At the end of the last episode, when Nick Stanbury was voted out in Tribal Council in a surprise move due to his athletic ability and threat to the ex Casaya members, it became very clear that with the merger, it was a war of attrition to see who could Outplay, Outwit and Outlast the others to be the Sole Survivor.
The Immunity Challenge, won by Terry Deitz , who managed to hang on longer than the others, was a test of endurance. The castaways hung like sloths, suspended from a long beam. Unlike sloths, however, who can hang for about fifteen hours with no problem, the castaways began dropping off within minutes of the challenge beginning. For more about sloths, the world's slowest moving mammal, see page 2.
In this episode, Austin Carty laments his revelation of his strategy of appearing weaker in the endurance challene, realizing he's now a target. Talk among the Casayaites of the Gitanos tribe shows he's right to worry. They sneer at him and agree to reveal nothing of their own plans.
Meanwhile, Terry who won the last Immunity Challenge and holds the Hidden Idol in secret, still campaigns to lure at least two members of the Casayaites over to the La Mina alliance. He's no sloth in this, but talks to everyone he thinks might be willing to switch.
At the Reward Challenge, the tribe is broken up into teams of three:
The challenge involves dumping coconuts in another team's boat, rowing the boat out to retrieve a team flag, rowing back to shore, hauling the cocnuts ashore in a net, puzzle solving, and strength. The Reward for the winning group is breakfast in bed at another location the next day, and the choice of one member from each of the other teams to send to Exile Island.
Teams Two and Three agree to dump all their coconuts in Team One's boat to handicap them and the plan works. Team Three falls behind and is left to put their coconuts in their own boat when the other teams row off. In the end, it's Team Two that wins the reward, and Aras chooses to send Austin and Danielle to Exile Island.
That night is the worst weather the tribe has experienced. Lightning, thunder and a bitter rain leave them cold and shivering. On Exile Island, Danielle and Austin bond, while in camp, the others spend as miserable a night. On the morning of Day 20, Sally is upbeat, waiting for the boat to take her and the two men to breakfast. When it arrives, they have a wet trip and arrive at a beach to find a huge bed under a canopy, but the bedding is wet. However, with the arrival of a huge breakfast, things look up and the three eat with gusto. Sally says it's the best meal she's ever had.
When they return to camp and tell the others of their breakfast, Cirie is resentful. Terry hasn't lost any time, getting Shane to reveal that he intends the Final Four to be himself, Aras, Cirie and Courtney.
Terry immediately creates a plan to get Danielle and Bruce on his side. He reveals his plan to Sally, telling her he's had the Hidden Idol for weeks. She's amazed and impressed and agrees to his plan to will give Danielle the Hidden Idol, if she will bring Bruce over with her.
The Immunity Challenge is a physically difficult one, involving a series of obstacles, dwindling the numbers down to the first six, then three and finally two racing to the end. The battle for Immunity is between Terry and Sally and Terry wins by a hair.
With immunity again, Terry speaks to Danielle and Bruce about his plan, stressing to them that they are the botton of the pecking order and not on Shane's list for the Final Four. Both listen carefully and Bruce tells Terry he won't betray him. Danielle is noncomittal. However, everyone else speculates about the way Terry can use the Idol. Will he save someone from being voted out, and thus forcing the person with the next highest number of votes to be ejected? Aras and Courtney disagree over their next action.
At Tribal Council, Aras gets three votes from Terry, Austin and Sally, but the Casayaites vote as a block for Austin. Now Terry has the chance to save Austin and remove Aras, but he chooses not to do that. Austin leaves to become the first member of the jury.
Host Jeff Probst cautions the remaining Castaways that power is shifting to the jury, who will decide the Sole Survivor.
