My Mom Is My Rock

Weepy dad Shane was finally rewarded with a visit from his son, Boston. But he became the next victim of Cirie's masterful plot to eliminate the easy money options from Survivor: Panama - Exile Island.

Knowing that Shane was surprised by Courtney's elimination at the last Tribal Council, Aras and Cirie lied to him to keep up the pretense that their alliance was still intact. They explained that Danielle told Cirie at the last minute that she was going to vote with Courtney and Terry for Aras, and that they didn't have time to alert Shane to the bargain they struck to save Aras.

Shane bought their story. Regarding Courtney's elimination, Shane said in 1950's lingo, "It couldn't have happened to a loopier broad."

This week's Reward Challenge was a four-part obstacle course, combining elements of previous challenges. One person was eliminated after each leg, and the eventual winner had to decide which survivors would get to spend time with their loved ones, who waited just out of sight.

During stage one, contestants dug in the sand to find a bag, and Shane came in last place. For stage two, everyone crawled through a tunnel carrying their bag, and untied a wooden snake from atop a bar. Cirie was the next person out of the running.

Danielle, Terry, and Aras carried their bag and snake into a pit of water, where they untied a fish suspended over the water. Danielle couldn't get her knot untied, leaving Terry and Aras to battle it out in the finals.

Carrying all three items, Terry and Aras crawled and climbed through a series of horizontal and vertical tunnels. As soon as Aras dropped his bag halfway through, the race was Terry's, to the surprise of nobody.

Terry had to decide which two loved ones would accompany their survivors on an overnight trip to a resort, whose loved one would spend the night at camp, who would give their survivor a hug, and which loved one wouldn't get to share any love.

Naturally, Terry picked his wife, Trish to join him at the resort, along with the sobbing Shane and his son. Terry sent Cirie back to camp with her husband, H.B., and Aras got to hug his mom, Theresa. During the hug, Aras asked Theresa to have five dinners waiting for him when he got home.

As punishment for breaking her recent pact with him to take Courtney to the final two, Terry didn't let Danielle hug her mom, Denise. As further punishment, Danielle was then sent to Exile Island.

The refrigerator at the resort was stocked with wine, beer, fruit, and ice cream, and there were four hot pizzas waiting for the winners as well. Trish eagerly talked strategy with Terry and Shane, who said about her, "what a lovely woman, but unbelievably competitive."

At camp, H.B. marveled at how dirty camp life was, and how bad Cirie smelled. The next morning, he was forced to take care of all of the chores so that Cirie and Aras could "conserve their energy." H.B. started to cringe every time Cirie began a sentence with, "Honey Bunny..." knowing that more labor was in store.

All of the family members were ferried away and Terry and Shane returned to camp. When asked what it was like to sleep in a real bed again, Terry said that he and Trish didn't do much sleeping, further proof that Terry has no idea how off-putting he is.

But Terry wasn't done irritating his tribemates. He launched into his explanation of his method for doling out the reward, reasoning that Danielle shouldn't be too upset because "she's 24, and it's just her mom."

This angered Aras, who tried to explain that all of them have been separated from their families for over 30 days and that the visit was equally important to all. What came out was, "My mom is my rock, just like Trish is your rock." We can only hope that Aras and his rock would've gotten more sleep than Terry did with his.

The Immunity Challenge tested the survivors' balance by perching them atop tiny platforms 20 feet above the water. Using a bucket attached to a rope, they hauled water to fill a small bamboo tube attached 10 feet below the top of the platform. Water in the tube raised a flag, and the first person to grab their flag won.

It took Shane most of the challenge to figure out that the water was supposed to go in the tube, and not down a hole in the middle of the platform on which he was standing. Again, the race between rivals Terry and Aras came down to the wire, but Terry still couldn't be beat. I guess maybe it's not really a rivalry if the same party wins every time.

With the hidden immunity idol in his back pocket, Terry has an automatic pass to the final three, regardless of the next Immunity challenge. The only incentive he has to even try winning that one is to prevent someone else from getting immunity, if he doesn't want to see that person in the final three.

Shane and Terry talked at camp about getting rid of Danielle, and both assumed that they would probably be in the final two together. Terry felt confident that the members of Casaya would appreciate the hard work he did about camp, and his success rate in challenges, and give him the money over Shane.

In reality, they would be far more likely to give crazy, annoying Shane the money just to keep it out of Terry's hands. But, as good as he is, Terry hasn't been able to grasp that the game is more social and political than anything else. His voting record proves it: he's has yet to cast a vote for a single bootee since the merge.

Cirie and Aras assured Shane that they were voting for Danielle, and then plotted with Danielle to vote for Shane. In an interview, Cirie confessed that she was concerned that Danielle could beat her in the final two, and that ultimately she'd do what improved her chances the most.

At Tribal Council, Jeff Probst asked contestants what considerations they made regarding the final two. Aras wasn't worried about losing so many challenges to Terry because he knew he'd formed better relationships with his tribemates, and that's what gets you the million dollars. Terry just rolled his eyes.

Shane admitted that he was being carried along because he seemed the most beatable in the final two. He hypothetically wondered if anyone would rather go against him or Aras "the golden boy who could levitate home at any second."

Shane's jaw dropped as three votes were cast against him, and he was asked to leave the island. He taunted the remaining contestants on his way out, assuring them that he'd have his hands on a chocolate ice cream bar in less than one minute.

Next time, all of the attention is on Terry when Cirie stands up to him and Danielle makes a move to align with him.