Surviving Exile Island, Episode 10: When Pain Changes the Game

Last week, the Pagonging of La Mina went as far as it can go when Terry and Sally failed to pull two people over to their side and Sally went home. As Sally would later tell me in my interview with her, Terry apparently volunteered to give her the immunity idol to keep her around, but she told him there was no point and he wasn’t guaranteed anything down the road. I think Sally was right – Terry needed to keep the idol.

This week, it’s been suggested there will be a fairly significant injury that could put somebody out of the game. We’ll see how that goes down and, whether the person leaves or not, how the Casaya alliance handles the possibility that they will have to turn on each other.

We begin on day 25 as Terry reminds us that he is the only one left from La Mina and he has a big target on his back. He says after Tribal Council, they sat around the fire and some of the Casayans asked if something was wrong that he wanted to talk about. Duh, yes there was something wrong and no he didn’t want to talk about it!

Danielle and Shane wake up and congratulate each other. Shane says they’ll be the first tribe to ever stick together all the way ‘til the end. Uh. No. I guess Shane isn’t exactly up on his Survivor history.

Terry says he needs to win the next few immunity challenges to get to the final four, and then can use the idol to make it to the final three. Once he’s there, he thinks he can win that final immunity challenge. He figures the longer he hangs around, the more he will get to see the Casayans turning on one another.

Bruce talks about having a stomach ache and constipation. This sparks a discussion where others chime in about their previous constipation problems. Bruce says he hasn’t gone to the bathroom since just before the Panamanian village feast, his stomach is bloated, and it’s very painful. Yikes, that was quite a while back!

Treemail arrives in the form of a note and boxes for each of them. The boxes contain dolls to represent each of them and the note tells them to give each doll a piece of them, their personality, etc. The note continues by telling them if they are good at observing their surroundings, they will be rewarded, but if not, they might find themselves on Exile Island.

The players go to work on their dolls. Cirie is adding “curves” (read: breasts) to make the doll look more like her. And Courtney takes all the stuffing out of the head so there is nothing between the ears, so her doll is a perfect match! OK, I made up the part about Courtney, but that’s what should have happened.

Time for the reward challenge. The tribemates all arrive carrying their dolls and host Jeff Probst says the challenge will be about seeing how well they all know the people they’ve been living with. He has a series of questions that each of them will fill out in private. He will tally the results and they’ll go from there to the challenge.

Once that’s done, Probst reads the questions to all of them and they have to try to figure out whose name came up most often for each one. Each time they get one right, they get to chop another tribe member’s rope. Each time a rope is chopped, it moves a torch. After three chops, the torch toasts the contestant’s doll and the person is out of the game. Last person standing wins reward.

And what is that reward? The winner leaves via helicopter to a nice spa. They will get a shower, their clothes will be washed, they’ll get mud massage. They will eat chicken, beef, fish, pork chops, etc. They’ll spend the night and return to camp in the morning. Oh, and the winner will also decide who is sent to Exile Island (and I would bet will get to pick at least one other person to join him or her at the spa).

So the stage is set. This is the perfect challenge for Terry. Sure, he’ll be out first, no doubt about that, but what’s more important is who gets targeted after Terry. Will they see it as an indication of their place in the tribe and maybe consider joining up with Terry?

Question 1: Who does the least for the tribe? Courtney and Danielle say Bruce; Bruce says Courtney; all three of them are wrong. The correct answer is Danielle, which was picked by Cirie, Aras, Terry, and Shane. Cirie chops Terry. Aras chops Terry. Terry chops Aras. Shane torches Terry’s doll and puts him out of the challenge. Not a single surprise there, which Terry admits when Probst asks him.

Question 2: Who never shuts up? Oooh, I know this one! I would say Courtney, and I’m right! Interestingly, a number of them say Terry, and only Cirie and Shane pick Courtney. Courtney says, “Oh wow.” I say, “Oh please.” Shane and Cirie both chop at Bruce’s ropes. Another non-surprise, though it might be for Bruce. I guess he should have joined Terry when there were more options.

Question 3: Who mistakenly believes they are running this game? The correct answer is Shane – another one I guessed right. Courtney and Aras have it right. Probst asks Shane if this is news to him, and Shane says he doesn’t think he’s running the game. Uh huh. Aras lights up Bruce’s doll – he’s out, while Probst notes for those who can’t see the obvious that there is a clear pecking order. Courtney chops Shane’s rope while Probst says it was a rough round for Shane and Cirie takes one look at Shane and busts out laughing.