Survivor: Panama

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Survivor: Panama - Exile Island
Filming Location	Pearl Islands, Panama
Winner	Aras Baskauskas (5-2)
Season run	2006-02-02 – 2006-05-14
Filming Dates	2005-10-31 – 2005-12-09
Number of episodes	14
Number of days	39
Number of survivors	16
Tribes	Casaya La Mina Bayoneta Viveros Gitanos
Season chronology
Previous season	Survivor: Guatemala
Next season	Survivor: Cook Islands

Survivor: Panama - Exile Island ("Survivor: Exile Island" for short) is the twelfth season of Survivor, and takes place in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama. This location was previously used for Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars. Filming began on 31 October 2005 and the season premiered on 2 February 2006 on CBS. The season finale was on 14 May 2006 with the votes revealed live from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. [1]

The season features a new twist that originally came from Survivor: Palau called Exile Island. Each week at least one castaway is banished for the time period between the reward challenge and the immunity challenge on Exile Island. The exile is given a single machete, a flint, a pot and a bucket of non-sanitized water. The island also contained a hidden immunity idol that could be used at tribal council after the votes have been cast. This gave the person who found the idol a strategic advantage because that person can keep the idol secret until he or she was voted off, which would cause the person with the second largest number of votes to be eliminated. As it developed, Terry found the idol and never needed to use it at a vote, but his possession of it appeared to influence how several other people voted.

The game began by splitting the 16 players into four tribes by sex and age: young men (Viveros, wearing green), older men (La Mina, wearing orange), young women (Bayoneta, wearing blue) and older women (Casaya, wearing purple). During the second episode the Viveros and Bayoneta tribes were dissolved and in a schoolyard pick'em with only Casaya and La Mina making two new integrated tribes. The remaining 10 contestants decided on the name Gitanos (wearing black) that was Spanish for "Gypsies". In a rather interesting coincidence, each of the original four tribes was represented in the final four contestants.

On 8 June 2006 Survivor: Panama was made available on Apple's iTunes store.

In a 5-2 vote, Aras Baskauskas defeated Danielle DiLorenzo to take the $1 million prize.

Contents 1 Contestants 2 The game 2.1 Elimination notes 2.2 Exile Notes 2.3 Voting history 2.4 Episode Notes 3 Trivia 4 External links 5 Notes

[edit] Contestants

Contestant	Original Tribe	Episode 2 Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Tina Scheer 45, Hayward, WI	Casaya			Voted out 1st - Day 3	3
Melinda Hyder 32; Sevierville, TN	Casaya	Casaya		Voted out 2nd - Day 6	5
Misty Giles 24, Dallas, TX	Bayoneta	La Mina		Voted out 3rd - Day 8	5
Ruth-Marie Milliman 48, Greenville, SC	Casaya	La Mina		Voted out 4th - Day 11	6
Bobby Mason 32, Los Angeles	Viveros	Casaya		Voted out 5th - Day 14	3
Dan Barry 52, South Hadley, MA	La Mina	La Mina		Voted out 6th - Day 15	3
Nick Stanbury 25, Tempe, AZ	Viveros	La Mina	Gitanos	Voted out 7th - Day 18	6
Austin Carty 24, High Point, NC	Viveros	La Mina		Voted out 8th - Day 21	7
Sally Schumann 27, Chicago	Bayoneta	La Mina		Voted out 9th - Day 24	8
Bruce Kanegai 58, Simi Valley, CA	La Mina	Casaya*		Left due to illness - Day 27	2
Courtney Marit 31, Los Angeles	Bayoneta	Casaya		Voted out 10th - Day 30	4
Shane Powers 35, Los Angeles	La Mina	Casaya		Voted out 11th - Day 33	9
Cirie Fields 34, Walterboro, SC	Casaya	Casaya		Voted out 12th - Day 36	3
Terry Deitz 46, Simsbury, CT	La Mina	La Mina		Voted out 13th - Day 38	1
Danielle DiLorenzo 24, Pompano Beach, FL	Bayoneta	Casaya		Runner-Up	4
Aras Baskauskas 24, Santa Monica, CA	Viveros	Casaya		Sole Survivor	9

* Bruce joined Casaya after Melinda was voted off on day 6.

