Post by BCandScott on Apr 7, 2006 17:38:40 GMT -5
WARNING - If you thought I was aggravated by last week's episode...you ain't seen nothin' yet. I'm actually glad the crazy tenant upstairs moved out so she can sit up there listening to me rant and rave and think "I'M" the crazy one. Hah.
The recap of last week starts off with the cutest little sting ray you ever did see leaping out of the water and just soaring over the sea for a moment before diving back into the waves. I love those things. There's an aquarium in Covington, KY where they have a pool where you can pet the rays. They swim up and hold up their flippers for you to pet them. I want to keep thinking about that happy little ray. It distracts me from the episode I'm about to summarize.
We relive the "merge". It doesn't seem to me to be much of a merge actually, more a forced joining of two tribes who will never find any cohesion. Once again, we watch in horror as Terry's ham fisted negotiations ruin any chance whatsoever of getting anyone to come over and vote with La Mina. I doubt any of them would have switched anyway, because as Cirie so aptly puts it, he had nothing to offer. Still, a little time reading the people and interactions might have tipped him off to the animosity that Danielle and Courtney have toward Shane, or the fact that Shane is not the leader of Casaya, but actually Aras is pulling all the strings. But no, Terry goes in and says, "hey, want to flop to our side and not be worried a couple of votes?" Of course, none of Casaya was worried in the first place, and looking at the four La Mina's, they figure they already have several votes worth of carefree existence anyway. All Terry accomplishes is that he makes his dwindling team look desperate. Then he allows Nick to be voted off when he could have saved him. Austin thought he was the one going and told the entire tribe he had faked weakness in the immunity challenge.
Back at camp, Austin is in shock. He didn't think he would still be here. He worries that people won't trust him because he admitted to faking weakness in the challenge. This appears to be true to a certain extent. Aras, Courtney and Danielle are out hunting snails and Aras makes the comments that the snails are like La Mina, "slimy and hard to get out". The girls laugh and they discuss Austin being a "real slimer" and La Mina being really cut throat. Aras tells them that Austin will be trying to work them and that they must remember not to reveal anything.
Terry is still thinking he's doing great. He comments on the other tribe thinking they have the numbers, but he grins ear to ear and tells Sally that "things may change". He believes he can now flip TWO of the former Casayas to save the rest of the La Minas. He is obviously not getting enough food because he is completely delusional.
Tree Mail:
Skill can win a boat race
and making tough decisions takes some guts
but in political battle
you'll always deal with nuts.
Sally says she really hopes that the challenge creates some conflict between the Casaya members so that the La Minas have a better chance of turning them for the vote.
The tribe will be divided into three teams of three members each. Each team has 100 coconuts and a boat anchored out in the surf. Each team must take their coconuts and load them into the two boats of the other teams by walking out in the waist deep water and putting them in the boat using only their arms to carry as many as they can. Once they have loaded all 100 coconuts into the other boats, they must paddle their boat out to a buoy with a tribal flag and a fishing net and retrieve them. Then they must return to shore, tie their boat back up and use the fishing net to take the coconuts in their boat and bring them ashore, unloading them into a box. The first tribe to complete the challenge and place their flag on top of their pile of coconuts and have all tribe members on the mat, wins. Putting more coconuts in a teams boat will slow them down in offloading the coconuts so there is some strategy in where one puts one's coconuts.
They are playing for a reward of breakfast. They will be picked up by boat, taken to a beautiful spot where they will be served breakfast in bed. Bacon, eggs, rolls, croissants, etc. Also, the winning tribe will decide who must go to exile island.
They are divided into three groups:
Aras, Sally and Bruce
Cirie, Danielle, and Courtney
Shane, Terry and Austin
Jeff reminds them that if they drop a coconut, they must pick it up and ALL of their coconuts must be put in someone's boat. Aras and Danielle are not on the same team, but Aras is giving Danielle orders where to put the coconuts. Jeff notices and comments. The girls are falling behind. They just can't carry as many of the coconuts as the guys. I have to comment also that Shane is wearing a speedo or something that prominently displays his, er....em, uh....package...and it's grossing me out. Aras, Sally and Bruce are ahead coming back from flag retrieval. Terry, Austin and Shane decide to make two trips hauling the coconuts. Sally, Aras and Bruce decide to take all of their coconuts in one trip with the fishnet. Jeff says, "Remember, you have to have your tribal flag to finish." This reminds Sally that the flag is still in their boat and she runs to retrieve it while Bruce and Aras finish dumping the coconuts into the box. It is now a race between Sally coming up the beach and Terry, Shane and Austin unloading their second, and final trip of coconuts in the fishnet. It's down to the last second, but Sally wins out, managing to get the flag on their pile of coconuts.
Now the winners much choose one person from each team to go to exile island. They select Austin and Danielle. Danielle looks thrilled to pieces when Aras says her name. He later explains that he chose her because she was the toughest of the three and he believed she would handle it better.
