Survivor: Blood vs. Water eliminated returning castaway Aras Baskauskas from the game after he lost the season's eighth Redemption Island duel during Wednesday night's tenth episode of the CBS reality series' 27th edition.

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Aras -- a 31-year-old musician from Santa Monica, CA, who was previously crowned champion of Survivor: Panama -- Exile Island, which aired in early 2006 -- lost the duel to brother and newbie player Vytas Baskauskas, a 33-year-old yoga instructor and math professor from Santa Monica, CA, and returning castaway Tina Wesson, a 52-year-old motivational speaker from Robbinsville, NC.

"I'm really happy for Vytas. I didn't win the million dollars, but we got a lot closer, and that's worth more than any money in the world," Aras said as he exited the game. "No hard feelings by the way guys! You all outplayed me. Good job."

Later in the episode, the merged Kasama tribe voted returnee Laura Morett, a 43-year-old construction company co-owner from Salem, OR, out of their tribe on Night 26 at the season's eleventh Tribal Council session.

As the game's newest Tribal Council victim, Laura -- who had already spent time on Redemption Island and battled her way back into the game -- will now join Vytas and Tina on Redemption Island, where they will battle each other in the game's next duel in attempt to earn a chance to rejoin the game and resume competing for Survivor: Blood vs. Water's million dollar prize.

"I'm having a hard time defining how I'm feeling about [my daughter Ciera Eastin] writing my name down because it sucks that I'm here, it sucks that Ciera had to do that, it sucks that she did that. But I'm not about to quit now. I'm going to do everything I can to stay in the game, and even more, to further my daughter in the game," Laura said after her vote-off. 

On Night 24, veteran player Tyson Apostol, a 34-year-old former pro cyclist and shop manager from Provo, UT, apologized to Tina's daughter Katie Collins, a 25-year-old who works in hedge fund support from New York, NY, for helping to vote Tina out of the tribe. Katie could tell no one was budging from their set alliances and she'd be doomed if she couldn't figure something out immediately.

On Day 25, Ciera, a 24-year-old cosmetology student from Salem, OR, told her mom if Katie won immunity at the next challenge, Monica Culpepper, a 42-year-old former NFL wife and homemaker from Tampa, FL, would definitely be the next person to go. If Katie didn't win, she'd be voted off the tribe next.

Ciera told Laura to let Tyson do all the work and not to talk strategy with anyone. Ciera thought she was a better player than her mom since she got voted out her tribe very early on.

Laura trusted her daughter's judgment and didn't mind that the roles were reversed, as Laura had always been the one to give Ciera advice in times of need. Ciera said if her chances of winning the game became in jeopardy because of her mother, Laura needed to go.

All the castaways then gathered to witness the season's eighth duel. Survivor host Jeff Probst welcomed Aras, Vytas and Tina, and they entered the arena together.

Tina said "no way Jose" to the idea of Katie switching places with her on Redemption Island.

For the duel, each castaway was required to use a grappling hook to retrieve three bags. Each bag had a ball in it, and once the castaways had all three bags, they must use one of the balls to solve a table maze.

Vytas ended up winning and Tina finished in second place. Although Aras was close, he got and was permanently ousted from the game. Jeff asked the brothers whether their experience on the island might compel them to let some of their rivalry go.

"I don't know, Jeff, I mean," Vytas said.

"It's alright, man, it's alright," Aras noted.

"Vytas, do you see the pain it causes in your brother here and when he [got emotional] back in a challenge and cried and said, 'I'm done competing against my brother. I just want to love each other?'" Jeff asked.

"That first challenge was a bunch of old sh-t coming up for me and for him," Vytas explained of the challenge in which he faked his brother out on a platform in the water when he was down and then came back to win. "That cheap shot stuff, I'll never do that again, and I believe that we can be healthy moving forward as brothers and continuing to have a little bit of rivalry at least."

"A lot of things happened for a long time and things are getting better and better everyday, and this experience has made it better," Aras added.

"And I hope we can live to a ripe-old age together and have stories with our grandchildren about the experience we had out here when we got blindsided by [Gervase Peterson], and I can't wait to share that story with my grandchildren."

The brothers hugged one another and said, "I love you," before Aras walked out.

For coming in first place, Vytas earned a clue to a hidden Immunity Idol, which he could give to any castaway of his choice. Vytas decided to give the clue to Katie, and she kept it without hesitation. Katie thought she needed to find the hidden Immunity Idol to stay in the game, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

After the duel, Katie was proud of her mom and went looking for the clue. However, no one knew that Tyson had it all along. Tyson therefore wasn't worried about Katie using an idol at the next Tribal Council. He was just thinking about his next move and didn't mind being the bad guy.

Tyson then told Colton Cumbie's fiance Caleb Bankston, a 26-year-old post office manager and farmer from Collinsville, AL; Kat Edorsson's boyfriend and former Big Brother winner Hayden Moss, a 26-year-old in real estate from Springtown, TX; and returning player Gervase, a 43-year-old cigar lounge owner from Philadelphia, PA; that they needed to vote out Laura.

