TV: Survivor Philippines Celebrity Doubles Showdown: A PostScript

Last night, February 10, I was at GMA-7's Studio 7 to watch the finale of Survivor Philippines Celebrity Doubles Showdown live. This was the second time I did that; I also covered Akihiro Sato's win last season.

As a big fan of Survivor, covering live is a fun experience. Plus I got to interview the winner, whom I did not like that much, so I got to act like a bitter jury and accuse him again. Which was fun. #kidding

Here are my notes to this Survivor season:

• The title is a mouthful. Mentioning it as an acronym does not help either.
• The title is long because it is a Celebrity season. GMA-7 should make a normal season next for a shorter title.
• GMA-7 should make a normal season so I could join.
• The Survivor finale stage was confused. It had Aztec/Mayan poles, bull skulls from Mexico, and native bulol sculptures from the Philippines. GMA-7 says let's all be liberal and mix cultures together and pretend the fans do not notice.
• Betong's win is a result of his "paawa" plea. No one can deny that. 
• Betong says he has heart, and he played the game without stepping on anyone. Fans believe it, but hey, did they forget that he and Maey were instrumental in two betrayals? Gino's boot, and Arnold's boot. Betong and Maey are not as clean as how they claim to be.
• Questions I asked Betong during the interview/interrogation time: his paawa effect, if he really is poor as he claim to be, if he deserves to win, if he and Maey are in a romantic relationship.
• Betong told me he has a large credit card debt, and he'll use the P3M to pay it off.
• More than half of the studio viewers are Betong fans, less than 20% are Mara's fans, and 10% are Stef's fans. This is not because their fans are fewer; it is because Betong is an employee of GMA-7, so his friends got almost all the tickets to the finale. And that's unfair.
• Stef Prescott is stunning in her yellow gown. 
• Angelicopter was absent, and did not show up.
• Angelicopter's fellow quitters Ellen Adarna, Filo Cucueco, and Jackie Forster showed up. I wish they didn't.
• Ellen Adarna is a bitch. During taping, she always screamed her head off near Maria Isabel Lopez's ears, because she's a bitch and can't let go of what happened in the island.
• I wish Maria Isabel Lopez slapped Ellen Adarna into eternity.
• Did I mention Ellen Adarna is a bitch?
• Did you know that only the last half of the finale was shot live? The first half -- composed of interviews and introductions -- was shot an hour earlier.
• After the break in the shoot, Ellen Adarna was among the castaways to come back late from dinner. Cue jokes: Ellen already quit the live finale so she's not coming back.
• At one point during the live show, while the first pre-taped half is being shown on TV, Maria Isabel Lopez walked from the castoffs seats to her daughter Mara in the center of the stage to whisper something in her ears. Mara then had to go to the jury's seats to talk to Arnold about it.
• I think the whispering was about Ellen Adarna's action to spite Maria Isabel Lopez.
• Ellen Adarna can't let go, can she? Maria Isabel took her down in the game. That was IN THE GAME. She should move on.
• Former castaways were present: Season 1's Marlon Carmen, Zita Ortiga, Chris Cartagenas, and Chev Macias; Season 2's Tara Macias; and Season 3's Aubrey Miles, Ervic Vijandre, Moi Marcampo, and Jon Hall. I remember that their seasons were better than this season.
• The recap video still mentioned the Stargazer's predictions. Which were total failure. So I wish we forget about it. And remember that it was a waste of airtime.
• Next season, GMA-7 should cut out the stupid fillers like the Stargazer scene. 
• Richard Gutierrez was a better host now than before. That is a true compliment.
• Unlike before, Richard did not shout "See you next season, mga katribo!" at the end of the live finale. So is there a next season at all? Or maybe he won't host it?