Survivor 12/Panama Exile Premieres February 2nd....

[tropicana]

An Important Note:-

SURVIVOR PANAMA airs its re-cap episode on Wed March 15th (so for those of you who haven't been following the show, this will be a good show to watch to catch up).

Due to NCAA March Madness, SURVIVOR will be pre-empted the following week. SURVIVOR PANAMA returns to CBS on Thu March 30.

-justin-

[alicia-w]

well heckfire, that bites. we'll be hiking in SE arizona that week with no TV or phone! Hurray!!

[Skywatch_NC]

An Important Note:-

SURVIVOR PANAMA airs its re-cap episode on Wed March 15th (so for those of you who haven't been following the show, this will be a good show to watch to catch up).

Due to NCAA March Madness, SURVIVOR will be pre-empted the following week. SURVIVOR PANAMA returns to CBS on Thu March 30.

-justin-

So the same episode as was aired last night?

[Skywatch_NC]

Brent, did you catch any of the episode last night inspite of the severe wx there in AL?

[Miss Mary]

I think it's a recap type episode Eric, from the first episode in February. And I think promos said scenes we haven't aired before?

[Skywatch_NC]

I think it's a recap type episode Eric, from the first episode in February. And I think promos said scenes we haven't aired before?

Okay

[Brent]

Brent, did you catch any of the episode last night inspite of the severe wx there in AL?

Yes... I saw the whole thing. I was fairly bored with it(The severe weather was pretty much over by the time it started).

and it's a normal recap, a few scenes we haven't seen, but overall just a look back at the season so far.

[Miss Mary]

Reminder - recap Survivor episode tonight, @ 8 instead of a regular episode Thursday night. Regular Thursday night episodes return March 30th.

While it's just a recap, promos claim there are scenes we haven't seen yet. So I guess since nothing else is on, we'll tune in.

It will be funny to maybe see Cirie say she's afraid of leaves again or warn viewers who are couch potatoes, to remain on their couches.......I swear I thought that girl would be voted out right away. Nice to see she's playing the game so well!

Mary

[Miss Mary]

Watched the recap and we did get to see more than just a few new scenes. I especially liked the prompt, new scene or something like that. We sat up and listened closely to those scenes. For example, Misty giving her young female tribe the impression she found the idol was silly, at best. Why, I don't know. So if they were sent there, they wouldn't bother looking for it? Now you'd think if you didn't find it yourself, you'd want your tribe mates to have a fair shot at finding it? That was kinda mean really. What else....Shane washing his arse with the girls soap. OMG, I could have gagged! But those girls were right - who wants to wash with the same bar Bruce used? Ewwwwww. Speaking of Bruce, he just comes off odd. I'm sorry, glad he's comfortable with his karate and all, but 3 in the morning? LOL Back to Shane, we just think that boy is loony and he calls the girls lunatics!!!! That is like the pot calling the kettle black.

My favorite is quickly changing though - Cirie. She is playing this game so well, I just crack up at all her wacky but dead on accurate assessments of her current tribemates. She just cuts right to the chase and I like that.

Who can't help but like Terry? I guess he's my favorite male. Cirie, female, definitely.

Wonder who gets rushed to the hospital? Looked like Shane to us.

Mary

[Skywatch_NC]

I missed last night...thank you for the re-cap, Mary!

Cirie is turning out to be my favorite gal in this latest series, too!

Eric

[Miss Mary]

Cirie just has these funny comments to make, almost voicing outloud what the viewer is thinking. You want to say - dang girl, you get it! When Shane is acting like the lunatic, Courteney is saying something about the snake they're about to eat (oh yeah, they cooked a snake), blessing it or something, you have Cirie looking at the camera later, rolling her eyes and cutting right to the chase. I had to laugh when her tribe was falling apart with constant bickering, then they win the reward challenge to visit the local community. They were enjoying that feast. Shane and Courteney were all huggy like. Cirie said to the viewer, oh great, now we're all lovey dovey like, I like it better when we're fighting (or however she phrased it). She is right, when they all bicker, Cirie can retreat to the background. And I swear, I thought Cirie was going to be a big pain in the arse, each week! Turns out Shane is!