Tyson figured they could do it when Ciera didn't see it coming, so she wouldn't have to uncomfortably vote her own mother out of the game. Tyson said once Laura was gone, Ciera would be in solid with them and Laura could hopefully beat "some people" on Redemption Island. Katie and Monica would then be next after Laura.

The guys agreed they couldn't let Laura win the next Immunity Challenge. Ciera then had a difficult conversation with her mom. She told Laura she had a shot to be in the Final 3 as long as Laura wasn't still in the game. They were both unsure whether Ciera could actually win, but Ciera insisted she had a better shot than her mom.

Ciera was honest about her mom not having a chance. Ciera said if it came down to six people in the tribe, and Laura was number six, she'd have to go. Ciera noted she'd be risking everything by trying to get to the Final 3 with her mom. Also, if Laura was to win an Immunity Challenge, Ciera could go home in her place.

Laura appreciated the fact her daughter had found the courage to make decisions for herself and she was very proud of her. Laura loved seeing her daughter's strength as a person and a player in the game. She said she was watching her daughter grow into a woman.

"As an individual player in the game, it's like, 'Oh no, that's going to cut my chances.' But as a mother, I was like, 'Good girl,'" Laura told the cameras in tears. "It is a huge blessing for me to be out here to witness that -- worth way more than a million dollars... way more."

On Day 26, Laura went looking for the hidden Immunity Idol just as Katie was. Katie was digging "in all the wrong places" to throw her off.

Meanwhile, Tyson was calling himself "the big bad wolf," so he wanted to get Ciera onboard with voting her mom out. He ended up telling Ciera that Hayden and Caleb were voting for Laura, and Ciera admitted she didn't care. Tyson told her that he had her back no matter what.

Later that day, Kasama met Jeff again for the fourth Individual Immunity Challenge of the season.

For the challenge, each castaway was required to stand on a small platform over the water while leaning back and holding onto a rope. Every five minutes, the players had to move their hands further down the rope, making it more difficult to hold on. The last person standing would win immunity and reward in the form of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and soda.

Hayden was the first one out of the challenge, and he was followed by Caleb, Gervase, Ciera, Katie, Laura, Tyson, and finally Monica.

Monica won her second Individual Immunity Challenge. She was then given the opportunity to invite one person over to enjoy the food with her. Instead, Monica decided to give up all the food and let her tribe, whom she called her "family," share it. As for whether it was a selfless or political move, the tribe wasn't sure. However, Caleb said it seemed to be the move of a caring mother.

After the challenge, Ciera told Katie most of the castaways were voting for her mom and swore her to secrecy. However, Katie didn't seem to trust Ciera and said she was going to play her hidden Immunity Idol regardless.

Ciera -- not aware Tyson actually had the idol -- said she didn't believe her because she herself had previously found the idol. At that moment, Katie folded her cards and accused Ciera of "stealing" it from her. Ciera was shocked about how easy it was to lie to Katie to get information she needed.

Since Ciera became certain Katie didn't have an idol, she suggested to the guys maybe they should get rid of her before Laura. She suggested throwing one vote towards Laura and the rest for Katie just in case. Tyson realized he had made a mistake in telling Ciera about the plan to oust Laura, as she was a smarter player than he had first gave her credit for. Ciera was making moves of her own.

However, Tyson still thought Laura had to go. He said having two "loved ones" in the game so close to the end was "too dangerous" because it'd be two people always on the same vote. While Tyson thought Laura had to go, Caleb disagreed and felt Katie was the easy vote and should go sooner rather than later.

Kasama then arrived for the season's eleventh Tribal Council on Night 26. The season's first jury member, Aras, listened in on the session.

Tyson explained that two "loved ones" in the game could swing two votes the same way, so they were concerned about that. The guys knew, however, both Ciera and Laura were strong competitors in their own right and both played to win although their bond was clearly very strong.

Katie argued it wasn't good to keep "loved ones" around because they'd of course want to get to the end together.

"But if you send, at this point, a 'loved one' home, you have somebody lobbying for those jury votes for your 'loved one.' But if I'm here, you're not going to have that influence on the jury," Laura argued, saying that wouldn't happen if she's still competing against her daughter in the game.

"I think where problems come in is when you get your alliance and then all of a sudden people start bailing early, and the next thing you know, the Top 3 are people that weren't even in the alliance, and everybody else is sitting over there going, 'What the heck did we do wrong?'"

Caleb told Jeff the tribe was four guys and four girls -- four original Galang members and four original Tadhana members. Tyson, Gervase, Laura, and Monica were all Galang. Katie, Ciera, Hayden, and Caleb were previously on Tadhana.

Jeff then revealed the votes. One person voted for Katie and five votes were cast for Laura. Ciera cried on Laura's way out and repeatedly apologized. Laura said it was okay and that she loved her daughter and would come back for her.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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