Time is dwindling and the season is near an end. On Sunday evening at 8 PM ET/PT in most viewing areas, the two-hour finale will air followed by the reunion show. The Final Four are Cirie, Danielle, Aras and Terry. Who will win the million dollars? And, more importantly, will Shane clean up enough for the reunion so that he stops looking like Reverend Jim from Taxi?
But that's Sunday, let's get into tonight's episode (5/11). Four are left. Who will be voted out tonight?
The show opened on Night 33 at the Gitanos camp as the four remaining tribe members returned from the Tribal Council where Shane was blindsided by Cirie's scheming. Cirie plopped her torch to the ground and Terry almost tripped over it in the dark. So, then it started. He spoke harshly to her; she defended herself. Then Aras got into the verbal brouhaha by telling Terry he was ruining the time they should be celebrating as the Final Four. All grouchy-pusses at the camp. Terry went off to bed and told them they could celebrate.
The Rewards Challenge was a bit different from ones we've seen before. It entailed the tribe members tied to ropes following a path like some of the ones in the past. But they each had to go to six locations, one at a time, count what was there, return with the number and then set out to do it all over again. Once they had all the numbers, they had to use them to open combination locks. At the locations they had to count iguanas, poles, rocks, fish, sea shells and hermit crabs. Cirie did her squeaky voice when it came to the iguanas.
Terry and Aras had several sort of rough encounters on the course, deliberately blocking each other, bumping each other and words. All of them had to go back through the locations due to miscounts. Terry mistakenly thought they could only return to one location at a time and noticed Aras was gone a long time - checking all the locations in one outing for a double-check. When Terry mentioned it to Jeff, Aras started yelling, "Call a waahmbulance! Terry's whining!" (Yes, I'm rolling my eyes here. Aren't you?)
Aras won Reward - a cruise in a 100 foot luxury yacht through the Panama Canal, a five-course meal and an overnight stay. Since he could choose one guest, he naturally chose Cirie. Both Danielle and Terry were sent to Exile Island where Danielle belatedly decided to flip and work with Terry. Now, that's something she should have done long before the Final Four, don't you think? Of course, Terry's out of cards to play (with the exception of the hidden Immunity Idol from Exile Island), so he seems to have forgotten that Danielle backed out of the last alliance attempt. He once again told her he would give her the Immunity Idol from Exile Island if he won Immunity. The yacht trip was a bit less eventful for us as we all know that Cirie and Aras are loyal to each other.
Both groups of two met up next to compete in the Immunity Challenge. This one was a bit funky. Puzzle pieces in three bags were hidden in sand pits. Surrounding the sandpits were markers. The castaways had to use coordinates to cross ropes to know where to dig. Each puzzle led to the coordinates to the next puzzle. And, Aras was on a streak. Not only did he win Reward, he also won Immunity - both firsts for him. Terry's winning streak of all individual immunities thus far finally ended.
When they got back to camp, Terry confronted Aras about a nasty statement he made regarding him disrespecting women. To my surprise, Aras apologized and it seemed to jolt him back into a nicer person overall. Both shook hands and it appears the boys won't be catfighting through to the bitter end.
Although Terry hasn't admitted to either Cirie or Aras that he has the Exile Island Immunity Idol, they've assumed he does. Therefore, the whole tribe knows that both Terry and Aras will both be safe and it's Cirie and Danielle whose heads are on the chopping block (figuratively, of course!). It's also quite likely to be a tie vote. Unless that silly purple rock deal (Survivor: Marquesas) rears its ugly head and it's totally random who leaves, the tiebreaker is usually fire. Cirie had made a fire while alone with Aras and had success. Danielle has made fire on and off through the season. Still, Aras teamed with Cirie and Terry with Danielle for fire-making classes.
Sure enough, at Tribal Council, it was a tie - two votes for each woman. And, sure enough, the tiebreaker was a fire-making challenge. Since it was a tie and Terry himself received no votes, the hidden Immunity Idol never came into play and this show was the last one in which it could be used. I suppose that Terry could take it home and call it Shane. After all, there is a bit of a resemblance. The show left off on a "to be continued..." note with both Cirie and Danielle ready to start the challenge. Apparently, they will finish that at the start of the finale show on Sunday and it's not until then that we'll know the Final Three.
In a sidenote: What the heck was that giant ring taking over Courtney's hand in the jury box? Sheesh! It looked like the Mood Ring Which Ate Cincinnati or something!
At this time, I think I could support any of the four for a win. Terry has played a fantastic game and I think he's the most competitive man ever on the show. Aras, though he has some weak spots, came around with his apology to Terry tonight. I have the feeling that he's more that sort of man than what we've seen. Cirie? For someone scared of leaves in the first episode, she's proven herself to be a strong competitor and an excellent strategist. At the bottom of my choices would be Danielle.
How about you?
