Survivor: Panama

Production
Production location(s)	Pearl Islands, Panama
Filming dates	October 31 – December 9, 2005
Release
Original release	February 2 – May 14, 2006
Chronology
Preceded by	Survivor: Guatemala
Followed by	Survivor: Cook Islands

Survivor: Panama - Exile Island (Survivor: Exile Island or Survivor: Panama for short) is the twelfth season of the American reality show Survivor. The season was filmed in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama. This location was used before in Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars. Filming started on October 31, 2005 and the season started being shown on TV on February 2, 2006. The season finale (last episode) was on May 14, 2006 with the votes shown live from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York.

Applications had to be given on June 17, 2005. Around August 2005, 800 people were invited for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, 48 of them were chosen as semi-finalists to be interviewed Los Angeles in September 2005. From these 48, 16 were chosen and the show was filmed from November to December 2005.

The season had a twist that started in Survivor: Palau called Exile Island. Each week at least one player is sent to Exile Island after the reward challenge, and will return at the immunity challenge. The exile is given a single machete, a flint, a pot and a bucket of dirty water. The island also had a hidden immunity idol that could be used at tribal council after the votes have been made. This gave the person who found the idol an advantage because that person can keep the idol secret until he or she was voted off. When it's played, the person with next highest number of votes would be voted off. Terry found the idol and never needed to use it at a vote, but him having the idol seemed to influence how many other people voted.

The game started by dividing the 16 players into four tribes by gender and age: young men (Viveros, green buffs), older men (La Mina, orange buffs), young women (Bayoneta, blue buffs) and older women (Casaya, purple buffs). These four tribes were named after four islands in the Pearl Islands. During the second episode, the tribes were switched so that there would only be two tribes, Casaya, and La Mina. Bayoneta and Viveros no longer existed. The last 10 players left merged (combined) into one tribe, and called their new tribe "Gitanos" (black buffs), the Spanish word for "gypsy." One person from each of the four starting tribes were in the final four.

Tina Scheer was supposed to be in Survivor: Guatemala, but she backed out due to her son's death just before that season.

On June 8, 2006 Survivor: Panama became available on Apple's iTunes store.

In a 5-2 vote, Aras Baskauskas won against Danielle DiLorenzo to take the $1 million prize.

Cirie Fields was chosen from this season to return in Survivor: Micronesia as part of the Favorites tribe. Fields also returned once again in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, along with Danielle DiLorenzo. Their places are unknown because the season has not been shown on TV yet.

Players

Player	Starting tribe	Switched tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Tina Scheer 44, Hayward, WI	Casaya			1st Voted Out Day 3	3
Melinda Hyder 32, Sevierville, TN	Casaya	Casaya		2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
Misty Giles 24, Dallas, TX	Bayoneta	La Mina		3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
Ruth-Marie Milliman 48, Greenville, SC	Casaya	La Mina		4th Voted Out Day 11	6
Bobby Mason 32, Los Angeles, CA	Viveros	Casaya		5th Voted Out Day 14	3
Dan Barry 51, South Hadley, MA	La Mina	La Mina		6th Voted Out Day 15	3
Nick Stanbury 25, Tempe, AZ	Viveros	La Mina	Gitanos	7th Voted Out Day 18	6
Austin Carty 24, High Point, NC	Viveros	La Mina		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	7
Sally Schumann 26, Chicago, IL	Bayoneta	La Mina		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	8
Bruce Kanegai 57, Simi Valley, CA	La Mina	Casaya[1]		Left Due To Illness 3rd Jury Member Day 26	2
Courtney Marit 31, Los Angeles, CA	Bayoneta	Casaya		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	4
Shane Powers 35, Los Angeles, CA	La Mina	Casaya		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	9
Cirie Fields 35, Walterboro, SC	Casaya	Casaya		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 36	3
Terry Deitz 46, Simsbury, CT	La Mina	La Mina		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	1
Danielle DiLorenzo 24, Pompano Beach, FL	Bayoneta	Casaya		Runner-Up	4
Aras Baskauskas 24, Santa Monica, CA	Viveros	Casaya		Sole Survivor	9

The Total Votes is the number of votes a player got during Tribal Councils where the player is able to be voted out of the game. It does not count the votes they got during the final Tribal Council.

