chance to return to the game and other essential elements about living in Isla Purgatoryo. Afterwards, she spent her first day alone there. Meanwhile, the two tribes fought over six chickens hidden in the entire island (both tribes are situated in one island). Airai got all six chickens, with Vlad fooling Louie to confuse the latter. Back in Koror, Echo and Tara talked about how Louie was useless at camp, while Marvin and Louie moved to sway Echo and Tara's votes. In the reward challenge, Koror narrowly defeated Airai 3-2, finally giving Koror their first challenge win and their supply crates. Word of Koror's win reached Justine at Isla Purgatoryo and she therefore received a fishing net for being their former tribemate. At Koror's camp, the tribe savored their first win by cooking their first batch of rice porridge in days. They also talked about Airai's show of pride, particularly when Troy seemingly regurgitated feathers from his mouth to show that Airai had the chickens. Meanwhile, at the Airai camp, the tribe, unaffected by their first loss, had their first meal of chicken.