[edit] The game

		Challenges				Tribes
Title	Air Date	Reward	Immunity	Exiled	Eliminated	Original	Ep 2	Ep 7	Vote	Finish
The First Exile	2006-02-02	La Mina, Viveros, Casaya	Bayoneta, La Mina, Viveros	Misty	Tina	Casaya			3-1	First Voted off — Day 3
Breakdown	2006-02-09	La Mina	La Mina	Bruce	Melinda	Casaya	Casaya		5-2	Second Voted off — Day 6
Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners	2006-02-16	La Mina	Casaya	Bruce	Misty	Bayoneta	La Mina		5-2	Third Voted off — Day 8
Starvation and Lunacy	2006-02-23	Casaya	Casaya	Terry	Ruth-Marie	Casaya	La Mina		4-2	Fourth Voted off — Day 11
For Cod's Sake	2006-03-02	Casaya	La Mina	Terry	Bobby	Viveros	Casaya		3-2-1-1	Fifth Voted off — Day 14
Salvation and Desertion	2006-03-09	Casaya	Casaya	Sally	Dan	La Mina	La Mina		3-1	Sixth Voted off — Day 15
A Closer Look	2006-03-15	Recap Episode
An Emerging Plan	2006-03-30	None	Terry	None	Nick	Viveros	La Mina	Gitanos	6-4	Seventh Voted off — Day 18
The Power of the Idol	2006-04-06	Aras, Bruce, Sally	Terry	Austin, Danielle	Austin	Viveros	La Mina		6-3	Eighth Voted off — Day 21
Fight for Your Life or Eat	2006-04-13	Bruce, Courtney, Sally, Terry	Terry	Aras	Sally	Bayoneta	La Mina		6-2	Ninth Voted off — Day 24
Medical Emergency	2006-04-20	Cirie [Aras, Danielle]	None due to Bruce's removal from the game	Terry	Bruce	La Mina	Casaya		No tribal council due to Bruce being removed	Removed from game due to medical emergency
Perilous Scramble	2006-04-27	Courtney, Danielle, Terry (barbecue); Terry (truck)	Terry	Aras	Courtney	Bayoneta	Casaya		3-2-1	Tenth Voted off — Day 30
Bamboozled	2006-05-04	Terry [Shane]	Terry	Danielle	Shane	La Mina	Casaya		3-1-1	Eleventh Voted off — Day 33
Call the Whambulence!	2006-05-11	Aras [Cirie]	Aras	Terry, Danielle	Cirie	Casaya	Casaya		2-2	Twelfth Voted off — Day 36
The Final Showdown	2006-05-14	Terry	Danielle	Aras, Danielle, Terry	Terry	La Mina	La Mina		1	Thirteenth Voted off — Day 38
Reunion	2006-05-14	None	None	None	Danielle	Bayoneta	Casaya		2	Runner up — Day 39
					Aras	Viveros	Casaya		5	Sole Survivor — Day 39

in the case of multiple tribes or people who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one player won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets

[edit] Elimination notes

1. Tina - Her tribe said she was the best provider, but she didn't appear to make any efforts to bond with them and spent a lot of time alone. (Tina's preference for solitude was misunderstood as she was in fact grieving for her only child who died tragically several months beforehand.) In addition, she accused them of poor work ethics during tribal council.
2. Melinda - Did not align herself with anyone when the tribes were switched and was seen as the weakest, and thus was voted out by everyone except Cirie, who was on her original tribe.
3. Misty - Austin and Nick decided to ally with Terry and Dan rather than Misty and Sally. Misty was seen as the person outside of this alliance who had done the least at the challenges. She was also seen as a big threat, strategy-wise, and considered "smart" because of her job as an engineer.
4. Ruth Marie - Although Dan had promised Ruth Marie a position in his alliance of five along with Terry, Austin, and Nick, Sally's superb challenge performance made her a more valuable tribemate, despite Ruth Marie's loyalty.
5. Bobby - Caused much tension in the Casaya camp by being argumentative and selfish, using the bathroom before anyone said he could, and for hiding while drinking wine with Bruce. Even though he tried to make alliances, the 3 women came together to vote him out.
6. Dan - He was seen as the weakest of an all-male alliance, which was broken up with Sally's exile, making her immune for that week.
7. Nick - He was seen to the original Casaya as "another Terry" and a challenge threat. Bruce stayed loyal to Casaya and voted off Nick.
8. Austin - He wasn't trusted by the former Casaya tribe members and was seen as a challenge threat. Danielle and Bruce decided to remain loyal to their original alliance, and voted off Austin.
9. Sally - Sally was one of the two remaining La Mina members left, and Terry decided to keep the immunity necklace for himself, so Sally was voted out.
10. Bruce - Bruce left the game due to a medical emergency. Bruce had been having stomach pain and constipation for several days, which got worse after the reward challenge. Emergency medics were called in to remove Bruce and take him to a local hospital. While there, it was found that his entire digestive system was blocked. Bruce subsequently attended tribal councils as a member of the jury.
11. Courtney - After Terry's fourth straight immunity win, the Casaya alliance was forced "to eat someone up". Terry and Shane had their own separate plans to take Courtney to the Final Two - which made her a threat. In her famed "Play" Cirie created two dummy alliances, one with Terry and Courtney and another with Shane, and told them separate strategies they would be using at Tribal Council. She told the Terry-Courtney alliance that the tribe was voting Aras out that night, while she told Shane that Danielle would be the one to go. Both dummy alliances voted accordingly. With the votes split, Cirie, Aras, and Danielle, voted out the real target: Courtney.
12. Shane - Was taken out by a surprise vote and because Terry wanted to take him to the final two. Because Terry won Immunity again, Shane believed that his alliance with Cirie and Aras would vote against Danielle, as was the plan. Secretly, however, Aras and Cirie had been harboring an alliance with Danielle, and Shane was shocked to be booted in a 3-1-1 vote ( 3 for Shane, 1 vote each for Danielle and Aras).
13. Cirie - Cirie and Danielle both received two votes at Tribal Council as they were the only people that had no immunity that night and went to a fire building tie-breaker, which Danielle won. In a cliff hanger ending, the winner of the tie breaker was not revealed until the final episode.
14. Terry - Danielle chose to vote Terry off because she felt she had a better chance at winning going up against Aras and because Aras betrayed the same people she did whereas Terry didn't betray anyone on the jury and was seen as someone who would easily win.
15. Danielle - In the final two, Danielle only managed to get votes from Bruce and Shane. At the final tribal council, she was accused of being lazy and two-faced.
16. Aras - Aras won this season by a 5-2 vote, managing to get the votes of Cirie, Terry, Courtney, Sally, and Austin because he played a more strategic game than Danielle and was seen as more deserving.

