'Survivor: Worlds Apart' tribe votes off White Collar player Shirin Oskooi

Survivor: Worlds Apart's merged Merica tribe eliminated Shirin Oskooi from the game during Wednesday night's tenth episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.


Shirin, a 31-year-old Yahoo executive from San Francisco, CA, was the eleventh person voted out of the game and therefore became the season's fourth jury member. Her Merica tribe got her out on Night 29 at the season's eleventh Tribal Council session.

"No hard feelings toward [Mike Holloway]. He would've been done if he did play [his idol] for me. We got a couple people to flip and show who, in fact, is at the bottom. Dan is a sensitive guy. He does not like to be voted against. So I have a feeling that tonight might've been a bit of a wakeup call for Dan. I'm excited to be part of the jury to sort of see it all pan out," Shirin said following her ouster.

The players still in the game at this point were Shirin; Sierra Dawn Thomas, a 27-year-old barrel racer from Roy, UT; Mike, a 38-year-old oil driller from North Richland Hills, TX; Dan Foley, a 47-year-old postal worker from Gorham, ME; and Rodney Lavoie Jr., a 24-year-old general contractor from Boston, MA.

Also still vying for the title of "Sole Survivor" were Tyler Fredrickson, a 33-year-old ex-talent agent assistant from Los Angeles, CA; Will Sims II, a 41-year-old YouTube sensation from Sherman Oaks, CA; and Carolyn Rivera, a 52-year-old corporate executive from Tampa, FL.


On Day 28, Dan told the cameras Mike had lost everybody's trust when he blew up about Rodney allegedly flipping on the former Blue Collars and working with Tyler, Carolyn and Will. Although it was true, Rodney had played it off like Mike was losing his mind and everyone believed Rodney.

Dan said he had schemes brewing even though he was playing a passive game, especially since he still had the advantage to cast two votes at an upcoming Tribal Council.

Dan also explained in a confessional he felt bad for Shirin because Will had gone at her and she had been a victim of domestic violence in her childhood, but then Dan ranted that she was "a drama queen and a two-faced liar who likes to play the victim." Dan boiled it down to "karma," saying Shirin actually behaved similarly towards other people.

All the castaways then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

The instructions were that via a schoolyard pick, the castaways would be divided into two teams of four. Using four barrels, two planks and a piece of rope, each team had to transport all four tribe members across three sections from one end of the field to the other. If someone fell off something or a plank touched the ground, he or she would have to go back to the start of the section and do it again.


The first four players to get to the other side would win Reward in the form of sailing on the Nicaragua coast in a catamaran on which they'd enjoy burgers with cheese and bacon in addition to pie for dessert.

The schoolyard pick came down to Mike, Shirin, Sierra and Rodney against Dan, Carolyn, Tyler and Will.

In the end, Dan's group won Reward. Carolyn said Dan had options in the game and was "a loose cannon," so she wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible in order to not even consider working with Mike again. She didn't even want that "inkling to cross his mind." Mike unfortunately knew he was "Public Enemy No. 1" and there was nothing he could do.

Back at camp, Sierra talked to Rodney about how Tyler would win this game if he made it to the end because everyone on the jury would vote for him. Rodney said they'll get him out sixth because he didn't trust Shirin more. Sierra noted that Tyler wins Immunity Challenges but also schemes and plans.

Sierra desperately wanted Rodney to use Shirin to get rid of Tyler first -- before the six. Sierra thought they needed to strike right away because Tyler was a big threat. Sierra also reminded Rodney that taking Shirin to the end of the game as a goat would be a great move because nobody liked her and she wouldn't get any votes.


Rodney wasn't really concerned with Tyler, however, because he was convinced he was actually the biggest threat in this game. Rodney was sitting pretty because no one really noticed that, but he was running the show "with the numbers, relationships and personalities" on his side.

Rodney's next move was to absolutely take out Mike and Shirin next with Mike hopefully going first. He wanted to stay cool, calm and collected for a while and not create chaos.

On the Reward, Dan made it clear he was done with Mike and the next immunity Mike lost, he was gone. Dan discussed how Mike was so convinced that Rodney had turned on them and wanted him out at 9. While that statement was true, Tyler explained to Dan that Mike is a threat and they knew that, but they were never going to get him out three or four votes sooner than they had agreed.

Tyler's goal, just like Carolyn's, was to keep Dan focused on the "flippers who don't belong." Tyler said all Dan was looking at was the Top 6 and he loved that about him. Tyler noted that Dan wasn't thinking more ahead.

On Day 29, everyone gathered again for the next Individual Immunity Challenge.


For the challenge, each player was required to hold onto a rope handle attached to 25% of his or her body weight. As the challenge continued, their weight would become too much to bear, the rope would unspool and the weight would drop -- ultimately tipping a bucket of water onto their heads. When the water fell, that person would be out of the challenge.

In a surprise twist, Jeff revealed that the last man AND woman standing would BOTH win individual immunity. That meant two people would be safe from the vote at that night's Tribal Council.

After 15 minutes elapsed, Sierra was out of the challenge followed by Tyler, Will, Dan, and Shirin. Carolyn therefore won for the girls and dropped out. It then came down to Rodney vs Mike. Rodney did his best, but Mike ended up winning immunity for the second time in a row.

Shirin told the cameras afterwards it wasn't meant to be and she had some major scrambling to do back at camp.

