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Originally aired on Thursday, May 4, 2006 Written By BuddyTV Staff Columnist Episode Rating: *** (3 stars out of 5) Episode Overview: The Reward Challenge this week allows some of the Survivors to reconnect with their loved ones. Terry continues his physical dominance, while Cirie's strength is her strategic behind-the-scenes maneuvering, which results in a surprise ouster. Episode Highlights:

• The Reward Challenge brings to the island the Survivors' loved ones, and the winner gets to decide how each pairing will spend their time together.
• Terry continues to be the most physically-dominating player, winning both Reward and Immunity Challenges again this week.
• Cirie works overtime behind the scenes to position the voting to her benefit.

Recap: Last week's Tribal Council was a total success for Lady Macbeth, aka Cirie Fields. She managed, in her quiet way, to control the vote, ensuring the ouster of fire-dancer Courtney Marit. Cirie has no time to rest on her laurels, however. She has to quickly make nice with Shane in order to keep him in her pocket. He was shocked that the vote didn't go for Danielle DiLorenzo as he thought he'd worked out with Cirie. She and Aras Baskauskas get their stories straight: It was a last minute decision that they couldn't coordinate with Shane Powers because he was away from camp. Whether it's laziness, stupidity or just a general total misunderstanding of how the game works, Shane decides to buy this. He make a little fuss that Danielle has to go next, but otherwise seems happy to accept Cirie's published version of things. He then sets about loudly proclaiming his happiness that the "loop[y] broad" Courtney is gone. Right, like he was in on it all along. Terry Deitz is chagrinned that yet again, he was unable to pull off at tribal council the plan he'd put into place. Danielle is on his s*** list now for lying to him, and so he's also determined that she is next to go. No more time for machinations, it's off to the Reward Challenge they go. The Reward this time will be some lovin' from home - and the right to decide how that lovin' is distributed. The challenge is a typical Survivor physical challenge with multiple stages. Shane falls out first, followed by Cirie and then Danielle. Aras and Terry battle to the finish, but Aras makes a key error and so Terry wins. Jeff brings out the lovin': The Survivor's family members are brought onto the beach to stand 20 feet away. They include: Trish Deitz, Terry's wife; Aras' mom; Danielle's mom; Cirie's husband, H.B.; and Shane's beloved son, Boston, who looks exactly, precisely, like he was just unthawed from a Tatum O'Neal movie circa the mid-1970's. Terry gets to decide how each Survivor will spend their time with their loved one. Two Survivors will get to take their loved ones to an evening at a nice home. One will get to take their loved one back to camp. One will get a hug and have to say goodbye after that. The last Survivor will get nothing more than the view of their loved one and two lonely days on Exile Island. Terry picks himself and Shane to spend the night away from camp with their loved ones. H.B. will join Cirie back at Gitanos' beach. Aras gets a hug from his mom, and Danielle gets no lovin' and a trip to Exile Island (Terry's little payback for her turning on him at Tribal Council). Terry, his wife, Shane and Boston are all taken to a nice home well-stocked with pizza, beer, and wine. They catch up with their loved ones. Trish, Terry's wife, after seeing Terry's hidden Immunity Idol, gets into the game and tries to get into Shane's head. Boston, in interview, says he's missed his dad because Shane is more like a friend or a brother than a dad. And we all foresee years of therapy and/or poor impulse control for Boston. Back at camp, Cirie is proud to show her hubby how she's been living. He's not a camper or outdoorsy type, so he is both horrified by how he'll be living for the next day and filled with awe for his wife. With admirable efficiency, she decides that she and Aras need to conserve their energy, and so puts H.B. to work around the camp. He grumbles but follows her sweetly-delivered orders. After H.B. leaves, and Terry and Shane return, Aras and Terry have a brief squabble over Terry's rationale for how the lovin' was apportioned. Terry says he didn't give anything to Danielle because it was "just" her mom. This offends Aras, who says his mom is his "rock" and every bit as important to him as Terry's wife is to him. Terry says in interview that he's glad to see Aras lose it a little bit like this, and Aras later says that Terry's arrogance just fuels him to work harder. Not hard enough, however, as Terry wins the next Immunity Challenge, a task involving balance and patience (two things, I would add, that yoga dude Aras should have excelled at!). This is the fifth time he's won; he is undefeated in the Immunity Challenges. Before the Tribal Council, wheeling and dealing is in full effect. Both Terry and Shane are convinced that Danielle is next to go, and Terry is now looking to put Shane beside him in the final two. Cirie, meanwhile, is telling Shane she's voting for Danielle while simultaneously setting Shane up for the vote with Aras and Danielle. The editing, per usual, leaves some doubt as to where she's going to ultimately end up. At Tribal Council, Jeff Probst pointedly asks Shane if his performance that day at the Immunity Challenge was a little lackluster (he didn't follow directions and spent time joking around) because he felt assured of his safety. Shane responds that he feels like he'll be carried along because people think they can beat him in the final two. Oh, folly! You know what hubris results in, right? Of course, although Shane votes for Danielle, his is the only vote for her we see, and the three other first votes read are for Shane. He is stunned, absolutely stunned. Cirie is sitting in the catbird seat right now... but will she be able to remain in quiet control? And if so, how will she fair with the jury if she makes it to the final two? We will have to tune in to find out!

Source: BuddyTV.com