The next morning the camp is flooded, as usual. It's raining. And raining. Sally says it's going to be really interesting having breakfast in bed with Bruce and Aras. Aras is really antsy wanting the boat to come soon but he also realizes he exposed his "strength" in the challenge, making himself a target. Finally the boat arrives. They huddle in the front of the boat in the rain and are taken to a sandbar where a beautiful canopy bed is set up.....soaking wet. Sally can't believe it. She's completely frustrated that this is their "breakfast in bed" reward. They get in bed anyway, Sally between Bruce and Aras and someone brings them a tray of rolls followed by coffee and then tray after tray of food, French toast, butter, jelly, fruit, croissants, bacon. Sally admits that she never thought she could be so cold and wet and in bed with two strange men and be so comfortable. The food has turned her frustration into joy. All of them eat and eat and eat.
Back in camp Shane and Terry are huddled around the fire. Shane looks completely wiped out....or stoned...or both. He's looking crazier by the day. Terry comments that he imagines Danielle and Austin are hating life right about now. You can just tell that Terry, that glib devil, is about to coyly try to get information from Shane. So, he says "So, who do you like in the final four?" He's so sly!
Shane says, hard to say....you could have that idol. Terry responds that the idol could only get you so far. Gosh, these guys are so amazingly clever, so witty, so sly with their words, playing their cards close to the chest. Shane says "I think it will be me, Aras, Cirie and Courtney." Oh right, we're talking about Shane here, the Island Reuters service. Terry is thrilled because now he knows that Danielle and Bruce are the last two on the pecking order and he thinks he can now, using his clever manipulative mind control conversational techniques (hey, worked on Shane, didn't it?) to get them to flop over and vote with the 3 remaining La Minas. I'm beginning to think that Terry has done to many high altitude flights or something.
The reward winners return. Cirie doesn't want to think about breakfast because she doesn't want to "hate them any more than" she does now. Of course, THEY want to talk about breakfast. And they do, lolling about in the shelter and showing off their swollen bellies. Cirie says "then we had to listen to the stories of chocolate croissants and sausages." She is literally gritting her teeth. Sally says she had 15 strips of bacon and then she just couldn't eat anymore.
Shane interjects, "You have quality problems. 'I couldn't finish my bacon because there was too much.'" He shakes his head. Cirie says that they shouldn't have to listen to that while they are sitting there with nothing to eat but beans.
We cut to Exile Island. It is a living hell. It is raining non stop there and Austin and Danielle can do nothing but huddle together for warmth. There can be no fire, no searching for the idol. They are, however, bonding. The two of them are so miserable. The are under a tree, but are still completely soaked the entire time. Austin comments that it forced him into the quickest bonding experience of his life. He and Danielle got a long great. He comments that she is very strong, and he is proud of her. She says that of all the people to be stuck with, she is glad it was Austin. She says that logically, Austin would be a good backup for her if her other alliance went sour.
It's Day 21. Terry and Sally are talking about Austin and Danielle being out on Exile Island. Terry says it would suck if they didn't have fire. (They didn't.) Sally wonders if they were able to spend any time looking for the immunity idol. She wonders what would happen if the two of them found it. Who would get it. Terry confesses, "I have it." Sally says "Shut...Up." She says she nearly pooped her pants when he told her. He says he found it in about 20 minutes. Sally is thrilled. She says that she knows now that Terry can save himself and they can send one of the other tribe home. She also thinks that if Terry wins immunity, he can give the idol to her or Austin and save them. It doesn't seem to have dawned on her that he COULD have saved Nick and that they would only have to convince ONE person to change their vote to be able to swing the whole game around.
Danielle and Austin return to the immunity challenge looking completely exhausted. They say it rained the entire time and they were cold and miserable and had no sleep.
The immunity challenge is a race in stages. First stage all nine must dig under a very low (on the ground) rail of a fence and get under that rail and get to a finish mat. All nine will compete but only six of them will move to the next round.
Second round begins with a brain teaser placing painted stones of different colors into three rows and columns based on logic clues they are given. Once the puzzle is complete, they must run through a narrow opening and then go up and over a sand hill to arrive at a maze. They must go through the maze and over another sandhill to the finish mat. Only the first three through this round will move on.
The third round, the three remaining competitors must go across a rope bridge using two planks, picking the one up from behind them and putting it in front of them to move forward and so on. At the end of the bridge, they jump off a platform into water. They swim across the water and must climb up a steep sand bank on the other side. The first two to finish move to the final round.
The last two competitors must race through a series of tunnels and towers that moves both horizontally and vertically and intersects at two points with the other person's course. The first one to finish wins immunity, guaranteeing a 1 in 8 chance at 1,000,000 dollars.
Aras digs his hole under the fence, but not deep enough and he gets stuck under the fence. He remains stuck while Sally, Danielle, Courtney, Terry, Shane, and finally Bruce all finish, completing the six people moving on to the next round.
Austin finishes the brain teaser first, followed by Sally, and then Terry, Danielle and Shane. Finally all of them are in the maze. Sally is first through, Austin is through and Terry. All three of the remaining competitors are the old La Mina tribe.
