Zhan Hu returned to their camp down a Chicken but up a (self-established) leader.  Dave denied wanting the leadership position, but claimed he only stepped up because no one else at Tribal Council would.  (Well, Peih-gee did enthusiastically volunteer…you were just ignoring her.)  Unfortunately, having someone finally in charge didn’t really improve the situation at their wet, miserable camp.  Dave insisted he didn’t want to ‘belabor’ their work, but spent too much time arguing with certain members over strategy or condescending others over implementation.

At Fei Long, things looked considerably drier and much quieter—that’s if you were able to ignore Jean-Robert’s incessant snoring.  Awake later a strategy session, Jean-Robert piped up and said his team should ‘rest more’.  When Aaron confronted him about his laziness, Jean-Robert assured his team he was valuable because the wheels were continuously ‘churning in his head’.  (Jean-Robert later revealed in private that this was his ‘You Can Only Go Up From Here’ poker strategy.  He wanted them to think he was lazy—that way he could impress them once he did choose to contribute.)  Huh??  Meanwhile, Todd and Amanda formed the first red team alliance.  To make themselves less vulnerable, they wooed Aaron into their group with those two enticing words: ‘Final 3’.  Todd and Amanda were hoping someone more vocal would take the fall should they come under attack later.

Back at the yellow camp, Dave decided making a fire pit was Priority #1.  Unfortunately, constructing said pit would take a lot of energy…energy his teammates did not have because they had not eaten yet.  When it was suggested they build a small fire first to cook some rice, Dave refused.  This refusal put wrestler Ashley into a tizzy forcing her to go a couple verbal rounds with Dave.  Unfortunately, nothing was accomplished and the leader continued on with his pet project.

The two teams later gathered for their Reward Challenge.  Thanks to the pouring rain, their meeting immediately set out to be a wet and risque event—one I’m sure the producers hoped for when they orchestrated it.  Three people from each side would work to push a large wooden ball into the opposite side’s goal.  The competitors could do anything (and I’ll define ‘anything’ later) necessary to prevent the other side from scoring.  The first team to get a ball in won a point.  The team with the first two points would win the challenge.

The rain quickly turned the course into a mud wrestling pit.  At first, it was hilarious to see tribe members steal someone else’s shoe and throw it into the trees.  But things quickly started getting ridiculous from there.  Women who didn’t come with much more than a bra on had to defend what little clothing they had.  Bare chests and bottoms were soon purposefully exposed—and things often times become brutal.  The challenge overall was sometime funny; mostly cringe-inducing.  In the end, it was Fei Long that came up victorious (score 2:0).  For their reward, the red team won fishing gear and a boat.  And as a bonus (?)—they had to temporarily kidnap a member from the other team.  That person would live with them right up until the next Immunity Challenge.  Fei Long chose Jaime (who was given a private scroll to take with her on her journey).

Zhan Hu returned with one less member to their camp—only to discover they now lived in a swamp.  The continuous downpour created a lake out of their unfinished home.  But thankfully Dave was insistent on building his sacred fire pit first, otherwise they wouldn’t have had either a shelter or a fire to come back to.  Their pathetic situation only worsened thanks to Dave and Ashley’s constant bickering.  Eventually, Dave became so frustrated he chose to ‘Take Five’ and leave the camp for a breather.

At Fei Long, Todd made a point of doing a quick inventory check.  He didn’t want their new guest, Jaime, to have a case of the sticky-fingers (apparently their ‘Art of War’ manual encouraged theft).  Unfortunately for the red team, Aaron and Jean-Robert provided their visitor a different advantage when they carelessly fought in front of her.

Later, the interloper find a quiet spot to read her secret scroll.  It instructed her to give someone on Fei Long a clue to a hidden immunity idol.  Jaime eventually chose a sick Leslie because she deemed her the weakest link.  Not knowing Todd was already aligned with two other members, Leslie quickly turned around and shared ‘Lord’s gift’ with him.  Leslie felt she could benefit from his wit.  Although he was stunned by the reveal, Todd agreed to help Leslie find the idol that was supposedly sitting in plain sight (it’s some sort of symbol on their archway).  He was convinced she’d be gone from the island soon because of her illness.  If that was the case, he’d be the only one left holding the clue.

Jaime later returned to Zhan Hu when the two teams reunited for their Immunity Challenge.  For the week’s idol, the two tribes had to use a long Chinese puzzle log to bust open two walls.  Once through, they had to maneuver the log through a maze and then ring a gong for the win.  Although the red team had the initial lead, the yellow team wasn’t too far behind—that is until Dave completely dropped the ball.  The ‘leader’ for some reason ended up looking completely dazed and unaware of what he was supposed to do.  Instead of helping to swing the log into the wall, Dave became completely flustered and gave up.  Frosti tried stepping up, but the damage was really done by that point.  Fei Long came up with another win.

Once Zhan Hu returned to camp, Dave quickly acknowledged his responsibility and apologized to the team.  Regardless of his embarassing performance though, he remained confident he wouldn’t be eliminated at Tribal Council.  He was certain his team would base their decision on overall performance and not on one lousy challenge.  Although it was clear the bickering between Dave and Ashley needed to end so their team could move forward, many of the tribal members were torn between who to choose.  Should they stick with the less-productive Ashley or keep the the condescending, stubborn Dave?  In the end, they decided it was better to have an annoying leader rather than none at all.  LOSER:  Ashley

(You can review last week’s episode here.)
(You can read next week’s episode here.)