^  Bruce joined Casaya after the episode 2 vote, which is why he did not vote.

The game

Episode name	Dtae show on TV	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated	Vote	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
"The First Exile"	February 2, 2006	La Mina	Bayoneta	Misty	Tina	3–1	1st Voted Out Day 3
		Viveros	La Mina
		Casaya	Viveros
"Breakdown"	February 9, 2006	La Mina	La Mina	Bruce[2]	Melinda	5-2	2nd Voted Out Day 6
"Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners"	February 16, 2006	La Mina	Casaya	Bruce	Misty	5-2	3rd Voted Out Day 8
"Starvation and Lunacy"	February 23, 2006	Casaya	Casaya	Terry	Ruth-Marie	4-2	4th Voted Out Day 11
"For Cod's Sake"	March 2, 2006	Casaya	La Mina	Terry	Bobby	3-2-1-1	5th Voted Out Day 14
"Salvation and Desertion"	March 9, 2006	Casaya		Sally	Dan	3-1[3]	6th Voted Out Day 15
"A Closer Look"	March 15, 2006	Recap Episode
"An Emerging Plan"	March 30, 2006	None[4]	Terry	None[5]	Nick	6-4	7th Voted Out Day 18
"The Power of the Idol"	April 6, 2006	Aras, Bruce, Sally	Terry	Austin, Danielle	Austin	6-3	8th Voted Out Day 21
"Fight for Your Life or Eat"	April 13, 2006	Bruce, Courtney, Sally, Terry	Terry	Aras	Sally	6-2	9th Voted Out Day 24
"Medical Emergency"	April 20, 2006	Cirie [Aras, Danielle]	None[6]	Terry	Bruce	No Vote	Left Due To Illness Day 26
"Perilous Scramble"	April 27, 2006	Courtney, Danielle, Terry[7]	Terry	Aras	Courtney	3-2-1	10th Voted Out Day 30
"Bamboozled"	May 4, 2006	Terry [Shane]	Terry	Danielle	Shane	3-1-1	11th Voted Out Day 33
"Call the Whambulence!"	May 11, 2006	Aras [Cirie]	Aras	Danielle, Terry	Cirie	2-2	12th Voted Out Day 36
"The Final Showdown"	May 14, 2006	Terry	Danielle	None	Terry	1-0	13th Voted Out Day 38
"Reunion"	May 14, 2006	Jury Vote			Danielle	5-2	Runner-up
					Aras		Sole Survivor

If more than one tribe or player wins reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically if it was teamwork, or where one player won and invited others, the players they invited are in brackets.

^  Bruce was not chosen by a tribe. He was sent to Exile Island and would join the tribe that loses a member. He joined Casaya after Melinda was voted off.

^  There was no Reward Challenge because the tribes were merged, so no one was sent to Exile Island.

^3  There was no Immunity Challenge because of Bruce being removed from the game.

^4  As well as a barbecue meal, Terry won a GMC Yukon for winning the second part of the reward challenge.

Episode 1: The First Exile

• Reward Challenge: Each of the four tribes will have one perspm who has to run across Exile Island to find a pile of skulls. The person must smash the skull that has a tight ball of fabric. Inside the fabric was either an amulet or a stone. Once the amulet is found the person must run back to their tribemates. First three teams to finish wins Reward.
  • Reward: All winning tribes will get flint to make fire.
• Immunity Challenge: Beginning on platforms in the ocean, the tribes must race over a wall, dive into the ocean and swim to their tribe raft. The last person over the wall dives down to unclip a rope underwater, letting the raft loose. The tribe then paddles the raft towards shore. Once the tribe hooks their raft to the post on shore, they race to solve a puzzle, which lets a giant ring loose. The tribe has the choice to dig down many feet and look for an answer key to solve the puzzle. Once the ring is let loose, the tribe attaches it to a rope that they use to throw at a hook to raise their tribe flag. The first three tribes to raise their flags win Immunity.