Bobby had a few more choice comments to make, in a scene we hadn't watched. Forget now what he said but I'm glad he got voted out. He just didn't fit in.

March 30th, mark your calendar. We catch a break again next week.

Mary

[Miss Mary]

Eric - this might shed some light on what you missed too:

TV Guide Watercooler Critique

http://www.tvguide.com/TV/Watercooler/

Survivor: Panama — Exile Island
As we head into March Madness and lose Survivor for two weeks, it's time for a little "unseen footage" or what some might call "filler." Since it wasn't even a real episode, I figured we'd see the real show open with all of the contestants, but no such luck. The repeated viewing of Tina crying over her son was just as sad as the first time, and the clips from different episodes truly show how crazy Shane has been. But the new footage was the real reason to tune in. It was hardly surprising that most of the unaired material came out of the fractured and loony Casaya tribe. In fact, once the show got to the point where two tribes were formed, there was only one scene from La Mina — all the rest were courtesy of the Casaya crazies and their arguments. I came away with a brand-new appreciation for Sally and had no idea she was going through such tough post-divorce trauma with her parents. Until I viewed that scene, I thought Austin simply had the hots for her. Among my favorite new Casaya bits: Melinda and Cirie licking water off leaves (I guess intense thirst helped Cirie get over her fear), the moonlight birthday serenade to Boston Powers, the snake dinner and the great soap debate of '06. When Shane argued that the soap belonged to "the lunatic," I felt that could have described just about anyone in the tribe. Other than revealing why Bobby and Danielle disliked each other, not much was brought to light, but I enjoyed the additional Casaya footage anyway. But Bobby really insulted cliquey seventh-grade girls everywhere by comparing them to Shane. Next time someone might be airlifted out of the game, and Terry and Aras battle for the top-dog spot. Sorry yoga-boy, your only position will be downward-facing dog. — Ken McGilvray

And a bonus, read what just voted off member Dan (the astronaut) has to say:

TV Guide

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Insider/def ... 6&cmsGuid={07B2D24E-C027-4FA9-B343-47D3FFD6F53F}

Astronaut Blasted Off Survivor
by Allison Corneau

Retired rocket man Dan Barry spends his days building robots but found himself struggling to put together a much simpler puzzle on last week's Survivor: Panama—Exile Island. As a result, the 52-year-old father of two found himself packing his bags after copping to his poor performance on the immunity challenge, thus diluting La Mina down to three members going into the tribal merge. TVGuide.com spoke with the space man about how his NASA excursions affected his island outlook, who he's rooting for to win Survivor and more.
TVGuide.com: How has the reaction been since your elimination aired?
Dan Barry: It's been pretty positive. It's a disappointment to go home, but I feel like the things I did in the game were well represented. I'm pretty satisfied with the performance.

TVGuide.com: It's so nice to see someone own up to their actions and accept their fate with the vote. You should be commended for your graceful exit.
Dan: Thanks.

TVGuide.com: You have taken part in three NASA shuttle flights, spending a total of 734 hours in space. What, if anything, from your space travel or study prepared you for Survivor?
Dan: It isn't specific skills as much as the sense that "I can do this," that it isn't impossible. I brought to the island a spirit that isn't going to be broken, despite the challenges. That's what you get from training, and also from the life experiences of seeing people who struggle and work through it.

TVGuide.com: You really opened up to the La Mina guys when discussing your career. Were they as receptive as you had hoped?
Dan: Absolutely. I didn't want to tell people before, because I wanted them to see me as Dan — not somebody with this special job or past. Once I told them what I'd done, they were really curious about it. Austin was like "I knew you did something!"

