Apr 7, 2006 7:10 am US/Pacific
Survivor: Austin Walks The Plank
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Loose lips sink ships and that's not all. Blabbermouth syndrome is also a bad strategy, it seems, when trying to capture that million dollar prize on "Survivor: Panama – Exile Island."
Austin Carty, the 24-year-old author and model from High Point, North Carolina, found himself kicked out of the game in a 6-3 vote after admitting that he had deliberately lost an immunity challenge as a tactic to make the Casaya alliance think he was weak.
"That was so stupid to let them know my plan," Austin lamented soon afterward, hoping he'd be able to recover, "because now I'm afraid people are questioning whether they really trust me."
And they didn't – ultimately expelling him as a game player, and therefore a threat to their own hopes and ambitions.
Episode 8 otherwise was a story of coconuts, cuddling and couples.
Picture hundreds of coconuts and sweaty folks racing around to dump them into competitors' boats – to slow them down, what else? – and you still haven't captured the chaos of the reward challenge that was a win for Aras, Bruce and Sally.
The victory didn't taste as sweet as they expected, as they waited in drenching Panamanian rain for transportation to their reward.
The reward on the other hand was better than expected, and far from the pale of jungle survival: a yacht which promptly dumped them on a sandbar furnished with a large canopy bed.
Sally, a 27-year-old social worker from Minnesota, was distinctly underwhelmed.
"It's this sandbar in the middle of nowhere with this beautiful canopy bed, and it's pouring rain, and I'm like, there is no way that that is our reward," she wailed. I was so frustrated."
Breakfast, moments later, brought a warming trend and a change of heart.
"All of a sudden, this tray is set down, and I am not kidding you, it went from this cold, miserable moment to the most incredible day ever," said Sally, who soon found herself huddled in bed sharing the feast and a champagne toast with 58-year-old karate master Bruce and 24-year-old yoga instructor Aras.
Meanwhile Danielle, a 24-year-old medical sales rep from Boston, was keeping company with Austin in the rain on nearby Exile Island.
"Being on Exile Island, under the torrential rains, forced me to go into the quickest bonding experience I've ever been through," said Austin, not yet seeing the writing on the coconuts. "Luckily, Danielle and I got along great."
He was rewarded with sweet words from Danielle.
"Out of all the people that I could get stuck on the island with, I'm glad it was Austin," she smiles. "If something did change, Austin would be a potential backup plan."
Not in Panama, it won't.
Tune in next week to see who is next to be shaken loose from the tree.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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