All 16 players came on what was later told to be Exile Island for the start of the game. They were divided into four tribes based on their age and gender. Then a Reward Challenge started. With Viveros, Casaya and La Mina winning, 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 stay at Exile Island. The older tribes did well. Tina's leadership at Casaya helped everyone get chores done. La Mina built a bonfire. However, the two younger tribes could not get anything done. At the first Immunity Challenge, Misty came back from Exile Island and pretended she found the Immunity Idol hidden there, although she didn't need to say that, because Bayoneta finished first. The male tribes La Mina and Viveros finished second and third, and Casaya going to Tribal Council. Back at Casaya, Tina caught a big fish while Ruth-Marie and Melinda wanted to vote off Cirie because they thought she was weak. At Tribal Council, Tina said that her tribemates were much lazier than her, which made everyone want to vote her out. In the end, Ruth-Marie and Melinda chose to keep Cirie in the game and vote out Tina. (3-1)

Episode 2: Breakdown

• Reward Challenge: The two new tribes must race through an obstacle course, grabbing six wooden snakes along the way. The tribes will grabe two snakes at each of three stations. Each tribe must get one player to carry all six snakes through the whole course. The first tribe to cross the finish line with all their snakes wins the Reward.
  • Reward: Fishing spear, bait and a raft.
• Immunity Challenge: The two tribes must work together to take a giant zombie head from the ocean to the beach. Each tribe has a boat anchored to the ocean floor with a big wooden box. Also, each boat has six holes filled with rubber plugs. Five tribe members have to pull out the plugs and begin heading out of the water out of the boat while the other two tribe members jump into the water and start moving the boat by pulling the anchor towards shore. Once the boat is clipped onto the hitching post, it's a race up the beach to put the anchor on the finish mat. The first tribe to put the zombie head on the zombie body wins Immunity.

After a storm, the tribes went to a Reward Challenge and were shocked to learn that the tribes would be switched. The tribes were switched so that there were only two tribes, Casaya and La Mina. Bayoneta and Viveros no longer existed. The new La Mina tribe was Austin, Dan, Misty, Nick, Ruth-Marie, Sally, and Terry. The new Casaya tribe was Aras, Bobby, Cirie, Courtney, Danielle, Melinda, and Shane. With Bruce left over because of the odd number of players, he was given immunity and was 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 and was given a raft and fishing supplies. Although they quickly lost their new spear in deep water, La Mina won the Immunity Challenge as well. Before Tribal Council, Shane wanted to quit because of nicotine withdrawal but his new alliance of Aras, Courtney, and Danielle told him to get over it. At Tribal Council (with Bruce watching what was happening on the Jury bench), the five new Casaya members wanted vote out the older women, Cirie and Melinda, with Melinda voted out in a 5-2 vote. After Melinda was voted off, Bruce removed his old orange buff and was then given a new purple buff, joining Casaya and headed back to camp with them.

Episode 3: Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners

• Reward Challenge: Using a giant slingshot, three tribe members will be the launchers, while the other four will stand on a balance beam over the water. One tribe member will launch a ball to the other four, who must catch it before it hits the water. The first tribe to catch five balls wins the Reward.
  • Reward: Kerosene lantern, water canisters, blankets, pillows, rope and a tarp
• Immunity Challenge: Each team will compete in different match-ups, racing head to head to five circles in the sand. Buried within each circle is a bag. The tribes must dig and find the bag, and then get back to the finish mat. To get a point, there must be at least one hand on the bag while any part of the body touches the finish mat. First tribe to score three wins Immunity.

At Casaya, Bruce used extra T-shirts to make a water filtration system, meaning his tribe did not need to boil the dirty water before drinking it. It was popular with some, but Courtney didn't believe it would work. La Mina won camping essentials and the power to choose which member of Casaya would be sent to Exile Island at the Reward Challenge. They chose Bruce, thinking that him being gone would wreck the tribe. Shane's mood swings continued and started problems among his alliance. Casaya won their first Immunity Challenge, and back at La Mina, Dan and Terry got Nick and Austin to vote Misty. Her lie about getting the Hidden Immunity Idol proved to be untrue; she was voted out 5-2.