TVGuide.com: How'd you get the nickname "Dan Fuego"?
Dan: That was awesome, because I was "the fire guy." In fact, I was really hoping we'd end up at a tribal-council challenge, which is usually to build fire. I'd get right through that.

TVGuide.com: During your elimination episode, Sally said she would be surprised if "the La Mina Boys Club" stayed intact. Now that Terry's up against the younger guys without you, how do you think the tribe will fare?
Dan: I think Terry has already shown them that he's not a real reliable ally. He cut away his two best friends. He's got a long, lonely road to walk.

TVGuide.com: When Terry returned from Exile Island, did you have an inkling he had found the immunity idol? Ruth Marie told me she could tell just by the way he spoke.
Dan: When we were going to tribal council and Terry said, "Let's all bring our satchels — as a symbol of unity for Ruth Marie," I was like, "Hmmm, why are we bringing our satchels? Ohhh...." We didn't come right out and ask him, and I'm realizing now that I didn't talk to Nick or Austin about it. I assumed that they knew, but it's possible they didn't. [Terry possessing the idol] was a huge issue because if he had it, Nick and Austin couldn't vote against him — they'd just be voting against themselves. That left me with very few options. If I couldn't get Nick or Austin to vote against the other guy, I had to get Terry to vote against one of them, which was what I thought he'd do.

TVGuide.com: What was that immunity challenge like? Those puzzle pieces looked really heavy!
Dan: They were heavy, but looking back, it wasn't that hard of a challenge. Some days you have your act together when you do it, and some days you don't. That's life. [Laughs] If your timing was bad and the day your act wasn't together was the day someone was going home, you put yourself on the line.

TVGuide.com: Your tribe had a bit of a lead once Terry stepped in, but Casaya ended up solving the puzzle more quickly. Was your initial strategy to try to copy their puzzle?
Dan: We should have killed 'em, but we didn't. Sally was great, and she told us to put the first piece in the spot she thought was right. While it was the right spot, it wouldn't fit. We were over there working it when I turned to look at Casaya and saw they already had one piece in. I should have told one of our runners to watch Casaya. If we had seen right away when they got their first piece in, we would have been set. Maybe that strategic error was my bad.

TVGuide.com: When Sally was on Exile Island, she said she considered it a vacation from the guys. What was it like at camp while she was away?
Dan: She got immunity! I should have asked Casaya to send me [to Exile Island] — they might have, if I explained how I screwed up the puzzle. They may not have thought too hard about it and sent me. Camp was lousy when she was gone because we had to decide who we were going to vote off. [Laughs] It wasn't lousy because we missed Sally so much as the fact that one of us was going home.

TVGuide.com: La Mina seemed to bond extremely well since the creation of the tribe in Episode 2. Were you happy with how the team came together?
Dan: I knew I really wanted to be in La Mina. When it came down to the end, Cirie was picking between Bruce, me or Bobby. She looked right at me and I had to make a decision about whether or not to smile, be nice and have her pick me, but be on Casaya. I just smiled, looked down and so she picked Bobby. Then I gave Ruth Marie the million-dollar smile and she picked me.

TVGuide.com: What does your family think about your time on Survivor?
Dan: They think it's a hoot and a half — they love watching my silly adventures. My wife is like, "That's just my idiot husband doing his idiot things." [Laughs] But when you come home, it's time to take out the garbage, just like it always is. They were unbelievably supportive. Just think of the impact [a husband-father] going into space three times has on a family, then picture me coming home and saying I want to go on Survivor. I am so lucky to have them.

TVGuide.com: What made you try out for this latest "silly adventure"?
Dan: I was a fan of the show. Not a fanatic fan, but I thought it was an intriguing thing to do. When you fly in space, you have about 1,000 people making sure you'll be successful, and I thought it would be interesting to try a different challenge where you don't have that kind of support. Survivor was an interesting model for what we have to do in long-duration space flights, having a small group of people in a confined space under a lot of stress with continual monitoring, where everyone has to get along with each other and perform well in emergencies. There's not really another model out there that incorporates all that.

