Survivor: Panama
Survivor: Panama — Exile Island, also known as Survivor: Exile Island and Survivor: Panama, is the twelfth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama from October 31, 2005, through December 8, 2005 and premiered on February 2, 2006. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with 16 competitors, and was the first season with 16 competitors since Survivor: Pearl Islands five seasons prior.
Survivor: Panama | |
---|---|
Season 12 | |
Presented by | Jeff Probst |
No. of days | 39 |
No. of castaways | 16 |
Winner | Aras Baskauskas |
Runner-up | Danielle DiLorenzo |
Location | Pearl Islands, Panama |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 15 |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
Original release | February 2 – May 14, 2006 |
Additional information | |
Filming dates | October 31 – December 8, 2005 |
Season chronology | |
The season included a twist that originally came from Survivor: Palau called Exile Island. Each week at least one castaway is banished to an island away from all other contestants for the time period between the reward and immunity challenges. The castaway 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. During the season finale on May 14, 2006, it was revealed that Aras Baskauskas was named the Sole Survivor over Danielle DiLorenzo in a 5–2 vote.
Contestants
The 16 players were initially split into four tribes by sex and age: young men (Viveros), older men (La Mina), young women (Bayoneta), and older women (Casaya).[1] These four tribes were named after four islands located in the Pearl Islands. Shortly after the first Tribal Council, the Viveros and Bayoneta tribes were dissolved and a "schoolyard pick" formed two new integrated tribes using the Casaya and La Mina tribe names and camps. When there were ten contestants left, they merged into one tribe named Gitanos, the Spanish word for "gypsy." Coincidentally, a member from each of the original four tribes was represented in the final four.
Notable contestants from this season include former NASA astronaut Dan Barry and former Miss Texas Teen USA Misty Giles. Tina Scheer was originally slated for the previous season Survivor: Guatemala, but she backed out due to her son's death prior to that season.[2]
Contestant | Age | From | Tribe | Finish | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Original | Switched | Merged | Placement | Day | |||
Tina Scheer | 44 | Hayward, Wisconsin |
Casaya | 1st voted out | Day 3 | ||
Melinda Hyder | 32 | Sevierville, Tennessee |
Casaya | 2nd voted out | Day 6 | ||
Misty Giles | 24 | Dallas, Texas |
Bayoneta | La Mina | 3rd voted out | Day 8 | |
Ruth Marie Milliman | 48 | Greenville, South Carolina |
Casaya | 4th voted out | Day 11 | ||
Bobby Mason | 32 | Los Angeles, California |
Viveros | Casaya | 5th voted out | Day 14 | |
Dan Barry | 51 | South Hadley, Massachusetts |
La Mina | La Mina | 6th voted out | Day 15 | |
Nick Stanbury | 25 | Tempe, Arizona |
Viveros | Gitanos | 7th voted out | Day 18 | |
Austin Carty | 24 | High Point, North Carolina |
8th voted out 1st jury member |
Day 21 | |||
Sally Schumann | 27 | Chicago, Illinois |
Bayoneta | 9th voted out 2nd jury member |
Day 24 | ||
Bruce Kanegai | 57 | Simi Valley, California |
La Mina | Casaya | Medically evacuated 3rd jury member |
Day 25 | |
Courtney Marit | 31 | Los Angeles, California |
Bayoneta | 10th voted out 4th jury member |
Day 30 | ||
Shane Powers | 35 | Los Angeles, California |
La Mina | 11th voted out 5th jury member |
Day 33 | ||
Cirie Fields | 35 | Walterboro, South Carolina |
Casaya | 12th voted out 6th jury member |
Day 36 | ||
Terry Deitz | 46 | Simsbury, Connecticut |
La Mina | La Mina | 13th voted out 7th jury member |
Day 38 | |
Danielle DiLorenzo | 24 | Pompano Beach, Florida |
Bayoneta | Casaya | Runner-up | Day 39 | |
Aras Baskauskas | 24 | Santa Monica, California |
Viveros | Sole Survivor |
Future appearances
Cirie Fields was selected from this season to compete in Survivor: Micronesia.[3] She competed again in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains as part of the Heroes tribe,[4] and would return for a fourth time on Survivor: Game Changers. Danielle DiLorenzo also competed on Heroes vs. Villains as part of the Villains tribe.[5] Aras Baskauskas returned for Survivor: Blood vs. Water, alongside his brother, Vytas.[6] Terry Deitz and Shane Powers were included on the public poll to choose the cast of Survivor: Cambodia; Deitz was chosen to compete.
