Surviving Exile Island, Episode 4: The Man in Charge

Last week, La Mina showed that even in the face of an immunity loss, they stuck together as a tribe. Casaya showed that no matter what, they will eventually split themselves apart – unless they get rid of Shane. Will that happen tonight? Let’s find out!

First, I’d like to welcome all the readers who watched either American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. Luckily, we have different people here at RealityNewsOnline covering each of those shows, so no matter which one you picked, you can find out all about what happened on the others.

We begin on the morning of day 9, at La Mina. The guys are lighting a fire and Sally comes out to say hello. She tells us about how she was the odd woman out at the vote the previous night, which kind of isolates her. She asks if they need anything and goes to get firewood. Meanwhile, she tells us that there are some “big boys” in the group calling the shots, so all she can do is work hard and make herself valuable.

From the looks of things, though, work is already in progress to make sure Sally is the next one out. Dan and Ruth-Marie walk along the beach as Dan asks if she’d like to be in the final five. Well, duh. So he tells her she’s in, along with himself, Terry, and the two young guys. Ruth-Marie says she’s loyal, which is exactly what Dan is looking for – he doesn’t think Sally is part of the team and when the merge comes, she’ll drop them all and run to another group.

The other three agree with Dan to accept Ruth-Marie into their boys’ club. All of them are confident they can make it to the merge. All this confidence and discussion of loyalty makes me want to keep a keen eye out for the irony fairies, who are certainly circling nearby.

At Casaya, it’s time to prepare for breakfast, so Shane, Aras, and Bruce gather snails. Yum! As they come back to camp, they see Courtney stretching and lounging around. Aras says he doesn’t think some people (aka Courtney) know what it means to be on an island by yourself. The other two women aren’t doing much better – they’re lying around or sleeping, as is Bobby, and the fire it about caput.

Aras, never one to avoid a touchy subject, says it’s time to talk about work around camp. He says they can’t go out and do all the food gathering, and then have to come back to deal with the fire too. Courtney feels she’s been working too and, as Aras continues, says she thinks the whole thing is “kind of stupid.”

In Aras’ view, I think, Courtney is the one being “kind of stupid.” He tells us he gave his word to have her as part of his alliance, but he is getting to the point that he would almost lose immunity on purpose to vote her off! Now that would be “kind of stupid”!

Cirie is in absolute Heaven! She tells us about how she was told she’d be next, but she’s loving all the drama around camp. Her strategy is to continue to work and avoid becoming part of that very drama.

Enough talk for now, it’s time for the reward challenge – a floating puzzle. Each tribe has to have a member swim out, dive down to unclip a floating puzzle piece (which is a triangle with different symbols on each side), and bring it back to the puzzle frame. Once they have all six pieces, they need to match the symbols on each side of each piece. First one done wins a full Survivor bathroom, complete with Charmin toilet paper, towels, soap, brush, etc. It will even have a sink, toilet seat, bush shower, and five gallons of fresh water. And, of course, the losers will have somebody sent to Exile Island.

And they’re off! Sally and Bobby start, Sally taking an early lead. Dan heads in for La Mina, Bruce for Casaya, and Dan maintains the lead. Ruth-Marie and Danielle are next, with Ruth-Marie losing a bit of time. Nick and Shane are next, almost neck and neck. Austin dives in, then Courtney, and La Mina loses a bit of time such that Casaya actually pulls ahead. Aras and Terry go after their respective final pieces, with Terry making up time and pulling La Mina ahead once again.

Time to try to solve the puzzle, which is not easy given that these are big, heavy pieces they have to move around. It’s hard to determine who is winning until it all comes together – which it does for Casaya first! As with last week, the winning tribe determines who from the losers goes to Exile Island. With little ado, they pick Terry.

When La Mina returns, they are not exactly in high spirits – as might be expected. Dan steps in as the assistant leader of the tribe and tells the other members that when Terry comes back, he will be proud of the way camp looks. When he returns, they won’t just be getting by, but will be thriving. Austin, however, isn’t so sure. He wants a nap before working, and tells us that without Terry, it seems like nobody is in charge and things are not working in the usual orderly fashion. He wants Terry back!

At Casaya, they return to find their bathroom – an outhouse, soap, shower, and all the trimmings I already mentioned. Aras and Shane tell the group they want to use the outhouse to store wood and keep it dry. Bobby, however, has to “take a dump,” so he goes to use the bathroom for its main purpose. The others kind of look at each other in disbelief as Danielle tells us how much Bobby frustrates her. Bobby returns and tells them he feels ten pounds lighter. I’m sure they’re thrilled with that information.

Shane, meanwhile, talks about how they have La Mina right where he wants ‘em. Terry will be on Exile Island without water or food and he’ll return weak and undernourished.

So how is Terry doing? He retrieves his clue for the hidden immunity idol. It says it’s not found “here” (pointing to an area on a map), “but is hidden beneath a rock.” We also see the clue Bruce got last week, saying it’s buried under ground, and the previous clues as well, about it being above the tide line, etc.

As Terry wanders around, he spots a tree that looks very much like a “Y.” Hmmm. He starts pulling at rocks beneath the tree and then digging into the dirt below those. The machete strikes something that sounds metallic. Indeed, it’s a box. As Terry says, “This doesn’t belong in the Panamanian jungle.” He pulls it out and opens it up to find a bottle and a note saying to break the bottle in order to retrieve the hidden talisman. Terry found it! He notes that this made the trip worth while – “they ended up doing me a big favor.”