The Survivor: Exile Island finale begins with the traditional season recap. A couple Cirie moments stood out: She was the one who orchestrated the surprise vote against the "lumberjack lady," so she was playing well even back then. Then we see Shane telling Melinda and Cirie they'd be voted out first and second. He was half right at least.

Night 36, and we pick up the suspended tie-breaker fire-making Challenge between Danielle and Cirie. It turns out the preview didn't give anything away as both women started nice flames only to have them quickly die out. Danielle finally gets some wood on her fire, builds it up, and wins!

Great. Now I don't like any of them.

The next day is a surprise Reward Challenge. You have to retrieve four uniquely shaped pegs by completing a hand maze and a spinning wheel puzzle. Then you use the pegs to climb a three-story climbing wall, and you have to bring the pegs with you to the top.

You know, if they ever wanted to supplement their income from the show they could hold Survivor fantasy camps where you get to try these insanely cool Challenges. The creative and construction teams have been very impressive once again this season.

Aras leads after the maze and takes a big lead onto the wall but he slips and slides halfway down allowing Terry to catch up. Aras gets to the top first but Terry gets the pegs in the right slots quicker and steals the victory! He wins a "power meal" of chicken and vegetables, plus a cot and pillow for sleeping.

Day 38 brings the Fallen Comrades ceremony on Exile Island. The only worthwhile quote was Bob Dogg saying he came to "put the smackdown on a few fools." I love that guy.

Now for the final Immunity Challenge. The task is to balance on a floating platform, while moving onto a smaller platform every fifteen minutes.

Everyone does the first platform easily. Aras teeters a bit on the next one but they all survive. The third platform is where things get interesting. You have a minute to get set up and Aras falls into the water. Terry is having trouble getting off his knees. Aras climbs back up and stands upright. Terry falls off, and falls again! Jeff gives the final countdown and Terry pulls it together just in time…but then quickly falls again, and the Dominator is out.

Aras is wobbling badly. He looks at Danielle and she gives him a nod so Aras stops struggling and lets himself fall. What the heck was that? Did she just make a silent alliance with him? And if so, why? There's no way Aras lasts the round.

And, even more astonishing, Danielle will face the jury for a million bucks! Back at camp she tells us she has a tough decision to make. OK, so she's not sticking to her promise to Terry or the nod thing to Aras. At least she's consistent.

Terry confronts Danielle. She tells him she made the promise to take him to the final because she didn't think she'd win the final Challenge. Ha ha. Terry is surprisingly kind. He tries to reason with her, saying all of Casaya would vote for her against him, but she says she's not sure what the Casayans would think if she turned on Aras.

Aras is not kind. He says he wouldn't have quit the Challenge without her nod and he would be shocked if she kept Terry over him. Then he threatens her by saying she'd immediately lose his and Cirie's votes.

As they leave for Tribal Council, T & A embrace in mutual respect. And we should all respect T & A.

The jury comes in and apparently Sally, Courtney and Cirie are all wearing their own Immunity Necklaces.

Cutting to the chase, Danielle votes for…Terry. Casaya has finally beaten him, and one of their own will win the game.

Danielle says she picked Aras so she wouldn't offend the rest of Casaya. Basically, Aras' threat worked.

Normally at this point you can just skip ahead to the jury but then we're shown a topless Aras and a bikini-clad Danielle walking side-by-side on the beach drinking Champaign. A possible love connection? No, just a setup for Aras to wipe out on a rock and slice up his back and hand on broken glass. I certainly didn't see that one coming.

So the medic has to come out for a second time and stitch Aras up, but it's not nearly bad enough to knock him out of the game.

Danielle and Clumsy leave camp for the last time. No big bonfire? Dang hippies.

Jury time. In Aras' opening statement he says he worked hard, competed hard and made an effort to connect with every person in the game. He also says he played with honesty and we hear Shane audibly laugh. I'll never understand why people even bring that up in a game entirely built around deception and surprise.

