The Power of the Immunity Idol

Survivor: Exile Island tonight showed why it’s still the best reality show on television.

First, it was comforting to know that Terry and Austin are smarter than they sometimes seem. I was wondering last week why Austin would reveal his strategy of looking weak at tribal council. When he admitted that it was maybe the dumbest move ever, well, it made me feel a whole lot better about him. It was also good to see that Terry realized that their best chance was to figure out who in Casaya was at the bottom of the pecking order.

It was a little bit easier after the reward challenge. Challenges that reveal a pecking order in the tribe are always great. This one was really different then the usual “take a hit on someone else” challenge. Once the teams were drawn, it was clear that Terry, Austin, & Shane had a definite advantage. So Aras proved why he really is the brains behind the tribe. By convincing the girls to throw all their coconuts in the guys’ boat, not only will it slow down the guys, but it ensures that there are barely any coconuts in his own boat. Brilliant. Of course, I loved the challenge because of Jeff Probst yelling things like “he’s spreading his coconuts around!!”. How many times do you think Probst was reminded to not just call them nuts?

Not only did Aras show his strengths in the challenge, he then got to decide who to send to Exile Island. Of course, that in itself was interesting, since Sally and Bruce just let him take the lead on that. So Austin & Danielle get some real character building time by themselves. Does anyone but me think they hooked up? Anyways, they really did look miserable and beat down…and they missed what might be the best line of the season. After Aras, Sally, & Bruce got back from the reward (which, by the way, why couldn’t the producers send them somewhere dry?), they were talking about not being able to finish their breakfast – there was just too much bacon. While everyone else was giving them bad looks, Shane looked at Sally and said “that’s a real quality problem you’ve got there.” If only the entire tribe could have heard his wisdom.

The immunity challenge was one of the best ever. That was a tough challenge, and I felt really bad for Danielle & Austin – I don’t know how they had the strength to compete. And Sally-Knee-Socks kicked some behind…for a few moments it looked like she might actually win.

Poor Aras – how he got stuck is beyond me. I was thinking that he wouldn’t be trying as hard so he didn’t reveal his strength, but he had thought through the possibilities of the hidden immunity idol. And I really thought he was gone. Every scenario I could think of had Aras going. Terry could have saved his entire tribe…either by passing off the immunity necklace or the immunity idol or both. And it looked like Danielle and Bruce might flip, which would send Aras home as well. So when Austin’s name came up at tribal council, I was just waiting for Terry to hand over the idol. What a bummer.

I don’t know how Terry can’t win the game at this point. Everyone either knows or thinks they know that he has the hidden immunity idol. So on the off chance that he doesn’t win individual immunity, everyone is going to be very nervous voting for Terry, because they know that it will send someone else home. I just hope he can shake things up before then.