[edit] Exile Notes

1. Misty - Exiled after Bayoneta came in last at reward challenge and losing at Rock, Paper, Scissors.
2. Bruce - Exiled when not selected for new tribes. With his exile came a one episode immunity.
3. Bruce - Chosen by La Mina to go to Exile Island as he was seen by them as a leader of Casaya who was helping them boost their morale and physical health.
4. Terry - Chosen by Casaya to go to Exile Island after his tribe lost the Reward Challenge, was seen as the leader of La Mina and was (in some measure) payback for Terry choosing to send Bruce to Exile Island the prior week. While at Exile Island, Terry found the hidden immunity idol.
5. Terry - Terry makes a second visit to Exile Island after his Tribe loses the reward challenge.
6. Sally - Sally was chosen to be exiled by Casaya, possibly to break up the all-male alliance in La Mina. With her exile came a one episode immunity.
7. Nobody - Nobody was exiled due to the merge. However, Sally did return from Exile Island in this episode.
8. Austin & Danielle - The winning reward team chose one member from the two losing reward teams to go to Exile Island. Austin was selected because he had admitted at the previous Tribal Council that he had thrown the last Immunity Challenge. Danielle was selected because she was seen as the strongest of her team. While on Exile Island, they huddled together to protect themselves from the pouring rain, and developed a close emotional bond.
9. Aras - After the reward challenge, the winning team got to choose one person to be sent to Exile Island. Aras was chosen because of his strength. Additionally, prior to the challenge, Aras asked the three remaining Casaya women to send him to Exile Island so he could determine whether Terry had the immunity idol.
10. Terry - Cirie won the reward challenge and as a result was able to pick Terry, her only non-ally, to go to Exile Island.
11. Aras - Courtney, Danielle, and Terry, who all won the reward challenge, chose Aras to be sent to Exile Island because of his strength.
12. Danielle - When Terry won the reward challenge, he got to decide which Survivors got certain rewards with their loved ones. Danielle was the only one who didn't get a family moment and was sent to Exile Island because "I basically ruined his strategy" (betraying him) at the last tribal council.
13. Danielle & Terry - Aras won the reward challenge and was allowed to choose his closest ally, Cirie, to share it with. Not having been chosen, both Danielle and Terry were sent to Exile Island.
14. The Final Three - The final three are sent to Exile Island to take part in a tribute to the eliminated Survivors. The three placed the extinguished torches of the eliminated Survivors on the large skull at the tip of the island and burned the skull.

