Survivor: Panama

Survivor: Panama
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	12
Filming Location	Pearl Islands, Panama
Filming Dates	October 31, 2005 - December 8, 2005
Season Run	February 2, 2006 - May 14, 2006
No. of Episodes	16
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	16
Winner	Aras Baskauskas
Runner(s)-Up	Danielle DiLorenzo
Tribes	Bayoneta Casaya La Mina Viveros Gitanos
Viewership (in Millions)	16.82
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Guatemala
Next	Cook Islands

Survivor: Panama, also known as Survivor: Panama — Exile Island, is the twelfth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. Aras Baskauskas defeated Danielle DiLorenzo in a 5-2 vote to become the Sole Survivor. It would ultimately feature one medical evacuation, and has to date produced four returning players (Aras Baskauskas, Cirie Fields, Danielle DiLorenzo, and Terry Deitz) for subsequent seasons.

Production

Applications were due on June 17, 2005. Around August 2005, 800 applicants were invited for an interview by CBS. Out of these 800, 48 of them were selected as semi-finalists and were invited to Los Angeles in September 2005. From these semi-finalists, 16 were chosen to appear on the show. Filming took place from November to December 2005.

The season's theme is inspired from Haitian Vodou and headhunting culture practiced in Central and South America. The Tribal Council set was a cave made out of foam. The Panamanian government insisted on preserving certain trees nearby, prompting production to build the cave around these, hiding them in the process. The candles illuminating Tribal Council can be controlled, thus enhancing the fire whenever production pleased.

The DVD for this season was released on May 22, 2012.

Twists/Changes

• Exile Island: After a Reward Challenge, players may banish a player from the rival tribe to Exile Island. This island, entirely separate from the existing camps, will force the banished player to fend for him/herself until the upcoming Immunity Challenge (unless stated otherwise). The player would not be left in despair, for he/she will be given clues to a Hidden Immunity Idol that is hidden somewhere on the island.
• Rehashed Hidden Immunity Idol Mechanism: Unlike the previous season where the Hidden Immunity Idol is used like the Immunity Necklace, the mechanism of using the idol was now changed. Instead of revealing the idol before voting, the owner must draw it when he/she has enough votes to eliminate him/her. The votes cast against that player will be considered spoilt, while the person that gets the second highest amount of votes will be eliminated instead. The idol is usable until the Day 36 Tribal Council.
• Four Tribes: For the first time in the series, the castaways were divided into four tribes of four.
• Tribe Division: These four tribes are defined according to age and gender, thus having tribes of Older Men (La Mina), Younger Men (Viveros), Younger Women (Bayoneta), and Older Women (Casaya).
• Tribe Switch: On Day 4, the tribes were mixed up. Viveros and Bayoneta were disbanded. Two team captains were chosen randomly and contestants were divided into the new Casaya and La Mina tribes by a Schoolyard Pick. Because of odd numbers, the last unpicked player was sent to Exile Island and was given immunity. The exiled player will stay there until the tribe that loses the next Immunity Challenge already finished the task of voting out one of their own. After the vote, the exiled player will join that tribe.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Tina Scheer 44, Hayward, WI Lumberjill	Casaya			1st Voted Out Day 3	3
	Melinda Hyder 32, Sevierville, TN Singer/Entertainer	Casaya	Casaya		2nd Voted Out Day 6	5
	Misty Giles 24, Dallas, TX Missile Engineer	Bayoneta	La Mina		3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
	Ruth Marie Milliman 48, Greenville, SC Real Estate Developer	Casaya	La Mina		4th Voted Out Day 11	6
	Bobby Mason 32, Los Angeles, CA Attorney	Viveros	Casaya		5th Voted Out Day 14	3
	Dan Barry 51, South Hadley, MA Astronaut	La Mina	La Mina		6th Voted Out Day 15	3
	Nick Stanbury 25, Tempe, AZ Financial Salesman	Viveros	La Mina	Gitanos	7th Voted Out Day 18	6
	Austin Carty 24, High Point, NC Writer	Viveros	La Mina		8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	7
	Sally Schumann 26, Chicago, IL Social Worker	Bayoneta	La Mina		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	8
	Bruce Kanegai 57, Simi Valley, CA Art Teacher	La Mina	Casaya		Evacuated 3rd Jury Member Day 25	2
	Courtney Marit 31, Los Angeles, CA Fire Dancer	Bayoneta	Casaya		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	4
	Shane Powers 34, Los Angeles, CA Marketing Executive	La Mina	Casaya		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	9
	Cirie Fields 35, Walterboro, SC Nurse	Casaya	Casaya		Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 36	3
	Terry Deitz 46, Simsbury, CT Pilot	La Mina	La Mina		12th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	1
	Danielle DiLorenzo 24, Pompano Beach, FL Medical Sales Representative	Bayoneta	Casaya		Runner-Up	4
	Aras Baskauskas 24, Santa Monica, CA Yoga Instructor	Viveros	Casaya		Sole Survivor	9

Season Summary

The game began with the sixteen competitors split into four tribes by both relative age and gender. They were also introduced to the concept of "Exile Island" with the promise of a Hidden Immunity Idol located somewhere on it, while one person from the losing tribe at challenges would be sent to the island and given clues to look for it. After the first four days, the four tribes were merged by a Schoolyard Pick into two tribes, Casaya and La Mina.

