my thoughts on the season premiere of survivor blood vs water

being a big fan of survivor (having watched 25 of the last 26 seasons); i am always excited to watch a new season. making it more exciting is that the season is once again filmed in my home country, the philippines.

it is shown late here in the philippines (since i missed the afternoon premiere via satellite since i have to go to work), here are some of my thoughts on the first episode of season 27!

> nice to see past contestants return to the game. i can remember most of them. having 2 winners in the cast (tina and aras), the most popular player ever (rupert), a veteran from season 1 (gervase); a villain from his season (colton); good looking gals (kat and candice); a very competitive player (tyson). but unfortunately, i cannot remember both monica and laura.

> it seems that this will be a very though season. a series of twists at the start of the game was thrown at the castaways immediately! first twist: castaways against their loved ones. second twist: each tribe needs to vote out a tribe member immediately. third twist: there is redemption island. fourth twist: the loved one or the returning player can take the place in redemption island. whoa! four twists in less than ten minutes!

> not surprised that laura was a target. but i was really surprised on why they voted out candice! she is a strong woman and can help you the tribe in challenges! i agree with colton that i think he was the one that should have been voted off...

> tribe names are "galang" for the returning castaways and "tadhana" for the loved ones. "galang" means respect in filipino and "tadhana" means destiny. i prefer if "galang" was replaced by "respeto"; which i think is more apt.

> camp set up was really easy for the returning castaways; they got fire immediately and has water and food - proving that experience is valuable in this game. on the other hand, tadhana is truggling with camp life and can't even start fire. in redemption island; rupert is not helping at all; leaving candace to do all the work...

> too much drama followed after. with confessions from sierra, vytas and colton... to much drama at the start of the season...

> brad formed the 5 man alliance in tadhana. being a ring leader this early in the game can bite you back later in the game...

> the first challenge was a hard one. both physically and mentally. the challenge only proved that the loved ones have the advantage (mainly because of the age difference - tina and gervase played this game more than a decade ago already!) but the veterans proved that they are stronger mentally. the girls made the puzzle look so easy and gave galang the first win for the season!

> gervase's outburst after the challenge was really uncalled for. he performed the worst amongst his tribe in this challenge. if they have lost, he might have gone home. lucky for him, the puzzle solvers were amazing! what he did was really silly and he put his niece to the chopping block.

> the immunity idol looked great, very different from the other idols before. but it doesn't look filipino at all! it looks more chinese than filipino

> the tribal council was a bit predictable; with marissa earning the votes to send her to redemption island, thanks to gervase's outburst! i liked the awkward silence when marissa looked back to her tribe after her torch was snuffed - everyone was avoiding her stare!

> next episode seems exciting, with colton back to being a villain and a surprising result in the redemption island challenge - so it seems that rumors and spoilers that rupert will be out immediately is indeed true!

till next week! i am really excited for the next episode!

survivor blood vs water premieres on september 18

the 27th season of the reality show survivor; dubbed as survivor blood versus water will premiere on september 18 (september 19 here in the philippines). the show will feature returning castaways with a loved one competing with them. but they will not be competing with each other, they will be competing on opposite tribes - against each other.

the tribe of the returning castaways is named "galang" or respect (but i really prefer if it was "respeto") and the tribe color is yellow. the tribe of the loved ones is named "tadhana" which means destiny with red as tribe color.

the castaways this season are the following:

standing, starting from left:
> tyson from survivor tocantins and heroes vs villains and girlfriend rachel
> rupert from survivor pearl island, all stars and heroes vs villains and wife laura
> tina from survivor australian outback and all stars and daughter katie
> colton from survivor one world and fiance caleb
> laura from survivor samoa and daughter ciera
> gervase from the original survivor borneo and niece marissa
> monica from survivor one world and husband brad

seated, from left
> aras from survivor exile island and brother vytas
> candice from survivor cook islands and heroes vs villains and husband john
> kat from survivor one world and boyfriend hayden

it is interesting to note that this season features a castaway from season 1 (gervase) and 2 (tina); 2 winners (tina and aras) and a fourth chance for a castaway (rupert). notable loved ones includes former nfl player brad and big brother winner hayden.

this is also the show's 3rd straight season in the philippines. but this time, they are moving to the northern part of the country. the show was filmed in the palaui islands in cagayan. there are also news that the show will also feature a redemption island kind of twist.

this morning, i was able to find a sneak peek into the first seven minutes of the show. it was released in the entertainment weekly website. based on the video clips, this seems to be a very interesting season and i can't wait to start watching it; being a big fan of the show from season 1!

here is the link to the sneak peek video:

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/16/survivor-blood-vs-water-premiere-video/

survivor blood vs water will air in jack tv here in the philippines; with live via satellite airing at 2pm and primetime airing at 9pm on september 19.