[edit] Voting history

	Starting Tribes	First Merge					Merged Tribe
Episode:	Episode 1	Episode 2	Episode 3	Episode 4	Episode 5	Episode 6	Episode 7	Episode 8	Episode 9	Episode 10	Episode 11	Episode 12	Episode 13	Episode 14	Runner-up	Sole Survivor
Eliminated:	Tina 3/4 votes	Melinda 5/7 votes	Misty 5/7 votes	Ruth-Marie 4/6 votes	Bobby 3/7 votes	Dan 3/4 votes	Nick 6/10	Austin 6/9	Sally 6/8	Bruce No vote 3	Courtney 3/6 votes	Shane 3/5 votes	Cirie 2/4 votes 4	Terry 1 vote	Danielle 2/7 jury votes	Aras 5/7 jury votes
Aras		Melinda			Bruce		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Danielle		Jury Vote
Danielle		Melinda			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Cirie	Terry
Terry			Misty	Ruth Marie		Dan	Shane	Aras	Aras		Aras	Aras	Cirie			Aras
Cirie	Tina	Shane			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Danielle			Aras
Shane		Melinda			Aras		Nick	Austin	Sally		Danielle	Danielle			Danielle
Courtney		Melinda			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Aras					Aras
Bruce		1			Courtney		Nick	Austin	Sally						Danielle
Sally			Ruth Marie	Ruth Marie		2	Shane	Aras	Aras							Aras
Austin			Misty	Ruth Marie		Dan	Shane	Aras								Aras
Nick			Misty	Ruth Marie		Dan	Shane
Dan			Misty	Sally		Austin
Bobby		Melinda			Bruce
Ruth-Marie	Tina		Misty	Sally
Misty			Ruth-Marie
Melinda	Tina	Shane
Tina	Cirie

Note 1: Bruce joined Casaya after the episode 2 vote, which is why he did not cast a vote.
Note 2: Sally was exiled during the episode 6 vote, which is why she did not cast a vote.
Note 3: Because Bruce was removed due to a medical emergency, he was never voted out, and there was no tribal council.
Note 4: Cirie was eliminated via the fire-making challenge, previously used in Palau, but it was not shown until the following episode.

[edit] Episode Notes

Episode 1 - All 16 castaways arrived on Exile Island for the start of the game. It was revealed there were 4 tribes, older women, younger women, older men, younger men. The twist of Exile Island was also revealed. Immediately one person would be exiled and this person would be determined by a challenge. Ruth Marie ran for older women, Danielle for younger women, Aras for younger men, and Terry for older men. It came down to a race between Ruth Marie and Danielle in for third place. Tina commented on her tribemate Ruth Marie, "I guess she's not a smasher," but was proved wrong when Ruth Marie finished in 3rd place. The younger women used rock paper scissors to decide that Misty will stay on Exile Island. The older women immediately pulled together under the leadership of Tina. Cirie was already perceived as weak due to her "fear of leaves." However, the two younger tribes cannot get anything done. Courtney and Aras are thought to be crazy with their "physic abilities." At the first immunity challenge, Misty returned from Exile Island and pretended she found the hidden immunity idol, although it is not needed when her tribe finishes first. Older men came in second, followed by younger men. So the older women must head to tribal council. Tina wants to vote Cirie out because of her poor survival skills. However, Cirie pulled together a deal with Ruth Marie and Melinda to vote out Tina. At tribal council, Cirie admitted her weakness saying "All of you who are sitting on the couch at home watching this, stay on the couch!" But it was not enough for her to get voted out, in a 3-1 vote Tina was the first to go.

Episode 2 - At the reward challenge, the tribes were rearranged. Terry and Danielle were chosen randomly to start picking two new tribes of seven members each. Each chose a member of the opposite sex, that person then chose another member of the opposite sex (identical to the Palau format) until Bruce was the only one left. He was granted immunity and sent to Exile Island for three days until tribal council. Shane and Aras told Cirie and Melinda that they were both on the chopping block, and whomever was not voted off that night would be gone the next time. Bruce joined Casaya after they voted out Melinda, leaving each tribe with seven members.

Episode 3 - Bruce arrived at the Casaya camp and proved to be a popular tribe member with most. La Mina won the reward challenge (camping equipment) and the right to choose which member of Casaya would be exiled. They chose Bruce, feeling his absence would most demoralize the tribe. Shane's mood swings continued and created friction with his alliance partners. Casaya won the immunity challenge. In the La Mina tribe, Austin and Nick became the swing voters with Sally and Misty (who wanted to vote out Ruth Marie), and Dan and Terry (who wanted to vote out Misty) seeking them as allies. Austin and Nick decided to vote with Dan and Terry. Misty, who had been exiled, had not found the hidden immunity idol and was voted out.

Episode 4 - Aras, Bruce, and Shane came back to the Casaya camp with food and found their teammates had let the fire go out. Aras and Shane tried to reason with the team about responsibility, with some reward. Casaya won the reward challenge of bathroom and supplies and sent Terry to exile island, because they believed him to be his team's leader. Bobby created some friction with his teammates by disagreeing with how the reward should be used. La Mina tried to organize their camp, but were lost without Terry. Terry discovered the immunity talisman, which he concealed from his teammates after his return. An argument ensued when Shane accused Danielle of not working enough at camp. The alliance of Austin, Dan, Nick, and Terry sought to bring in one of the women as a fifth ally. Dan made an agreement with Ruth Marie which the other men went along with. La Mina lost the immunity challenge. Sally convinced Austin she was a more valuable player than Ruth Marie and they should keep her instead. Terry was also persuaded and argued Dan's promise to Ruth Marie didn't bind the rest of the alliance. Nick was at first reluctant to break the agreement with Ruth Marie but voted against her.

