| Survivor: Panama | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| No. of days | 39 |
| No. of castaways | 16 |
| Winner | Aras Baskauskas |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Pearl Islands, Panama |
| Filming dates | October 31 – December 9, 2005 |
| Original release | |
| Release | February 2 – May 14, 2006 |
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.
| 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 | 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 | |
^ Bruce joined Casaya after the episode 2 vote, which is why he did not vote.
| 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 | 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 | 6th Voted Out Day 15 | |
| "A Closer Look" | March 15, 2006 | Recap Episode | |||||
| "An Emerging Plan" | March 30, 2006 | None | Terry | None | 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 | Terry | Bruce | No Vote | Left Due To Illness Day 26 |
| "Perilous Scramble" | April 27, 2006 | Courtney, Danielle, Terry |
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 | ||||||
^ 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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
Bruce's "Zen Garden" caused problems at Casaya and Aras felt he should have been helping with camp chores . 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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
^ 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.