Survivor Exile Island: A Recap

So...Survivor Exile Island has finally come to an end. Aras comes away with the title of Sole Survivor and the $1 million. While this is the first Survivor which I will be actually recaping, I will do the other previous 12 seasons as I either see them on DVD or repeated on the Outdoor Life Network. Time to see how Survivor Exile Island summed up.

The Challenges: 9/10
While it might seem boring to watch a season in which Terry dominated basically every challenge, the fact that he won in order to stay alive in the game made it even more fascinating. The challenges were diverse, from the mental to the social to the pure strength to the ones of simple will power. Some of the challenges were simple, but effective and entertaining ways to determine who wins reward or immunity (usually Terry).
The Characters: 8/10
Shane and Courtney were the two you either hated to love or loved to hate. Cirie made a stand for couch potatoes everywhere while Danielle was the apparently spoiled rich girl. Terry was the iron-man who seemed to be invincible while Cirie was a wisecracking manipulator. Bruce the ninja in disguise and Aras the mellow yoga man made that final six a complete thrill. Unfortunately, beyond them we didn't see much in terms of the other players' characters with the exception of maybe Bobby and Dan.
The Location: 2/10
Panama, yeah. It was fun the first time we went there with the pirate theme and Rupert (aka Blackbeard). It was even okay the second time with All-Stars (when we saw more of the weather's effect on Saboga). Now it's just getting old. Is Burnett just running out of exotic locations?
The Strategy: 5/10
Terry and the La Mina tribe can't crack the Casaya Five. For most of the game, the votes were pretty much automatic. The only real power swing was when Cirie got Aras and Danielle to vote out Courtney and then Shane. Otherwise, the only strategic player appeared to be Shane (even though he couldn't see Cirie and Aras plotting against him).
The Twists: 7/10
Exile Island and bringing back the Immunity Idol. Immunity Idol = great. Loved Terry having leverage over the game and the prospect of someone being voted out...only to whip out the Idol and send someone who they thought had dodged the bullet back home. I thought Exile Island would have more of an impact because people would be sent there and taken out of the game (thus allowing the rest of the tribe to plot against them). However that never transpired and instead many people were just sent off because they weren't liked. However, there should have been some tribal shuffles too and (in my opinion) the winning tribe should send one of their own to "the Island."

Overall: 6/10