TVGuide.com: What are you up to now that you're retired from NASA?
Dan: I build robots for my company, Denbar Robotics.

TVGuide.com: Who are you rooting for to take the Survivor: Panama title?
Dan: Sally. The reason she's still there, as opposed to Misty, has nothing to do with challenges or that sort of thing. If anything, Sally should have gone for losing the spear. It's all about Sally's love for the show. Where she works, she's known as "Survivor Sal," she applied for five years before finally getting on and she knows everything about the show. I'm amazed she got Ruth Marie voted out. Go, Sally!

TVGuide.com: Lastly, what is one item future Survivors should pack in their suitcases that you wish you had brought?
Dan: What you should pack in your suitcase is the spirit of never giving up. Beyond any other resource or skill, that spirit is key to Survivor — said by the guy who got voted out sixth! [Chuckles]

[Miss Mary]

Eric - this might shed some light on what you missed too:

TV Guide Watercooler Critique

http://www.tvguide.com/TV/Watercooler/

Survivor: Panama — Exile Island
As we head into March Madness and lose Survivor for two weeks, it's time for a little "unseen footage" or what some might call "filler." Since it wasn't even a real episode, I figured we'd see the real show open with all of the contestants, but no such luck. The repeated viewing of Tina crying over her son was just as sad as the first time, and the clips from different episodes truly show how crazy Shane has been. But the new footage was the real reason to tune in. It was hardly surprising that most of the unaired material came out of the fractured and loony Casaya tribe. In fact, once the show got to the point where two tribes were formed, there was only one scene from La Mina — all the rest were courtesy of the Casaya crazies and their arguments. I came away with a brand-new appreciation for Sally and had no idea she was going through such tough post-divorce trauma with her parents. Until I viewed that scene, I thought Austin simply had the hots for her. Among my favorite new Casaya bits: Melinda and Cirie licking water off leaves (I guess intense thirst helped Cirie get over her fear), the moonlight birthday serenade to Boston Powers, the snake dinner and the great soap debate of '06. When Shane argued that the soap belonged to "the lunatic," I felt that could have described just about anyone in the tribe. Other than revealing why Bobby and Danielle disliked each other, not much was brought to light, but I enjoyed the additional Casaya footage anyway. But Bobby really insulted cliquey seventh-grade girls everywhere by comparing them to Shane. Next time someone might be airlifted out of the game, and Terry and Aras battle for the top-dog spot. Sorry yoga-boy, your only position will be downward-facing dog. — Ken McGilvray

And a bonus, read what just voted off member Dan (the astronaut) has to say:

TV Guide

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Insider/def ... 6&cmsGuid={07B2D24E-C027-4FA9-B343-47D3FFD6F53F}

Astronaut Blasted Off Survivor
by Allison Corneau

Retired rocket man Dan Barry spends his days building robots but found himself struggling to put together a much simpler puzzle on last week's Survivor: Panama—Exile Island. As a result, the 52-year-old father of two found himself packing his bags after copping to his poor performance on the immunity challenge, thus diluting La Mina down to three members going into the tribal merge. TVGuide.com spoke with the space man about how his NASA excursions affected his island outlook, who he's rooting for to win Survivor and more.
TVGuide.com: How has the reaction been since your elimination aired?
Dan Barry: It's been pretty positive. It's a disappointment to go home, but I feel like the things I did in the game were well represented. I'm pretty satisfied with the performance.

TVGuide.com: It's so nice to see someone own up to their actions and accept their fate with the vote. You should be commended for your graceful exit.
Dan: Thanks.

TVGuide.com: You have taken part in three NASA shuttle flights, spending a total of 734 hours in space. What, if anything, from your space travel or study prepared you for Survivor?
Dan: It isn't specific skills as much as the sense that "I can do this," that it isn't impossible. I brought to the island a spirit that isn't going to be broken, despite the challenges. That's what you get from training, and also from the life experiences of seeing people who struggle and work through it.