Terry and Sally move quicker on the rope bridge. Of course Austin is exhausted from Exile Island. He's still hanging in there, though. Sally and Terry complete the rope bridge first and dive into the water. Terry is over the sandhill a little faster than Sally but the two of them move on to the towers and tunnels.
Terry beats Sally to the first intersection of the courses and Sally has to wait. Terry has a lead going into the final moments where they must dig out of the last tunnel and Terry does a little somersault and lands on his mat winning immunity again. Again. Terry. Again. Terry, who has the immunity idol. Terry who could have let Sally win so that the Casayas would try to vote him off and then he would use the immunity idol to get rid of one of the Casayas instead. Terry, who could give the idol to Austin to protect him from the vote so that they would keep their three people together and still have a ghost of a chance. Terry, who could have saved Nick last week, sending Shane home. Terry who could have turned the game on it's ear, and didn't.
Gitanos slog back into camp. Danielle is angry at Aras for sending her to Exile Island. He tells her she is tough as nails. She says he has no idea how she suffered. Courtney asks if Danielle and Austin are bonded for life and Danielle says they really are.
Austin tells Terry he really kicked ass today at the challenge. Austin says he knew that immunity was vital for him and that when Terry won, he knew it was probably the end for him. Terry is trying to figure out how best to use the immunity idol. (Geez, Terry, you've already failed to use it to the best advantage. Almost anything you do now will be too little too late, but hey, you can maybe save Austin tonight and at least keep the three of your alliance in tact and shake up the Casayas a little bit.) Terry asks Austin if he made any headway with Danielle on Exile Island and Austin says that he knows they developed a lot of respect for each other out there. Terry then announces his brilliant plan. He wants to offer to GIVE the immunity idol to Danielle if she will switch her vote. WHAT?
Yep, this is the plan that Terry came up with. (I'm telling you high altitude flying, or maybe too many G force barrel rolls or something.) They need to switch two people over to their side to have the numbers to control who goes home. He thinks they can tell Bruce and Danielle that they are the low men on the totem pole per his conversation with Shane where Shane told him the final four would be Shane, Aras, Courtney and Cirie. They think Bruce will come willingly to the La Mina group and that they can bribe Danielle by GIVING her the immunity idol for switching her vote. (Tell me this, why the heck would he do that when they can nose around and know who the others are voting for. Maybe Danielle will tell Austin since they have developed a bond. Then Terry gives the idol to that person, let's say Austin. Then when the Casayas all vote for Austin, the three La Minas vote for Aras. Wow, Austin whips out the immunity idol and Aras goes home. Why not give the immunity idol to someone who is a friend...guaranteeing that your group remains in tact? Why on earth offer it to someone else, letting the other tribe know you have it. Well, I guess that pretty much guarantees that unless Sally wins immunity, she's gone next week because even if you don't win it, they KNOW now to vote for Sally, right? I'm just stunned that he came up with this plan.)
Austin doesn't quite get it either. He thinks Terry is great. Terry and Austin go to Bruce and tell him that Shane has told them the planned final four and it does not include Bruce. Bruce listens and seems aggravated by this news. Bruce likes and respects Terry. If the Casayas have him at the bottom of the pecking order, then Casaya broke their trust with him. He'll think about it.
Aras goes to Courtney and Cirie and tells them they need to vote Sally off tonight instead of Austin as planned. Aras says that if anyone has the immunity idol it is Terry. They will be expecting the Casayas to vote off Austin. Terry, having won immunity will give Austin the immunity idol (nobody seems to wonder why he didn't give it to Nick last week) and then when that idol is presented after the vote to throw Austin off the tribe, either Aras or Shane will be the one with the next highest number of votes. He says that they will not expect them to vote off Sally, so she will not have the idol given to her by Terry. Courtney completely disagrees. She says that Terry isn't going to give the idol to anyone. It's an individual game right now and he needs that idol in his back pocket. She says it would be insane to not get rid of Austin this time because he is too strong and has developed a bond with Danielle making him a threat. Courtney says she is not going through with his stupid idea. Cirie wisely breaks them up before the argument gets worse, sending them off on a sort of time out from each other.
Aras insists that Courtney has not shown any intelligence at all since she's been out there and he can't believe that the Casayas are not willing to do anything to protect the "guys" on the tribe. Courtney says, well, if Aras goes, we still have the numbers and after all, he has to go sometime.
Austin goes to Danielle and lays down in the shelter with her and tells her he needs to talk. He reminds her they spent 48 hours together and she knows he's an honest person. (How honest do you have to be to say "this sucks" over and over when it's pouring down rain, cold, you got no fire and no shelter, etc.?) He asks her if she wants to know why she was picked to go to Exile Island. He explains they made a bet with Terry that the final four would be Shane, Aras, Courtney and Cirie and that she and Bruce are targeted to be out as soon as the La Minas are gone. He then tells her that Terry has the idol and he is willing to give it to her. Terry has joined them and shows her the idol. He explains that if she votes with them against Aras tonight, he will give her the idol so that she will be safe when they decide they want to vote her off. Danielle is stunned. She admits she doesn't really trust Aras and that this would be an opportunity to really change the game.