Season summary
The game began with the 16 competitors split into four tribes by both relative age and gender. They were introduced to the concept of "Exile Island" with the promise of a hidden immunity idol located somewhere on it, while one person from the losing tribe at challenges would be sent to the island and given clues to look for it. After the first four days, the four tribes were merged by schoolyard pick with mixed genders into two tribes, Casaya and La Mina. On Casaya, a majority alliance consisting of Aras, Shane, Courtney, and Danielle was formed. Cirie was later integrated into the group thanks to her strong social bonds, particularly with Aras and Danielle. On La Mina, Terry was viewed as the tribe leader. Casaya generally proved the stronger tribe, and opted to send Terry from La Mina over to Exile Island multiple times, which gave him the opportunity to discover the hidden immunity idol.
Going into the merge, Casaya was up 6 members to 4. While Terry won several individual immunities, he did not use it or the hidden immunity idol to save his former La Mina tribe members, leaving him as the sole remaining La Mina member and a perceived immunity challenge threat by the former Casaya tribe. Bruce was evacuated due a medical emergency, leaving six players at the game. At this juncture, Cirie, who saw both Terry and Shane looking separately to take Courtney, a weaker player, into the final Tribal Council as an assurance to win the jury's favor, convinced Aras and Danielle to blindside the other three, and succeeded in achieving Courtney's elimination, followed by Shane's. At the final four vote, Aras won immunity and Terry possessed the hidden immunity idol. The vote came down a fire-making tiebreaker between Cirie and Danielle; Danielle ultimately prevailed. Danielle won the final immunity challenge and opted to take Aras to the final Tribal Council, eliminating Terry. The final jury saw both Aras and Danielle as capable players but ultimately voted Aras as the Sole Survivor, five votes to two.
Episode | Challenge winner(s) | Exile Island |
Eliminated | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Original air date | Reward | Immunity | Tribe | Player | |
1 | "The First Exile" | February 2, 2006 | Terry (La Mina)[lower-alpha 1] |
Bayoneta | Misty (Bayoneta) |
Casaya | Tina |
Austin (Viveros)[lower-alpha 1] |
La Mina | ||||||
Ruth Marie (Casaya)[lower-alpha 1] |
Viveros | ||||||
2 | "Breakdown" | February 9, 2006 | La Mina | La Mina | Bruce[lower-alpha 2] | Casaya | Melinda |
3 | "Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners" | February 16, 2006 | La Mina | Casaya | Bruce (Casaya) |
La Mina | Misty |
4 | "Starvation and Lunacy" | February 23, 2006 | Casaya | Casaya | Terry (La Mina) |
La Mina | Ruth Marie |
5 | "For Cod's Sake" | March 2, 2006 | Casaya | La Mina | Terry (La Mina) |
Casaya | Bobby |
6 | "Salvation and Desertion" | March 9, 2006 | Casaya | Sally (La Mina) |
La Mina | Dan | |
7 | "A Closer Look" | March 15, 2006 | Recap Episode | ||||
8 | "An Emerging Plan" | March 30, 2006 | None[lower-alpha 3] | Terry | None[lower-alpha 3] | Gitanos | Nick |
9 | "The Power of the Idol" | April 6, 2006 | Aras, Bruce, Sally |
Terry | Austin | Austin | |
Danielle | |||||||
10 | "Fight for Your Life or Eat" | April 13, 2006 | Bruce, Courtney, Sally, Terry |
Terry | Aras | Sally | |
11 | "Medical Emergency" | April 20, 2006 | Cirie [Aras, Danielle] |
None[lower-alpha 4] | Terry | Bruce | |
12 | "Perilous Scramble" | April 27, 2006 | Courtney, Danielle, Terry[lower-alpha 5] |
Terry | Aras | Courtney | |
13 | "Bamboozled" | May 4, 2006 | Terry [Shane][lower-alpha 6] |
Terry | Danielle | Shane | |
14 | "Call the Whambulence!" | May 11, 2006 | Aras [Cirie] |
Aras | Danielle | Tiebreaker challenge continued on the following episode[lower-alpha 7] | |
Terry | |||||||
15 | "The Final Showdown" | May 14, 2006 | Conclusion of previous Tribal Council[lower-alpha 7] | Gitanos | Cirie | ||
Terry | Danielle | None | Terry | ||||
16 | "Reunion" |
- In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
- This player won the hero challenge, earning reward for their entire tribe.