TVGuide.com: You really opened up to the La Mina guys when discussing your career. Were they as receptive as you had hoped?
Dan: Absolutely. I didn't want to tell people before, because I wanted them to see me as Dan — not somebody with this special job or past. Once I told them what I'd done, they were really curious about it. Austin was like "I knew you did something!"

TVGuide.com: How'd you get the nickname "Dan Fuego"?
Dan: That was awesome, because I was "the fire guy." In fact, I was really hoping we'd end up at a tribal-council challenge, which is usually to build fire. I'd get right through that.

TVGuide.com: During your elimination episode, Sally said she would be surprised if "the La Mina Boys Club" stayed intact. Now that Terry's up against the younger guys without you, how do you think the tribe will fare?
Dan: I think Terry has already shown them that he's not a real reliable ally. He cut away his two best friends. He's got a long, lonely road to walk.

TVGuide.com: When Terry returned from Exile Island, did you have an inkling he had found the immunity idol? Ruth Marie told me she could tell just by the way he spoke.
Dan: When we were going to tribal council and Terry said, "Let's all bring our satchels — as a symbol of unity for Ruth Marie," I was like, "Hmmm, why are we bringing our satchels? Ohhh...." We didn't come right out and ask him, and I'm realizing now that I didn't talk to Nick or Austin about it. I assumed that they knew, but it's possible they didn't. [Terry possessing the idol] was a huge issue because if he had it, Nick and Austin couldn't vote against him — they'd just be voting against themselves. That left me with very few options. If I couldn't get Nick or Austin to vote against the other guy, I had to get Terry to vote against one of them, which was what I thought he'd do.

TVGuide.com: What was that immunity challenge like? Those puzzle pieces looked really heavy!
Dan: They were heavy, but looking back, it wasn't that hard of a challenge. Some days you have your act together when you do it, and some days you don't. That's life. [Laughs] If your timing was bad and the day your act wasn't together was the day someone was going home, you put yourself on the line.

TVGuide.com: Your tribe had a bit of a lead once Terry stepped in, but Casaya ended up solving the puzzle more quickly. Was your initial strategy to try to copy their puzzle?
Dan: We should have killed 'em, but we didn't. Sally was great, and she told us to put the first piece in the spot she thought was right. While it was the right spot, it wouldn't fit. We were over there working it when I turned to look at Casaya and saw they already had one piece in. I should have told one of our runners to watch Casaya. If we had seen right away when they got their first piece in, we would have been set. Maybe that strategic error was my bad.

TVGuide.com: When Sally was on Exile Island, she said she considered it a vacation from the guys. What was it like at camp while she was away?
Dan: She got immunity! I should have asked Casaya to send me [to Exile Island] — they might have, if I explained how I screwed up the puzzle. They may not have thought too hard about it and sent me. Camp was lousy when she was gone because we had to decide who we were going to vote off. [Laughs] It wasn't lousy because we missed Sally so much as the fact that one of us was going home.

TVGuide.com: La Mina seemed to bond extremely well since the creation of the tribe in Episode 2. Were you happy with how the team came together?
Dan: I knew I really wanted to be in La Mina. When it came down to the end, Cirie was picking between Bruce, me or Bobby. She looked right at me and I had to make a decision about whether or not to smile, be nice and have her pick me, but be on Casaya. I just smiled, looked down and so she picked Bobby. Then I gave Ruth Marie the million-dollar smile and she picked me.

TVGuide.com: What does your family think about your time on Survivor?
Dan: They think it's a hoot and a half — they love watching my silly adventures. My wife is like, "That's just my idiot husband doing his idiot things." [Laughs] But when you come home, it's time to take out the garbage, just like it always is. They were unbelievably supportive. Just think of the impact [a husband-father] going into space three times has on a family, then picture me coming home and saying I want to go on Survivor. I am so lucky to have them.