Episode 4: Starvation and Lunacy

• Reward Challenge: Each tribe gets six floating puzzle pieces. One tribe member at a time will swim out, dive down, unclip a puzzle piece, and bring it back to the puzzle frame. Once the piece is placed in the puzzle frame, the next person can go out. When all six of the puzzle pieces have been collected, the tribe may start putting the puzzle together by matching symbols on each side of every piece. First tribe to get it together right wins the Reward.
  • Reward: Rolls of toilet paper, bath essentials and a working outhouse, given by Charmin
• Immunity Challenge: One person is seated in a chair attached to a pulley, while another person is directly above them in a crow's nest, where an empty water drum hangs. The other four tribe members are together in pairs, which will race across a balance beam carrying buckets. Once they reach the water, they must dip their bucket in, get water, race back and empty the water into a bigger pail. The person in the crow's nest will pull that pail up and empty the water into the drum. As the drum takes on water, it will lower, but the person in the chair will rise until they're high enough to pull a pin raising their tribe's flag. First tribe to raise their flag wins Immunity.

Before the Reward Challenge, Bruce, Aras and Shane returned from looking 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 send Terry to Exile Island, because they thought he was his team's leader. Bobby started problems with his teammates by not agreeing with how the reward should be used. La Mina tried to organzie their camp, but were having with Terry at Exile Island. Terry found the Hidden Immunity Idol, 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 told the La Mina men that she was a more weaker player. In the end, they thought strength was more important than loyalty as Ruth Marie was voted out 4-2.

Episode 5: For Cod's Sake!!!

• Reward Challenge: Each tribe will choose someone to get rice, beans and fish from a boat to the shore. The person chosen must race out, grab one item and bring it back to shore, then throw the item to their tribemates, who will be lined up. The item will be thrown from one person to the next until it gets to the last person, who will throw it into the tribe's bin. Once the item is in the bin, the person chosen must go out and get another item. The first two items will be a bag of rice and a bag of beans. Next, the items will be fish. Once a fish gets to the end of the line, the last person must cut off its head and the tail before throwing the body into the bin. The first tribe to eight wins the Reward.
  • Reward: A sack of rice, beans and three big fish
• Immunity Challenge Each tribe must send three members to paddle out to grab skulls from four coffins sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Each time a coffin is found, someone must dive under water, open the coffin and find a skull puzzle piece. They'll then untie the puzzle piece and bring it back to the boat. Once all four skull puzzle pieces have been gathered, they will bring them to shore. The two tribe members left use those four puzzle pieces to build a skull pyramid. The first tribe to build their skull pyramid and put their gold skull on top wins Immunity.

Bruce's "Zen Garden" caused problems at Casaya and Aras felt he should have been helping with camp . The tribe that won the reward challenge would get all the items that were used in the challenge: fish, rice, spices, and wine. The losing tribe will not go back to camp with nothing. 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. When Casaya came back to camp, they found out that their shelter was destroyed in the storm that happened during the challenge. Since the storm also got rid of their fire and they could not make another one since everything was wet, they just 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 got stomach problems. The next morning at Casaya, Danielle and Courtney found out that Bruce and Bobby spent the night sleeping in their outhouse, drinking all the wine they had won. At the Immunity Challenge, La Mina built the skull pyramid faster than Casaya, finally winning Immunity. After the immunity challenge, Shane told Bobby that Bruce was the next to go, as his tribe was worried he would join La Mina's alliance when the tribes merged (combine). He told Bobby he wasn't to go by swearing on his son's name; but, Cirie, Courtney and Danielle told him they thought Bruce could be trusted more. At tribal council, Shane voted for Aras as a "throwaway vote" as not to choose either side, the women of Casaya voted for Bobby. He was voted off in a 3-2-1-1 vote.

Episode 6: Salvation and Desertion

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes must each choose three members to race one at a time out into a field to untie, lower, unhook and return four puzzle pieces. Once all four pieces have been gathered, the two tribe members that are left will use those pieces to solve a spinning puzzle. The first tribe to solve it right will win Immunity and the Reward.
  • Reward: A feast in a Panamanian village and Immunity.