Though Casaya was generally the stronger of the two tribes, they were dominated by dysfunction and infighting, mainly between Shane (who was suffering from nicotine withdrawal), the eccentric Courtney, and hot-headed Danielle. In the midst of the chaos however, a tight bond formed between Aras and Cirie. Compared to their rivals, La Mina was much more peaceful, as a powerful men's alliance headed by Terry and Dan took control. Because of their challenge ability, Casaya opted to send Terry over to Exile Island multiple times, which eventually allowed him to find the Hidden Immunity Idol.

The two tribes merged into Gitanos on Day 16, with Casaya holding a 6-4 numbers advantage. Though their conflicts continued, Casaya held together and was successful in eliminating the former La Mina members until only Terry remained. However, Terry soon began a streak of immunity wins, forcing Casaya to turn on one another. Come Day 30, Cirie noticed that both Terry and Shane looked to take Courtney to the Final Two as an assurance to win the jury's favor. Forming a final three pact with Aras and Danielle, Cirie succeeded in blindsiding Courtney, with Shane following immediately after on Day 33.

At the final four, Aras won reward and took Cirie with him. This prompted Danielle to vote with Terry at Tribal Council, forcing a fire-making tiebreaker between Cirie and Danielle, with the latter emerging victorious. Danielle would also go on to win the Final Immunity Challenge, forcing her to cast the sole vote to eliminate. Believing Terry to be the larger jury threat, Danielle voted him out, advancing to the Final Two with Aras. At the Final Tribal Council, Aras and Danielle both received lukewarm remarks from the jury, but by a vote of 5-2 Aras was awarded the title of Sole Survivor.

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Exiled	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"The First Exile"	February 2, 2006	La Mina	Bayoneta	Misty	Tina (3-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	19.20	7.0/18
			Viveros	La Mina
			Casaya	Viveros
2	"Breakdown"	February 9, 2006	La Mina	La Mina	Bruce1	Melinda (5-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	18.75	6.6/17
3	"Crazy Fights, Snake Dinners"	February 16, 2006	La Mina	Casaya	Bruce	Misty (5-2)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	16.98	6.3/16
4	"Starvation and Lunacy"	February 23, 2006	Casaya	Casaya	Terry	Ruth Marie (4-2)	4th Voted Out Day 11	14.85	5.5/14
5	"For Cod's Sake"	March 2, 2006	Casaya	La Mina	Terry	Bobby (3-2-1-1)	5th Voted Out Day 14	16.08	5.5/14
6	"Salvation and Desertion"	March 9, 2006	Casaya2		Sally	Dan (3-1)	6th Voted Out Day 15	15.33	5.4/N/A
7	"A Closer Look"	March 15, 2006	Recap Episode					N/A	N/A
8	"An Emerging Plan"	March 30, 2006	None	Terry	None	Nick (6-4)	7th Voted Out Day 18	16.25	5.8/17
9	"The Power of the Idol"	April 6, 2006	Aras, Bruce, Sally	Terry	Austin, Danielle	Austin (6-3)	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	16.36	5.6/17
10	"Fight for Your Life or Eat"	April 13, 2006	Bruce, Courtney, Sally, Terry	Terry	Aras	Sally (6-2)	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	15.07	5.2/17
11	"Medical Emergency"	April 20, 2006	Cirie [Aras, Danielle]	None	Terry	Bruce (no vote)	Evacuated 3rd Jury Member Day 25	16.26	5.5/18
12	"Perilous Scramble"	April 27, 2006	Courtney, Danielle, Terry	Terry	Aras	Courtney (3-2-1)	10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 30	17.09	5.9/18
13	"Bamboozled"	May 4, 2006	Terry [Shane]	Terry	Danielle	Shane (3-1-1)	11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 33	17.04	5.9/18
14	"Call the Whambulence!"	May 11, 2006	Aras [Cirie]	Aras	Danielle, Terry	TBD (2-2)3	Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 36	17.2	5.8/N/A
15	"The Final Showdown"	May 14, 2006				Cirie (tiebreaker)		17.07	6.2/15
			Terry	Danielle	None	Terry (1-0)	12th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote			Danielle (5-2)	Runner-Up
						Aras (5-2)	Sole Survivor
16	"Reunion"							12.3	4.6/N/A
Notes: ^1 Due to an odd number of castaways at the tribe switch, the odd person out was sent to Exile Island until after the following Tribal Council, when that castaway would join the tribe that lost a member. ^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^3 Per Survivor rules, in the event of a tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied castaways. The challenge was shown in the next episode.

