Surviving Exile Island, Episode 9: “Show Me the Nut”

Last week, Terry’s ongoing attempts to flip the game completely failed, even after offering Danielle the immunity idol. Austin was sent packing as the Pagonging of La Mina continued. It probably won’t be a total Pagonging because of the idol Terry holds, but it may be as close as you can come. That will be determined by tonight’s outcome. So let’s get to it!

It’s day 22 and Terry is talking about his history as a fighter pilot. The men are apparently interested while the women are… not. They’re lying in the shelter. This gives Terry the opportunity to ask the guys where he fits in when they get to the final six. The answer is simple: That’s not part of the plan. He says fine, he’ll just have to win all the remaining immunity challenges. Aras says if he can do that, hat’s off to him!

Terry recounts how Danielle declined his offer the previous night while Danielle talks to Cirie and Courtney about how she wishes Terry and Sally were gone, followed by Aras. What happened with the plan to toss Shane? Terry continues, telling us he has the motivation to kick their butts on everything from now on. Back with the women, Courtney says they need to get Terry to use the idol right away if he has it. Danielle doesn’t outright say, “He has it – he offered it to me!” Instead, she suggests they look in his bag. Nope, not in there.

Danielle clarifies things a bit for us by saying before Tribal Council, Terry showed her something furry that he claimed was the idol. She’s not sure it really was, though, and he might have been making it up.

Aras talks to the women about how cool it is that they’re going up against Terry. The response: Uh huh, real cool. He says no problem, they’ll still take him out. He flies planes, he’s not an American Gladiator. Aras tells them if they win a reward challenge, they should send him to Exile Island. He wants to snoop around and see if Terry found it already.

Guess what? There’s a reward challenge. Probst begins by telling them what they’re playing for: videos from home. The whole group gets to watch small clips from each family, but the winner will of course get to see the whole thing. Terry’s family is first and his daughter is crying about how much she misses him. Danielle’s family is next, then Bruce’s wife, daughter, and dog bring him to tears. He’s been married almost 28 years and believes his wife misses his snoring. That gets a laugh from the others. Courtney’s mother talks about her being gone, followed by Aras’ dad in a backyard teepee. Shane’s son is up next, and he is crying before it even begins. Tears are just dripping off his face as Probst asks what his son means to him. Shane says they grew up together – he was 21 when he had him, and he calls him his son, brother, best friend, and life. Sally’s family is up next, and her sister got a new apartment. Cirie’s husband and sons are last. She’s happy she saw it but it makes it harder to be there.

As mentioned, the winner gets to see the whole video, plus they get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk (isn’t it funny that Big Brother uses PB&J as a punishment while Survivor uses it as a reward).

The challenge involves the eight players being divided in two teams of four and working together. One person lies face-down on a cradle suspended in the air by bungee cords. Attached to the cradle are three ropes that the other players will pull on to move the cradle around a square area. The person on the cradle has to grab 15 flags from the area and place them, in order, into peg-holes in logs around the perimeter. First team to do it wins reward – not sure if that means all four get their videos or there is something I’m missing, I guess we’ll find out. Oh, and the winning team gets to decide who goes to Exile Island.

The teams are: Bruce, Sally, Terry, and Courtney in the cradle; Aras, Cirie, Shane, and Danielle in the cradle. It’s hard to describe the action as ropes are pulled and the women are being moved from side to side. Danielle’s group takes an early but small lead that lasts through the ninth flag. Then Aras accidentally knocks flag number one out of the peg. They have to bring Danielle back to pick it up and repost it before they can continue. This puts them significantly behind, and Courtney’s group takes the lead 12 to nine.

Just as she Danielle the tenth flag, number one is knocked out again. Courtney is going for the last flag. She gets it and plants it. Courtney, Terry, Sally, and Bruce win!

Before the reward, the winners have to pick who should go to Exile Island. Of course, Courtney knows Aras wants to go, and Terry wants him to go, so it’s an easy decision. Aras is sent to Exile. Shane, Cirie, and Danielle are sent back to camp.

When they arrive, Shane tries to keep spirits up by saying it was just sandwiches and milk – not the biggest deal in the world. Then, out of nowhere, Shane tells the women he has an issue with his penis! Cirie calls it a “medical emergency” and asks if Cirie will look at it, since she’s a nurse. She says she doesn’t want to look at it, and Danielle chimes in that she wouldn’t either! Instead, Cirie asks him to explain the problem to her. He says she’s gotta look at it – it hurts so much he can’t even touch it. Cirie is just busting out laughing by this point, by the way.

He’s standing behind the shelter with his pants dropped (and thankfully, his butt blurred) and Cirie walks over. She starts laughing again, which is generally not the response a guy wants when a woman sees that part of him. He tells her not to laugh, but that just makes her laugh more. She comes over and he gives her a good close-up view while he asks why it’s so red. She says it’s because his clothes are wet all the time – it’s like diaper rash on a baby. Then she busts out laughing again. She tells us she tried to be as professional as possible, but “it was just so hilarious.”

So how does he make it go away? Cirie tells him to dry it out, so he drops his drawers again (he had put them back on in the meantime). He walks out where both women are and Danielle tells him to put something on, she’s eating. Again, not the reaction a guy is generally looking for from a woman! He takes off his shirt to wear as a skirt, while will let things air out. Cirie, meanwhile, tells us Shane was like a cartoon character, and then he turned into a nude cartoon character! But it helped her because she forgot about the game briefly.