- Bruce was sent to Exile Island after not being chosen in the tribe switch. He joined the tribe that lost the subsequent immunity challenge: Casaya.
- There was no reward challenge or exile due to the merge.
- Due to Bruce being medically evacuated from the game, there was no Immunity Challenge or Tribal Council.
- In addition to the team reward, Terry won a car for winning the second part of the challenge.
- For the loved ones visit, Terry had to assign how much time with their loved one everyone got. Terry brought Shane and their loved ones (Terry's wife and Shane's son) to his overnight reward. Terry gave Cirie the chance to spend the night with her husband at camp, Aras a hug from his mother, and exiled Danielle, who could only share a few words with her mother.
- Cirie and Danielle were tied at Tribal Council, but before the tie-breaker challenge was shown, the episode ended. At the start of the next episode, the fire-making tie-breaker was aired.
Episodes
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) | Rating/share (18-49) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
168 | 1 | "The First Exile" | February 2, 2006 | 19.20 | 7.0/18 | |
All 16 castaways arrived on what was later revealed as Exile Island for the start of the game. They were divided into four tribes based on their age and gender. Jeff explained the mechanics of Exile Island to the castaways and announced that they'll compete in their first reward challenge.
With Viveros, Casaya and La Mina victorious, the losing tribe, Bayoneta, had to pick one of their own to stay on Exile, who would return in time for the next immunity challenge. Through Rock, Paper, Scissors, it was decided among the younger women that Misty would remain. After all the other castaways left Exile Island, Jeff gave Misty the first clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. The older tribes fared well, with Tina's leadership at Casaya helping everyone get chores done and La Mina successfully building a bonfire, however the younger tribes were less productive.
At the first immunity challenge, Misty returned from Exile Island and pretended she found the immunity idol hidden there, although it was not necessary when Bayoneta finished first. The male tribes La Mina and Viveros finished second and third, and Casaya headed to Tribal Council. Back at Casaya, Tina was mourning the loss of her son, who passed away a few months before filming, but later caught a sizable fish while Ruth Marie and Melinda were debating whether to vote out Cirie for being a weak link or Tina for being a social recluse. At Tribal Council, Tina accused her tribemates about their work ethic, creating animosity between her and the rest of tribe. In the end, Ruth Marie and Melinda sided with Cirie as Tina was voted out 3-1. | ||||||
169 | 2 | "Breakdown" | February 9, 2006 | 18.75 | 6.6/17 | |
Following a terrible storm, the tribes gathered for a Reward Challenge and were shocked to learn they would be rearranged. Bayoneta and Viveros were disbanded, with all remaining contestants spread across the new Casaya and La Mina tribes of seven people each through a schoolyard pick, with Danielle and Terry as captains. The new La Mina tribe consisted of Austin, Dan, Misty, Nick, Ruth Marie, Sally, and Terry. The new Casaya tribe consisted of Aras, Bobby, Cirie, Courtney, Danielle, Melinda, and Shane. With Bruce left over as a result of the odd number of castaways, he was granted immunity and sent to Exile Island for three days until tribal council and would join the tribe that lost the next immunity challenge.
The new La Mina Tribe won the reward challenge.
