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.
Everyone returns from the crazy Tribal Council where Malcolm convinced Reynold to give him his Hidden Immunity Idol and then it turned out that neither of them needed to play it anyway. But now the Stealth R Us alliance (I hate to call it that but it's not just Favorites anymore) knows for sure that Malcolm has turned on them, so they decide to have an immediate meeting.
That leaves Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold to discuss how their situation isn't THAT bad (it's pretty bad). Malcolm says that Phillip gave away their strategy at Tribal Council (except he didn't, because Malcolm thought everyone was voting for him and no one voted for him). Meanwhile, Stealth R Us are all convincing one another that they're in great shape (which they are, because they have numbers).
Malcolm and gang decide that they need to get up early and look for the Hidden Immunity Idol, assuming Reynold's will be hidden again. They console one another by saying that they'd rather go out on their own terms than be Phillip's puppet. You keep telling yourselves that, from your seats on the jury. Meanwhile, Stealth R Us does a little cheer and as they walk away, Cochran holds back and makes the "twirling finger by temple" motion to let us all know that he knows Phillip is a nutball.
The morning, Cochran and Phillip talk about the possibility of beating Dawn in the finals. Cochran says that he used to think Dawn was impossible to beat, but not anymore. Phillip agrees that Dawn has betrayed a lot of people and she's not great in challenges either. Suddenly, they both hear Dawn crying out for Brenda to come quick and, kind of hilariously, neither of them makes a move to investigate what's wrong. They're both kind of like, "Eh, Dawn's hysterical again. Must be Tuesday." Everyone else at camp hears it too, and finally Brenda takes off at a jog to find out what's up.
She finds Dawn standing on the path to the lagoon, sobbing hysterically. I mean, she is out of control. Dawn tries to calm down enough to explain the problem: she has a flipper, a retainer with false bottom teeth on it, and she lost it in the lagoon so now she's toothless. And she's really embarrassed about it, to the point where she insists she's going to drop out of the game if she can't get her teeth back. Oh, come on. I told this story already in the recaplet, but when I was in eighth grade, the height of self-consciousness, I dove into a swimming pool and hit my mouth on the bottom and broke one of my front teeth in half. And I still went to school on Monday, since my dental appointment was in the afternoon. So many people have fake teeth, and no one cares. Then again, it's Dawn. She goes into hysterics at the drop of a hat (or tooth), and she gets worse the further into the game she gets.
Anyway, Dawn keeps repeating that she's going to pull herself from the game if she can't find them, and she doesn't want anyone else to know that she has false teeth? I hate to make fun of her because it's clearly so important to her, but who gives a shit? I can ALMOST understand not wanting to appear on camera looking like Old Granny Gums, but who cares if the others know? Anyway, Brenda totally finds them and Dawn is happy again. Brenda interviews that it really solidified her bond with Dawn. Keep that in mind, I'm guessing. Since they've barely shown Brenda this season, I'm guessing that this incident will be important later in the season.
Reward Challenge. They are divided into two teams of five. Each person has to race through obstacle and search for a bag of balls in a muddy pit, then crawl through rice and hit the finish line. Once all five bags are retrieved, the team has to work to get all the balls into a basket. This is a repeat of a challenge we saw last season; I remember Penner doing it. The winners get to go to a resort with a pool and have a nice lunch.
The teams are Reynold, Erik, Dawn, Cochran, and Phillip versus Eddie, Malcolm, Sherri, Andrea, and Brenda. At least that's a little more balanced than last weeks' teams. Malcolm and Erik are the first to go out for their respective teams. Erik finds one bag in the mud pit and moves on. Malcolm follows the Penner strategy and tries to find all of the bags for his teammates. This means that Erik finishes first. Reynold heads out for his team , and he finds the rest of the bags for his team, except he finds them all, like, immediately. So his team has all of the bags uncovered AND he's done with the course. That means Malcolm's team is one full person behind, and then Sherri totally sucks at challenges as usual and they fall even further behind.
So Erik and Reynold's team finishes and starts tossing balls in the basket while their opponents have two more people to go, Brenda and Eddie (the popular steadies and the King and the Queen of the prom). I can't believe it just occurred to me to make that joke. Anyway, the Erik/Reynold team finishes before the other team even gets all their bags untied. It wasn't even close.