Danielle says she wanted to be herself and find people she could trust. She admits you have to deceive people at some point. That's true, but she didn't make a very strong argument about anything.

Sally wants to know which of the Casaya members most helped them get where they are. Both say Cirie. Wasted question.

Bruce wants to know what they're going to do with the responsibility. Of what? Being a Survivor winner? Owning a million dollars? He doesn't say. Aras says he has to make himself a better person in order to inspire other people. Danielle says she wants to share her experiences with children so they know they can accomplish anything they want. The bull meter went off, but from a butt-kissing perspective, Danielle's answer has to impress the teacher.

Terry tells Danielle you can play the game without lying because he that's what he did. Yeah, but how many people did Terry successfully vote out after the merge? Oh, that's right, none. You don't have to lie to people when you have no control of the game.

As for his question, Terry asks them to rate themselves in terms of competition on a scale of 1 to 10. Aras says 9 and Danielle says 8.5 to 9. Not sure what that proves.

Austin wants each of them to tell about a positive move they made and one that wasn't "on the up and up." Danielle is proud of her move to vote Bobby out instead of Bruce, and says her negative move was voting out Courtney because she was a close friend.

Aras is happy about how he told Melinda she was going home so she didn't get her hopes up. Huh? He's not proud of voting out Shane because he had to say things that weren't true. Then he says he played "for the most part" with integrity. Is he trying to contradict himself?

Courtney says she was stabbed in the back by both of them, especially Danielle. She says she never was going to turn on Danielle. She adds however that chips on your shoulder weigh you down and "I'm a bird and I gotta fly."

Courtney wants to know what each person learned about themselves that they'll take with them in life. Aras now says he doesn't claim he was completely honest in the game, and his ego has been completely smashed. Courtney says that will "strengthen your spiritual way." What does that mean?

Danielle didn't realize how mentally strong she can be. Courtney tells her that is "a beautiful gift this gave you." Is she asking a question on Survivor or auditioning to become to (very) alternative to Dr. Phil?

Cirie says, "Hard to follow Courtney," and she kept a straight face. Bravo. She does the "Why should I vote for the other person?" question. Danielle says Aras is "unbelievable, honorable," and "just a great person." Aras says Danielle "helped save my ass" when he hurt himself on the rocks.

Shane, please rescue us from boredom. He says he's disappointed it's the two of them because Terry is the most deserving to win of the sixteen. Surprising compliment. Shane tells Danielle she was "useless at camp" and only worked when it was time to eat. He tells Aras, "You lied, you cheated, and you wrecked me personally." He also comments about Aras freeloading off his dad. Shane says he can't vote for either of them so he does the pick-a-number routine, from one to a million. Aras says 4. Danielle says 10. Oh my.

I realize that's an annoying "question" and nobody likes it. But if you're sitting on that log and there's $1,000,000 to win, shouldn't you try a little harder? If you have the first pick, you have to take the number right in the middle to give yourself a 50/50 chance. If you have the second pick, you take the number right next to the other person's number closest to the middle. So when Aras is arrogant/stupid enough to say 4, Danielle should instantly say 5. Her 10 is close, but what if Boston's favorite number is 5 or he was born on the 6th or something?

Now for the final comments. Danielle repeats her thing about being herself and making the right alliances. She addresses Shane and says she "grew skill-wise" during the game and she out-witted by aligning with the right people. She finishes by saying, "I have so much going on right now in my life and this could really help me." That wasn't a good closing sentence. Nobody on that jury is going to look at the scantily clad, surgically enhanced Danielle and think of her as a charity case.

(Why are all these paragraphs so long? See what happens when I let two-weeks worth of thoughts build up?)

Aras repeats his line about working hard at camp, in Challenges and on relationships.

And we vote. Bruce casts his for Danielle and says she'll "hold this position with great honor." Does he think he's voting for Miss America? Regardless, if Cirie was right (and she always was) all Danielle had to do was wink at Bruce and maybe flash him a little and she'd get his vote.

