He misused the word. Panic is not a particular emotional state, it is an overpowering sense of fear or anxiety resulting in instinctive action. This was an element of the IC and a minor theme in the episode, but outside of the IC itself there was no actual panicking.Did Andrea panic when she found out from Eddie that she was the boot target of the muscle alliance? No. She felt the anxiety but it did not overpower her, she kept her head in the game and took logical action. Some might call that panic but it actually wasn't.
There is a logic sequence to Malcolm's actions at TC that you are not seeing, he kept his head in the game trying to figure out the right move.
Stealth sold the split vote between Eddie and Reynold to Malcolm as a feint, Malcolm was the actual target at that time.
At 8 to 3 a split vote is a safe tactic.
But Dawn burned Malcolm and Reynold, Stealth knew Reynold had an idol and wanted to flush it out.
Phillip at Tribal goes overboard. Smart to try to flush Reynold's idol, but he also let's Malcolm know that Dawn burned them, he can't help gloating. Shame we didn't get to see how overtly he did that, but it was clear in how things were edited that Malcolm knew the plan was going wrong.
<Malcolm's head> So, Stealth knows it is actually 7 to 4 not 8 to 3. A split vote is too risky at 7 to 4 so there is no split vote. They are trying to flush out Reynold's idol so they aren't actually voting for Reynold, Reynold is safe. Who are they actually targetting? He himself is actually the head of the snake and the one they should be giving the boot. <lightbulb!>
His throwaway vote for Reynold was dumb but he knew Reynold wasn't going anywhere, he should have gone ahead and voted for Andrea, but he was still head in the game after that. When Reynold stands up to waste his idol he makes a calculated move that appeals to Reynold's heroic nature, plays Reynold's idol for himself, preserves the secret that he has an idol. If not for Eddie spilling the beans to Andrea it would have worked out that Andrea would go to the Ponderosa as planned.
That's not panic. Anxiety, sure, but not to the state of panic. He just lacked a key piece of information.
And Phillip just proved again that he is an idiot.