La Mina, known informally as the Older Men, is a tribe from Survivor: Panama.
Though originally comprised by middle-aged men, La Mina is often associated to its post-switch iteration which despite having a cohesive unit, proved weaker in the challenges compared to Casaya, putting them at a numbers disadvantage after the merge. Their tribe color is orange.
Members[]
Tribe History[]
The Older Men[]
As the game began with four tribes divided by gender and by age, it was the La Mina tribe that was consisted of the older men. At the first Reward Challenge, Terry was selected to compete for the tribe and won first place, winning flint. While Terry, Dan Barry and Bruce Kanegai bonded over setting up camp, Shane Powers, the youngest of the tribe, struggled to fit in while facing nicotime withdrawal symptoms. On the first night, Dan and Terry exchanged personal stories, with Dan sharing he used to be an astronaut and Terry working as a pilot. The two formed an alliance.
Any strategy in La Mina was put on hold after they finished second at the first Immunity Challenge on Day 3.
The New La Mina[]
On Day 4, Viveros and Bayoneta were dissolved, which was followed by a tribe switch, meaning the Older Men were no more. The tribe switch had Dan and Terry remain in the tribe along with ex-Viveros members Austin Carty and Nick Stanbury, ex-Bayoneta members Misty Giles and Sally Schumann, and ex-Casaya member Ruth Marie Milliman. Almost immediately, the men of the tribe formed a tight alliance. The tribe won the Immunity Challenge.
La Mina continued their winning streak by winning the Reward Challenge in "Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners", but lost the Immunity Challenge, sending La Mina to their first Tribal Council. Before Tribal Council, Nick and Austin made an alliance with Sally and Misty, while Dan and Terry made an alliance with Ruth Marie. Dan and Terry managed to convince Austin and Nick to go against their new alliance and vote off Misty for her strategic gameplay.
La Mina lost the next Reward Challenge and the next Immunity Challenge. The men's alliance deemed Ruth Marie to be too much of a physical liability and she was voted off. La Mina's losing streak continued, losing the Reward Challenge in "For Cod's Sake". They were able to win the Immunity Challenge though. In "Salvation and Desertion", Casaya won the combined Reward and Immunity Challenge and won the right to choose a member from La Mina to be sent to Exile Island, thus becoming safe at Tribal Council. Casaya chose Sally under the accurate belief that La Mina had an all-male alliance. Since Sally was safe from Tribal Council, the men's alliance was forced to turn on itself. After a tough decision, Dan was unanimously voted out as his performance at the immunity challenge was blamed for the tribe's defeat, though his tribemates saluted him on his way out.
On Day 16, La Mina and Casaya merged into Gitanos. The former La Mina members went into the merge with a 6-4 disadvantage.
| Episode | Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out | Result | Exiled | Eliminated (Vote) |
Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Skull Crush | Reward | Bruce, Dan, Shane |
1st | None | Tribe Immune | |
| 4x4 | Immunity | None | 2nd | ||||
| Tribes Switched, Day 4 | |||||||
| 2 | A Reptile Dysfunction | Reward | None | Won | Bruce1 | Tribe Immune | |
| Anchor Management | Immunity | None | Won | ||||
| 3 | Cross Fire | Reward | None | Won | None | Misty (5-2) |
3rd Voted Out Day 8 |
| Battle Dig | Immunity | None | Lost | ||||
| 4 | Puzzle Paranoia | Reward | None | Lost | None | Ruth Marie (4-2) |
4th Voted Out Day 11 |
| Sea Level, Tree Level | Immunity | None | Lost | ||||
| 5 | For Cod's Sake | Reward | None | Lost | Terry | Tribe Immune | |
| Buried at Sea | Immunity | Won | |||||
| 6 | In-Cog-Neato | Reward/Immunity | None | Lost | Sally2 | Dan (3-1) |
6th Voted Out Day 15 |
| Tribes Merged, Day 16 | |||||||
| Notes: ^1 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Bruce, the person not drafted onto a tribe, was exiled and rejoined the game as a member of Casaya, replacing Melinda and evening the tribes at 7-7.
^2 After winning the Immunity Challenge, Casaya was given the opportunity to send one member of La Mina to Exile Island, allowing them to abstain from Tribal Council. Casaya exiled Sally. | |||||||
| Original Tribes |
Switched Tribes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | |
| Voted Out | Tribe Immune |
Tribe Immune |
 Misty |
 Ruth Marie |
Tribe Immune |
 Dan |
Tribes Merged | |
| Vote | — | — | 5-2 | 4-2 | — | 3-1 | ||
| ►► | Terry | — | — | Misty | Ruth Marie | — | Dan | |
| ►► | Shane | — | On Casaya | |||||
| ►► | Bruce | — | Exiled1 | On Casaya | ||||
| ►► | Sally | On Bayoneta | — | Ruth Marie | Ruth Marie | — | Exiled2 | |
| ►► | Austin | On Viveros | — | Misty | Ruth Marie | — | Dan | |
| ►► | Nick | On Viveros | — | Misty | Ruth Marie | — | Dan | |
| ► | Dan | — | — | Misty | Sally | — | Austin | |
| ► | Ruth Marie | On Casaya | — | Misty | Sally | |||
| ► | Misty | On Bayoneta | — | Ruth Marie | ||||
| Notes: ^1 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Bruce, the person not drafted onto a tribe, was sent to Exile Island and rejoined the game as a member of Casaya, replacing Melinda and evening the tribes at 7-7.
^2 For winning the Immunity Challenge, Casaya was given the opportunity to send one player to Exile Island, exempting them from Tribal Council. They chose Sally. | ||||||||
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In a rather interesting coincidence, each of the four starting tribes have produced a representative in the final four. Terry became the representative for La Mina.
References[]