The last 3 castaways standing

MANILA, Philippines - Everyone has his own choice of Akihiro Sato’s successor as Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Doubles Showdown airs its season finale tonight. With KC Montero’s unexpected exit last Monday, Kapuso televiewers are in for a surprise — and a shocker with the results. This only validates that Survivor Philippines is a game of mental and social strategy and not a game of physical strength. Each day could be anybody’s ballgame. Juan dela Cruz can’t simply rely on his gut feel or make an intelligent guess until the votes are read and the winner is named.

But if we ask the Top 3 Stef Prescott, Albert “Betong” Sumaya and Mara Yokohama to pick the Sole Survivor among themselves, Betong is it.

“If I have to choose, Mara knows, it’s Kuya Betong,” says Stef. “I know he really does need (the money). For me, we have proven a lot. It doesn’t mean if you have won Survivor, you are the best. With this competition, we’ve all gotten stuff. We’ve all been seen on TV for the same amount of days; the exposure is still the same. At this point of the game, it’s hard to think of them (the other remaining castaways) as competition because they’ve really grown on you. They are all very close to me and they all have a special place (in me).”

“I will also choose Kuya Albert,” agrees Mara. “From Day One, (the castaways) have expressed how much he needs (the money). Actually, it’s not for him. It’s for the people around him.”

For Betong, his choice is Stef because “I know and I understand what it is like to be a breadwinner. I was touched when I learned that she’s helping her aunt and her family depends on her and how her aunt is grateful to her.”

If money were not the basis in deciding the winner, Stef would surely have a different list of Top 3.

“Looking at it game-wise and being a viewer, it’s not fair. It’s unfair that Mara, me and Betong are in the Top 3,” she shares. “KC, Gino (dela Peña) and Carlo (Gonzalez) should be there if we are talking about strategy or who played the game. It should be the three of them (in the finals).”

According to Mara, winning P3M is just a bonus. “We are all after the title of Sole Survivor. For me, (getting the) title is a big deal… If I choose someone who deserves to win for the title and not for the money, it will be Stef. She was bitten by a snake and she played the game.” But Mara is also quick to say that the cash prize “will change your life.”

On hindsight, Stef says that being able to adjust to people and being a follower will help a castaway stay long in the island. Stef never has had a single decision in all Tribal councils. This is true since she has no solid alliances. Even the person she considers a friend had turned back on her. That makes her Survivor Philippines journey doubly challenging.

“They were all exceeded,” replies Stef when asked if the reality show met her expectations of the game. “What you are expecting is not how it is… It is always worst than what you are expecting.”

“Everything that happens (in Survivor) is not staged,” adds Betong. “(People behind it can’t say) let’s have rain to make (the castaways) struggle. Lahat ng nangyari doon ay hindi mo inaasahan. We don’t have a sense of time and we don’t know what’s happening (outside the island).”

With the strongest contenders out on the Palawan island and the surprise Top 3, Stef concludes, “it just proves that Survivor (Philippines) is a game of chance. You can’t really tell who will stay long in the game.”