By Kim
Assuming that they will be joining different tribes soon, Malcolm and Denise frantically look for the Hidden Immunity Idol and finally find it. Malcolm keeps it.
When they arrive at the Reward Challenge, Malcolm is assigned to Tandang and Denise is assigned to Kalabaw. The Challenge involves one-on-one challenges where each contestant holds an idol on a platform in one hand and then tries to knock the other person's idol off with the other hand. The person whose idol hits the ground first loses. The first team to earn five points wins the reward. My husband immediately comes up with the strategy of throwing your own idol up in the air as high as possible and then using both hands to take the other idol down before yours hits the ground. No one tries it until the end, when Malcolm uses it to win reward for his team.
After the challenge, the various factions on Tandang are vying for Malcolm's affections. RC flirts with him while Pete reveals that he and Abi have the idol and they want to get rid of Skupin.
Similar things are happening with Denise over on Kalabaw. Dana is also not feeling well and ends up with a sharp pain in her stomach that causes her to flee the shelter, shaking and crying. Dawson and Penner comfort her until Probst arrives to take her for a checkup from the medics. Her problem seems very similar to what happened to Colton last season. The medics tell her that her situations isn't life-threatening, so they aren't required to pull her out – it's Dana's decision. Dana decides that she just can't be sick out there anymore, and she decides to leave. Look, I would have left in five seconds. Being sick is awful; being sick, and hungry, and cold, and wet, and among strangers would be the worst. But I liked Dana! Damn.
At the Challenge, Abi sits out for Tandang to even things up and Probst makes a point of noting that she's sat out of many challenges. In this one, the teams have to traverse an obstacle course and then untie knots to drop a drawbridge. Tandang takes a quick lead, mostly because Katie on Kalabaw looks like she's dying (which Probst makes sure to point out). Once the drawbridge is down, the teams have to chop a rope which will release bamboo pieces, only some of which have letters. The pieces with the letters need to be arranged in a phrase. Lisa and Pete have a big headstart for Tandang, with Penner and Dawson trying to solve the puzzle for Kalabaw. Both teams figure out the phrase but Tandang manages to get the pieces into the right slots just split seconds before Kalabaw and wins immunity.
The men of Kalabaw recruit Denise to their side, and with Dana out, have the majority. They decide to get rid of either Katie or Dawson, both of whom didn't perform well in the challenge. Jeff Kent is starting to figure out that Dawson knows who he is, which gives him added incentive to get rid of her. At Tribal Council, the tribe goes through the various reasons people might get voted out (attitude, alliances, challenge performance) and ultimately Dawson is voted out. I'm kind of shocked that she didn't out Jeff Kent on her way out, but she did take time to embrace Probst. She was stunned to be going home.