Episode 5 - Casaya and La Mina competed in a food reward challenge. The winning tribe received all the items that were used in the challenge: fish, rice, spices, and wine. The losing tribe received either the rice or beans. The challenge consisted of having one member retrieve one of 8 items and pass it back to the bins through each tribe member. After La Mina lost, Casaya chose Terry to go to Exile Island again. As Casaya returned to camp, they found out that their shelter was ruined due to a storm. They enjoyed the fish, though (raw, much to Cirie's dismay). Meanwhile, as La Mina ate the beans from the reward challenge, Austin and Nick faced the gastrointestinal consequences. On Exile Island, Terry managed to start a campfire. At the immunity challenge which consisted of building a skull pyramid, La Mina broke their losing streak by solving the puzzle first. Bobby of Casaya was voted off in Tribal Council by getting 3 out of 7 votes. Bruce, in his first vote, got two. Courtney and Aras each received one vote. This was only the second time in Survivor history when somebody got voted off with less than half of the votes, the first time being during Survivor: Borneo.

Episode 6 - Casaya discussed their decisions at camp regarding Danielle. At La Mina's camp, Dan enjoyed the scenery. Austin and the other men felt hungry and searched for edible creatures in the water. On a raft ride, Dan spoke to Nick about his space flights on NASA. Back at Casaya, the woman complained to Shane how disrespectful he was. The tribes competed in a challenge for both reward and immunity. The challenge consisted of collecting 4 puzzle pieces to solve a spinning puzzle. The reward was barbecue and some toys to bring to a village plus immunity for the winning tribe. At the same time, the losing tribe would go to Tribal Council (except for one castaway sent to Exile Island; that castaway got immunity). While La Mina was able to bring their pieces to the puzzle board first, Casaya was able to figure it out first, defeating La Mina. Casaya chose to send Sally to Exile Island, thereby giving her immunity as well. On Exile Island, Sally got another clue as to where the immunty idol was (which, unbeknownst to her, was already discovered). Although she was alone, she felt happy to be safe from the Tribal Council vote.

Meanwhile, Casaya enjoyed their reward. They rode a boat to a village and gave the toys to kids. Shane saw someone smoking and talked about giving up all his clothes just to smoke a cigarette. He ended up smoking after a long abstinence. Later the tribe enjoyed barbecue, played soccer, and partied. Shane reconciled with Danielle about the incident the night before. Back at La Mina, they discussed how they went wrong on solving the puzzle. As they prepared for Tribal Council they discussed who should be voted out and who would last into the final two. At Tribal Council, the four men discussed how tight their alliance was. They also discussed the possibly of a two vs. two tie vote. In the end, Dan was voted off 3 votes to 1.

Episode 7 - La Mina finds in treemail that they are to go to Casaya. When the men and the exiled Sally arrive, the new tribes rejoiced. Shane pulled his tribe together for a talk before La Mina arrived. While building a larger shelter, Nick accidentally chipped Bruce's tooth with a machete, but Bruce is okay. At the immunity challenge, the survivors are to hang on a pole with their hands and feet only. Terry won immunity. Back at camp, Bruce drew the name "Gitanos" for their new tribe name, which means Gypsy in Spanish. At tribal council, Bruce made the decision to vote Nick off and to stay with the original Casaya.

Episode 8 - After Nick was voted off, the original La Mina tribe was scrambling to flop some of the Casaya tribe members. At the reward challenge, the Survivors were split into three teams, competing for "breakfast in bed." Bruce, Aras, and Sally ended up victorious, and also won the right to exile one member of each of the losing teams. Austin and Danielle were exiled, while Bruce, Aras, and Sally ate a big breakfast in a rain-soaked bed. At the immunity challenge, the Survivors competed in four obstacles, with a few Survivors getting eliminated at each one. Terry ended up victorious, making it his second individual immunity win in a row. Back at the camp, the former La Mina tribe tried to convince Bruce and Danielle, the two outcasts of their alliance, to switch to the La Mina alliance. Terry offered Danielle the immunity idol in exchange for her switch. At tribal council, Danielle and Bruce showed their loyalty to Casaya, and voted out Austin.

