When, I accidentally read John's spoiler tweet about Penner, my heart sank. You see, I was still watching the episode and was currently at the beginning of what's gonna be an unbelievable challenge. It was just like Penner's champion moment at Episode 8 but Abitch had an advantage which clearly helped.

Even as I was watching Penner's 1-on-1 talks with Scoop and Lisa, I wanted to believe that they will choose the right decision, that is to keep him. There was no way they could win the jury votes against Malcolm or Denise, and Penner was right. But then the spoiler tweet comes crawling back into my head. Right there and then, I just had to accept it. He won't win this season but he surely made it great.

So right after the episode, I wanted to post something about why I have so much love for Penner. It's like a Survivor eulogy, but not really, more like an appreciation post.

1. He is the only guy who could bitch at Probst. I say guy, because of a Miss Courtney Yates.
   
2. He was a sport and a reasonable jury member, which ultimately caused Yul Kwon to win Cook Islands. I was surprised how those two were on the same wavelength and handled allegiance negotiations like professionals.
   
3. His knee injury was so heartbreaking, not only did it ruin his chances of being a great two-time player character, but it also meant the demise of his alliance in Micronesia. I remember shedding tears for him when he got evacuated. He loved this game too much.
   
4. He was the first player EVER to get Probst to break the 4th wall. His banters with Jeff Probst during challenges are worth rewatching.
   
5. Episode 8. Who could forget the BEST. TRIBAL. COUNCIL. EVER. Although this was composed of several people being awesome or in some cases like Abitch, tactless, this would still be a credit to Penner. If he didn't have the immunity idol around his neck, there would have been no contest. He would have gone home unanimously. There would have been no idols being outed nor alliances being forced to be drawn out loudly.
   

In Survivor history, only one person has been invited to play for a fourth time, and this is Boston Rob, which I'm also a fan of. It was like he was invited again and again so he can redeem his 2nd place standing in Survivor All-Stars. Another great character who we know Jeff Probst has a huge man-crush on.

But does Penner already have that same status now with Jeff and Mark that he would actually be brought in for a fourth time too?

Personally, I wanted him to win this season but he didn't. Now, I wouldn't want him to return for a fourth time, unless it's another All-Star season. Why? Because what he left right now was something special, a Survivor legacy. He made many fans who have given up on Survivor to enjoy the show again. He made many new Survivor fans. Now, I see a lot of Twitter friends responding to my tweets when I only had a couple of hardcore Survivor fan friends before, both just online friends! And since this season was shot locally, the viewership of Survivor in the Philippines is likely to increase, because you know, when people keep tweeting about something, somebody else is bound to get interested. We are in the social networking capital of the world, after all.

Most importantly, he made this season much more interesting that what it could've been if he wasn't casted. He deserves a whooping bonus from Burnett.

And now, a random fanvid on Youtube.