Aras gets the Casayas together and says "I want to make sure we are on the same page. Sally goes. Period." Courtney does not agree.
The La Minas watch them from the other side of camp and Sally observes that they are probably deciding who they are going to vote for. Austin tells Terry that he should give one of them the idol for the night if they are not able to get anyone to commit to a flop vote. (Well, duh. That's a given.) Terry responds, "Let's see what happens."
Tribal council begins with Jeff questioning Aras about the reward challenge and how it was pretty obvious that Aras and Danielle were working together even though they were on different teams. Aras says that the plan was for both the women's team and his team to load up the men's boat giving both of their teams a better shot at winning. Cirie points out that actually it was more like they ended up playing for Aras because they ended up not having a chance and Aras won. She smiles and mouths "Sorry, Aras" over her shoulder at him while he looks kind of stunned. Jeff says it was tough putting themselves out on a limb like that because it leaves them exposed.
Jeff says that while Aras, Sally and Bruce were having breakfast, Danielle and Austin were in hell. He asks Austin if it's too soon to say that an experience like that, on Exile Island, builds character or would he need some time away before being able to look at it objectively. Austin says when he looks back on his Survivor experience, even if he won a million dollars, the first thing he would think about would be those three nights. He adds he never had a more character building, trying time in his life. All through this Danielle nods her agreement. Jeff asks Danielle whether when you are in something like that with a stranger, does all that melt away and you are suddenly bonded? Danielle says they had a great bonding experience. Shane and Aras look nervous.
Cirie says the tribe is getting along fine until the day for tribal council because you see the split between Casaya and La Mina. Courtney says that anyone playing the game right would be thinking ahead and wondering whether they need to make a change in who they are allied with. Shane says that one person flopping would be a complete shock, but two people flopping would be completely impossible. He says that the whole immunity idol thing could pop up at any time. Danielle says that she goes with her gut. Bruce says he appreciates the six that he is with but in the back of his mind he may be the first of them to go. Survivor lures us into a moment of excitement by giving us closeups of Danielle biting her lip and Bruce contemplating what to do and Jeff mentions that immunity idol again.
OK, ok, I might be able to forgive Terry here if 1) Danielle and Bruce really do flop; or 2) Terry has given the immunity idol to Terry or Sally to save them. I will still regret he didn't save Nick the last time, but I will realize that he's been without food and stuff and maybe he's really tired and not thinking completely clearly and that he realized that he has the power to keep his alliance of three in tact to fight for the chance to get someone else to vote with them. I am hopeful. I am optimistic. Almost.
They vote. We even get to see Bruce making a big letter "A" as he begins writing his vote. Maybe it's Aras! Or maybe it's Austin. Jeff gets the votes and proceeds to read them off. As we might have expected the vote is as follows:
Aras votes Austin
Courtney votes Austin
Shane votes Austin
Cirie votes Austin
Danielle votes.....Austin
Bruce votes.....AUSTIN
d**n.
Austin votes Aras
Terry (who grins like an idiot as the votes are read either because he gave Austin the Idol or he's an idiot) votes Aras
Sally votes Aras
Jeff says, Austin is the 8th person voted out of Survivor Exile Island and the first member of our jury. Austin is fumbling around in his bag. COULD IT BE? Does he have it? He steps back and hugs a few people and gets his torch. Jeff says, Austin, the tribe has spoken and snuffs out his torch.
Once again, Terry could have saved Austin. He chose not to. I wonder who he's going to offer the idol to next. I assume it will be Aras since he seems to be incapable of helping anyone of his own alliance. I am so seriously disgusted by this, I can hardly stand it. I would root for Sally, because I do like her, but she hasn't got a chance. I can only hope the women decide to turn this thing around. That would put Courtney, Danielle, Cirie, and Sally against, Aras, Shane, Bruce and Terry. It could work.
So, I now am rooting for Cirie to win this thing.
The preview of next week looks fun. We are told Terry's arrogance is irritating his tribe mates. Heck, it's been irritating me for two weeks so this is no surprise. Apparently he is saying something to them about "Well, when I kick your butt in the next immunity challenge." He certainly has a way with words, that Terry. A master of finesse. Jeff says "A twist at the immunity challenge divides the confident from the concerned." Terry and Sally look concerned.
Then something really terrible happens. REALLY TERRIBLE. We hear Jeff tell us that Shane has a medical question for the nurse. Cirie is walking toward Shane laughing as he drops his pants and holds his shirt up. WE are looking at his butt blurred out. Cirie is getting a full monty frontal. She is laughing, holding her hand over her mouth. (I really hopes she wins. After seeing that, she really deserves to win.) Shane then says "I am having a chafing issue."
