Kaoh Rong Episode 5: Gambler's Dilemma

Now we're in business

We can now add Joe to the list of injured people, as Peter proves his worth as a Doctor by inspecting his cut finger. Peter is hoping this improves his stock, but Neal is still calling him "cancer" and goes looking for the idol to keep it out of his hands. Neal finds the box, gets the key and unlocks the idol all without being detected. How did he have enough time to do that?

The tribes arrive at the mat, and Neal says "bye bye blondie" in response to Alecia's absence...guess it's catching on. Jeff tells them to drop their buffs, and Cydney is ecstatic to comply. However, he warns them that there's only enough room for six people on each of the new tribes...and one person will be drawing a red buff that sends them to Brawn camp alone. They'll be safe from the vote, but also out of the loop. Nick, Jason, Michele, Neal, Debbie and Cydney draw blue. Scot, Peter, Anna, Tai, Aubry and Joe draw yellow. Julia ends up with the short straw, and Michele laments how their powerful girls trio are all off in different directions.

Peter is happy with how the swap played out, but is already getting super cocky. Aubry still has him on her radar and is considering saying screw tribal lines and voting him out anyway. But right now, the logical move seems to be the three Brains and Scot targeting the two Beauties, since whoever leaves will get replaced with another, so that's what they agree to do.

Debbie wants people to swing with her

Debbie welcomes the new members to the Chan Loh beach, then flocks to team up with Cydney. She does a great job of buttering Cydney up, and might be the only person to recognize how smart the body builder really is. It's now looking like the two Brawns and the two Brains will team up...leaving Beauty fucked on both tribes.

Scot helps Tai get up a tree so he can start pulling down coconuts and the little guy is making quite an impression on the big guy. But for Anna, desperate times call for desperate measures, and she shows no hesitation throwing Tai under the bus by telling everyone she can that Tai was caught looking for the idol.

That's, uh...quite a seductive pose

Back on Chan Loh, it's now Nick's turn to try and see if he can sway Jason, and the bounty hunter says he's down. Has he left it too late though and got beaten to the punch by Debbie? Jason and Cydney talk about how they're sitting pretty with the freedom to choose their side. We briefly check in with Julia next, who is having a really rough time, huddled under a blanket alone. Poor girl.

Catch of the day

At the challenge, Michele accidentally stands on the yellow mat before being told to move over to blue - old habits, I guess. The challenge is for two members to race out and grab fish from a net in the ocean, whilst two more put them on hooks, and the last two use them to complete a puzzle. Scot is first to the net, but Aubry slows him down, allowing Nick and Jason to start grabbing first. They hand over to Joe and Tai, whilst Michele and Cydney start hooking for Gondol. On the puzzle, Debbie and Neal take on Anna and Peter...two people that have had a lot of success in that area. But two Brains prove better than one, as Chan Loh win immunity...and Jeff flubs his line.

Anna gets an ace in the hole

Following the loss, Peter lets it be known he would rather Anna go than Tai..and he has no problem letting the two of them know he's targeting a Beauty. Even Tai is done with Peter now and wants him out, so he reveals the idol to Scot and Anna to try and make it happen. But when Scot learns the rest of them are voting for Anna, he decides it might be smarter to just let her go, since then he can be the only person to know where two idols are. It's gonna take a lot to convince Tai not to play it though, as he's very nervous.

At tribal council, Aubry admits they want to stick with the numbers. As such, Anna and Tai both believe it's them and make their cases. When asked about idols, Joe says he thinks there aren't any, which Tai is happy to back up. Peter openly brags about being in a power position...don't you remember what happened last time you did that?

After the vote, Anna is confused when Tai doesn't play his idol as planned. She soon sees why, and the poker player busts out (hehe, that woks on two levels). The Brains might have the biggest numbers right now, but the new Scot/Tai alliance is gonna have a huge say in the rest of the game, I can feel it!

STAR OF THE WEEK: TAI TRANG

The world's most huggable human, Tai made the right call this week by breaking up a tight trio, holding onto his idol and forging a connection with Scot. Don't be fooled by the sweetness, he's proved himself perfectly competent so far.