Survivor Phillipines - October 24/12

Night 13 sees Kalabaw returning to camp minus Dawson. Katie realizes that she is at the bottom of the totem pole now that her "girls" are gone. All she can do is work her magic. She sets off to discredit Penner by convincing Denise that Penner has the immunity idol. A guy with an idol, by Katie's reckoning, is a bigger target than a lazy but beautiful woman who does poorly in challenges.

The next morning Tandang discovers they are low on rice. The reason? It seems Mike has been eating handfuls of raw rice. Apparently he thinks it will cook inside of his body due to the hot environment. Mmmmm. The others comment on Mike's rice consumption but Artis is downright angry. He says his tribe is Tandang + 1 (Mike) and that Mike is expendable.

At the Reward Challenge, tribes must go out three-on-three and try to move a giant wicker ball across a field and into a goal. The winning team needs to score three goals. The field is actually a mud pit and within seconds the contestants are all but unrecognizable. They pin each other down in the mud and the ball moves nowhere. The challenge has become an endurance event based on who can last the longest with their nose buried in the mud. After an hour Penner floats a suggestion. If Tandang agrees to give Kalabaw the victory, they will give them all their rice. Not everyone on Tandang is happy with the plan (especially Artis) but in the end the deal is done. Kalabaw heads off to a hut where they shower, enjoy a picnic of sandwiches, juice and brownies and also get some letters from home (something that wasn't mentioned when the deal was done).

Back at camp Artis is angry with the decision to concede the challenge. He says that the deal was a brilliant move by Penner. Meanwhile Mike and RC try to convince the others that the deal was a good one. RC and Mike have also decided that Artis is too negative and that he should be the one to go if Tandang ever actually gets to Tribal Council.

On Day 16 Kalabaw is home from their reward picnic. Not everyone on Kalabaw is happy with the deal made at the reward challenge either. Apparently the food from the reward is all digested and hunger is setting in. There is no rice...nor food of any kind. No problem. They have fishing gear and Penner is going fishing. He tries to spear a stingray who niftily eludes the spear. Next Penner dons the snorkelling gear and goes into deeper water. He returns with two tiny fish. The tribe wonders how they are going to divide what amounts to about 6 ounces of fish. Penner tries to stay positive in front of the others but admits that they need to win the upcoming immunity challenge.

The aforementioned challenge arrives right on schedule. One tribe member must shoot a ball from a giant slingshot. Three other tribe-mates must try to catch the ball in a net. They can catch a ball of any colour. Abi sits this challenge out again, meaning that she has sat out 6 of 8 challenges (a fact pointed out by Dimples, of course). Lisa and Denise both do an admirable job launching the balls from the slingshot. Jeff does well catching for Kalabaw and Malcolm shines as he catches for Tandang. Katie is ineffective (also pointed out by Dimples). Tandang wins the challenge, sending Kalabaw back to camp to think about who they are going to send home.

There is nothing like losing a challenge to bring out the worst in people. Jeff questions his alliance with Penner because he doesn't want a veteran to win (I'm with ya there Baseball Boy). On the other hand Katie is worthless. On the other other hand Carter thinks it might be better to go into a merge with Penner than with Katie since he is a bigger target. Jeff thinks it might be wise to blindside Penner so that he doesn't play his idol. Carter is willing to follow Jeff's lead. Penner believes everyone is voting for Katie. Katie believes everyone is voting for Denise. Denise is worried everyone is voting for her. But when Dimples earns his millions by tabulating the votes at Tribal Council, it is Katie who is heading home. Along with Katie goes Lorelee from the pool. No one voted for Katie to win the grand prize so Lorelee is alone in her suffering.

We are in a countdown to a merge. Will it happen next week? I'll never tell!

Until then,
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast
Pat (aka Abi I might be a little hotblooded but I'm still in the game Gomez)