Survivor: Cirie reels in a big one

As much as I've been enjoying Cirie's ongoing commentary and rooting for her to stay in the game, I had no idea she possessed the kind of cunning she displayed last night. Wow. Her double-secret, triple-crossing move to oust Courtney had to be one of the most elaborately plotted and best executed schemes this show has ever seen. So much for "flying under the radar" and hoping for the best. From catching a fish to calling B.S. on Terry's claim that the reward challenge gave him and the girls a chance to "take a break from the game," Cirie was ON! Okay, she quite literally sank in the challenges, but who cares? I still can't believe she was able to pull off that game-changing move.

(As a side note, how great was the presentation of that fish-catching incident? Shane's line about how "Captain America" spent three weeks out in the water coming up with nothing, while Cirie just sticks her line in the water and hauls in a fish, was an effective metaphor for the entire episode. Good material, yes, but sometimes I like to take notice of how well this show is edited.)

Anyway, where does everyone stand now that Cirie made her big play? Terry's in the Final Four no matter what, obviously. Whether he has any say on who will be there with him remains to be seen. I suppose he could throw the next immunity challenge in the hopes that playing the hidden immunity idol would allow him to decide who gets outsted. But I don't think he could count on it being a 4-1 vote against him, since Aras assumes he has the idol and must be thinking of a counter-strategy to block Terry. Shane was served notice that his influence in the game is negligible, but unless he's receiving strategy tips on his wooden Blackberry, I doubt he could figure out how to take charge of the game. In fact, he's probably the most vulnerable player left. Cirie, Aras and Danielle now look like a strong, cohesive alliance, and they can't get rid of Terry next, so unless two of them decide it would be in their interest to take Shane to the Final Four, I suspect he's the odd man out. Then again, I thought Courtney was sitting pretty after last week, so what do I know? Maybe everyone will decide Cirie is too smart and get rid of her. I can't wait to find out!

Only one random observation:

Despite all the talk about him being "the biggest physical threat," has Aras ever come close to beating Terry in a challenge? I mean, it is true that Aras is the second-most athletic castaway, but that's like saying I'd be the second-best athlete present if I were in a room with Mia Hamm and the senior ladies' bridge team for some random country club.