Episode 9 - At the Gitanos camp, Terry was bragging about his achievements to the other members of the tribe. Getting desperate, Sally and Terry started thinking of more ideas to flip two people to their alliance. At the reward challenge, Jeff Probst announced that the reward would be a video showing their family members, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and ice-cold milk. The winning team would also choose one person to be sent to Exile Island. The winning team; Courtney, Bruce, Sally, and Terry; chose Aras to be sent to Exile Island. Back at the camp, Shane told Cirie that he was having problems with his testicles. When the winning team got back, they brought their luxury items with them.

At the immunity challenge, the Survivors were given the option of participating in the challenge, or feasting on cheeseburgers, fries, and cola during the duration of the challenge. Sally, Terry, and Aras were the only ones to participate in the challenge, which Terry won. When the Survivors got back to camp, Terry and Sally continued their efforts to break the Casaya alliance. Despite the former La Mina members' efforts, the Casaya 6 held strong, and Sally was voted out.

Episode 10 - Terry seemed to become more bitter about his continued status outside of the alliance. The reward challenge, based on the players' opinions about each other, did nothing to dispel his suspicions, especially as he was eliminated on the first question. Other players also questioned their status in the perceived hierarchy. Cirie won and sent Terry to Exile Island and took Aras and Danielle to share her reward. Cirie then worried about what effect her decisions might have with the other players. Back at the camp, Courtney was bitter because of some of the opinions expressed in the challenge and Shane was upset because he hadn't been chosen by Cirie for the reward. Shane attempted to make a deal with Courtney for them to protect each other which he then spoiled by telling her he would kill her if she didn't stay loyal.

Bruce, who had been sick for several days, was in increasing pain. He finally could take it no more and asked for medical assistance. The medical team arrived and took him out of the camp. The three on the reward returned and Shane apparently reconciled with Aras and Cirie and officially formed an alliance with them. Jeff Probst brought Terry back to the camp from Exile Island and announced Bruce would recover but would not return to the show as a competitor. However, if his condition allowed, he would assume a place on the jury. Because of Bruce's departure, there was no immunity challenge or tribal council that night.

Episode 11 - The other players continued to worry about Shane's strange behavior in this episode he had found a piece of wood and was pretending it was his BlackBerry and he was sending messages to people back home. The reward challenge was a two-parter. The first part was a rope obstacle course for which the six players were divided into two teams. Courtney, Danielle, and Terry easily won the challenge for the reward of a barbecue meal and sent Aras to Exile Island. The second part of the challenge, announced only to the winning trio after the losing group left, was between the three winning players who competed at breaking tiles with slingshots. Terry won this challenge and the prize of a 2007 GMC Yukon.

During the meal, Terry made a deal with Courtney and Danielle for the three of them to work together. Back at the camp, Cirie went fishing and was successful in catching a sizable fish. After returning to camp, Danielle told Terry she was worried that if they were in the final three with Courtney, she figured he would pick Courtney to go to the final two with because she was less popular. Terry made an agreement with Danielle that if either of them won the final immunity challenge, they would take the second place winner to the final two. When Courtney was told of this, she became upset because she felt it implied she was being carried by other players.

The immunity challenge was an endurance contest of holding weights and Terry won his fourth consecutive immunity. The alliance of former Casayas would finally be forced to vote out one of its own members. Shane thought the alliance was in agreement to vote out Danielle. Courtney thought that her new alliance with Danielle and Terry, along with Cirie who was brought in as a fourth member, was voting against Aras. Cirie, who didn't like her low position in this alliance and worried about Courtney, formed a new deal with Aras and Danielle to vote against Courtney. In the vote, this was the deal that prevailed, with Shane voting against Danielle, Courtney and Terry voting against Aras, and Courtney being voted off by Aras, Cirie, and Danielle.

Episode 12 - Players competed in a reward challenge of past obstacles they had done for a visit with loved ones. The winner would decide who gets what with their loved one. Terry won and choose himself, his wife, Shane and Shane's son, Boston, to spend the night at a villa. Terry's other choices were: Cirie's husband to spend the night at the camp, Aras to just get a hug from his mother and Danielle to get nothing except a few words with her mom from where she was standing. After the loved ones left, the players competed for immunity.

The immunity challenge was, while standing on a small platform atop a 20 foot high pole in the ocean, the players had to get water from the ocean in a bucket and pour the water down a narrow chute that would cause a flag to rise. When the flag was high enough to grab, the player raised it above their head winning them immunity. Shane performed very poorly, hardly raising his flag at all. For the fifth time in a row, Terry won immunity. Back at camp, Aras decided to break his alliance with Shane after Aras found out that Shane wanted to take Courtney to the final two. Aras then made an alliance with Cirie and Danielle. Shane was voted out by Aras, Cirie, and Danielle.