Despite quickly losing their newly acquired spear in deep water, La Mina won the immunity challenge as well. Before Tribal Council, Shane considered quitting because of nicotine withdrawal but his newly formed alliance of Aras, Courtney, and Danielle convinced him to get over it. At Tribal Council, Bruce arrived to witness Tribal Council before joining the tribe after one of them was vote out. The five new Casaya members ganged up on the only "Older Women" members Cirie and Melinda, with Melinda voted out in a 5-2 vote. After Melinda's departure, Bruce joined Casaya. | ||||||
170 | 3 | "Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners" | February 16, 2006 | 16.98 | 6.3/16 | |
At Casaya, Bruce used spare T-shirts to develop a water filtration system, meaning his tribe did not need to boil the brackish water before drinking it. It proved popular with some, but Courtney met it with skepticism.
La Mina won camping essentials and the right to choose which member of Casaya would be exiled at the Reward Challenge. They chose Bruce, believing that his absence would most demoralize the tribe. Shane's mood swings continued and created friction among his alliance.
Casaya won their first immunity challenge, and back at La Mina, Dan and Terry recruited Nick and Austin to target Misty due to her poor performance in the immunity challenge combined with possibly having the hidden immunity idol. Her bluff about obtaining the hidden immunity idol proved false as she was blindsided 5-2. | ||||||
171 | 4 | "Starvation and Lunacy" | February 23, 2006 | 14.85 | 5.5/14 | |
Before the Reward Challenge, Bruce, Aras and Shane returned from foraging for food to find the rest of their tribe had let the fire go out. After a lesson about responsibility around the campsite, they pulled together and won the Reward Challenge for bathroom and supplies, and chose to exile Terry, because they believed him to be his tribe’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. At Exile Island, Terry discovered the mysterious hidden immunity idol (a makeshift shrunken head concealed inside a bottle), which he kept as a secret from his teammates after his return.
Dan pulled in Ruth Marie as a fifth person in his alliance, but after losing another immunity challenge, Sally convinced the La Mina men that she was a more valuable player. In the end, strength outweighed loyalty as Ruth Marie was voted out 4-2. | ||||||
172 | 5 | "For Cod's Sake" | March 2, 2006 | 16.08 | 5.5/14 | |
Bruce's "Zen Garden" caused friction in Casaya and Aras felt he should instead have been helping with the daily camp chores.
Incorporating the reward into the challenge, the winning tribe would receive all the items that were used in the challenge: fish, rice, spices, and wine. The losing tribe will not go back to camp empty-handed, for they were to choose either a sack of rice or a sack of beans. La Mina lost again and Casaya chose Terry to go to Exile Island for the second time in a row. As Casaya returned to camp, they found out that their shelter was ruined due to the storm that happened during the challenge. Since the storm also extinguished their fire and they were unable to create another one on account of everything being wet, they merely enjoyed what they had and ate the fish raw. Meanwhile, as La Mina ate the beans that they chose from the Reward Challenge, Austin and Nick faced the gastrointestinal consequences. The next morning at Casaya, Danielle and Courtney learned Bruce and Bobby spent the night sleeping in their outhouse, drinking all the wine they had won, which caused friction and a heated argument between Bobby and Courtney.
At the immunity challenge, La Mina constructed the skull pyramid faster than Casaya, finally breaking their losing streak and winning Immunity. After the immunity challenge, Shane told Bobby that Bruce was the next to go, as his tribe feared he would flip over to La Mina's alliance come time of the merge. He assured Bobby he wasn't to go by swearing on his son's name; however, Cirie, Courtney and Danielle overpowered Shane and told him they felt Bruce was more trustworthy and less problematic. At tribal council, Shane voted for Aras as a "throwaway vote" as not to choose either side, and the women of Casaya led an erratic 3-2-1-1 vote, resulting in Bobby's elimination. | ||||||
173 | 6 | "Salvation and Desertion" | March 9, 2006 | 15.33 | 5.4/14 | |
At La Mina's camp, while Austin and the other men searched for edible creatures in the water, Dan spoke to Nick about his space flights at NASA. At Casaya, the women complained to Shane about how disrespectful he was.
