'Survivor: Panama - Exile Island' - Ep. 11 -or- 'Cirie Stars in Strategical Circles'

6 are left. Who will be voted off tonight?

The show opened on Day 28. We're really moving along with the season. Before you know it, we'll know the Final Four. Will the seemingly unstoppable Terry keep winning Immunity? Will he choose the best time to bring out that found bonus Immunity Idol? Or will the sheer numbers and probability that some ex-Casaya will knock him out come to fruition?

Terry, but of course, is happy that Bruce's medical exit spared him an Immunity Challenge. He's concerned about Bruce, but the fewer challenges he has to face, the better the prospects of making it to the end. Although he seems to be a Superman, each challenge is a risk. He loses just one and he has to play the not-such-a-secret found Idol. Once he's played that, he's out of aces up the sleeve.

This episode's Weird Shane bit had to do with him using a piece of wood he found as a Blackberry device to send and receive messages. I personally think he's trying to emulate Greg Buis (Season 1) and his coconut phone. Sorry, Shane. Greg was a bit off-kilter at times, but at least he was intriguing to watch. You just tend to creep me out in many ways, the Blackberry being the latest. Knock it off and get voted off, please!

The Reward Challenge once again split the tribe into teams. This time it was Terry, Danielle and Courtney against Shane, Aras and Cirie. In an athletic endeavor which included being team members tied to a long rope, an obstacle course above the water, diving to retrieve a bag and so on, the winners were Terry, Danielle and Courtney. I felt so bad that the other team got hopelessly tangled in their rope and had no chance at all to win. Heh. The Reward itself was a trip to a private island where they'd chow down on a barbeque, something these castaways always crave. They chose to send the biggest threat and strongest player, Aras, to Exile Island.

This challenge had more to it, too. The 3 winners competed in a secondary rather done-before bow shooting at tiles challenge where Terry won a spanking new spiffy 2007 GMC Yukon. Uh-oh. Will the curse of the Survivor Car Winner haunt him? Not once in the history of the show has anyone who won a vehicle ended up winning the show. Eep!

The next day, Aras was hanging around being bored on Exile Island -- he knows Terry has the hidden Idol -- and the winners were eating barbeque foods while quaffing flavored sodas. (What? No product placement? I didn't recognize the brand of the bottles they had.) Terry, once again, was trying to work his mojo to have Danielle and Courtney flip. It seemed to be working better than his last efforts. They finally decided that the Final Two should be the top two competitors in the game, not someone carried in because the jury wouldn't think worthy of the win. Can we say Courtney? I knew you could! She realized it, too. She's miffed, to say the least.

Back at the Gitanos campsite, Cirie caught a fish. Now, I'm really enjoying watching her on the show. She's so not outdoorsy that it's hilarious to watch her reaction to things like the fish. She's excited, scared of it and thrilled that she did it all at the same time. That makes her voice go higher and higher until she sounds like Minnie Mouse on speed. I love it! She scored more brownie points with Shane by declaring the fish a birthday gift to him. This woman is good, very good. We know from confessionals that she thinks Shane's a nutcase, yet she's not showing it at all to anybody but us. Shrewd, indeed.

Cirie knows that everyone wants Courtney against them in the Final Two as she won't get the jury vote. She knows Shane wants her, so lets him think she'll go along with his plan to off Danielle (off the show, not literally "off her"). Of course, a lot will hinge on who wins Immunity.

And, guess who? For the fourth straight time, Terry won individual immunity in a physical challenge which had the castaways holding up increasing weight amounts with ropes held in their hands. Shane was the first out; it didn't look like he started with a decent grip on the ropes. At the end, it was Courtney against Terry. She made a tremendous effort, almost going into a trancelike state, but he held out longer. Terry's third win was unprecedented, so now he's unprecedented his own record or something to that effect.

So the scheming starts. Shane thinks he has a deal with others while Terry thinks he may have finally broken the numbers game. But neither had anything on Cirie. She convinced Danielle and Courtney that Terry brainwashed them, while not giving a clue to Shane that her own personal target was Courtney. Not only that, but she convinced Danielle and Aras to vote Courtney and not mention it, too. She's really emerging as a top schemer in the many seasons of the show, I think. She's more likeable than past schemers. She may just make it.

The final vote at Tribal Council was scattered -- Terry and Aras voted for each other (naturally); Courtney voted for Aras as per the agreement with Terry; Shane voted for Danielle as he thought the ex-Casaya plan (sans Danielle) was to do so and Danielle, Cirie and Aras voted to off Courtney. Bruce, sent off to the hospital on last week's show, was in the jury and looking a lot healthier.

"Courtney, your torch has been extinguished. You must leave the Tribal Council area immediately."

All she could say was, "That's a shocker!" She never saw it coming. Although she balked at the thought that people might take her to the Final Two for the obvious win, I think she might have depending on just that sort of thinking to get her to that point. I'm finding this season more entertaining to watch than the past few. Although Terry's basically against so many such as Stephenie was, he's a stronger and smarter player than she was -- plus, he has the hidden Immunity Idol yet to play. Aras is Casaya's strongest physical player, but doesn't have great scheming abilities. Cirie schemes so well, but hasn't the athletic edge at all. Danielle is an okay player, but she's faltering against all the stronger ones. And, Shane's just weird.