Episode 13 - Players competed in a reward challenge, the winner of which would get to take a yacht trip through the Panama Canal. The trip also included a five course meal and an open bar. Aras won and chose to bring Cirie with him. Soon after returining from this reward, Cirie built a fire at camp for the first time. In the immunity challenge, in which they had to find and assemble buried puzzle pieces, Aras won, making it the first individual immunity not won by Terry. Before the tribal council, Cirie and Danielle practiced making fire since they were sure there would be a tie, resulting in a fire making challenge between both of them. During tribal council, Terry's immunity idol came up, since it was the last night it could be used. He didn't say whether he had given it to someone else, or even admit that he had it. In the voting there was a tie between Cirie and Danielle, as expected. Fire-making would indeed be the tiebreaker, however right after Jeff Probst said, "Begin," a screen came up saying "To Be Continued."

Episode 14 - Danielle won the fire starting tie-breaker. After tribal council, Terry hung the hidden immunity idol at camp. In a surprise reward challenge, a puzzle-solving and climbing challenge, Terry won the reward of food and a cot. The final three were taken to Exile Island to take part in a tribute to the eliminated Survivors. The three placed the extinguished torches of the eliminated Survivors on the large skull in the center of the island and burned the skull. The final immunity challenge was an endurance challenge to balance on a set of gradually smaller floating platforms. Danielle won the final immunity after Terry fell off and Aras jumped off after receiving a nod from Danielle. Danielle voted out Terry, thinking that she would have a better chance of winning against Aras and because Aras was a fellow member of the former Casaya tribe. Aras and Danielle received a celebratory food reward the next day. While walking along the beach rocks (and carrying a glass), Aras slipped and sliced open his hand and back, requiring a total of eight stitches. At the final tribal council, Sally asked the final two who contributed the most out of their original Casaya tribe as to why they were in the final two (both answered Cirie). Bruce asked what they are going to do with the responsibility of being the Sole Surivor (both answered they would try to inspire people to be their best). Terry commented to Danielle that contrary to what she said in her opening remarks, that it was possible to play without deceiving somebody and that he hopes that she doesn't later think "I should have taken the Navy guy." Terry's question to the final two was to rate themselves on their efforts at challenges (Aras gave himself a 9. Danielle gave herself an 8.5 or a 9 and regrets her choice of taking the cheeseburger during the immunity challenge of episode 9). Austin asked what their best and worst moves were to get to the final two (Danielle said her best move was when she persuaded the tribe to keep Bruce and vote off Bobby (She mentioned him as Bob Dog) in episode 5 and her worst move was voting off Courtney in episode 11. Aras said his best move was telling Melinda that she was going home and his worst move was breaking his alliance with Shane). Courtney commented on feeling stabbed in the back but said that she was getting over it. Courtney's question was what the final two learned about themselves (Aras answered that his ego has been smashed. Danielle said that she didn't realize how mentally tough she could be). Cirie asked Danielle why Cirie should vote for Aras and vice versa (Danielle said Aras was a great person. Aras said he appreciated Danielle setting aside the game when he sliced open his hand). Shane told final two why he thought they were undeserving to be there. In a move similar to Greg Buis of Survivor: Borneo, Shane asked them to pick a number between one and one million (Aras selected four. Danielle chose ten.).

