Survivor: Exile Island - Advice for the Final Four and Three

Well, the final episode will feature the final three – Terry, Aras, and whoever wins the challenge (Cirie or Danielle). Either one has their advantages and disadvantages to Aras and Terry, who have already made the final three. Danielle is better jury bait, while Cirie is not much of a challenge threat when it comes to final immunity. In any case, I feel that Danielle should be taken to the finals while Cirie should not. Whether the Survivors feel the same way is a matter for debate.

In the end, the hidden immunity talisman was not used directly in the game, though Terry used it indirectly. Nobody dared vote against him the one time he wasn’t wearing immunity, simply because they all knew he had it. In addition, he couldn’t afford to hand it off to Danielle and run a bluff – for all Terry knew, she would have sold him out and the vote would have been against Terry.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed the game elements of Exile Island and the hidden immunity talisman, and hope they will be used in future editions of Survivor. Both elements add a new dimension to the game and complicate strategies. As this edition has shown, having the hidden talisman has value both when nobody knows it and when everybody knows it. Plus, I would love to see it used as intended. It always had the potential to shatter an alliance. The fact that it didn’t happen in this game is a testimony to Terry’s string of immunity wins. When giving the advice for this season, I always kept Terry’s hidden immunity talisman in mind, and how it should be dealt with by the remaining players.

Aras won both challenges, showing that he is the most dangerous threat other than Terry. Terry’s complaint after the reward challenge was pretty much unwarranted, as Probst would have called out any rule-breaking and disqualified the Survivor in question. Aras didn’t handle it well either, making some comments that were also unjustified. Usually this kind of behavior can wind up hurting a contestant, but I think both of them realize they aren’t getting their votes in any case.

Still, all four remaining players have a chance to win, though one will have their chance cut off as a result of the tie-breaker challenge. What should each player be doing to make it to the finals, and what arguments should they be making to the jury? It’s advice for the final four.

Terry: You can win, perhaps against anybody, but you will have to fight your way into the finals. Your jury argument should be how you tried diplomacy, bargaining, dealing, but ultimately had to keep winning immunity in order to stay in the game. You can probably pick of the votes of Austin, Sally, and Courtney, and have a decent shot at getting Bruce and Shane’s votes as well. Good luck.

Aras: You’ve apparently set yourself up with a final two situation with Cirie. I think that’s a mistake, though it’s possible that a few votes will go to you because of bitterness over Cirie’s betrayal of several jury members. However, this will be counterbalanced by the number of jurists who will vote for Cirie because she was a better player than you. If Danielle wins the challenge, then you should take her to the finals. You can win against her.

Cirie: The first order of business is to win the tie-breaker challenge. I’m actually surprised that you waited so long to learn to make fire in the first place, as you seem to know your Survivor history and knew that fire was the tie-breaker challenge used in the most recent editions of Survivor. After that, your game is hitched to Aras and your apparent final-two pact, or winning final immunity. Your jury argument should center around your great strategic play. Most of the jury will respect it, though a few are going to be bitter. Still, all you need is four votes to win.

Danielle: As with Cirie, your first job is to win the challenge and stay in the game. After that, you should be selected by both Terry and Aras to go to the finals (or win final immunity), and then figure out what kind of argument you should make. Against Terry, you need to hammer home the point that his immunity wins cost most of them a chance to win the game. You can also point out he could have used the hidden immunity talisman to save any of them, but refused to do so. If you go against Aras, you’re going to have a harder time, but you can argue that he was always Cirie’s flunky, while you had enough independence to cut a new deal with Terry to get to your position. I don’t know if it will be enough, but it’s worth a shot.

Jeffrey Clinard has been writing about Survivor since the second series, and has published over 100 articles about the show and given advice to nearly 150 different Survivors on RealityNewsOnline. He can be reached at realityfeedback@bookslv.com.

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