TVGuide.com: What made you try out for this latest "silly adventure"?
Dan: I was a fan of the show. Not a fanatic fan, but I thought it was an intriguing thing to do. When you fly in space, you have about 1,000 people making sure you'll be successful, and I thought it would be interesting to try a different challenge where you don't have that kind of support. Survivor was an interesting model for what we have to do in long-duration space flights, having a small group of people in a confined space under a lot of stress with continual monitoring, where everyone has to get along with each other and perform well in emergencies. There's not really another model out there that incorporates all that.

TVGuide.com: What are you up to now that you're retired from NASA?
Dan: I build robots for my company, Denbar Robotics.

TVGuide.com: Who are you rooting for to take the Survivor: Panama title?
Dan: Sally. The reason she's still there, as opposed to Misty, has nothing to do with challenges or that sort of thing. If anything, Sally should have gone for losing the spear. It's all about Sally's love for the show. Where she works, she's known as "Survivor Sal," she applied for five years before finally getting on and she knows everything about the show. I'm amazed she got Ruth Marie voted out. Go, Sally!

TVGuide.com: Lastly, what is one item future Survivors should pack in their suitcases that you wish you had brought?
Dan: What you should pack in your suitcase is the spirit of never giving up. Beyond any other resource or skill, that spirit is key to Survivor — said by the guy who got voted out sixth! [Chuckles]

[Brent]

SURVIVOR IS BACK TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The tribes merge and there *could* be a medical emergency(if it's not tonight, it'll be soon).

[Miss Mary]

Has everyone had a chance to see it yet? If not, don't scroll down......

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My first question was - who's Nick again? Seriously the guy was so quiet he just didn't make an impression on me.

I wish Shane would go soon but dang, the man's gonna sit on the jury. He'll be good for facial expressions each week. Remember Coby and all his jury reactions? I rest my case (b/c Shane is not making it to the final 2, now way!).

I expected Cirie to vote for Shane, in the end. Or maybe Bruce. That Shane - he's good (at tricking them all!).

When Bruce got injured, I thought oh here we go, he's the one heading to the ER. But wait, we never did see a member taken out on stretcher did we? And promo's a few weeks ago led us to believe that would happen tonight. Not that I want one of them getting seriously hurt, ya know....

Good show. No real surprises. No food (I'm with Shane on this one). Jeff should have dangled a cheeseburger or something in front of them.

They're all looking wet, tired, hungry and well, just grungy! Bug bites, messy hair, girls with arm pit hair (yuck!), etc. Forget that cheeseburger, send them all to the showers!

Comments?

Mary

[Brent]

Boring and predictable.

People from Casaya better start flipping or this season is going to be the worst ever.

Ugh... I hate how cocky Shane and Company are. I was *SO* hoping Bruce or someone would switch just to see the look on his face. It was almost priceless to see all 4 votes for him come up first.

[Miss Mary]

I don't like how cocky Shane is either Brent. He's my least favorite. But as my daughter Laura says - at least he adds some drama to the show Mom. That he does - at least you can predict he'll say anything!

My two faves are Terry and Cirie. I really thought Cirie would flip. As she said several times last night......"da**"!!!! Like that girl.

Mary

[Pburgh]

I like Terry. I was hoping he would pull out his little amunity idol and give it to Nick. Would that have sent Shane home?? I haven't watched as much this season as I had in the past. I think Bruce is playing the game really well.

[gtalum]

I think Terry may have messed up by not giving Nick the idol. If Shane went home, there'd only be a 5-4 disparity, and I think with some time they can turn Bruce to La Mina. I think terry thinks he can win all of the immunity challenges from here on out or something.

[Skywatch_NC]

I had mixed reactions seeing Nick get voted off...was thinking for SURE it would be Shane this time around! Nick seemed like a hard worker...along with Terry and Austin.

Cirie is my favorite gal anymore, too, Mary!

Was sure a scary moment for Bruce with that machete "close shave" ...a tough cookie he is!

Will be even more interesting now with the new (merged) tribe Gitanos!

Eric