Day 16, and La Mina gets mail telling them to head on over to Casaya for the merge. Terry says he's ready to try and swing a couple of them over to their side.

Casaya sees the boat coming in and they wolf down the rice. Aras says they're "heathens" and don't want to share. How classy. Shane pulls them together quick and reminds them to stick together until the final 6.

Shane tells us he doesn't think Terry has the Immunity Idol so he wants him out next. He and Aras are worried about Bruce jumping so they kiss his butt and call him the leader. Bruce feels good about his position.

Nick is cutting a rope for Bruce and--HOLY COW! The machete flies up and hits Bruce in the mouth!! It turns out he only has a chipped tooth and split lip but, man, what a moron. Never cut up toward you (or someone else's face) with a knife. Even a silly computer guy like me knows that.

The new tribe name is the Spanish word for Gypsies. Gee, I wonder who thought of that? Did it come with an off-key song?

The gamesmanship starts. Here's a quick recap:

Terry works on Bruce.
Austin acts friendly with Aras. Aras admits Terry is next.
Terry approaches Shane. Bad move, I think. Sure enough, Shane later tells them directly he's not switching no matter what.
Terry tries Cirie. She calls him a "dictionary salesman" when she already owns an encyclopedia set.

So Terry is surprisingly disappointing in this. You can just ask everybody. He should've only targeted Bruce and Cirie. He didn't even play the "How can you stand Shane and Courtney?" card.

The first individual Immunity Challenge, recap style:

It's hanging upside down under a horizontal pole.
Lots of heads near lots of butts. I hope La Mina didn't finish off those beans.
Cirie is out first. Then Aras, Bruce and Sally.
Shane asks Jeff if there's any food. He says no. Shane quits, then Danielle and Courtney.
Terry goes on to beat his tribemates. Call him Fireman Tom Jr. Terry wins the Immunity Bib.

Back at camp, Bruce says he really admires Terry. Austin prays with Bruce, then tells us he was acting weak in the Challenge so he wouldn't be a threat. Huh?

Ex-Casaya calls a public meeting to decide whom to vote out. I do believe that's a new level of Survivor cockiness.

Tribal Council. Austin says he "opted to come down" from the pole. I'm still not buying it. Shane admits they have a tight six. Aras, Courtney and Cirie all say they'll be shocked if someone flip-flops.

Austin votes for Shane and Courtney votes for Nick. C'mon, Bruce, you can do it!

The tally reads: Shane, Shane, Shane, Shane (what are they doing?), then 5 straight Nicks. Why read them like that and ruin the suspense? Like it was going to be unanimous against Shane.

Oh, and BOOOOOOO, Bruce. How can you buy their bull?

Nick says goodbye with some philosophy gibberish. The man with 30 abs is gone.

Next time on…Survivor: Terry tells Sally he has the Idol and it appears he starts to bargain with it.

What are you doing, Terry?? Are you going to blow the biggest advantage this game has even seen? The beauty of this secret Immunity is it helps you twice. Obviously, it gives you a Get Out Of "The Tribe Has Spoken" Free card to save yourself. But Jeff said at the beginning there's no re-vote. The person with the 2nd most votes immediately goes home.

So, since Bruce didn't switch, Terry should lose the next Immunity on purpose so Casaya votes for him. He then makes sure La Mina's three votes go for the same person and after he whips out the Idol-bam--they knock off someone from Casaya. Now it's only 5 to 3 and you're back to only having to swing one person.

But it does explain why they showed us up front when Terry found the Idol. He's going to reveal the secret himself. Bah.

Well, I guess that wasn't so short after all. What can I say, I'm a sucker for this game, even when I'm a delirious weenie.

Have a well-rested week.

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