by Gina Scarpa

Jonathan Penner has every right to be pissed on Survivor: Philippines this week. His Kalabaw tribe betrayed him at tribal council, forcing him to flush out the idol. Denise tells him right to his face that she voted for him and no one seems too apologetic about it. So yeah, he's fired up. But Skupin sweeps in to tell him to keep his head on straight and wait for a crack to expose a weakness they can take advantage of. Deep breaths, Penner. Deep breaths...

For the reward challenge, players are split into two teams and have to swim out into the ocean to retrieve puzzle pieces. In blue are Michael, Pete, Artis, Carter, and Abi-Marie and in yellow are Jeff, Malcolm, Jonathan, Lisa, and Denise. The yellow team gets off to a good start until Lisa hits the water and flails over to the buoys like a kid in a community center swimming class. Blue is able to catch up but then Michael chokes when it's time to grab the last set of puzzle pieces, while Abi screams, "What are you doing?!" The two end up in a close race during the puzzle, as usual in Survivor challenges, but yellow ends up winning the barbecue feast!

The upside to winning a reward is... of course... the REWARD. The downside is that it leaves people at camp to talk about you and that person is Pete. He's feeling like maybe it makes sense to keep Skupin around for a while and focus on taking out Kalabaw. Lisa has her own plans, telling Michael that Malcolm has the idol and that he needs to be blindsided at the next tribal council. Truth be told, I'm amazed Malcolm has flown under the radar this long. Who would've thought Lisa would be the one to start talking sense into these people?

In the two-part immunity challenge, players must race over and under obstacles, untying bags of puzzle pieces as they go. The first three to cross the finish line will battle it out to complete a snake puzzle that doesn't seem too complicated. Pete and Jeff cross first, with Penner literally diving to beat Skupin out for that last spot. Though Penner starts off slow with the puzzle, the minute it clicks, there's no stopping him. In an ending Probst could only dream of, Penner squeaks out the win and takes his first individual immunity back to camp in three seasons of playing.

Lisa's not about to let Skupin get his torch snuffed without a fight, so she blabs to Pete that Malcolm has the idol. Pete seems genuinely upset by this news, since he shared with Malcolm in the first five minutes he joined Tandang that he had the idol. Well, no one told you to do that! When Pete confronts him about it, Malcolm goes with a horrible strategy: deny, deny, deny. Eventually, it's going to have to come out that you have the idol, buddy. What are you going to say then?

At tribal council, Lisa proudly declares that she told everyone that Malcolm has the idol, saying she had to try to eliminate one of the biggest threats. As players speculate whether or not Malcolm has the idol, he just takes it out and shows it to everyone, promising that he's not going home. At least today. When Probst asks if anyone else has anything they'd like to share, Abi-Maria takes her idol out. What is everyone doing?! Penner and Skupin can't help but love every minute of it because they're literally watching the targets on their backs shrink before their eyes. Right before the vote, Jonathan and Lisa start throwing ideas of who to vote for - Pete or Jeff. You'd think Abi would hand Pete the idol, since they found it together, but there's no chance that's happening. Pete narrowly escapes being sent home and instead, it's Jeff who is blindsided.

Incidentally, why the heck did Penner throw a useless vote Abi-Maria's way?!

Survivor: Philippines airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow Gina @ginascarpa