In the closing scenes of the previous episode, not the recap of the first 13 days on Survivor Exile Island - A Closer Look at Castaways and Monkeys, Sally Schumann of La Mina was sent to Exile Island and was perfectly happy to get some vacation time away from the men of her tribe and to be safe from Tribal Council.
The“Boys Club” of La Mina faced a difficult decision. They had to vote one of themselves off, an excellent strategic move on the Casaya tribe’s part. Dan Barry hoped for a two versus two vote, siding with Terry Deitz siding against Nick Stanbury and Austin Carty . However, Terry had to choose between keeping his promise to Dan or keeping the team strong. With the merger on the horizon, he wanted to keep their tribe as strong as possible. At Tribal Council, Dan became the sixth castaway voted out.
With the merger, alliances shift and new threats arise. You'll recall that Shane Powers of Casaya begged to be released from his promise to the alliance between himself, Aras Baskauskas, Courtney Marit and Danielle DiLorenzo . He wanted to be sent home. Courtney and Danielle were all for it.
The remaining castaways will have to create new webs to ensnare and trap, or destroy each other. Note the spider references? See more about spiders on page 2.
This episode recaps the events of Night 15, the rainstorm and flood at the Casaya camp. At the edge nearest the entrance, Courtney was wet and cold, but Shane nearest her, refused to give her any additional blanket. The next morning, she was still complaining, saying hse couldn't trust Shane. Bruce looked forward to the merger.
Day 16 dawned with Sally looking for the hidden idol on Exile Island, while at the La Mina camp, Austin Carty fretted about the imbalance between the two tribes and how it would affect the merger. Tree Mail brought them instructions to find a boar, load it with their possessions and head to the Casaya camp.
When Shane spotted the boat approaching, he instructed the others, who were all eating rice, to eat it all up before Nick, Austin and Terry arrived. Shane and the other Casaya tribe mates agreed to outwardly welcome the merger while agreeing to vote the La Minas off, one by one.
Lured into the deceitful web, the La Minas men rejoiced in their welcome, but Terry immediately started to form new alliances. He approached Bruce Kanegai, Shane and Cirie Fields , who each listened, but only Bruce agreed to think about it.
Under Terry's direction, the merged group began constructing a new shelter, using the tarp from the Las Minas camp. Shane and Aras resented this, and spoke of getting rid of Terry. Using a machete to pound in a stake, Nick accidentally hit Bruce, splitting his lip and chipping a tooth. He was contrite and appalled at the damage he might have done to Bruce, but Bruce handled it well, saying he'd had worse.
Meanwhile, Aras and Shane agreed to treat Bruce as their leader, to lull him into staying with their alliance, but agreeing he would be next to go.
Ah, the webs people weave when they practice to deceive! (Apologies to the Bard.) Bruce, as the artist, created the new flag for the merged team who adopted the name Gitanos. He was delighted to be courted by both alliances, calling himself the swing vote and relishing the rest of the game. He intended to outwit, outlast and outplay the others.
The Immunity Challenge was one of endurance. Tribal Immunity now became Individual Immunity, and as each of the Gitanos castaways hung like sloths by their arms and legs from a suspended log until they could endure no more. Cirie was the first to drop, but Nick and Terry outlasted the others until Nick dropped and Terry won the first Individual Immunity necklace.
The rest of Day 17 was spent in politicking, with Terry still attempting to sway others to vote with him and his alliance. Austin was worried that his ploy of pretending exhaustion and weakness during the challenge in order to convince the others he was no threat, would backfire. Nick wanted to hang on to be part of the jury.
Shane and his alliance vowed to stay together, and at Tribal Council, though Shane received four votes, Nick was the seventh person to be voted out of Survivor 12 Exile Island.
With 21 days left in the game, and nine remaining players, who is the next to leave?
See Page 2 for Spiders (ugh!) and Page 3 for Castaway info.
