LAST EDITED ON 10-15-12 AT 09:53 AM (EST)

***OFFICIAL SURVIVOR PHILIPPINES EPISODE SUMMARY***

Episode 4: Survivor: Planet of the Apes

They say that man evolved from the apes, but sometimes man evolves back to the apes. Oh those crazy Survivor monkeys.
Last time on Survivor, the Mandrills of Matsing continued to slip on bananas during the challenges, and after their third straight loss had to send another Mandrill to Loser Lodge. Tough decision for the tribe between Russell and Angie, but in the end it was Angie’s turn to leave:

How differently this season might have gone if the Mandrills had won the following reward...

For the full recap of episode 3, keep watching this forum and I am sure it will magically appear please check out MisMyth's excellent summary here.

On to episode 4…
Day 9 at Survivor: Planet of the Apes, and apparently Mother Nature is not happy with the Apes.

Rain, rain, go away, monkeys hate being wet.

At Mandrill, Russell reminds us AGAIN that he was willing to die for the game last time (and maybe if he had Mandrill wouldn’t svck so badly) and that now is time for the greatest comeback ever on Survivor.
Malcolm tells us that one win is all that it takes (has he ever seen this show before??)

Over at Tandang, the Tamarins are playing their own monkey games. Visibly it seemed like something to do with a hidden/unhidden clue to an idol, but in reality it was just Pete secretly leading the Tamarins into the oldest of monkey games…

Sadly, the target seems to be RC, which is a real shame because she is quite the eye-candy...

Pete sure comes off as sneaky to the viewers, but to the Tamarins it is Abi-Maniac (per Pepe) who shows her true monkey colours:

That girl is ape-sh!t bananas.

Things seem better at Kalabaw, where the Capuchins don’t seem to have as much drama, but maybe that is because we have barely seen them! In fact telling them apart is a bit like differentiating between the monkeys in a barrel…

But the Capuchins seem to be determined to split their games by gender, girl monkey vs boy monkeys.

Speaking of hidden, back over at the Mandrill camp, Russell is anxious to find the Hidden Immunity Idol, but in another show of his svckitude, he can’t break the code as both Jonathon and Ami-Maniac did at their camps.

Challenge Time!! The monkeys are ushered in, and Charlton Heston, er Jiffy, points out to the Tamarins and Capuchins that the Mandrill with the largest coconuts was booted at the last tribal council. The 3 Mandrills look pathetic next to the other two tribes each with 6. Jiffy tells the monkeys that this challenge will be for Immunity and bananas. For the first tribe, lots of bananas in the form of steak and veggies; for the second tribe, no steak and fewer veggies (actually pathetically so, so an alternate reward of a tarp is available); and for the last tribe no bananas of any sort, but rather a tribe to Tribal Council.

The challenge involves teams of 3 (yes, the Tamarins and Capuchins sit their ladies) carrying clay jars of rice through an obstacle course, followed by swinging a wrecking ball to break the jars. Another great monkey game challenge by the producers, with lots of changes in positions between the tribes. Incredibly the Mandrills have an early lead (Malcolm and Russell navigate the course quickly), but then Denise struggles a bit and Tamarins pass for the lead. The Mandrills are still looking good until the wrecking ball, when suddenly they remember who they are. Tamarins quickly win, and when the Mandarins falter the Capuchins sneak by to ensure that the trip to Tribal Council will have no virgins*.

(*TC virgins)

But first, Russell goes on a rant (to God, to his tribe, to Jeff, to the cameras??) about he doesn’t accept all this losing, and that he is too perfect for all this. Once again, Survivor is his:

Well, he certainly has the crazy part done pat.

Jiffy sends all the tribes back to their camps...

For the first time in my memory, we get no footage of a tribe with their reward. We never see the Tamarins with the steak nor the Capuchins with their tarp. I guess tarps just don’t make good TV.

So naturally we head back over to Mandarin to see how the three wise monkeys are making out…

Russell shares a story with Denise about his childhood, and how he was beat up by some other kids and felt tormented. After being upset about that for some time, Russell found himself alone with one of the kids, and punched him in the face. Sadly this was the last battle that Russell won.
Denise and Malcolm seem to have the alliance, but each speaks to Russell about why he should vote with them against the other. Is this a ruse to prevent Russell from playing the HII, or are they turning on each other??? Only TC will tell! So off the Mandrills go on the usual route to TC…

Lots of the usual blah blah blah at TC (the only really interesting tidbit in my opinion was Russell and Malcolm commenting that Denise would beat anyone in a jury situation. Foreshadowing??).

The votes are cast, and Mandrill voted out was…

Russell.

Next time on Survivor, looks like one of the Capuchins is destined for a visit from the doctors…

Be gentle, this was my first ever episode summary.