Voting History

		Original Tribes	Switched Tribes					Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Voted Out		Tina	Melinda	Misty	Ruth Marie	Bobby	Dan	Nick	Austin	Sally	Bruce	Courtney	Shane	Tie	Cirie	Terry	Danielle	Aras
Vote		3-1	5-2	5-2	4-2	3-2-1-1	3-1	6-4	6-3	6-2	No vote3	3-2-1	3-1-1	2-24	Tiebreaker	1-05	5-2
►►	Aras	—	Melinda	—	—	Bruce	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	—	Courtney	Shane	Danielle	—	None	Jury Vote
►►	Danielle	—	Melinda	—	—	Bobby	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	—	Courtney	Shane	Cirie	—	Terry
►►	Terry	—	—	Misty	Ruth Marie	—	Dan	Shane	Aras	Aras	—	Aras	Aras	Cirie	—	None		Aras
►►	Cirie	Tina	Shane	—	—	Bobby	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	—	Courtney	Shane	Danielle	Eliminated			Aras
►►	Shane	—	Melinda	—	—	Aras	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	—	Danielle	Danielle				Danielle
►►	Courtney	—	Melinda	—	—	Bobby	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	—	Aras						Aras
►►	Bruce	—	Exiled1	—	—	Courtney	—	Nick	Austin	Sally	Evacuated						Danielle
►►	Sally	—	—	Ruth Marie	Ruth Marie	—	Exiled2	Shane	Aras	Aras								Aras
►►	Austin	—	—	Misty	Ruth Marie	—	Dan	Shane	Aras									Aras
►►	Nick	—	—	Misty	Ruth Marie	—	Dan	Shane
►	Dan	—	—	Misty	Sally	—	Austin
►	Bobby	—	Melinda	—	—	Bruce
►	Ruth Marie	Tina	—	Misty	Sally
►	Misty	—	—	Ruth Marie
►	Melinda	Tina	Shane
	Tina	Cirie
Notes: ^1 Due to an odd number of contestants at the tribe switch, the odd person out was sent to Exile Island until after the following Tribal Council, when that player would join the tribe that lost a member. ^2 After winning the Immunity Challenge, Casaya was given the opportunity to exile one member of the losing tribe, allowing them to abstain from Tribal Council. ^3 Bruce was evacuated from the game due to severe gastrointestinal problems. No vote occurred for his removal. ^4 Per Survivor rules, in the event of a tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied players. The challenge was shown in the next episode. ^5 Aras and Terry did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Danielle voted.

Trivia

• All four original tribes were represented in the final four, with Aras Baskauskas, Danielle DiLorenzo, Terry Deitz, and Cirie Fields representing Viveros, Bayoneta, La Mina, and Casaya respectively.
• Panama is the first season to have Exile Island as a season-long twist.
  • This is the first season to have a Hidden Immunity Idol at Exile Island; the two twists would often be associated with each other in future seasons.
• Panama is the first season to have a gap between episodes longer than eight days. Coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament led to a 15-day gap between "A Closer Look" and "An Emerging Plan".
• Panama is the first season to feature a shorter "Ancient Voices" intro rather than play the entire opening credits for every episode.
• Only the final three castaways won individual immunity. Terry won the first five, then Aras won the penultimate, and Danielle won the Final Immunity Challenge.
• Panama ties with Cook Islands for the most starting tribes, with four.
• Panama is the first season to have an episode end with a Tribal Council vote, but no elimination. "Call the Whambulence!" ended with Danielle and Cirie preparing to start the fire-making tiebreaker, but its result was not featured until the finale.
• Panama is the second season where the youngest contestant of the season won, after Jenna Morasca won in The Amazon.
• Panama is the first season since Thailand to have a Tribal Council area with a roof.
• Panama was the last season until Caramoan in which the first person voted out of the merged tribe was not a member of the jury.
• Panama and Survivor 44 are tied for fewest votes cast throughout the season, including at Final Tribal Council, with only 85 ballots cast.
• Panama is one of four seasons to have the entire final four come back as returning players in future seasons, the other three being Borneo, All-Stars, and Cagayan.
  • As Borneo, All-Stars, and Cagayan had other contestants return in future seasons, Panama is the only season to have only the final four come back as returning players.