Survivor Phillipines - October 17/12

Night 10 at Camp Matsing finds Denise and Malcolm returning to their lonely little camp. Russell is gone and they are the last two Matsingers standing. They speculate about what will happen next. Will one of them go to each tribe? Or will there be a complete mix- up of tribes. They don't have to wait long to find out. Along with more rain and flies, the dawn brings tree mail announcing a reward challenge. Before they head off for the challenge though, Malcolm and Denise decide that it is now or never to find the immunity idol. They don't have much by way of camp furnishings and keep coming back to the rice basket. They look in the basket. They look under the basket. They look around the basket. Finally, on the verge of giving up, Malcolm pulls the handle off the basket to (finally) discover the idol. Denise is ecstatic but knows that if she and Malcolm go to different tribes, the idol will be of limited value to her.

At the Immunity Challenge, Dimples asks Malcolm and Denise to drop their buffs and pick new ones. Based on the drawing of the buffs, Denise goes to Kalabaw and Malcolm joins Tandang. They then move on to the challenge itself, the winner of which gets coffee and tea with all the fixings, as well as biscuits, cookies and muffins. Malcolm shines for his new team in a challenge where, one on one, Survivors must try to knock a little statue off the other guy's tray. Malcolm is delighted at the win. He has found an idol in the morning and won a challenge in the afternoon. His new tribe is happy too. Lisa tells us that Malcolm brings a wonderful energy to the tribe. The only one who doesn't seem thrilled is RC, who feels she would have fared better if their team had gotten Denise. Malcolm is busy bonding with Pete and Mike and RC feels things slipping even further out of her control. RC needs to pull out all the stops and stop #1 is flirting shamelessly with Malcolm when he lights the fire. "Ooooooh Malcolm, you are such a manly man. Hug hug". Gag gag. Meanwhile Pete is so taken with Malcolm that he tells them he has the idol. Pete is happy that Malcolm has arrived, his reasoning being that, now that another strong physical player has arrived, Pete can now get rid of Mike.

At Kalabaw there is no victory and no reward but Denise is still happy to be in her new tribe. Dana, Dawson and Katie are hoping to get her on board in their girl alliance but the guys are also impressed with her competitiveness. But speaking of Dana, she seems to be a little under the weather. She is a tiny thing and she is cold. In fact she can't stop shaking. Then she begins vomitting. She has a fever. She curls up under a tarp on Penners lap. Medics are called. It isn't judged to be life threatening and they are willing to let her stay another 12 hours. Dimples leaves the decision up to Dana....do you want to stay or do you want to go? A tearful and distressed Dana decides she can't stay any longer so the rest of the tribe is brought in to say their goodbyes. She keeps apologizing for letting her team down but her tribe mates are kind and supportive, particularly Jonathan Penner who is particularly...well...nice. Back stage Katie is feeling a little tense. Her best ally is going home. How will she survive?!

The immunity challenge consists of the tribes helping each other through an obstacle course, co-operatively untying 4 sets of knots to release a drawbridge, going through the drawbridge to get an ax which they use to chop through a piece of wood to get to a peace of rope. Cutting through the rope releases puzzle pieces which must then be assembled into a five word phrase. My Abi Maria sits out for Tandang, causing Dimples to ask her how many challenges she has actually competed in. Two, says Abi. Is Dimples prepared to let this go? No. He is not. Normally I would be all for pointing this fact out ad nauseum, except that Abi is my girl. Yikes. Abi and I are in a heap 'o trouble. Fortunately for us, Katie has trouble on the obstacle course, slowing Kalabaw down. Then Dawson gets a little possessive with the puzzle pieces at the end, helping Kalabaw lose by just a second.

Katie is embarrassed. She apologizes profusely for her performance in the challenge. Helpfully, Dawson assures her that, yes, she did suck. While Katie is busy apologizing, Jeff is recruiting her girl Denise for the guy's team.Denise is still worried, though. She is the new kid on the block and she wonders whether the tribe will vote on the basis of logic or loyalty.

In spite of her concern, Denise is safe. The tribe's only question is whether they should send Katie or Dawson home. In the end Dawson is blindsided. She has a pretty obvious crush on Dimples though, and after he snuffs her torch she gives him a long lingering hug. As she walks away from Tribal Council her only comment is "Wow". "Wow I have just been sent home?" or "Wow I just hugged Jeff Probst?" We may never know. With Dawson goes Donna from our pool. I hope you enjoyed the hug Donna, cause you ain't getting the money this time.

Until next week.
Outplay, Outwit, Outlast
Pat (aka Abi Maria oh crap I'm doomed Gomez)