The winning team arrives at the resort and they head straight for the food. They came straight from the challenge, so they are all muddy, and there's an outdoor shower right to the pool. Dawn lathers up, and then Phillip just hops in the pool and a giant cloud of mud appears around him. Erik interviews that Phillip is a garbage person, because who does that? It's really gross. It looks like he hopped in the pool and then had diarrhea. I'm sorry.
That night, everyone is asleep at camp except for Dawn, who interviews that she's exhausted but she can't sleep because her brain keeps going and going. She's paranoid about being blindsided, and she doesn't know if she can trust her alliance. She notes that Andrea has been spending a lot of time with Malcolm and Eddie, and if she decides to vote with them, they could take Dawn out.
Dawn takes this issue to Phillip and Cochran. Since Stealth R Us has been splitting their vote in case of Idols, it would only take four votes to oust one of them. Dawn is convinced that she'll be the target. Phillip assures her that Andrea will be their first target when they have to turn on one another, and that Dawn should chillax. Phillip interviews, though, that Dawn would be his target, because she's acting nutty. Phillip. Just said Dawn is nutty. Whoa. Cochran interviews something that I was wondering - how is Dawn so sure that she'd be the target? I mean, why not Phillip or Cochran?
Andrea sits in the shelter and eats toasted coconut with Eddie and Malcolm. Dawn watches them for a while and then blurts out, "I don't know what to do. It's so hard on me." Andrea's like, "The fuck?" Andrea finds Phillip and says that Dawn is losing it, and Phillip agrees.
Dawn and Cochran sit in the woods and Dawn says that she feels unstable and she needs some time alone. Cochran tries to soothe her, and Dawn says that she's really tired of crying. Look, people have different reactions to being extra tried. I get a really short fuse; I fly off the handle at small transgressions. Dawn apparently goes inward and cries. I don't know how she raised all those kids if she can't handle a little sleep deprivation, though.
Dawn finally gets a good night's sleep, and she seems to feel better. She interviews that her "meltdown tornado" is over, and she doesn't feel overwhelmed anymore. She is happy with her alliance again. Stealth R Us has another team meeting. They decide that they should take out Reynold first, since he's a challenge monster. They're going to throw four votes to Reynold and three to Malcolm in case an Idol is played. Cochran interviews that he's happy that his alliance has the numbers.
Immunity Challenge. Each player stands on a platform in the water and has to dive off and swim underneath, grab a ring, and put it on a post. Then repeat the entire action. It sounds easy, and it is, but hauling yourself up out of the water and onto the platform is exhausting. They will compete in heats, with the top two from each heat advancing to the finals. The first heat is Reynold, Cochran, Dawn, Andrea, and Sherri. Reynold wins easily with Andrea coming in second.
Dawn and Andrea go and tells the others about Malcolm's find. I would be pissed at them for not looking. Like what is Sherri even contributing at this point? She's terrible at challenges. She doesn't seem to do jackshit around camp except talk to Phillip. Andrea decides that they should keep with their same voting strategy and maybe Malcolm won't play his idol. If he does, they send Eddie home.
They head out to Tribal Council. Eddie interviews that Reynold and Malcolm both have Immunity, so he's "double screwed." Well, at least he knows it.
Before we get into Tribal Council, let's just set up expectations. Because this is a fucking doozy of a Tribal Council. So here's what we know: the Stealth R Us alliance is planning to give four votes to Malcolm and three to Eddie, since they can't vote for Reynold. We don't know whom the bro-lliance is voting for (Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold). So if Malcolm doesn't play his Idol, he goes home. If he does play his Idol, it will be a tie between Eddie and whomever the bro-lliance votes for, probably Phillip or Andrea. Then there will be a revote, but Eddie and Phillip/Andrea can't vote. So Eddie will get six votes (all of Stealth R Us) and Phillip/Andrea will get two (Malcolm and Reynold) and Eddie will go home.
Unless Malcolm does something with the second idol no one knows he has. That could make things interesting.
They arrive at Tribal Council and are seated, and Michael, the first member of the jury takes his place. Probst points out that it seems like Reynold, Eddie, and Malcolm are still on the outs, and Reynold agrees that he needed immunity. Eddie talks about how he's trying to take the positive from the experience. Probst wonders why Eddie is talking like he's going home, and Andrea reveals that Malcolm found the idol. Malcolm grins big, pulls it out of his pocket, and puts it around his neck.
