Philippines Episode 7: Outcast Cast Out

So, Jonathan Penner was surprised that Katie voted for him and demands answers. He says that it's a real eye-opener that "other people are lying in this game, and not just me". I guess the veteran let his guard down. Meanwhile, it's a special day for the other veteran, as it's the day he fell into the fire. "This is brand-new territory...for everyone" says Skupin, who has no more experience handling a merge than anyone else on his tribe.

Yay, now we can start eating eachother!

And a merge it is, as a dude on a boat comes by to give the news. They have 10 minutes to get their stuff together and go to a new beach. Malcolm makes sure to grab his idol that he'd buried, and wraps it up in his clothes. Kalabaw also take the news positively, hoping there's a crack in Tandang (oh boy, they have no idea!). Denise's gameplan: stick with Kalabaw, but also rekindle her alliance with Malcolm.

The boats pull up side by side and everyone gets out for the meet and greet, as well as the customary food. Now that Jeff Kent is on a tribe with Skupin *and* Penner, he's got both returnees in his sights. Skupin is giddy as a schoolboy, and interestingly describes himself as a free agent, revealing how him and RC felt ostracized by the rest of Tandang, and RC is showing no signs of wanting to let that go.

Malcolm goes for a walk with mama

Lisa is doing laundry and stumbles on Malcolm's idol. Malcolm notices it has been moved, and strongly suspects Lisa found it. He takes her off to another part of the beach alone and without even saying anything, she confesses. But he knows she didn't have any ill intentions and decides to promise a final three with her and Denise. Malcolm handled the situation best he could and now he has a new alliance, whether he wanted it or not.

Lisa enjoys her time with Penner most of all, because the fellow actor knows her secret and so she can just be herself around him. Another thing Penner is concerned about is the returning player bullseye, and talks to Mike about it and gets him to open up. RC is 50/50 on flipping and so they consider throwing their lot in with Penner's guys.

Although Penner's guys might have plans of their own. "I don't want a veteran to win!" Jeff is telling everybody. He's very clear on wanting to last longer than Penner. Why didn't you just vote him out instead of Katie, then? Malcolm proposes that Pete, Abi, Artis, Lisa, Denise, Jeff and Carter split their votes on Penner and RC in order to flush the idol and/or remove the outlier. Pete is very enthusiastic about the idea.

Denise's curse is lifted

The first individual immunity challenge of the game is upon us, and there's two necklaces up for grabs: one for a man, one for a woman. They all have a bucket on a rope and all they have to do is stop it from dropping. Penner is struggling almost immediately, but it is Mike and Pete who are the first ones out. This challenge isn't really going the way I expected. Penner is out next, followed by Lisa and Malcolm. A very sweaty RC drops out next...Abi managed to beat her?? In the end, Denise ends up with immunity for the first time. On the men's side, Artis puts in a great showing but can't hold it much longer. It's down to just Jeff and Carter. Why are they carrying on, they're in the same alliance? But eventually, Kent decides to let Carter owe him one and gives the young buck the immunity necklace.

Oh, and the new tribe's name is Dangrayne

The challenge went much better for Pete than it did for RC, but the bikini babe is still confident of gaining a majority alliance tonight. Mike and Jeff Kent have a very productive chat, where Skupin promises he will help him vote out Penner if they side with him tonight. Penner makes it very clear to Jeff that he has his loyalty, and tries to keep them on board. Jeff and Carter find themselves in the swing vote position again. Do they go against Jonathan and possibly find themselves sliding down the totem pole, or do they satisfy that urge to get the veteran out?

Welcome Tandang, this is called tribal council.
It's where you vote people out

At tribal council, Probst points out that they've never had a tribe make it to the merge completely intact before. Although as many of them admit, they're just about ready to start eating their own. Lisa tries to make the argument against siding with Kalabaw, saying anyone flipping to that side will still be bottom anyway and it won't make much of a difference. The tribe pretty much all admit that none of them are entirely sure what's going down, and they all get up to vote.

The voting montage is excellent as we see votes flying in all directions. Abi votes Penner. RC votes Pete, who returns the favour. Penner is also voting Pete and Artis is voting RC. Are you keeping up? When the votes are about to be read, Penner gets nervous and decides to play his idol. It turns out to be the right call as five votes for Penner are canceled out, leaving two on Pete and four on RC. And tonight, four happens to be enough. The glam girl joins the jury and Pete looks very, very relieved.

Now we're talking, that was a great merge episode and I can just tell it's going to be a great merge in general. With so many factions and sub-factions in play, shit is gonna get messy..in a good way. See you next week, where I have no idea who is going home. Penner's scrambled out of scrapes before, he can do it again.

STAR OF THE WEEK: LISA WHELCHEL

Lisa might not be playing a hardcore game, but the sweet old lady is pretty well-positioned and probably won't be a target for a long time. She's got a bit more spring in her step since the merge, and stumbling into a deal with Malcolm was the best thing for her. Penner has predicted she'll make the final three, guess we'll just have to watch this space.