Next week is the "Medical Emergency" episode. Is it Shane's chafing issue? Is it Cirie's post traumatic stress disorder from viewing Shane's chafing issue? Does Sally suddenly realize that Terry could have saved Nick and subsequently Terry and work him over with the machete? Tune in next week for the answers to these questions and more.
The recap of last week starts off with the cutest little sting ray you ever did see leaping out of the water and just soaring over the sea for a moment before diving back into the waves. I love those things. There's an aquarium in Covington, KY where they have a pool where you can pet the rays. They swim up and hold up their flippers for you to pet them. I want to keep thinking about that happy little ray. It distracts me from the episode I'm about to summarize.
We relive the "merge". It doesn't seem to me to be much of a merge actually, more a forced joining of two tribes who will never find any cohesion. Once again, we watch in horror as Terry's ham fisted negotiations ruin any chance whatsoever of getting anyone to come over and vote with La Mina. I doubt any of them would have switched anyway, because as Cirie so aptly puts it, he had nothing to offer. Still, a little time reading the people and interactions might have tipped him off to the animosity that Danielle and Courtney have toward Shane, or the fact that Shane is not the leader of Casaya, but actually Aras is pulling all the strings. But no, Terry goes in and says, "hey, want to flop to our side and not be worried a couple of votes?" Of course, none of Casaya was worried in the first place, and looking at the four La Mina's, they figure they already have several votes worth of carefree existence anyway. All Terry accomplishes is that he makes his dwindling team look desperate. Then he allows Nick to be voted off when he could have saved him. Austin thought he was the one going and told the entire tribe he had faked weakness in the immunity challenge.
Back at camp, Austin is in shock. He didn't think he would still be here. He worries that people won't trust him because he admitted to faking weakness in the challenge. This appears to be true to a certain extent. Aras, Courtney and Danielle are out hunting snails and Aras makes the comments that the snails are like La Mina, "slimy and hard to get out". The girls laugh and they discuss Austin being a "real slimer" and La Mina being really cut throat. Aras tells them that Austin will be trying to work them and that they must remember not to reveal anything.
Terry is still thinking he's doing great. He comments on the other tribe thinking they have the numbers, but he grins ear to ear and tells Sally that "things may change". He believes he can now flip TWO of the former Casayas to save the rest of the La Minas. He is obviously not getting enough food because he is completely delusional.
Tree Mail:
Skill can win a boat race
and making tough decisions takes some guts
but in political battle
you'll always deal with nuts.
Sally says she really hopes that the challenge creates some conflict between the Casaya members so that the La Minas have a better chance of turning them for the vote.
The tribe will be divided into three teams of three members each. Each team has 100 coconuts and a boat anchored out in the surf. Each team must take their coconuts and load them into the two boats of the other teams by walking out in the waist deep water and putting them in the boat using only their arms to carry as many as they can. Once they have loaded all 100 coconuts into the other boats, they must paddle their boat out to a buoy with a tribal flag and a fishing net and retrieve them. Then they must return to shore, tie their boat back up and use the fishing net to take the coconuts in their boat and bring them ashore, unloading them into a box. The first tribe to complete the challenge and place their flag on top of their pile of coconuts and have all tribe members on the mat, wins. Putting more coconuts in a teams boat will slow them down in offloading the coconuts so there is some strategy in where one puts one's coconuts.
They are playing for a reward of breakfast. They will be picked up by boat, taken to a beautiful spot where they will be served breakfast in bed. Bacon, eggs, rolls, croissants, etc. Also, the winning tribe will decide who must go to exile island.
They are divided into three groups:
Aras, Sally and Bruce
Cirie, Danielle, and Courtney
Shane, Terry and Austin
Jeff reminds them that if they drop a coconut, they must pick it up and ALL of their coconuts must be put in someone's boat. Aras and Danielle are not on the same team, but Aras is giving Danielle orders where to put the coconuts. Jeff notices and comments. The girls are falling behind. They just can't carry as many of the coconuts as the guys. I have to comment also that Shane is wearing a speedo or something that prominently displays his, er....em, uh....package...and it's grossing me out. Aras, Sally and Bruce are ahead coming back from flag retrieval. Terry, Austin and Shane decide to make two trips hauling the coconuts. Sally, Aras and Bruce decide to take all of their coconuts in one trip with the fishnet. Jeff says, "Remember, you have to have your tribal flag to finish." This reminds Sally that the flag is still in their boat and she runs to retrieve it while Bruce and Aras finish dumping the coconuts into the box. It is now a race between Sally coming up the beach and Terry, Shane and Austin unloading their second, and final trip of coconuts in the fishnet. It's down to the last second, but Sally wins out, managing to get the flag on their pile of coconuts.
Now the winners much choose one person from each team to go to exile island. They select Austin and Danielle. Danielle looks thrilled to pieces when Aras says her name. He later explains that he chose her because she was the toughest of the three and he believed she would handle it better.