It soon became clear that the easy, obvious vote for the majority alliance -- which was everyone except Mike and Shirin -- was Shirin. Carolyn said there was no need to split their votes because then they'd have to turn on one of their own.


But Shirin wasn't going down without a fight and she got right to work. She insisted to Dan that he'd be "incredibly stupid" to vote her out of the game because she wasn't a threat in challenges nor did she have a shot at winning the game. She asked Dan to compare herself with someone like Tyler.

Dan told the cameras that in a dream scenario, he'd sit next to Shirin in the end, but it didn't seem like he was going to budge.

As a result, Shirin tried to talk Sierra into working with her. Shirin reiterated how Sierra was on the bottom of her alliance of six. Sierra asked Shirin whom to vote for if she was to flip, and Shirin said Tyler since he was the next biggest threat in the game after Mike. Shirin promised Sierra she'd vote with her until the very end if she followed through with this plan.

Sierra said in a confessional that Shirin should be taken to the end because she wouldn't get votes and Tyler was a threat. However, Sierra noted she needed two more people backing her that were comfortable with the idea of getting rid of Tyler.

Tyler, remembering Dan had received some type of advantage in the game during the Survivor auction, went through Dan's bag looking for the note. He quickly discovered Dan's extra vote and grew nervous about the possibility of Dan and Sierra jumping ship. Tyler explained that if Dan and Sierra knew how dangerous his alliance of four was, they could rejoin Mike and use Shirin and Dan's extra vote to target him.

Meanwhile, even thought Mike had won immunity, he still had to strategize in order to better his position in the game for the future. Mike told Dan that if he made it to the end with Tyler, Tyler would absolutely win. But Mike planted the seed in Dan's mind that if he got Tyler out now, he'd earn some brownie points for making a big move. Dan told Mike he would have plenty of moves to show for himself later on.


Mike wished there was a way he could convince Dan how loyal he was to him, but there wasn't. Mike was disappointed in Dan's character because he thought he was better than that. Mike had previously put all his faith and trust in Dan, who had taken it for granted.

Before everyone left for Tribal Council, Mike reminded viewers he had a hidden Immunity Idol. Mike said he could play it for Shirin and shake up the whole game.

At Tribal on Day 29, Hali Ford, Joe Anglim and Jenn Brown walked in as the first three members of the jury.

Dan revealed to Jeff he's an adopted child and so his upbringing wasn't much different from Shirin growing up with domestic abuse. Jeff disagreed, saying there was a big difference there, and then Shirin called Will out again for having verbally assaulted her. Shirin was just upset that no one stood up for her or even said Will was wrong.

Jeff asked Will if he'd like to apologize, and Will declined, saying he had no intention to apologize because it wouldn't be sincere. Will didn't even care if he'd lose Shirin's vote in the end.

The topic then switched and Shirin told Jeff he was about to see the dumbest thing happen in Survivor -- her going home over someone like Tyler, who would easily take the million dollars home with him. Shirin said everyone wanted to play the numbers and not take a risk.


Tyler acknowledged he stood strong with his alliance and would stick with them. Sierra also told Shirin that she was only one vote. Shirin suggested that if Sierra couldn't get anyone in her alliance to change their minds and vote with her, she probably wasn't in the position within her alliance that she thought she was. Sierra looked a little deflated at the thought.

Carolyn announced making huge moves too early was a bad decision. Mike then insisted he had been "Blue strong" the whole way and begged his fellow Blues to "write down a name that starts with a T" in order to guarantee themselves a spot further in this game. Tyler sarcastically pointed out that everyone was listening to Mike because his loyalty had been "so spot on."

Tyler said his alliance just needed to sit back, relax, shut up and tune out the nonsense. He wanted his group to be patient. But Jeff pointed out that if someone knew he or she was at the bottom of the six, this would be the time to make a move, because going out sixth in the game just made no sense.

Rodney explained that if Mike had stuck with his alliance, the game would've opened up differently. Dan said Mike was realizing the consequences of his actions and that he was just so desperate, like Shirin, that he was willing to say anything to save himself.

Before votes were even cast, Mike pulled out his hidden Immunity Idol and said he was going to play it for Shirin. Everyone looked shocked, and Mike announced, "We're going to see where this six is divided." Shirin just giggled with excitement.

Mike revealed Shirin was going to be voting for Tyler and he was going to write someone else's name down in the alliance of Sierra, Will, Rodney and Dan -- someone who didn't have immunity. Mike said three people in the majority alliance could vote for Tyler and it would guarantee their spot because that's all it would take. Jeff called the situation "Survivor Russian Roulette."


Jeff said that if the majority alliance didn't vote for Tyler, any one of them could be going home. When it became time to vote, Shirin skipped to the voting stand with glee, sparking a laugh from the jury.

When Jeff asked if anyone wanted to play a hidden Immunity Idol, Mike stood up, told Shirin that he loved her and then faked everybody out. Mike simply put his idol back in his pocket.

Jeff then read the votes. Two people voted for Tyler, two castaways voted for Dan, and four people voted for Shirin.

Despite Mike's antics and threats, Shirin was still ousted from the game. However, Mike had a big smile on his face and yelled out, "Dan's still got two votes."

The episode's closing credits later showed that Mike and Shirin voted for Tyler, Tyler and Will voted for Dan, and then everyone else -- Sierra, Carolyn, Rodney and Dan -- kept their original plan and voted for Shirin in the hope Mike was bluffing.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski