An exciting night on Survivor: Exile Island

Where do I even start with tonight’s episode of Survivor: Exile Island? It seems like they really crammed a lot into the hour.

First, I hated the foreshadowing with Bruce and his…um…personal problem. As soon as he started complaining that he couldn’t poop, you just knew something was going to go wrong. And why did he pull Shane aside to tell him? Of all the people to confide in about that sort of problem, Shane seems to not be the best candidate. What happened to his relationship with Terry? Or how about Cirie – she’s a nurse!

So, now that we’ve been prepared that something might happen with Bruce, we get to one of my favorite challenges. They play variations of this on almost every season, and this variation is definitely my favorite. As Aras pointed out to his tribe, it’s designed to fracture the team. And it certainly did. Not only do you have the pecking order revealed, but you have the element of finding out what your tribe really thinks of you. It’s fantastic. And the reactions of some of the survivors were classic. I can understand where Courtney might be a little upset that she was the answer to so many of the questions. But Shane couldn’t have been a worse loser if he tried. Can you imagine how he would act if he lost something that was actually important? Yikes. What an example you set for you son, Shane. I was so glad when Cirie won and didn’t choose Shane to go with her. And he really shouldn’t be complaining about being hungry since he ate all those cheeseburgers and fries just a few days earlier.

Oh – if you were surprised that Terry was the first out in the challenge or that he was sent to Exile Island, please, somehow, pay more attention. My pet rabbits saw that one coming.

So, back at camp Bruce’s pains got worse and worse to the point that he had to ask for the medics. Now, I’m not going to say anything about Bruce needing medics – he was clearly in a lot of pain, and I’m surprised he lived with it as long as he did. But the question that I have is about Courtney and Shane’s reaction. First, while a song might not be the best way to comfort him, at least Courtney tried to sit with Bruce and make him feel better. Where was Shane? And why, when the medics asked for help, did Shane ask if the help was needed right away? And then he had to explain why he wasn’t wearing his wet pants? (and why, Shane, are your pants always wet?) So very strange.

So a melancholy end to the episode as Jeff Probst updated the tribe and told them that there would be no immunity challenge or tribal council. And you could kind of see the look in Terry’s eyes that even though he was sad that Bruce was hurt, he knew that it bought him a few more days without using the idol. I don’t see how Terry is going to lose. Aside from the fact that Shane has clearly lost it, there is an element that Terry is the only one left who has really been thinking and playing the game all along. He is in his element, and might just be unbeatable. Way to go Terry.