At La Mina's camp, while Austin and the other men looked for creatures they could eat from the ocean, Dan told Nick about his space flights at NASA. At Casaya, the women were talking about how disrespectful they thought Shane was. In a combined Reward and Immunity challenge Casaya won a barbecue and a trip to a local village, as well as the right to send someone from La Mina to Exile Island. Because the losing tribe would be going to Tribal Council, Sally, the only woman left in La Mina was sent to Exile Island and was given Immunity. She was not allowed to vote at Tribal Council. Although she was alone, she liked how her being gone 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 having to stop for a long time. Later the tribe enjoyed barbecue, played soccer, and partied. At Tribal Council, the four men talked about how tight their alliance was, and about the chance of a 2-2 tie vote. In the end, Terry voted with the younger men and Dan was voted off 3-1.

Episode 7: An Emerging Plan

• Immunity Challenge: Each tribe member will have to hang upside down with arms and legs wrapped around a pole. They must hang there for as long as they can. Whoever falls off of the pole will be removed from the challenge. The last player hanging wins Immunity.

La Mina got treemail that they are to go to Casaya for the tribal merge. Before they came, Shane pulled his tribe together in an agreement to vote out the other Tribe in the next four Tribal Councils. While building a bigger shelter, Nick accidentally chipped Bruce's tooth with a machete, but Bruce was fine. Meanwhile, Terry tried to tell some Casaya members to vote with La Mina, but no one would say yes. At the Immunity Challenge, the survivors hung on a pole with only their hands and feet. Terry won, winning immunity. Before Tribal Council, Bruce named the new tribe "Gitanos", meaning "gypsies" in Spanish. Later that night, Nick, who they thought was the second strongest player (after Terry) was voted out. (6-4)

Episode 8: The Power of the Idol

• Reward Challenge: The Gitanos tribe will be divided into three teams of three. Each team will have one boat and 100 coconuts. They must race to put the coconuts into the boats of the other two teams. The more coconuts in the boat, the slower it will be. Once the teams have used up all their coconuts, they'll paddle out in their boats to find a tribe flag and fishing net, return to shore and use the fishing net to carry all the coconuts from their boat back up the beach and into the bin. The first tribe to get all the coconuts in their bin and on their finish mat with their tribe flag wins Reward.
  • Reward: Breakfast in bed
• Immunity Challenge: The Survivors will race through a group of obstacles in four parts. In the first part, all nine Survivors must race to dig through the sand and pull themselves under a wooden fence. The first six to finish move on to the second round, where they must solve a brainteaser with four written clues to guide them. After finishing the brainteaser, they climb up a sand hill, through a maze and over a second sand hill. The first three to finish this part will move on to part three, where they have to travel across a rope bridge using two wooden planks. Once they're at the end of the bridge, they must jump off the platform into the water and climb up a steep sand bank. The first to the top of the sand bank move on to the last round: a race through a group of vertical and horizontal tunnels and towers until the first person finishes, winning Immunity.

With Nick voted out, the old La Mina tribe tried to get some old Casaya members to vote with them. At the reward challenge, the players were split into three teams, and Bruce, Aras, and Sally won. Austin and Danielle were sent to Exile Island together, while the winners enjoyed a big breakfast in a rain-soaked bed. At the immunity challenge, the players competed in an obstacle course, with a few players getting removed from the challenge in each round. Terry ended up winning his second second immunity challenge in a row. Back at camp, the old La Mina tribe tried to get Bruce and Danielle to vote with them, the two outcasts of their alliance, to switch to the La Mina alliance. Terry told Danielle that she could have the immunity idol if she switched. At Tribal Council, Danielle and Bruce still voted with Casaya, and, with a 6-3 vote, got rid of Austin.

Episode 9: Fight for Your Life or Eat

• Reward Challenge: After watching parts of their videos from home, the tribe will be divided into two teams. One person will lie face down on a cradle hanging in the air by bungee cords. Attached to that cradle are three ropes. The teammates will pull those ropes to move the person on the cradle as they grab fifteen flags and place them in order into the right holes. The first team to get all fifteen flags in order wins the Reward.
  • Reward: Their full videos from home, plus peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a glass of milk
• Immunity Challenge: Each Survivor is asked to grab a nut and a shell, and put one in one hand, and the other in the other hand. For the Challenge, each person will swim out to a long plank with seven symbols on it resting on the ocean floor. They will have to remember the symbols in order and race back to the beach, where they will try to copy those symbols, in order, on their answer board. The first person to solve the puzzle right wins Immunity. But there's a twist: the players don't have be in the immunity challenge. If someone doesn't want to play, they will instead eat cheeseburgers, french fries, and soft drinks. They can only eat for as long as the Challenge goes or until the food runs out. If the players want to feast, they will show the nut. If the players want to be in the challenge, they will show the shell.