In a combined reward and immunity challenge, Casaya, despite falling back early, won a barbecue and a trip to a local village, as well as the right to exile someone from La Mina. Because the losing tribe would be attending Tribal Council, Sally, the only woman left in La Mina was exiled and was granted Immunity and unable to vote. Despite being alone, she enjoyed the knowledge that her banishment would break up the men's alliance. Meanwhile, Casaya enjoyed their reward. They rode a boat to a village and gave some toys to children. 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. At Tribal Council, the four men discussed how tight their alliance was, and the possibility of a two vs. two tie vote. In the end, Terry sided with the younger men and Dan was voted off 3-1. | ||||||
174 | 7 | "A Closer Look" | March 15, 2006 | N/A | TBA | |
A recap of the first 15 days including previously un-aired bonus footage. | ||||||
175 | 8 | "An Emerging Plan" | March 30, 2006 | 16.25 | 5.8/17 | |
La Mina received treemail that they are to go to Casaya for the merge. As the tribe approached Casaya's camp, Shane pulled his tribe together in an agreement to vote out the other Tribe in the next four Tribal Councils and the Casaya members, who were eating, ate as much rice as they could to avoid sharing with La Mina, then greeted them with open arms. While building a larger shelter, Nick accidentally chipped Bruce's tooth with a machete, but Bruce was fine. Meanwhile, Terry tried to convince Shane and Cirie to flip, claiming he could guarantee them two more weeks in the game, but no one would budge.
At the immunity challenge, the survivors hung on a pole with their hands and feet only. Cirie lasted only 3 minutes and after a point all the Casaya members voluntarily jumped off, leaving Terry, Austin and Nick to fight for immunity. Austin asked Terry to throw the challenge and let him give immunity, as he was convinced he was going home, but Terry wouldn't budge, despite having the hidden immunity idol. Austin fell off, then Nick did after 45 minutes, giving Terry his first victory. Before Tribal Council, Bruce drew the name "Gitanos" for their new tribe name, meaning "Gypsies" in Spanish. Later that night, Nick, considered the second strongest member after Terry, was voted out along former tribal lines, 6-4. | ||||||
176 | 9 | "The Power of the Idol" | April 6, 2006 | 16.36 | 5.6/17 | |
With Nick voted out, the former La Mina tribe attempted to flip some of the Casaya tribe members.
At the reward challenge, the castaways were split into three teams, and Bruce, Aras, and Sally ended up victorious thanks to Aras’s plan to ally with another team. Austin and Danielle were exiled together, while the winners enjoyed a big breakfast in a rain-soaked bed.
At the immunity challenge, the castaways competed in an obstacle course, with a few contestants getting eliminated in each round. Terry ended up victorious with his second individual immunity win in a row, narrowly beating Sally. Back at camp, the former La Mina tribe tried to convince Bruce and Danielle, viewed as 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 still showed loyalty to Casaya, and, with a 6-3 vote, voted off former La Mina's strongest non-immune member, Austin. | ||||||
177 | 10 | "Fight for Your Life or Eat" | April 13, 2006 | 15.07 | 5.2/17 | |
After another La Mina's departure, Sally and Terry were at their most desperate to keep themselves in the game.
At the reward challenge, the team of Bruce, Courtney, Sally, and Terry won a videos from home, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and ice-cold milk. They chose Aras to be sent to Exile Island. Back at the camp, a paranoid Shane told registered nurse Cirie that he was "having problems" with his testicles (and stripped naked in the process, save his shirt). When the winning team got back, they brought some of their reward with them.
At the immunity challenge, the players had to decide between a feast of cheeseburgers, fries, and soft drinks or the immunity challenge. Bruce, Cirie, Courtney, Danielle, and Shane decided to feast, whereas Aras, Sally, and Terry chose to participate. Terry narrowly defeated Aras, with Sally placing third. When the Survivors got back to camp, Sally and Terry continued their efforts to break the Casaya alliance. Despite their efforts, the Casaya alliance held strong, and Sally was voted out 6-2. | ||||||
178 | 11 | "Medical Emergency" | April 20, 2006 | 16.26 | 5.5/18 | |
Terry seemed to become more bitter about his continued status outside of the alliance.