The next morning the camp is flooded, as usual. It's raining. And raining. Sally says it's going to be really interesting having breakfast in bed with Bruce and Aras. Aras is really antsy wanting the boat to come soon but he also realizes he exposed his "strength" in the challenge, making himself a target. Finally the boat arrives. They huddle in the front of the boat in the rain and are taken to a sandbar where a beautiful canopy bed is set up.....soaking wet. Sally can't believe it. She's completely frustrated that this is their "breakfast in bed" reward. They get in bed anyway, Sally between Bruce and Aras and someone brings them a tray of rolls followed by coffee and then tray after tray of food, French toast, butter, jelly, fruit, croissants, bacon. Sally admits that she never thought she could be so cold and wet and in bed with two strange men and be so comfortable. The food has turned her frustration into joy. All of them eat and eat and eat.
Back in camp Shane and Terry are huddled around the fire. Shane looks completely wiped out....or stoned...or both. He's looking crazier by the day. Terry comments that he imagines Danielle and Austin are hating life right about now. You can just tell that Terry, that glib devil, is about to coyly try to get information from Shane. So, he says "So, who do you like in the final four?" He's so sly!
Shane says, hard to say....you could have that idol. Terry responds that the idol could only get you so far. Gosh, these guys are so amazingly clever, so witty, so sly with their words, playing their cards close to the chest. Shane says "I think it will be me, Aras, Cirie and Courtney." Oh right, we're talking about Shane here, the Island Reuters service. Terry is thrilled because now he knows that Danielle and Bruce are the last two on the pecking order and he thinks he can now, using his clever manipulative mind control conversational techniques (hey, worked on Shane, didn't it?) to get them to flop over and vote with the 3 remaining La Minas. I'm beginning to think that Terry has done to many high altitude flights or something.
The reward winners return. Cirie doesn't want to think about breakfast because she doesn't want to "hate them any more than" she does now. Of course, THEY want to talk about breakfast. And they do, lolling about in the shelter and showing off their swollen bellies. Cirie says "then we had to listen to the stories of chocolate croissants and sausages." She is literally gritting her teeth. Sally says she had 15 strips of bacon and then she just couldn't eat anymore.
Shane interjects, "You have quality problems. 'I couldn't finish my bacon because there was too much.'" He shakes his head. Cirie says that they shouldn't have to listen to that while they are sitting there with nothing to eat but beans.
We cut to Exile Island. It is a living hell. It is raining non stop there and Austin and Danielle can do nothing but huddle together for warmth. There can be no fire, no searching for the idol. They are, however, bonding. The two of them are so miserable. The are under a tree, but are still completely soaked the entire time. Austin comments that it forced him into the quickest bonding experience of his life. He and Danielle got a long great. He comments that she is very strong, and he is proud of her. She says that of all the people to be stuck with, she is glad it was Austin. She says that logically, Austin would be a good backup for her if her other alliance went sour.
It's Day 21. Terry and Sally are talking about Austin and Danielle being out on Exile Island. Terry says it would suck if they didn't have fire. (They didn't.) Sally wonders if they were able to spend any time looking for the immunity idol. She wonders what would happen if the two of them found it. Who would get it. Terry confesses, "I have it." Sally says "Shut...Up." She says she nearly pooped her pants when he told her. He says he found it in about 20 minutes. Sally is thrilled. She says that she knows now that Terry can save himself and they can send one of the other tribe home. She also thinks that if Terry wins immunity, he can give the idol to her or Austin and save them. It doesn't seem to have dawned on her that he COULD have saved Nick and that they would only have to convince ONE person to change their vote to be able to swing the whole game around.
Danielle and Austin return to the immunity challenge looking completely exhausted. They say it rained the entire time and they were cold and miserable and had no sleep.
The immunity challenge is a race in stages. First stage all nine must dig under a very low (on the ground) rail of a fence and get under that rail and get to a finish mat. All nine will compete but only six of them will move to the next round.
Second round begins with a brain teaser placing painted stones of different colors into three rows and columns based on logic clues they are given. Once the puzzle is complete, they must run through a narrow opening and then go up and over a sand hill to arrive at a maze. They must go through the maze and over another sandhill to the finish mat. Only the first three through this round will move on.
The third round, the three remaining competitors must go across a rope bridge using two planks, picking the one up from behind them and putting it in front of them to move forward and so on. At the end of the bridge, they jump off a platform into water. They swim across the water and must climb up a steep sand bank on the other side. The first two to finish move to the final round.
The last two competitors must race through a series of tunnels and towers that moves both horizontally and vertically and intersects at two points with the other person's course. The first one to finish wins immunity, guaranteeing a 1 in 8 chance at 1,000,000 dollars.
Aras digs his hole under the fence, but not deep enough and he gets stuck under the fence. He remains stuck while Sally, Danielle, Courtney, Terry, Shane, and finally Bruce all finish, completing the six people moving on to the next round.
Austin finishes the brain teaser first, followed by Sally, and then Terry, Danielle and Shane. Finally all of them are in the maze. Sally is first through, Austin is through and Terry. All three of the remaining competitors are the old La Mina tribe.
