I Will Survive, Episode 12

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




…you've been warned!





Shane and his crazy behavior is gone.

But I was shocked to meet the real Shane Powers in his live interview. He was intelligent, articulate, honest and likeable. Instead of flawed, I'd describe him as likeably eccentric? You'd hardly know it was the same person.

So who was that on the island? Shane blamed his uncontrolled behavior on the intense nicotine withdrawal with virtually no fluids to flush his system. And I think I believe him! He said he was constantly apologizing to the others because he knew he was out of control emotionally. Chewing a piece of gum, a very healthy looking Shane explained how he truly regretted going into a game where he would have to hurt other people's feelings and how proud he was that he didn't have to betray a single person. Shane may have won the integrity award hands down this season, and I hadn't even noticed.

The reason he didn't flop to Terry was because he had given his word, yet, at the same time, his alliance of Aras, Danielle, and Cirie were lying to his face. Shane said, "Cirie and Aras lied profusely."

Who did Shane respect the most? While noting that he was initially close to Aras, Shane said Terry was most admirable and emphasized that the former fighter pilot was "a very good man." He praised Terry both as a person and as a player.

This begs the question, what does this say about the Shane's knowledge of the rest of the game? Shane gleefully noted that the "the final two will be real fun!" and "my role on the jury will be quite memorable." This really throws me for a curve. I've been anticipating Aras and one of the girls shutting out Terry from the final two and Shane hinted that Aras was one of the final two. But Shane didn't talk that way about Danielle or Cirie and his praise of Terry makes it sound like we're looking at an all male final two, with Shane's vote going to Terry.

Maybe Terry has a chance after all. That's a lot of reading between the lines, but I'm second guessing what I thought I knew.

Random Observations:

• The final four survivors happen to represent each of the original four tribes but Terry's the only one I could have predicted from the beginning.
• Survivor 13 will be on the Aitutaki Atoll of the Southern Cook Islands (halfway between American Somoa and Tahiti) in the South Pacific. Remember Captain Bligh and "Mutiny on the Bounty?" What if tribemembers could choose to mutiny in some way? Maybe they could go form another tribe on a neutral site, a kind of pre-merge merge maybe? Or a self-induced exile of sorts, maybe never to return to that tribe? I'm not sure how that would work, but they'd be amiss to not to have some kind of mutiny theme.
  
• I think it's cool that Cirie is doing so well, but I'm disappointed by her dishonesty and manipulation. The very skills it takes to really "work" this game are pretty unappealing when on display. I just couldn't do what she's doing (reason #153 why I'll never win Survivor).