I Will Survive, Episode 7

**Spoiler Warning**
Do not read this post if you haven't yet seen this week's episode of Survivor.



…you've been warned!




The destruction of La Mina continues. Yet another member of the former La Mina tribe, Nick, is gone and that tribe has almost ceased to exist, while Casaya has dominated. This is remarkable, since most observers (including many of the actual contestants) thought it would be the other way around.

Yet the former Casaya tribe's success seems to be inevitable and unstoppable. I want it to stop but there's nothing I can do. There were a couple of things that could have been done though, one might still happen and the other was a longshot.

First, the La Mina remnant could've sown seeds of discontent, making any and every inroad possible, fracturing the dysfunctional Casaya Six. The previews hint that this may yet happen, though it seems too late for La Mina as a unit. Second, Terry could have lost the immunity challenge on purpose, tempting the others to vote him off, thus using his immunity idol and throwing the balance of power. Like I said, it was a long shot and Terry probably wasn't thinking that abstractly while hanging upside down from a beam.

At this point, I'm thinking that Aras and Danielle may be favorites to win unless Terry takes one of them down with his immunity idol. But Cirie, Bruce, and Shane don't seem likely to survive the top four or five and Courtney just doesn't seem stable. I haven't completely written off Terry and Austin but who knows?

Random Observations:

• Where's the medical emergency? They have been showing video of someone being removed by stretcher for almost a month, but it hasn't happened yet. So much for truth in advertising.
  
• Sally didn't immediately defect after the merge, hmmm. And Casaya was completely unified! Go figure.
  
• Alas, poor Nick, we barely knew ye. Some people just don't get the screen time that others do.
• Is it to Terry's advantage to tell everyone that he has the Idol? Does the threat of inadvertantly knocking yourself out of the game keep you from voting for him at all? Otherwise you have to vote for him twice and sacrifice one of your own and who's going to fall on the sword just to get rid of Terry?