Survivor 12 - Panama

survivor: Panama - Exile Island

 

Filming location Pearl Islands, Panama

Winner Aras Baskauskas (5-2)

Original run February 2, 2006

– May 14, 2006

Filming dates October 31, 2005

– December 9, 2005

No. of episodes 14

No. of days 39

No. of survivors 16

Tribes      Casaya

     La Mina

     Bayoneta

     Viveros

     Gitanos

Fans vs. Favorites Cirie Fields

Season chronology

Previous Survivor: Guatemala

Next Survivor: Cook Islands

Survivor: Panama - Exile Island (Survivor: Exile Island or Survivor: Panama for short) was the twelfth season of Survivor, and took place in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama. This location was previously used for Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: All-Stars. Filming began on October 31, 2005 and the season premiered on February 2, 2006 on CBS. The season finale was on May 14, 2006 with the votes revealed live from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. [1]

The season included a twist that originally came from Survivor: Palau called Exile Island. Each week at least one castaway is banished for the time period between the reward challenge and the immunity challenge on Exile Island. The exile is given a single machete, a flint, a pot and a bucket of non-sanitized water. The island also contained a hidden immunity idol that could be used at tribal council after the votes have been cast. This gave the person who found the idol a strategic advantage because that person can keep the idol secret until he or she was voted off, which would cause the person with the second largest number of votes to be eliminated. As it developed, Terry found the idol and never needed to use it at a vote, but his possession of it appeared to influence how several other people voted.

The game began by splitting the 16 players into four tribes by sex and age: young men (Viveros, green buffs), older men (La Mina, orange buffs), young women (Bayoneta, blue buffs) and older women (Casaya, purple buffs). These four tribes were named after four islands located in the Pearl Islands. During the second episode the Viveros and Bayoneta tribes were dissolved and in a "schoolyard pick" with only Casaya and La Mina making two new integrated tribes. The 10 remaining contestants merged into one tribe, and called their new tribe Gitanos (black buffs), the Spanish word for "gypsy". In a rather interesting coincidence, a member from each of the original four tribes represented in the final four.

Tina Scheer was originally slated for Survivor: Guatemala, but she backed out due to her son Charlie's death (by car accident) prior to the show

On June 8, 2006 Survivor: Panama was made available on Apple's iTunes store.

In a 5-2 vote, Aras Baskauskas defeated Danielle DiLorenzo to take the $1 million prize.

Cirie Fields was selected from this season to compete in Micronesia as part of the Favorites tribe and placed 3rd