After another La Mina was voted off, Sally and Terry were trying very hard to keep themselves in the game. At the Reward Challenge, the team of Bruce, Courtney, Sally, and Terry won 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 worried Shane told Cirie, who's a nurse, that he was "having problems" with his testicles (and stripped naked in the process). When the winning team got back, they brought some of their reward with them. At the Immunity Challenge, the players had to choose between a feast of cheeseburgers, fries, and soft drinks or the immunity challenge. Bruce, Cirie, Courtney, Danielle, and Shane chose to feast. Whereas Aras, Sally, and Terry chose to participate. Terry barely won against Aras, with Sally placing third. When the Survivors got back to camp, Sally and Terry were still trying to get members of Casaya to vote with them. Although old La Mina tried, the old Casaya members still said no, and Sally was voted out 6-2.

Episode 10: Medical Emergency

• Reward Challenge: Each of the players will fill out a quiz in private, then the results will be tallied and the Challenge will begin. The questions will be asked to the group. At this time, they will guess whose name came up most often. Each time someone gets a right answer, they'll get to chop one of three ropes for tribe member. After three chops, the rope will let loose a torch that will send their voodoo dolls up in flames.
  • Reward: A visit to a spa
• Immunity Challenge: Because Bruce was removed from the game for medical reasons, there was no immunity challenge.

Terry seemed to become less happy about being outside of the Casaya alliance. In a Reward Challenge where the players voted about the other players, Courtney was shocked to find out that they thought she was the most unpopular of the tribe. By guessing what most 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 upset because of some of the opinions told in the challenge and Shane was upset because he had not been chosen by Cirie for the reward. Shane tried to ally himself with Courtney, but failed. Bruce, who had been sick for many days, had more pain. Finally, he could not take it any longer and asked for medical help. The medical team came and took him out of the game. Later that day, with the Reward winners came back, Jeff Probst brought Terry back to the camp from Exile Island and said that because Bruce was removed, there was no Immunity Challenge or Tribal Council, and Bruce would become a member of the Jury if he was in good enough shape.

Episode 11: Perilous Scramble

• Reward Challenge 1: The tribe will be divided into two teams of three. Each team member will be attached to a rope that's a bit longer than the obstacle course. They must follow the rope while travelling though the different obstacles. When they get to the last platform, they will unclip from the rope and, one at a time, race across a lily pad run, jump into the water and find one of three bags. Once all three bags have been found, they will clip onto the rope again and make their way back through all the obstacles to the beach. The first team to reach the finish with all three members and all three bags wins the first Reward.
  • Reward 1: A barbecue feast
• Reward Challenge 2: The winners of the barbecue feast will now be in another Reward Challenge. Firing marbles using a slingshot, they will have to break three tiles in order to win this Challenge.
  • Reward 2: A brand new car (a GMC Yukon)
• Immunity Challenge: Each tribe member will kneel at the end of a long plank hanging over a pit of water. They'll be holding on to two ropes connected to a hook with weights. Starting with twenty percent of their body weight, the weight will go up by another ten percent every fifteen minutes. When the weight becomes too much to hold, the ropes will slip from their hands, the plank will give out and they'll fall into the water. The last person left standing wins Immunity.