[edit] Trivia

• Danielle is the only player in this season whose every vote was for the eliminated contestant.
• Tina was originally selected to participate in Survivor: Guatemala, but due to the death of her son just before she was about to leave, she stayed home and was allowed on Survivor: Exile Island instead. (Her replacement was Amy, who wanted to be on Survivor. She didn't make the cut, but was selected to be on Big Brother 6, which she switched from at the last minute.)[2]
• Dan is a former NASA astronaut.
• Two contestants have connections to the Miss Teen USA pageant. Misty held the title Miss Texas Teen USA 1999, and Austin's sister Elizabeth Carty was Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2004.
• This is the first Survivor season since Pearl Islands to feature 16 people.
• This is the first season to split the tribes up by age, the third to split them by gender (following Survivor: The Amazon and Survivor: Vanuatu), and the fifth time a schoolyard pick 'em was used (following Thailand, All-Stars, Vanuatu and Palau).
• This was the first season since Survivor: The Australian Outback to feature a Reward Challenge for the Final Four. It is the second season overall to do this. It is the first season to have a reward for the Final Three.
• This is the third time that Pearl Islands, Panama has been used as a location (following Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars).
• Nine episodes feature a shortened opening sequence that scrolls through none of the players in the game at all. This happened again in Survivor: Fiji.
• This is the first season that the first four people voted out were the same gender (female). The previous record was two.
• Bobby's being voted out in Episode 5 by a count of 3-2-1-1 is only the second time in series history that a player was voted out by fewer than half the people in the tribe. The other time was in Borneo when Gretchen Cordy left after a 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote.
• Bruce can be seen performing various Shotokan Katas throughout the show. In episode seven, the first few moves of Bassai dai can be seen.
• This is the first season since Survivor: All-Stars to not have a double tribal council from two or more tribes.
• The background music of the Febreze Family Moment is from Ancient Voices Thailand.
• The final three players, who revisited Exile Island in the last episode, were also the three of the four players who had been exiled more than once. Terry had been to Exile Island for a total of 4 times, Danielle had been to Exile Island a total of 3 times, and Aras had been to Exile Island a total of 2 times. The only other contestant to be exiled more than once was Bruce (exiled twice).
• For the first time since Survivor: Pearl Islands, an online betting scandal claimed to reveal the identity of one of the final two survivors well before the final episode had aired. [3]
• Bruce is an art teacher at Simi Valley High School.
• Bruce is the second player to be forced to leave the game for medical reasons after Michael Skupin of Australian Outback and before Gary Stritesky of Fiji.
• Each of the initial four tribes (La Mina, Bayoneta, Viveros & Casaya) had a member in the final four (Terry, Danielle, Aras & Cirie, respectively).
• The thirteenth episode ended with a tie vote between Cirie and Danielle, with them about to compete in a fire-building challenge to determine who would stay in the game. However, the show ended with a cliffhanger just before the competition began, making this the first non-recap episode in Survivor history not to show someone being eliminated. Danielle proceeded to win the challenge, in what is arguably the most suspenseful tie-breaker in Survivor history.
• The Curse of the Car showed itself again this season, as Terry won the car and failed to win the game.
• Cirie also won a car (2007 GMC Yukon) via a viewer's choice online poll as announced during the Panama reunion show.
• Aras received a total of nine elimination votes throughout this season. This is the most elimination votes a winner of the show has ever received (Richard Hatch from Survivor: Borneo and Amber Brkich from Survivor: All-Stars both come in second with six elimination votes each).
• Terry Deitz had the most individual immunity victories in the season (winning 5 straight immunity challenges).
• This season had an interesting order of eliminations: the first four were women, the second four were men, and the rest alternated between genders.
• When the tribes were switched in the second episode, both La Mina and Casaya originally got two members from the former Viveros and Bayoneta tribes, kept two of their original members and got one member from the other remaining tribe (Shane from La Mina moved to Casaya, Ruth Marie from Casaya moved to La Mina); Bruce replaced Melinda in Casaya after she was voted off. At the end of the episode, both tribes were made up of two original members of Viveros, Bayoneta and La Mina and one original member of Casaya.
• Going into the merge, there were three members of the original La Mina [Bruce, Shane, Terry], Viveros [Austin, Nick, Aras], and Bayoneta [Sally, Courtney, Danielle]. There was only one original Casaya member [Cirie].

• Although it was on one of the most competitive nights on television, the February 23, 2006 episode, entitled Starvation and Lunacy when Ruth Marie gets ousted, was watched by just over 14.8 million viewers, making it the "smallest audience ever for an original episode of the long-running game," Nielsen Media said.^[1] The episode aired opposite the first part of the season finale of ABC's Dancing With The Stars (14.8 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), the 2006 Winter Olympics ladies' figure skating finals on NBC (17.7 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), and a results show during the fifth season of FOX's American Idol (23.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9:02 p.m.).^[2]
• In the family visit episode, Shane Powers' son Boston became the youngest person ever (at age 14) to appear on a Survivor location with the contestants during actual game play.
• Shane's cigarette smoking during his tribe's visit to the Panamanian village marked only the second time in Survivor history that tobacco use by a contestant was allowed to go on during game play. The first time was in the first season (Borneo), when the contestants were given cigars to celebrate Gervase Peterson's son's birth.

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Panama Website
• Survivor Fever
• Survivor Maps
• SURVIVOR Podcast
• Episode guidefromTV.com
• Aras Baskauskas interview

[edit] Notes

1. ^ AP: ‘American Idol’ skates circles around Olympics
2. ^ Variety.com: 'Idol,' Olympics top Thursday

Survivor
Seasons
Borneo (2000) · Australia (2001) · Africa (2001) · Marquesas (2002) Thailand (2002) · Amazon (2003) · Pearl Islands (2003) · All-Stars (2004) Vanuatu (2004) · Palau (2005) · Guatemala (2005) · Panama (2006) Cook Islands (2006) · Fiji (2007) · Survivor 15 (TBA)
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Jeff Probst · America's Tribal Council · Survivor Live Statistics and trivia · Survivor Car Curse · Survivor: The Ride! · Survivors Strike Back