Lisa Whelchel (left) and Denise Stapley get down and dirty in a fight for food on the "Survivor: Philippines" episode which aired 10/24/12. (Monty Brinton/CBS photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia

After a down and dirty stalemate, Denise Stapley and her Kalabaw castaways feasted on “gourmet” picnic fare in paradise on the Oct. 24, 2012, episode of “Survivor: Philippines.”

Day 14 started out dreary — again — too wet to build a cooking fire. The Tandang Tribe was nearly out of food, since returning player Michael Skupin had been scoopin’ up handfuls of uncooked rice, counting on his inner body temperature to “cook” it in his belly. His teammates were not buying that.

So the day’s Reward Challenge found the two tribes trying to move a giant woven ball across a mud bog into a goal. The first team to score three goals would win a feast of fancy footlong subs, soup, chips and brownies — a welcome change from rice and side dishes scrounged up from local flora and fauna.

Only one problem. With the competitors wrestling each other in the mud while trying to advance the ball, everything came to a standstill for an hour. Lisa Whelchel from “The Facts of Life” fame basically just sat on small but mighty Denise, pinning her in the mud.

Host Jeff Probst finally asked the tribes to think about an “unprecedented” move to end the misery.

The deal: The Kalabaws would claim the win and the picnic, but give all of their remaining rice to the Tandangs. The Kalabaws already had won a boat and fishing gear, so returning player Jonathan Penner assured his team he would catch plenty of fish the next day and they would never miss the rice.

The best part of the picnic, however, wasn’t the food. It was the letters from home, delivered during dinner, that brought all the Kalabaws to tears.

“This is emotional fuel — the motivation to keep going,” Denise said, clutching her letters from Cedar Rapids. “It’s better than food.”

Reality returned the next day, when Jonathan’s catch yielded two tiny fishies barely worthy of an aquarium. His tribe was not amused.

Day 16 brought another team Immunity Challenge. This looked much easier than previous challenges, but of course, looks proved to be deceiving.

Lisa and Denise launched balls into the air, which tribe members scrambled to catch in racquets with nets. The Kalabaws took an early lead, only to be whipped by Denise’s former teammate, Malcolm Freberg, now on the Tandang side. Dang. Once again, Denise found herself back at Tribal Council, having to vote another person off the island.

Much plotting and pondering broke out among the splinter alliances within the Tribe, during which Jonathan said he “loved how hard” Denise worked, telling the others “with Denise, we at least have a chance to win. Katie’s gotta go.”

And off went beauty queen/student Katie Hanson, 21, banished back to civilization at the University of Delaware in Newark.

Even though Denise worried about being “the new kid on the block, last hired/first fired,” she survived another round.

Tune in next Wednesday, Oct. 31, to see more tricks and treats on her quest for a million-dollar payoff.

“Survivor: Philippines” airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS-TV.

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia

Denise Stapley of Cedar Rapids shows her grit on "Survivor: Philippines" on CBS-TV. (CBS photo)

Despite garnering the first vote to kick her off the island, Denise Stapley of Cedar Rapids survived her new team’s first trip to Tribal Council on Wednesday’s fifth episode of “Survivor: Philippines.” (10/17/12)

Therapist Stapley and bartender Malcolm Freberg of Hermosa Beach, Calif., were the last to survive their decimated Matsing Tribe. Four other teammates were sent home from the CBS-TV endurance test in which 18 contestants were dropped on a wickedly remote island in the Philippines archipelago.

It’s a tough test. Rain has plagued the castaways nearly every day, as they struggle to keep warm and keep alive in the game of strategy, skill and strength, leading to a million-dollar payoff. They make do, building shelters, fires and meals from the natural resources. The Matsings won no creature comforts, having lost all previous Immunity Challenges. No tarps, fire kits, fishing kits or steaks for Denise and Malcolm.

All that changed, however, when the Matsing Tribe was officially dissolved in Episode 5. Through a blind drawing, Denise was sent to the Kalabawas and Malcolm became a Tandang.

“I’ve got a new family,” Denise said. “I feel an awesome vibe about the group already.” (See this video for more on her reassignment)

The Kalabawa ladies were thrilled to have Denise on their side, the men a little skeptical of her small size, but grateful for her mettle and smart contributions to her previous group. Returning player Jonathan Penner, 50, a writer from Los Angeles, called her “a hell of a competitor.”

The show’s producers agree. For the third straight week, Denise was in the running for player of the week, to be determined by viewer voting.

The Tandangs welcomed the strapping Malcolm with cheers, enticed by for his youth and strength. Unbeknownst to them, he also found his previous tribe’s hidden immunity idol, which he can play if he fears he’s about to be kicked off the island. Denise doesn’t have that ace in her pocket.

Each quickly worked to find their place in their new tribe. Malcolm strategized to be a friend to all alliances and enemy to none. Denise aligned with the Kalabaw power players, while trying not to alienate the mostly whiny, catty women.

Her strategy worked. After her team lost by mere seconds in an obstacle course immunity challenge — where, again, Denise proved a mighty competitor — her team kicked off Sarah Dawson, 28, an insurance sales rep from Silver Spring, Md.

Dawsom seemed genuinely shocked — especially since everyone had blamed the team’s game loss on slowpoke Katie Hanson, 22, a former Miss Delaware USA from Newark, Del. (Small world trivia: I’ve been to Newark a zillion times. That’s where my big brother’s family lives, and Katie is a senior at the University of Delaware, where my nieces graduated a couple years ahead of her.)

Dawson voted to kick off the newcomer, Denise, but everybody else voted Dawson back to civilization. That’s where another Kalabaw went of her own accord. Earlier in the day, Dana Lambert, 32, a cosmetologist from Winston-Salem, N.C., took herself out of the game to seek medical attention. Wracked with pain, fever, nausea and vomiting, the slight-built tough-girl just couldn’t tough it out.

Tune in next week to see what it takes to survive “Survivor.” The show airs at 7 p.m. Central time on CBS.

HINT: Denise can’t discuss the ins and outcomes yet, but she did offer up this Facebook tease: “And just a heads up … next week is a KILLER challenge!”