The new season of Survivor starts off with a bang, with Jeff revealing that the first reward challenge would take place before the contestants got to talk to their teammates at all. Some players are dissapointed about the division of the four tribes, which are separated by gender and age. Wearing light green, the Viveros Tribe consists of the four younger men -- Aras Baskauskas, Austin Carty, Bobby "Bob Dawg" Mason and Nick Stanbury. Wearing light blue, the Bayoneta Tribe consists of the four younger women -- Danielle DiLorenzo, Misty Giles, Courtney Marit and Sally Schumann. Wearing orange, the La Mina Tribe consists of the four older men -- Dan Barry, Terry Deitz, Bruce Kanegai and Shane Powers. Wearing purple, the Casaya Tribe consists of the four older women -- Cirie Fields, Melinda Hyder, Ruth Marie Milliman and Tina Scheer. Able to put their feelings aside, the tribes attempt the challenge, which requires one person from each tribe to run into the jungle on Exile Island and find an amulet hidden in a skull. Bayoneta's runner is left empty-handed, forcing the group to choose which woman will be left behind on the island, and a reluctant Misty loses a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and is forced to stay behind until the Immunity Challenge. Later, the four tribes build their camps, but all run into problems, either between contestants or with nature. Misty copes well on Exile Island, all the while trying to find a hidden Immunity Idol. At the Immunity challenge, Misty regroups with the other younger women of Bayoneta and helps them pull off a win, with both men's tribes close behind, forcing Casaya to report to Tribal Council. Once there, Tina, the most eccentric of the bunch, is voted out unanimously.

The Older Men tribe struggle at their camp through a rough storm and Shane begins to have second thoughts as to why he's playing the game. When the 4 tribes become 2, new alliances take shape. After winning a reward challenge, Sally tries her hand at fishing and loses the fishing spear. In the end, Casaya loses the Immunity Challenge and votes one of their own out.

Bruce joins Casaya after voting out Melinda and right away, Bruce proves himself a hard worker but is sent back to Exile Island after his tribe loses the Reward Challenge. At La Mina, Misty tries to use her charm to keep herself in the game, but after a rough tackle Immunity Challenge, they are sent to Tribal Council.

When La Mina loses the reward challenge, Casaya chooses to banish Terry, La Mina's strongest member, to Exile Island. Alone, Terry figures out the ominous clues and winds up discovering the secret immunity idol on the island, but once back at his camp, he decides to keep his find a secret. At Casaya, the tribe's alliance of four, Aras, Courtney, Danielle, and Shane, begins to fall apart when Shane and Danielle butt heads about the workload at camp. Left without Terry for a day or two, La Mina struggles to survive while everyone waits for another strong leader to emerge from among them. When Terry returns to the game at the Immunity Challenge, it appears as though his tribe really needed him at camp, seeing how they lose the challenge and are forced to go to Tribal Council. Strategizing about who to vote off, the all-male alliance regrets Dan's decision to include Ruth Marie in their coalition and at Tribal Council, Sally is spared when the men collectively oust Ruth Marie, the tribe's weakest link.

Casaya wins the reward challenge and earns food, the consolation prize of either beans or rice goes to La Mina. The immunity challenge is won by La Mina and so Casaya go to tribal council.

When the castaways get word of the upcoming challenge, one with a huge reward, they all work their hardest to win. The tough challenge results in a big win for Casaya, and the team collectively wins the prize, which includes immunity, the choice of which member of La Mina goes to Exile Island, and the chance to visit a Panamanian town and distribute toys and food to the children there. During Casaya's trip, the tension that occurred prior to winning, the apparent break-up of the Shane-Aras-Courtney-Danielle alliance, was forgotten, and all enjoyed the reward. Meanwhile, at La Mina, Sally, the last woman on the tribe, is saved from certain elimination when Casaya sends her to Exile Island, and while she is gone, Dan reveals his astronaut past to the rest of his tribe. Whether or not this fact has any bearing on that night's decision is trivial: Terry sides with the younger men, Nick and Austin, and Dan's torch becomes the sixth snuffed out.

A recap of Survivor: Panama - Exile Island and a closer look, filled with never-before-seen footage of the castaways in challenges and at camp.

La Mina leaves their camp and paddles to the Casaya beach. Knowing that a merge is on its way, Casaya huddles up and vow to stay together until the end and quickly finish up their rice. The tribes then officially merge. While working on the shelter, Bruce chips his tooth from the swing of Nick's machete. Afterwards, the new Gitanos tribe participates in their first individual immunity and sends someone off the island.

Two tribe members are sent to Exile Island and they form an unexpected bond. Castaways from the original La Mina team try to break up the Casaya alliance. At tribal council, the eighth person is voted off of the islands.

Several castaways accept a tempting offer of food that means they must opt out of the Immunity Challenge; the remaining Casaya members are asked to form a new alliance; and Shane decides to wear a skirt.

A medical emergency forces one castaway to leave the island for treatment and the other players are left to ponder whether the person will return to the game or not. At the Reward Challenge, the tribe members are required to answer personal questions about their fellow tribemates which does not sit well with Courtney.

The winner of the Reward Challenge will have the chance to receive a brand new car. Meanwhile, players scrutinize the others as new threats gradually emerge.

Reward challenge includes news from home. A fight between two castaways leads one to learn something very important about the other. New alliances are formed.

The final four consistsing of Aras, Terry, Danielle and Cirie continue to survive and plan for future voting while Terry and Aras continue to feud.

Cirie and Danielle go head to head in a tiebreaker Challenge. Who will win and earn their spot in the Final Three, and who will flame out? Before the Final Immunity Challenge, the pressure of what lies ahead weighs heavily on the Final Three. Who can win a spot in the Final Two and a 50/50 shot at million? After the Final Immunity Challenge, one Survivor has the difficult decision of who to take to the Final Two. Who will it be? With the Final Tribal Council just days away, the Final Two prepare for their final statements. Who will outwit, outlast and outplay all the others to become Exile Island's Sole Survivor?.

It's the Moment of Truth: Jeff Probst walks into the Reunion Show, taped live before a studio audience, and announces who wins the million and the title of Sole Survivor.