The other players continued to worry about Shane's odd behavior: he had found a piece of wood and was pretending it was his BlackBerry and he was sending messages to people back home. At the Reward Challenge, Terry won a 2007 GMC Yukon, and he, Courtney and Danielle won a meal together. 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 big fish. After returning to camp, Danielle told Terry she was worried that if they were in the final three with Courtney, she thought he would pick Courtney to go to the final two with because she was less popular. Terry told Danielle that if either of them won the final immunity challenge, they would take the second place winner to the final two. When Courtney found out, she became upset because she felt it suggested she was being carried by other players. Terry won his fourth Immunity Challenge in a row, and the old Casaya alliance had to vote out one of their own. Shane thought the alliance wanted to vote out Danielle, but 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 started a new alliance with Aras and Danielle to vote against Courtney. With the votes split three ways, Courtney was voted off. (3-2-1)

Episode 12: Bamboozled

• Reward Challenge: The players will dig in a circle of sand, each looking for a bag. The first four to find their bag move on to the second part of the challenge. In the second part, they will carry their bags with them to untie a wooden snake. The first three to get to the finish with both bag and snake move on to the third part of the challenge. In the third part, they will carry the bag and snake as they race over a sand hill and into a water pit, where they will untie a big fish. The first two to get to the finish with the fish, bag and snake will move on to the last part of the challenge. In the last part, the last two standing will play against each other, carrying all three items that they have gathered through a group of wooden tunnels and towers. The first person to the finish wins Reward.
  • Reward: A hotel stay with their loved one.
• Immunity Challenge: Each tribe member will stand on a very small perch at the top of a 20-foot poll in the water. When the game starts, they will lower a bucket into the water to fill it, then pour from the bucket into a very narrow bamboo shoot. As the bamboo shoot fills up with water, it will raise a flag. Once the flag is high enough to reach, they must carefully grab it and raise it above their head in order to win Immunity.

Players competed in a Reward Challenge of obstacles from past challenges for a visit with loved ones. The winner would choose who gets what with their loved one. Terry won and he 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 went to the Immunity challenge. For the fifth time in a row, Terry won immunity. Back at camp, Aras wanted to break his alliance with Shane after finding out that Shane wanted to take Courtney to the final two. Aras then made an alliance with Cirie and Danielle. In the end, Shane was voted off. (3-1-1)

Episode 13: Call the Whambulence!

• Reward Challenge: The players will each be attached to ropes by one of two carabiners. Using the two carabiners, they will clip and move from one rope to another as they move their way around each other along a main path that goes to six stations: poles, hermit crabs, rocks, iguanas, shells and fish. Each time they get to a station they must count the number of items, race back to the start, and find the answer tile with the same number on it. Once they've been to all six stations, they will have six numbers. They will then place those six numbers into an answer grid. Using the combination, the two numbers in each column will open the locks. If the lock doesn't open, it means they've counted wrong and they can go back and fix their mistakes. Once they've opened all three locks, their tribe flag will drop. The first person to lower their tribe flag wins Reward.
  • Reward: A luxury yacht tour of the Panama Canal.
• Immunity Challenge: Each Survivor will work to solve three puzzles. Using a set of coordinates, each player will cross two ropes. Where the ropes cross each other, a bag of puzzle pieces is buried in the sand. They must dig up the pieces, then race back to their answer boards to solve their puzzle. The puzzle will tell them the next set of coordinates. The first person to solve all three puzzles, with the third one reading "Safe From Vote," wins Immunity.

Terry was accidentally tripped by Cirie's torch and yelled at her while she was taking care of the bonfire, but Aras protected her, saying that it was an accident. This left Terry further separated from the rest of the tribe. Aras, having won the Reward Challenge, chose to take Cirie on a luxurious yacht trip through the Panama Canal; but not before leaving with a argument with Terry as he said he was complaining every time he lost challenges and said "disparaging comments about women." Both Terry and Danielle were sent to Exile Island for losing the Challenge. During their trip, Aras and Cirie talked about how they wanted to be in the Final 2 together; while Danielle and Terry also talked about their fate in the game while they were on Exile Island. Soon after returning from their reward, Cirie built her first fire. In the Immunity Challenge, Cirie and Terry were putting up a good fight but Aras ultimately won the challenge, ending Terry's Immunity winning streak. Before the tribal council, Aras apologized for what he had said after the Reward Challenge, which Terry accepted. Meanwhile, Cirie and Danielle practiced making fire, since they thought this would be the tiebreaker if there was a tie. In the end, the guess proved right as the vote did end up tied between Danielle and Cirie. With Terry not wanting to give Danielle the Hidden Immunity Idol, she and Cirie will have a fire-making challenge. However right before they started, the scene was cut, ending this episode leaving the viewers hanging.

