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The challenge begins, and Tandang’s Pete and Michael are the first to get back with their sled, followed by Jeff Kent and Carter. Russell and Angie are far behind, because not only do they have Angie, but their rope gets caught up in the sled and they didn’t stack the puzzle pieces properly, so they fall off the back. On the next leg, Katie and Jonathan from Kalabaw manage to pass RC and Artis from Tandang, and Malcolm and Roxy manage to make up a lot of ground on the other tribes, despite Malcolm having to do it mostly on his own. On the last leg, Jeff Kent and Carter are first back, continuing Kalabaw’s lead, with Pete and Michael from Tandang back second and Russell and Angie from Matsing in third. Angie, who ran the first leg, can’t even pull the sled – she is reduced to going behind and pushing, like Roxy before her – and after her piece is done, she goes and passes out in the shade. Why make Angie run twice? Why not Malcolm, who volunteered, or Denise, who didn’t run?

All three teams begin solving their puzzles and they are all pretty close with Kalabaw leading at the first puzzle. However, on the second puzzle, Jeff Kent and Jonathan seem to be trying to solve things themselves rather than listen to their caller Dana, and PC and Pete from Tandang gets done first. Matsing is second, with Kalabaw just behind. Tandang continues their lead through the last puzzle and comes in first, and Kalabaw just scrapes past Matsing for the consolation prize. Phew! Tandang and Kalabaw go to get their prizes and chicken idols – Artis hugs his pillow – while Matsing is off to Tribal Council again.

Russell slams his puzzle piece to the ground. Probst asks Russell about his frustration, and Russell spouts a bunch of motivational claptrap about how he is sick of this and can’t handle this and either go hard or go home, and how the other tribes “can’t beat us, they shouldn’t beat us.” Probst points out that they have beaten Matsing twice, and Russell says that it’s because Matsing hasn’t decided that they are “unbeatable. They gotta get their heads out of their butts or go home.” But as we saw last week, it’s not just about will power, it’s about picking the right people to do the right tasks. So after tonight Matsing will be down to four members, guaranteeing a tribe switcheroo in a couple of episodes.

Back at camp, Matsing bemoans their loss. Russell interviews to complain about Angie “the beauty queen,” and Roxy “I have not had enough water to drink today.” Roxy’s excuse is pathetic, because challenges aren't a surprise, but why ask her to do more than she's capable of even if she were hydrated? He apologizes to his tribe for losing it, and for the profanity of the p-word. Russell says in interview that he needs Roxy because she’s the only one who keeps him informed. For her part, Roxy is embarrassed by Angie’s challenge effort of passing out, and in interview goes on to complain about how Malcolm and Angie “are too busy being up each other’s butts”. I’m sure things aren’t moving quite that fast.

On the beach, Roxy is carping to Russell about how Angie is “playing a cheap game” and has “no skills at all” and just “show the boobs, somebody will fall for it.” Malcolm and Angie are watching, and Malcolm observes that Roxy is “going gangsta,” a phrase I don’t think he’d use if Roxy weren’t black. Angie doesn’t have a clue what Roxy is talking about, even after Malcolm says it is about the “sleeping situation.” After a confused gaze, it finally clicks that Roxy is pushing to get rid of Angie. Snuggling or not, Malcolm sure picked the right person to take to the end. Malcolm interviews that he thought Roxy was going home, but she is still fighting. He shamefacedly admits that he knows he shouldn’t be cuddling with Angie but smirks that “if a good-looking blonde girl’s going to put her arm and leg over me, I’m not going to push her away”. So much for that borderline sociopathic game he was planning to play.

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