Probst asks Cochran's opinion on the proceedings, and Cochran says that Eddie probably wasn't anyone's first choice to go home tonight, and that honor belonged to Reynold since he's both charming and a challenge monster. Probst points out that Phillip made history by sitting out an immunity challenge, and Phillip explains the incident where, as a young boy, he went swimming and got trapped under a deck, so he just didn't feel like he could do this challenge.
Probst wants to know how things are in camp. Andrea says that everyone is getting really paranoid, and she feels like she can't even talk to Malcolm, Reynold, and Eddie because when she did, her alliance thought she was flipping on them.
And then Malcolm makes his move. He says that he, Eddie, and Reynold are tired of being on the outs, so he's going to make a move now. He pulls the other idol out of his pocket and gives it to Eddie. Probst is stunned. Cochran is shocked but also amused. Andrea, Dawn, and Sherri are like, "Fuck me sideways." Cochran sees the humor in it at least, and Eddie has a shit-eating grin on his face. Malcolm tells everyone that he has had the second idol for a while, but kept it a secret.
Probst stops the action for a second because even he is like what the fudge is going on. One important factor that I haven't reported yet is how the Stealth R Us alliance members are positioned. From Probst's perspective, from left to right, it goes Phillip, Brenda, Dawn, Andrea, Sherri, Erik, Cochran. Phillip and Brenda whisper and then tell Dawn to vote for Andrea. Andrea tells Dawn they should vote for Phillip. Who in the hell knows what Cochran and Erik and Sherri are doing down in the hinterlands.
Probst asks Malcolm what he wanted to say, and Malcolm says that his group has control of one vote only. Dawn compares herself to a "fainting sheep." Malcolm adds that he knows this one vote doesn't really change his alliance's position in the game, since they'll still be down in numbers after this vote, but he adds that the three of them are voting for Phillip, because he thinks Phillip makes the game not fun. Malcolm calls him "the fun sponge" because he sucks all the fun out of the game.
Meanwhile, as Malcolm is talking, Brenda keeps urging Dawn to vote out Andrea and tells everyone down the line. The problem is that Andrea is sitting to Dawn, so Dawn can't pass the word down the line to Sherri, Cochran, and Erik, and they need at least one of them to get the four votes needed. Phillip disagrees with Malcolm's assessment of his game, of course.
Andrea says that she's been a target before, and she doesn't know if she can believe that the bro-lliance is voting for Phillip, so she's scared. Erik points out what seems obvious, but I wasn't thinking about it: just because Malcolm and Eddie are wearing idols doesn't mean that they will play them. It would be in their interest to keep at least one. Phillip says that he thinks they should keep the vote as planned, and if it means he goes home, then so be it. Probst wants Cochran's thoughts, and he says the Survivor fan in him is psyched about how exciting this Tribal Council is, but he knows that the vote will be a gamble. Probst wants to know if Dawn thinks the bro-lliance is trying to misdirect and actually have different voting plans. Dawn says it's possible. Malcolm shoots Erik a look and Erik gives him a big nod. I missed that the first time.
Probst says that the three big questions are who will the bro-lliance give their three votes to, who will the seven others vote for, and will Malcolm and Eddie really play their idols.
Here's an interesting wrinkle that a few people brought up in the forums. What if, instead of all voting for Phillip, the bro-lliance each voted for one person. Like throw one vote each to Dawn, Andrea, and Phillip or whatever other combination makes sense. Then it would be a tie, and on the revote, the remaining members of the Stealth R Us alliance would have to vote out one of their own instead of keeping their hands clean by voting for people who have immunity. That could cause some cracks to appear that the bro-lliance might be able to leverage going forward.
Anyway, they vote. The one surprising vote that we see is that Erik votes for Phillip (or Fillup as he spells it), so is he secretly with the bro-lliance? Probst tallies the votes. Probst asks for any idols to be played, and Eddie and Malcolm both play their idols, so any votes cast for them will not count.
Probst reads the votes. Malcolm gets the first two, and Eddie gets the four. None of those count. The following three are for Phillip. Probst doesn't read the last vote, which was also for Phillip, because it didn't matter, since Phillip is voted out. I just wonder if people will do the math and figure out that Erik flipped his vote. And will the idols be rehidden? Who will win immunity time? This is the first time in a long time that I have no idea what will happen episode. It's exciting!