In a reward challenge where the contestants voted about their fellow contestants, Courtney was shocked to learn she was considered the most unpopular of the tribe. By correctly guessing what the majority of the tribe had chosen for their answers, Cirie won the challenge and sent Terry to Exile Island, taking 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 ally himself with Courtney, but to no avail. Bruce, who had been sick for several days, was in increasing pain. He claimed to have not gone to the toilet since the Panamanian village reward. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and asked for medical assistance. The medical team arrived and took him out of the game. Later that day, with the Reward winners returned, Jeff Probst brought Terry back to the camp from Exile Island and revealed that as a result of Bruce's withdrawal, there was no immunity challenge nor Tribal Council, and Bruce would assume a position on the Jury if his condition allowed. | ||||||
179 | 12 | "Perilous Scramble" | April 27, 2006 | 17.09 | 5.9/18 | |
The other players continued to worry about Shane's strange behavior: he had found a piece of wood and was pretending it was his BlackBerry and he was sending messages to people back home.
Terry, Courtney and Danielle won the first part of the reward challenge, and Terry won the second part to claim the car. During their reward, Terry made a deal with Courtney and Danielle for the three of them to work together. Back at camp, Cirie went fishing and caught 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.
Terry won his fourth straight immunity challenge, and the former Casaya alliance was forced to vote out one of their own. Shane thought the alliance was in agreement to vote out Danielle, while Courtney thought that her new alliance with Danielle, Terry and fourth member Cirie was voting against Aras. Cirie, who didn't like her low position in this alliance, worked with Aras and Danielle to vote against Courtney. At Tribal Council, Bruce appeared with the jury members, meaning he had recovered and was fit to continue as a juror. The final six were happy that he was okay. With the votes split three ways, Courtney was blindsided 3-2-1. | ||||||
180 | 13 | "Bamboozled" | May 4, 2006 | 17.04 | 5.9/18 | |
Players competed in a reward challenge of obstacles from past challenges for a visit with loved ones. The winner would decide as to what capacity the other contestants would get to interact with their loved ones. Terry narrowly claimed victory over Aras and choose himself and his wife, along with Shane and his son, Boston, to spend the night at a villa. He also chose Cirie's husband H.B. to spend the night at the camp, Aras to just get a hug from his mother and Danielle to get a few words with her mom from where she was standing.
After the loved ones left, the players competed for immunity. For the fifth time in a row, Terry won immunity. Back at camp, Aras decided to break his alliance with Shane after finding out that Shane wanted to take Courtney to the final two. Aras confirmed his alliance with Cirie and Danielle. In the end, Shane was blindsided in a 3-1-1 decision. | ||||||
181 | 14 | "Call the Whambulence!" | May 11, 2006 | 17.20 | 5.8/18 | |
Terry was inadvertently tripped by Cirie's torch and yelled at her while she was tending the bonfire, but Aras protected her, saying that it was an accident. This left Terry further isolated among the tribe.
Aras won the reward challenge, and chose to take Cirie on a luxurious yacht trip through the Panama Canal; but not before having a debate with Terry after he accused him of complaining every time he lost a challenge and blurting out "disparaging comments about women." Both Terry and Danielle were sent to Exile Island for losing the challenge. During their trip, Aras and Cirie made a pact for the Final 2; while Danielle and Terry also conspired for their fate in the game during their time on exile. Soon after returning from their reward, Cirie successfully built her first fire.
