I Will Survive, Episode 10

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



…you've been warned!




You hate to see Bruce go that way, but at least they had to carry him off the island.

Why didn't Bruce flop after the merge? He noted in his interviews that the La Mina tribe was just "too athletic" to keep around. It's the tribe he would have chosen to join, as he figured them win it all, but neither of those things happened. So Bruce remained loyal to the people he was more familiar with, knowing that a switch didn't get him any higher up the pecking order.

The only interesting thing this week was the reward challenge with its survey. Ask a few pointed questions, give incentive to be brutally honest, The choice to eliminate Bruce second may have turned him to Terry if he'd stayed in the game. Bruce said he always felt like an outsider who was being manipulated. This challenge is meant to reveal the pecking order and stir the pot. It may still have lasting effects on Shane and Courtney.

Random Observations:

• If Shane and Courtney flip out any more than they already have, and it looks like they will, then most people think they will go sooner rather than later, maybe even ahead of Terry. That makes Aras, Danielle, Cirie, & Terry the final four.
• If Terry makes the final four, I just don't see how he doesn't face a 3-1 vote or a 2-1 vote to prevent him from going to the final two. And if he does, why would the Casaya group vote for him (especially if they are already determined to vote as a block)?
  
• Aras has been a target largely because of his athletic ability, according to Bruce. That being said, every week I'm surprised to learn more about Aras' manipulations. Did you catch Cirie's promises to Aras that she felt bound to? I'd rank him in the same class as Terry and Cirie as the best players this year, but each for completely different reasons.
• Aras also had a rare classy, non-Machievellian moment this week. He lost the challenge on purpose to Cirie by answering "Terry" to the question of who couldn't survive on his own. Terry is the worst possible choice but it gave Cirie the win. But as it turns out, Cirie's win backfired when she was forced to pick two others to join her, leaving the rest behind.