Terry votes for Aras and says it's because he's used to writing Aras' name down. Good one. He also says, of the two, Aras was head and shoulders the best.

Speaking of Terry, David writes in and mentions how the final Immunity Challenge gave a huge advantage to the smallest and lightest person, i.e., Danielle. This is a very good point and I can certainly see why the producers would want to slant things in her favor. If either Aras or Terry wins they instantly take Danielle. The only way to have drama is with the very result they got (or result they rigged, depending on your point of view).

David also commends Terry for his "very graceful defeat," and again I have to agree. My only problem with Terry was that he was a poor winner, but he was a very noble loser (and I do mean that as a compliment). He respected the game, he respected his opponents, and he was nice to people when things didn't go his way. Well done, sir.

Now for the moment that used to be my favorite on the show, but this year I'm not getting my hopes up. Sure enough, Jeff just grabs the votes, walks off, travels through time and space, and walks onto the studio stage.

We are now live. Danielle surprises us by being modestly dressed. And the guy sitting next to her appears to have eaten Aras.

Tally it up! Aras. Danielle. Danielle. Aras. 2-2. Aras.

Aras again! He wins Survivor: Panama - Exile Island! Not bad for a guy whose name is still "Sara" spelled backwards.

So Danielle only got two votes. One was the guy who had a crush on her, and the other was because Shane's number was between 7 and 1,000,000.

Let's have a Reunion!

Jeff has changed into a light-blue sweater. He tells Aras to pay his taxes. Ha! If you hadn't heard, Richard Hatch is now in jail because he didn't report his million dollar winnings after the first Survivor season. Not too bright when your W-2 is a national TV show.

The short of the reunion is that it wasn't very exciting. It appears the days of people fighting and holding grudges are over since everyone probably has an agent coaching them before the show. Here are the not-so-highlights:

Aras and Terry respect each other.

Terry compliments Cirie for sniffing out his alliance with Shane.

Jeff does the pointless "what if" game for Danielle vs. Terry. Only Cirie and Bruce say they'd vote for Danielle.

Aras says Cirie helped him with his hair on the island.

Cirie says, "I'm off the couch, everybody!" We learn her husband's real name is Clarencio. So H.B. must stand for Honey Bunny after all! My bad, Farckle.

Bruce says he was in pain for 12 days before he left the game.

Terry gives Cirie a trophy for the Survivor fishing tournament. More personality points for him.

Shane says he'd never tried to quit smoking before so he was truly losing his mind out there.

Shane says after his outbursts he'd think, "I'm burying myself!" Later he thought he could be like Fairplay and have everyone try to bring him to the final but people weren't taking him seriously that way either.

Shane thanks Boston's mother, Bird. Please tell me they're married and her legal name is Bird Powers.

Tina says the person in the car accident where her son died contacted her because of Survivor. I can't fathom going through what Tina did, and I wish her the best.

Austin says the game strengthened his faith.

Dan says the island was very beautiful and he loved waking up there each morning.

Courtney babbles something about dreams and roads.

Sally says the game gave her family a chance to see she's the same person even after her divorce.

Nick says he was hungry.

Bob says he's "surprisingly cuddly." I love that guy.

Ruth Marie says her personality is "cuter" than we saw on TV.

Misty says she's always positive.

Melinda says she can handle anything now.

A second GMC Yukon is given to Cirie. Cool.

Next time on…Survivor: Another island. Another Exile Island. Cook Islands to be exact. Not a very stimulating preview, but you know I'll love it.

And so we fall into the abyss that is summer. I'll be keeping the site alive with the occasional baby article and I hope to expand into other non-TV writing. Then I'll be back with more Survivor goodness in the fall.

I won't be bothering you with emails during the summer, so if you want to see what's going on, swing by the site from time to time.

Thanks again for reading! You make it all worthwhile!

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

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