By Kim
The Favorites immediately cast Malcolm out of their alliance, but they don't know that he has an Idol still. And there will be another Idol put back in play, presumably.
Dawn loses her false teeth in the lagoon and FREAKS THE FUCK OUT. I don't know if it's vanity or what, but you're talking to someone who broke off half my front tooth in eighth grade and went to school the day anyway while I was waiting for my dental appointment, so I don't get it. Anyway, Brenda dives in for her and finds them like immediately. Ugh, Dawn Drama.
Reward Challenge: They divide into two teams and have to cross a balance beam and a slide, then dig in a mudpit for bags of balls, and crawl under a bar in a bed of rice. Malcolm (Orange) and Reynold (Purple) find all the bags for their teams, but Malcolm takes longer and then Sherri's performance puts the Orange team even further behind. Once all the bags are retrieved, the teams have to toss the balls into a funnel, and Purple completes the task before Orange even starts tossing balls, so Purple gets a Reward Feast. Good thing Dawn found her teeth so she can eat.
Dawn starts acting like the Dawn I remember from her last season: overly paranoid and emotional. She's worried that Andrea is going to flip and go with Eddie and Malcolm. Her alliance tries to reassure her that things are fine with some success; they decide to split their votes at the Tribal between Reynold and Malcolm.
Immunity Challenge: Basically a swimming race where you have to go over and under a platform repeatedly, so it's extra exhausting. Reynold and Andrea win the first heat, and then Phillip announces that he's sitting out the challenge because he had a childhood semi-drowning incident, I guess? Has anyone ever just sat out an individual immunity challenge? I can't remember that happening. Malcolm wins the second heat, but Eddie misses putting a ring on a post which lets Brenda move on as well.
So the final heat is Reynold, Andrea, Malcolm, and Brenda, and this time they have to complete five passes of the course instead of two. It comes down to Reynold and Malcolm and Probst has the biggest boner! I've never seen him so excited about a challenge. Reynold wins by a hair, and I don't know why they didn't take him out sooner because he is going to be a challenge monster, unless it's a puzzle. He's a tossing rings/balls savant, and he's apparently got stamina for days. Malcolm is worried.
The Favorites decide to split their votes between Malcolm and Eddie. They're all really sure Malcolm doesn't have an Idol. You see how much better it is when you keep your trap shut, REYNOLD? Malcolm, Eddie, Reynold, Dawn, and Andrea all go looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol, and Malcolm actually finds it. Everyone sees him get it, and I'm not sure if that's to his benefit or not; I'm sure he would have rather been able to choose when and how to reveal its existence to the others. The Favorites decide to keep their vote the same and see if Malcolm plays his Idol, and worst case scenario is that Eddie goes home.
Tribal Council: Oh, my God, it's the greatest. Malcolm puts on his Immunity Idol, and then he pulls out the other one and gives it to Eddie and JAWS DROP. I mean, the Favorites have no clue what to do and they all start muttering amongst themselves. Phillip and Brenda want to vote out Andrea with Dawn, but that's only three votes. Dawn can't spread the word to Cochran, Erik, and Sherri at the other end of the bench because Andrea's right in the middle. Um, guys? She's going to find out you voted her out in a minute. Why not just yell it? Malcolm tells everyone that he realizes that his group of three will still be down in numbers after this vote, but they wanted to have one vote where they didn't have to worry. And he announces that they're all voting for Phillip.
My very favorite part is that Michael, on the jury, is trying to count numbers. Erik points out that just because those guys are displaying Idols doesn't mean they're planning on playing them, since it would be an advantage to hang onto one of them. And they could also be lying about their vote. Phillip tells his alliance to just vote how they originally planned and let the chips fall where they may.
Wow. So how does it all play out? Eddie and Malcolm both play their Idols. I mean, Malcolm is probably pretty sure he can find another one, right? And then it plays out just like Phillip said – his alliancemates (except for Erik) stick to their original plan, and all of their votes get negated, and Phillip goes home. Erik votes with the bro-lliance. So that's a win for the viewers at home, at least. No more stupid Stealth R Us. And once again, I may not agree with Malcolm's strategy, but these last two episodes have been way more interesting than the first half of the season.