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The beginning of the challenge is pretty much a mess. Suffice it to say that Penner is having a really hard time on his leg and Ozzy gets Malakal off to a bit of a lead. The tribes begin building and Malakal is front loading their blockade while Airai is spreading theirs out. It'll be interesting to see which strategy works out. When Jeff says go, the tribes switch and start tearing down. Malakal again is in the lead as they make quick work of the first blockade. Ozzy gets in the tunnel followed by Cirie. As Ozzy and Cirie get caught up at a new blockade, Jason and Eliza get midway through for Airai. It seems after they got through the front loading, Airai just flows through like a stream. As Penner is the last one through for Airai, Ozzy finally gets through, but it's way too little, way too late and Airai wins reward. They then choose Chet to go to Exile Island and pick Jason to join him. Before Jeff dismisses the Airai tribe, he says that the medical team is gonna check out Penner's knee.

She checks the knee and tells him that he's infected. He needs a surgical clean up. As he says that he's not quitting this game, the doctor tells him that antibiotics are not working at this point and he needs treatment in a hospital. She tells him that aside from issues with his knee, if this infection gets in his blood stream, it's potentially fatal. Through angry tears, Jonathan agrees to leave the game to get treatment. He felt like he had a great place in the game and he's pissed that he has to leave. As the tribe bids him a tearful farewell, something happens that, to me anyway, was pretty interesting. We've seen people med-evac'd from the game before, but I've never seen Probst right there to shake their hands and tell them "It's been a pleasure." You can tell he was even upset to see Penner go. I have to tell you, the rest of this season will be a little suckier without Jonathan there. Like him or hate him, he played the game. He played the game hard and he played it the right way. He played the physical, mental and strategic game 100%. He was one of my favorites and I hate to see him go.

We come back from break to an emotional Airai tribe. In one respect, they're happy to have won a great reward. But they lost a very strong member of their tribe. James is very worried about this, as he's now alone with a bunch of women who play a much smarter, more strategic game than he does. He has concerns about making the merge now. As he laments the loss of Jonathan, the Micronesia men show up to improve the camp life. As they land, they introduce themselves as Joe and Edwin. They brought fishing line, vegetables, a new machete, a nest and all kinds of things. Right off the bat, Parvati asks one of them if they're married. What a skank! I mean seriously. There's being flirtatious and kinda cute and there's being just a nasty skank! She is most definitely the latter. Next we see some crab traps set, some fishing and all kinds of food gathering.

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