Terry and Sally move quicker on the rope bridge. Of course Austin is exhausted from Exile Island. He's still hanging in there, though. Sally and Terry complete the rope bridge first and dive into the water. Terry is over the sandhill a little faster than Sally but the two of them move on to the towers and tunnels.
Terry beats Sally to the first intersection of the courses and Sally has to wait. Terry has a lead going into the final moments where they must dig out of the last tunnel and Terry does a little somersault and lands on his mat winning immunity again. Again. Terry. Again. Terry, who has the immunity idol. Terry who could have let Sally win so that the Casayas would try to vote him off and then he would use the immunity idol to get rid of one of the Casayas instead. Terry, who could give the idol to Austin to protect him from the vote so that they would keep their three people together and still have a ghost of a chance. Terry, who could have saved Nick last week, sending Shane home. Terry who could have turned the game on it's ear, and didn't.
Gitanos slog back into camp. Danielle is angry at Aras for sending her to Exile Island. He tells her she is tough as nails. She says he has no idea how she suffered. Courtney asks if Danielle and Austin are bonded for life and Danielle says they really are.
Austin tells Terry he really kicked ass today at the challenge. Austin says he knew that immunity was vital for him and that when Terry won, he knew it was probably the end for him. Terry is trying to figure out how best to use the immunity idol. (Geez, Terry, you've already failed to use it to the best advantage. Almost anything you do now will be too little too late, but hey, you can maybe save Austin tonight and at least keep the three of your alliance in tact and shake up the Casayas a little bit.) Terry asks Austin if he made any headway with Danielle on Exile Island and Austin says that he knows they developed a lot of respect for each other out there. Terry then announces his brilliant plan. He wants to offer to GIVE the immunity idol to Danielle if she will switch her vote. WHAT?
Yep, this is the plan that Terry came up with. (I'm telling you high altitude flying, or maybe too many G force barrel rolls or something.) They need to switch two people over to their side to have the numbers to control who goes home. He thinks they can tell Bruce and Danielle that they are the low men on the totem pole per his conversation with Shane where Shane told him the final four would be Shane, Aras, Courtney and Cirie. They think Bruce will come willingly to the La Mina group and that they can bribe Danielle by GIVING her the immunity idol for switching her vote. (Tell me this, why the heck would he do that when they can nose around and know who the others are voting for. Maybe Danielle will tell Austin since they have developed a bond. Then Terry gives the idol to that person, let's say Austin. Then when the Casayas all vote for Austin, the three La Minas vote for Aras. Wow, Austin whips out the immunity idol and Aras goes home. Why not give the immunity idol to someone who is a friend...guaranteeing that your group remains in tact? Why on earth offer it to someone else, letting the other tribe know you have it. Well, I guess that pretty much guarantees that unless Sally wins immunity, she's gone next week because even if you don't win it, they KNOW now to vote for Sally, right? I'm just stunned that he came up with this plan.)
Austin doesn't quite get it either. He thinks Terry is great. Terry and Austin go to Bruce and tell him that Shane has told them the planned final four and it does not include Bruce. Bruce listens and seems aggravated by this news. Bruce likes and respects Terry. If the Casayas have him at the bottom of the pecking order, then Casaya broke their trust with him. He'll think about it.
Aras goes to Courtney and Cirie and tells them they need to vote Sally off tonight instead of Austin as planned. Aras says that if anyone has the immunity idol it is Terry. They will be expecting the Casayas to vote off Austin. Terry, having won immunity will give Austin the immunity idol (nobody seems to wonder why he didn't give it to Nick last week) and then when that idol is presented after the vote to throw Austin off the tribe, either Aras or Shane will be the one with the next highest number of votes. He says that they will not expect them to vote off Sally, so she will not have the idol given to her by Terry. Courtney completely disagrees. She says that Terry isn't going to give the idol to anyone. It's an individual game right now and he needs that idol in his back pocket. She says it would be insane to not get rid of Austin this time because he is too strong and has developed a bond with Danielle making him a threat. Courtney says she is not going through with his stupid idea. Cirie wisely breaks them up before the argument gets worse, sending them off on a sort of time out from each other.
Aras insists that Courtney has not shown any intelligence at all since she's been out there and he can't believe that the Casayas are not willing to do anything to protect the "guys" on the tribe. Courtney says, well, if Aras goes, we still have the numbers and after all, he has to go sometime.
Austin goes to Danielle and lays down in the shelter with her and tells her he needs to talk. He reminds her they spent 48 hours together and she knows he's an honest person. (How honest do you have to be to say "this sucks" over and over when it's pouring down rain, cold, you got no fire and no shelter, etc.?) He asks her if she wants to know why she was picked to go to Exile Island. He explains they made a bet with Terry that the final four would be Shane, Aras, Courtney and Cirie and that she and Bruce are targeted to be out as soon as the La Minas are gone. He then tells her that Terry has the idol and he is willing to give it to her. Terry has joined them and shows her the idol. He explains that if she votes with them against Aras tonight, he will give her the idol so that she will be safe when they decide they want to vote her off. Danielle is stunned. She admits she doesn't really trust Aras and that this would be an opportunity to really change the game.