Episode 14: The Final Showdown

• Reward Challenge: The Survivors must race to the top of a three-story climbing wall using four individually-shaped pegs. First, they must make their way through a table maze. Once at the end of the maze, each will let loose a bag which has their first two pegs and move to a spinning wheel. Reading the clues, each must spin the wheel clockwise, counter-clockwise, and clockwise again like a combination lock to find the one bag that has their final two pegs. With the help of the pegs, the players must get to the top of the wall and put their pegs in the right holes, which will raise a flag. The first person to raise their flag wins Reward. Terry won the Reward Challenge.
  • Reward: A protein-enriched meal that would be useful for the final Immunity Challenge.
• Immunity Challenge: Starting on the biggest of a group of floating platforms, every fifteen minutes the Final Three will move to the next smaller platform. As the platforms get smaller, it will get hard for the Survivors to stay on the platforms. Only their feet can touch the platform. If their hands or butt touch the platform or they fall off, they are removed from the challenge. The last person standing wins Immunity.

After trying many times to start fires that continue to wear out, Danielle won the fire starting tie-breaker, and Cirie was removed from the game. The next morning, Terry showed 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 last Immunity Challenge. The final three were taken to Exile Island to take part in a tribute to the players voted off before them. The three placed the old torches of the thirteen players on the big skull-shaped shelter in the center of the island and burned it in the process. Danielle won the last immunity after Terry fell off and Aras jumped off after getting 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 old Casaya tribe. Aras and Danielle got celebrated with a feast the next day. While walking along the beach rocks, Aras fell and sliced open his hand and back, needing eight stitches. At the last Tribal Council, Aras and Danielle were asked questions, from who helped them the most in getting to the Final, as to why the other player deserved the million dollar prize more. Shane, who thought neither of the two deserved the million dollars, asked them to pick a number between one and a million. At the live reunion, Aras had won, in a 5-2 vote, and became the twelfth Sole Survivor.

Voting history

	Starting tribes	Dissolved tribes					Merged tribe
Episode #	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Reunion
Eliminated:	Tina 3/4 votes	Melinda 5/7 votes	Misty 5/7 votes	Ruth-Marie 4/6 votes	Bobby 3/7 votes	Dan 3/4 votes	Nick 6/10 votes	Austin 6/9 votes	Sally 6/8 votes	Bruce No vote[8]	Courtney 3/6 votes	Shane 3/5 votes	Cirie 2/4 votes[9]	Terry 1 vote	Danielle 2/7 votes	Aras 5/7 votes
Voter	Vote
Aras		Melinda			Bruce		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Danielle		Jury Vote
Danielle		Melinda			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Cirie	Terry
Terry			Misty	Ruth-Marie		Dan	Shane	Aras	Aras		Aras	Aras	Cirie			Aras
Cirie	Tina	Shane			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Courtney	Shane	Danielle			Aras
Shane		Melinda			Aras		Nick	Austin	Sally		Danielle	Danielle			Danielle
Courtney		Melinda			Bobby		Nick	Austin	Sally		Aras					Aras
Bruce		Exiled[10]			Courtney		Nick	Austin	Sally						Danielle
Sally			Ruth-Marie	Ruth-Marie		Exiled[11]	Shane	Aras	Aras							Aras
Austin			Misty	Ruth-Marie		Dan	Shane	Aras								Aras
Nick			Misty	Ruth-Marie		Dan	Shane
Dan			Misty	Sally		Austin
Bobby		Melinda			Bruce
Ruth-Marie	Tina		Misty	Sally
Misty			Ruth-Marie
Melinda	Tina	Shane
Tina	Cirie

^  Sally was sent to Exile Island during the episode 6 vote, which is why she did not vote.

^  Because Bruce was removed due to a medical emergency, he was not voted out, and there was no tribal council.

^  Cirie was eliminated using the fire-making challenge, used before in Palau, but it was not shown until the next episode.

Survivor: Panama Media

• 

  Dan Barry

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  Cirie Fields at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, May 20. Fields is a former participant in the popular reality-television series 'Survivor.'

Other websites

• Official CBS Survivor Panama Website