Aras Baskauskas

Aras Vydunas Baskauskas is the Sole Survivor of. He later competed on with his brother, Vytas.

His victory in Panama resulted in his being regarded one of the most personable, well-liked players of his era. Highlights of his game included his rivalry with Terry Deitz, his strong social gameplay, and his leadership over the post-swap Casaya tribe despite his status as its youngest member. He overcame an unprecedented five straight Immunity Challenge wins by Terry in order to eliminate the latter on the last day before Final Tribal Council, securing himself the title of Sole Survivor.

His game in proceeded much less smoothly. He was unable to keep a low profile on the Galang tribe, and found himself positioned as a figurehead for his alliance entering the merge. This swiftly resulted in his blindside at the hands of his former allies, Gervase Peterson and eventual winner Tyson Apostol.

Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com

Panama
Originally part of the younger male Viveros tribe, Aras and the rest of the tribe struggled early on, as the group of younger men were unable to set up camp, nor make fire. Their goofing off and foolishness almost carried over at the first Immunity Challenge, narrowly beating the older women Casaya tribe, finishing third place and avoiding Tribal Council.

In Day 4, Aras became a member of the new Casaya tribe and formed an early alliance with Shane Powers, Courtney Marit, and Danielle DiLorenzo. But the alliance was threatened with implosion when Shane wanted to quit the game, having smoked three packets of cigarettes a day prior to Survivor. But Aras convinced him not to quit, and the alliance regrouped and voted out Melinda Hyder, one of the two older women of the tribe. The dysfunctional Casaya tribe would then win two consecutive Immunity Challenges.

Aras led the charge to vote out Bruce Kanegai due to their clashing points of view, but Courtney, Danielle, and Cirie Fields felt that Bobby Mason was much more of a threat than Bruce, and they voted Bobby out. When the tribes merged in in Day 15, the ex-Casaya tribe members, Aras, Shane, Bruce, Cirie, Courtney and Danielle had the power in numbers against the four ex-La Mina tribe members. Due to Terry Deitz, the largest target, winning immunity, the alliance voted out Nick Stanbury, Austin Carty, and Sally Schumann in three straight Tribal Councils.

In Day 25, Bruce was evacuated out of the game due to constipation, causing him immense pain. When Terry continued to win individual immunity, the alliance was forced to turn on themselves at the final six. Shane, together with Cirie and Aras, targeted Danielle, but Courtney, together with Terry, Danielle, and Cirie wanted to vote out Aras. Not happy with any of these options, Cirie brewed a plan of her own, and together with Aras and Danielle, voted out Courtney, whom Cirie believed was aligned with Shane.

Terry continued his immunity winning streak and once again the alliance was forced to take out one of their own. Shane, believing he was safe, targeted Danielle. But once again, Cirie had her own plans, and together with Aras and Danielle, they voted out Shane, who had aligned with Terry. At the final four, the long-standing rivalry between Terry and Aras was once again raised when Aras won a reward, much to Terry's dismay. When given the choice of picking someone to go on the reward with him to cross the Panama Canal, he decided to pick Cirie, which in turn sent both Terry and Danielle to Exile Island. When sent to Exile Island, Terry and Danielle formed an alliance against Aras and Cirie with plans of ousting Aras.

But Aras managed to win immunity, making him safe. Terry, due to the widely-known fact that he possessed the Hidden Immunity Idol, was also safe. This created a 2-2 tie between Danielle and Cirie, who competed in a fire-building challenge to determine their fate. Shown over two episodes, Danielle won the challenge, and Aras' ally Cirie was eliminated. With Terry's idol now useless, it was now fair game between the final three, Aras, Danielle, and Terry.

The final immunity was the first to be predecessed by a "prepare for the Immunity Challenge" reward for the Reward Challenge winner. The Immunity Challenge was not one that the winner of the Reward Challenge would profit from. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Danielle out-balanced the two guys to win immunity, giving her the power to choose her opponent in the final two. Danielle eventually chose to eliminate Terry, making him the final member of the jury and propelling Aras into the final two. The challenge ended the perceived battle between both Terry and Aras.

On Day 39, while he and Danielle had glasses of champagne, Aras slipped on a wet rock and fell, sending shards of glass into his hand and back. His wounds required seven stitches by the medical crew.

In the end, despite the injury, Aras beat out Danielle DiLorenzo to become the Sole Survivor in a 5-2 vote, gaining the votes of Austin, Sally, Courtney, Cirie, and Terry.

Post-Survivor

 * ArasFamilyAndWedding.jpg Summer of 2009, Aras, along with the other first eighteen Survivor winners, appeared on a TVGuide special "Survivor Millionaires: Where Are They Now?"
 * On January 9, 2010, Aras attended Survivor ' s 10-year anniversary party.
 * In 2011, Aras founded Tundra Gear, a winter hat company. The same year, Aras released his debut album, "The Tree and the River", under the stage name of "Odd Us" (the actual pronunciation of his name).
 * In 2013, he became a part of the band "My Swedish Friend", as a parallel project.
 * He was a guest on the second episode of the Survivor After Show in 2013.
 * On November 10, 2013, Aras became engaged with his girlfriend, model Christy Petersen. Their first child, River Juozas Baskauskas, was born on May 29, 2014. Aras and Christy got married on April 25, 2015.
 * Aras finished fourth in the Rob Has a Podcast ' s Mr. Survivor 2014 first round of voting. However, due to Rob not being able to schedule a interview with finalist Hayden Moss, Aras took his spot in the final three and eventually lost out against Malcolm Freberg, but beat Tyson Apostol.

Trivia

 * Aras is half-Lithuanian. His last name is pronounced: "Bush-kows-kass".
 * Aras and Vytas's maternal grandfather was late actor.
 * Aras was the youngest contestant of, being a few months younger than Danielle DiLorenzo.
 * Aras's injury on Day 39 marks the first time someone has been injured on the final day of the competition.
 * Aras is the first winner with a dual citizenship: Lithuanian and American.
 * According to her profile for , Cirie Fields listed Aras as the past Survivor castaway that she respects the most.
 * Aras has the most votes cast against him out of any other male Sole Survivor in his winning season with 9 votes.
 * This is also the most votes against any Sole Survivor in their winning season.
 * Aras lost 17 lbs. (7 kg) during his time in.
 * Aras' first choice to play with him in Blood vs. Water was his girlfriend Christy, but production took more interest in Vytas.