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After 22 days of twists and turns, the ten castaways on M-Net\u2019s Survivor South Africa: Philippines awoke to \u2018Treemail\u2019 announcing that they had made it to Merge in Thursday night\u2019s (28 June) episode \u2013 but for Vusi, the game ended at this new dawn after a strong run in recent Immunity and Reward Challenges had put a huge target on his back.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re all \u2018bang scared\u2019 of me,\u201d muttered Vusi as he collected his things after picking up 5 votes at the first Individual Tribal Council of the season. \u201cThey were scared,\u201d he reiterated as host Nico Panagio snuffed his torch to send him to Ponderosa Island to become the first member of the Jury, who will ultimately award the R1 Million prize and confer the title of \u2018Sole Survivor\u2019 on the castaway they deem most worthy.<\/p>\n
Vusi had taken a back seat to the other \u2018alpha males\u2019 early on in the game, content to let them duke it out for superiority and fly below the radar. It was only after the tribe shuffle which saw him join Visayas with Palesa, Tom and Chane \u2013 alongside former Mindanao member Murishca \u2013 that he was forced to plant his flag. His role in winning challenges for Visayas in three consecutive challenges across episode 7 and 8 started drawing attention to his skills as he showed himself to be as adept at physical challenges as he was at puzzle games. A refusal to \u2018throw\u2019 a challenge in episode 7 to oust Tom ended up costing him dearly, with the Adventure Camp Manager ultimately playing a major role in his demise.<\/p>\n
When the three tribes gathered before Nico Panagio, he ordered them to drop their buffs for the second time this season. There was to be no \u2018tribe shuffle\u2019 twist this time: the dawn of the new age in the game was celebrated by the new tribe\u2019s name, \u2018Araw\u2019 \u2013 meaning \u2018sun\u2019 in the local Tagalog language – and a fresh set of pink buffs.<\/p>\n
Best of all, the castaways were invited to refuel with a Merge feast provided by Steers, featuring a long table stacked with Mighty King Steer Burgers, sauces, hand-cut chips, barbecue ribs, flame-grilled chicken, soft serve and chocolate & strawberry milkshakes. Once they\u2019d finished their feast, they\u2019d return to a new camp, stocked with all manner of provisions \u2013 including a surprise gin & tonic welcome drink and a limited supply of coffee. Amidst the celebrations, Vusi prophetically admitted that he couldn\u2019t help glancing around and knowing that 4 or 5 of his new tribemates wanted to vote him out.<\/p>\n
The first Individual Immunity challenge of the season tested the castaways\u2019 balance and endurance as they sought to keep their footing on platforms floating in the ocean. After 43 excruciating minutes, Chan\u00e9 lost her balance and dove into the water, leaving Toni to claim the new Individual Immunity Necklace.<\/p>\n
Back at camp, everyone was scrambling for position, but one thing was immediately clear \u2013 the \u2018red\u2019 vs \u2018blue\u2019 tribal alliance formed on day 1 was still very much a factor. With PK astride two alliances, things shifted continually, but seemed to focus on voting Tom out. When Chan\u00e9 and Palesa tried to reel Tom back in, he rebuffed their advances to align with Katinka, Annalize, Jeanne, Toni and Werner to run a complicated game: they would intimate to Palesa\u2019s alliance that they were voting for Tom; tell PK that they were voting for Palesa and then all vote for Vusi.<\/p>\n
At Tribal Council, the original \u2018red vs blue\u2019 division was laid bare, with the way food and coffee was controlled and divided, a major bone of contention. The fact that all the big decisions seemed to be run through one person that nobody was game enough to name, seems set to play a major role in the future of everyone at Araw.<\/p>\n
Tune in to Survivor South Africa: Philippines next week (Thursday 5 July, 19:00 on M-Net 101) to see if the identity of the Araw puppetmaster can be unearthed. Also make a note to catch the fun-filled YouTube episode of Survivor South Africa: Philippines #LiveAfter on the DStv Online YouTube page, where the voted-off castaway will be in conversation with host Phil Mphela at 20:05 each week, directly after Survivor SA airs on M-Net 101.<\/p>\n
There are also some magnificent prizes up for grabs on the\u00a0Survivor SA: Philippines\u00a0website:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 \u00a0 A\u00a0Huawei P20 Pro phone valued at R15\u00a0499.
\n\u2022\u00a0 \u00a0 A\u00a0Cape Union Mart voucher valued at R10 000.
\n\u2022\u00a0 \u00a0 A\u00a0delicious Steers Wacky Wednesdays voucher for one year, valued at R2\u00a0800.<\/p>\n
All you have to do is to go to\u00a0www.mnet.tv\/survivorsa<\/a>\u00a0and answer the weekly quiz question. Every entry then also goes into the draw for the grand prize of a\u00a0tropical island holiday experience for four, brought to you by Cathay Pacific and Club Med. And, if you\u2019d like to earn additional points, explore the island and find the Huawei P20 Pro phone in our\u00a0360 VR experience<\/a> and explore\u00a0 the\u00a0Survivor SA\u00a0islands, living area,s as well as each challenge site, as the weeks progress.<\/p>\n Survivor South Africa: Philippines\u00a0is also streamed live on DStv Now and available on DStv Catch Up within 24 hours of the live show. You can also catch the repeat on Sunday afternoons at\u00a017:00 on M-Net Channel 101.<\/p>\n Survivor SA\u00a0is powered by the Huawei P20 Pro and is produced by Afrokaans Film & Television.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After 22 days of twists and turns, the ten castaways on M-Net\u2019s Survivor South Africa: Philippines awoke to \u2018Treemail\u2019 announcing that they had made it to Merge in Thursday night\u2019s (28 June) episode \u2013 but for Vusi, the game ended at this new dawn after a strong run in recent Immunity and Reward Challenges had… Continue reading Survivor South Africa: Philippines | Welcome To Merge, Araw Tribe<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-7053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television","tag-mnet","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}