Aras gets the Casayas together and says "I want to make sure we are on the same page. Sally goes. Period." Courtney does not agree.
The La Minas watch them from the other side of camp and Sally observes that they are probably deciding who they are going to vote for. Austin tells Terry that he should give one of them the idol for the night if they are not able to get anyone to commit to a flop vote. (Well, duh. That's a given.) Terry responds, "Let's see what happens."
Tribal council begins with Jeff questioning Aras about the reward challenge and how it was pretty obvious that Aras and Danielle were working together even though they were on different teams. Aras says that the plan was for both the women's team and his team to load up the men's boat giving both of their teams a better shot at winning. Cirie points out that actually it was more like they ended up playing for Aras because they ended up not having a chance and Aras won. She smiles and mouths "Sorry, Aras" over her shoulder at him while he looks kind of stunned. Jeff says it was tough putting themselves out on a limb like that because it leaves them exposed.
Jeff says that while Aras, Sally and Bruce were having breakfast, Danielle and Austin were in hell. He asks Austin if it's too soon to say that an experience like that, on Exile Island, builds character or would he need some time away before being able to look at it objectively. Austin says when he looks back on his Survivor experience, even if he won a million dollars, the first thing he would think about would be those three nights. He adds he never had a more character building, trying time in his life. All through this Danielle nods her agreement. Jeff asks Danielle whether when you are in something like that with a stranger, does all that melt away and you are suddenly bonded? Danielle says they had a great bonding experience. Shane and Aras look nervous.
Cirie says the tribe is getting along fine until the day for tribal council because you see the split between Casaya and La Mina. Courtney says that anyone playing the game right would be thinking ahead and wondering whether they need to make a change in who they are allied with. Shane says that one person flopping would be a complete shock, but two people flopping would be completely impossible. He says that the whole immunity idol thing could pop up at any time. Danielle says that she goes with her gut. Bruce says he appreciates the six that he is with but in the back of his mind he may be the first of them to go. Survivor lures us into a moment of excitement by giving us closeups of Danielle biting her lip and Bruce contemplating what to do and Jeff mentions that immunity idol again.
OK, ok, I might be able to forgive Terry here if 1) Danielle and Bruce really do flop; or 2) Terry has given the immunity idol to Terry or Sally to save them. I will still regret he didn't save Nick the last time, but I will realize that he's been without food and stuff and maybe he's really tired and not thinking completely clearly and that he realized that he has the power to keep his alliance of three in tact to fight for the chance to get someone else to vote with them. I am hopeful. I am optimistic. Almost.
They vote. We even get to see Bruce making a big letter "A" as he begins writing his vote. Maybe it's Aras! Or maybe it's Austin. Jeff gets the votes and proceeds to read them off. As we might have expected the vote is as follows:
Aras votes Austin
Courtney votes Austin
Shane votes Austin
Cirie votes Austin
Danielle votes.....Austin
Bruce votes.....AUSTIN
d**n.
Austin votes Aras
Terry (who grins like an idiot as the votes are read either because he gave Austin the Idol or he's an idiot) votes Aras
Sally votes Aras
Jeff says, Austin is the 8th person voted out of Survivor Exile Island and the first member of our jury. Austin is fumbling around in his bag. COULD IT BE? Does he have it? He steps back and hugs a few people and gets his torch. Jeff says, Austin, the tribe has spoken and snuffs out his torch.
Once again, Terry could have saved Austin. He chose not to. I wonder who he's going to offer the idol to next. I assume it will be Aras since he seems to be incapable of helping anyone of his own alliance. I am so seriously disgusted by this, I can hardly stand it. I would root for Sally, because I do like her, but she hasn't got a chance. I can only hope the women decide to turn this thing around. That would put Courtney, Danielle, Cirie, and Sally against, Aras, Shane, Bruce and Terry. It could work.
So, I now am rooting for Cirie to win this thing.
The preview of next week looks fun. We are told Terry's arrogance is irritating his tribe mates. Heck, it's been irritating me for two weeks so this is no surprise. Apparently he is saying something to them about "Well, when I kick your butt in the next immunity challenge." He certainly has a way with words, that Terry. A master of finesse. Jeff says "A twist at the immunity challenge divides the confident from the concerned." Terry and Sally look concerned.
Then something really terrible happens. REALLY TERRIBLE. We hear Jeff tell us that Shane has a medical question for the nurse. Cirie is walking toward Shane laughing as he drops his pants and holds his shirt up. WE are looking at his butt blurred out. Cirie is getting a full monty frontal. She is laughing, holding her hand over her mouth. (I really hopes she wins. After seeing that, she really deserves to win.) Shane then says "I am having a chafing issue."
Next week is the "Medical Emergency" episode. Is it Shane's chafing issue? Is it Cirie's post traumatic stress disorder from viewing Shane's chafing issue? Does Sally suddenly realize that Terry could have saved Nick and subsequently Terry and work him over with the machete? Tune in next week for the answers to these questions and more.