american idol live 2011 in manila!

the american idol 2011 live tour will go to manila this year! the top 11 finalists from the 10th season of american idol will be here for the tour. led by this year's winner scotty mccreery, the other finalists are lauren alaina, haley reinhart, james durbin, jacob lusk, casey abrams, stefano langone, paul mcdonald, pia toscano, naima adedapo and filipina thia megia. they will perform in araneta coliseum on september 20, 2011.

here is the tv commercial being shown in several cable channels:

ticket prices are as follows:

vip – PhP12,675

patron – PhP10,560

lower side – PhP5,810

upper a – PhP3,700

upper b – PhP1,585

general Admission – PhP740

early bird discount (10% off) for upper a and b will be given to those who will book their tickets from july 20 to 27, 2011.

source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZah6kUuMpE

local reality shows announces new seasons for 2009

several local reality shows has announced that they will stage new seasons this year. at least 3 local shows have announced their plans through the teasers that is shown in their respective networks.

first on the list is the original reality artista search on tv, starstruck. after leaving the air for three years, the show that produced mark herras, jennelyn mercado, marky cielo, ryza cennon, yasmin kurdi, aljur abrenica, mike tan, lj reyes, mart escudero and jris bernal among others will stage a comeback this year. also rumored to host the show is the original host, nancy jane and drew arellano. as a prelude to the show's comeback, they will stage a reunion of the show's alumni and auditions will commence sometime in 3Q 2009. the show is rumored to be dubbed as starstruck: the elite comeback.

next on the list is the most successful reality show from abs cbn, pinoy big brother. teasers has been shown in almost all shows of abs cbn, alerting all housemates wannabees to be ready for the auditions are coming soon. after season 1's nene tamayo and season 2's beatriz saw, another set of housemates will battle it out to be declared the season's big winner.

last on the list is last year's reality show to beat, survivor philippines. gma 7 has been showing teasers on the show's forthcoming second season. after season 1's jc tiuseco, another set of castaways will set foot on yet another 39 days of challenges and triumphs in a remote island in a nother country.

amazing race asia 3: geoff & tisha checks in first in leg 7

after 7 legs, team philippines finally placed first in the third season of the amazing race asia. team philippines is composed of dating couple geoff rodriguez and tisha silang.

the 7th leg of the race started in hongkong where they were instructed to deliver 2 fish each to a pet store. but due to hours of operations of the store (which starts at 11am), almost all the teams caught up with sam & vince. they were next instructed to go to macau via ferry. sam & vince, having the hometown advantage, walked to the pier and caught up with the earliest ferry. the next 3 teams were supposed to board the same ferry but geoff & tisha were able to convince someone to trade them their tickets. so geoff & tisha boarded ferry ahead of the others.

upon arriving at macau, they were instructed to board a pedicab and go to the fountain in senado square. upon arriving there, they were instructed to go to the macau tower, with a yield ahead. at macau tower, they encounter the yield and a roadblock. sam & vince decided not to use it. geoff & tisha, who arrived 2nd at the tower, decided to yield henry & bernie.

at the roadblock, one of the team members needs to climb the tower where they would receive the next clue. the ones that did the roadblock were vince, geoff, fuzzie, bernie and ida. when henry 7 bernie arrived at the tower, they completely ignored geoff & tisha who yielded them. they were next instructed to go to the dragon boat pier at sai van lake. they need to row a dragon boat along the course, turn on a buoy and return to the pier where they will receive the next clue.

they then encountered a detour, which is a choice between dance or chance. in dance, teams must perform a traditional dragon dance perfectly. in chance, team would play black jack and win against the dealer nine times before they received the next clue. only geoff and tisha choose dance and it proved to be beneficial since they finished ahead of sam & vince.

they were then instructed to proceed to a-ma cultural village to retrieve their next clue. it was also the pit stop of the race but before they could proceed, they need to arrange 12 lanterns with the symbols of the chinese zodiac in its chronological order with the help of several clues. if they think they got the order, they would step on a red mat and if they got it, the doors of the village would open.

geoff & tisha had a hard time and sam & vince caught up. but they eventually got it and checked in at the pit stop first. by winning the leg, they won a 40 inch bravia tv and a play station 3 game console each. the final rankings are as follows:

1st - geoff & tisha (philippines)

2nd - sam & vince (hong kong)

3rd - ad & fuzzie (singapore)

4th - henry & bernie (malaysia)

5th - ida & tania (malaysia)

ida & tania was in last place again and was once again saved. this was a pre-determined non-elimination leg. their money was not surrendered to allan but they need to check in first in the next leg or they will get a 30 minute penalty.