In the immunity challenge, Cirie and Terry were putting up a good fight but Aras ultimately won the challenge, thus ending Terry's Immunity winning streak. Before the tribal council, Aras approached Terry to apologize for accusations of Terry's worthiness to remain in the game after the reward challenge, which Terry accepted. Meanwhile, Cirie and Danielle practiced making fire, anticipated this would be the tiebreaker in the event of a tie (with Danielle reconsidering about Terry giving his hidden immunity idol to her). In the end, the guess proved accurate as the vote indeed ended up tied between Danielle and Cirie. With Terry refusing to give Danielle the hidden immunity idol, she and Cirie will partake in a fire-starting challenge. | ||||||
182 | 15 | "The Final Showdown" | May 14, 2006 | 17.07 | 6.2/15 | |
After many attempts to start fires that continued to wear out, Danielle won the fire starting tie-breaker, and Cirie was eliminated from the game.
The next morning, Terry displayed the now powerless immunity idol back at camp, and in a surprise reward challenge, he won a protein-enriched meal that would be useful for the final immunity challenge. 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 thirteen eliminated Survivors on the large skull-shaped shelter in the center of the island and burned it in the process.
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. With all of the other castaways gone, Aras and Danielle received a celebratory food reward the next day. While walking along the beach rocks, Aras slipped and sliced open his hand and back, requiring a total of eight stitches. At the final Tribal Council, Aras and Danielle were asked questions ranging from who contributed the most in getting them into the final two, as to why the other castaway was more deserving of the million dollar prize. Cirie and Terry advocated for Aras to win, saying that he had done far more in the game overall than Danielle, despite Terry's long running rivalry with Aras. Shane, who felt neither of the two were deserving of the prize, asked them to pick a number between one and a million. He also lambasted Danielle for being overly reliant on her father and boyfriend, and Aras for being a poor broke kid who lives with his dad, to which Aras replied that is why Shane and the others should give him a million. | ||||||
183 | 16 | "Reunion" | May 14, 2006 | N/A | TBA | |
Months later, it was revealed that Aras won, crowning him as the twelfth Sole Survivor, in a 5-2 vote over Danielle. The castaways discussed the season with host, Jeff Probst, live at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. |
Voting history
|
- The first Tribal Council vote resulted in a tie. As there were only four castaways remaining, the two tied castaways competed in a fire-making challenge to resolve the tie.
- No vote; Bruce was medically evacuated from the game.
- Cirie lost to Danielle in a fire-making challenge.
- Aras and Terry were not eligible to vote as the only eligible players they could vote for were each other.
- Bruce was sent to Exile Island after not being chosen in the tribal switch. He joined the tribe that lost the subsequent immunity challenge, Casaya.
- Sally was exiled until after the next Tribal Council, which meant she could not be voted out or participate in the vote.
Reception
Survivor: Panama has received mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics. The personalities of the Casaya tribe members, in particular fan-favorite Cirie Fields, were praised. However, aside from Terry Deitz, the members of the La Mina tribe was criticized for being perceived as less entertaining compared to their Casaya counterparts. As such, critics believe that the season is uneven due to the contrast in entertainment between the members of the two main tribes. Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly ranked this season 27th out of 40 criticizing the season's final immunity challenge for being unfair to Terry Deitz which lead to an "unmemorable" final two.[7] The gameplay of winner Aras Baskauskas received mixed to negative reception. Baskauskas placed 23rd out of the first 34 winners in a fan poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly in 2017 and also received the fewest first-place votes out of every winner in the poll.[8] In 2014, Joe Reid of The Wire ranked this season 8th out of 27.[9] In 2015, a poll by Rob Has a Podcast ranked this season 12th out of 30 with Rob Cesternino ranking this season 14th.[10] This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings, ranking 15th out of 40.[11] In 2020, The "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 10th out of 40 saying the "casting here is good" and the "gameplay is almost more interesting for what doesn’t happen than what does".[12] Later that same year, Inside Survivor ranked this season 12th out of 40 saying it is a GREAT season that "features some of the best characters of all-time, has innovative gameplay, superb blindsides, an underdog story, and is perhaps the funniest season ever."[13]
References
- Dakss, Brian (January 9, 2006). "'Survivor: Panama' Cast Unveiled". CBS News. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- Mitchell, Paul (January 11, 2006). "Timber Tina Scheer proves she's a 'survivor'". Wisconsinosity. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
- "Survivor: Micronesia - Full Cast List and Photos". IGN. January 4, 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
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