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May 15, 2006 8:57 am US/Eastern
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Aras Aces 'Survivor: Panama'
24-Year-Old Yoga Instructor Outwits, Outplays And Outlasts
NEW YORK (CBS News) ―
There were four players as Sunday's season finale of "Survivor: Panama-Exile Island" began. But by the time the show ended, Aras Baskauskas, a 24-year-old yoga instructor from California, had emerged as Sole Survivor – winner of the game's million dollar prize.
In the end, Aras' insistence that he had played the game "honestly and with integrity" won over the members of the tribal jury. In the broadcast live from New York, "Survivor" host Jeff Probst read the final votes guaranteeing victory for Aras and his family rushed towards him, cheering wildly.
Interviewed by CBSNews.com after his big moment, Aras called the feeling of victory "awesome" and said he plans to use his prize money to start his own yoga studio and "just stay grounded."
"Survivor" host Jeff Probst had a little advice for Aras on his new millionaire status. "Pay your taxes!" said Probst, an obvious reference to the winner of the first "Survivor," Richard Hatch. Hatch is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in Providence, Rhode Island, for failure to pay taxes on his "Survivor" winnings and other income.
Aras has advice, too – for future "Survivor" contestants.
"The more real you can be out there," he says, "the more successful you'll be at it."
Tune into the CBS Early Show Monday morning to hear more from Aras as he stops by to pick up his winnings.
Probst says Aras' approach to the game was simple. "Aras' strategy was not to be voted out, not to be glib. But that's really the strategy - that's how you play this game," he said. "'How do I get it off me and on to you? Off me and on to her. Just keep it off me.' Aras kept it off him for 16 weeks."
Aras had entered the final episode – Episode 14 - in a struggle against Terry, a 46-year-old airline pilot and retired Navy fighter pilot from Connecticut, Cirie, a 35-year-old nurse from South Carolina, and Danielle, a 24-year-old sales rep from Boston.
In Episode 13, there had been a tie in the vote on which of them should get kicked out of the money — a deadlock that was resolved in a fire-making challenge. Danielle won, sending Cirie - by far the most popular of Panama's Survivors - home, and leaving only three.
As Danielle contemplated the final crunch, a force field developed between the men.
"I'm definitely caught in the middle of these two guys who have a testosterone match every day," said Danielle, talking about the intense competition between Terry and Aras.
Terry, who had dominated the individual challenges, continued that streak by winning a reward challenge that gave him a full meal and cot the night before the final challenge.
But in the final immunity challenge. Danielle won the extreme balancing act, leaving her with a tough decision to make: Who to take to the final tribal council? Aras, who she'd given a secretive nod to during the balancing challenge, or Terry, with whom she had made a pact with earlier in the season?
"I'm not going to take someone because I made a promise to them," Danielle said. "I'm going to take someone I have a better chance of beating."
Danielle chose Aras as her final competitor "because Aras and I voted off the same amount of people and I felt like people on the jury had the same amount of animosity towards us… It was a tossup... [Aras and Terry] were the two most competitive people in the game."
Her choice was a loser, but she isn't bitter.
"I'm still so proud of myself that I made it as far as I did," says Danielle. "The decision I made at the time, is what I thought was the right decision. I move - and look - forward."
Terry is also philosophical about the outcome of the adventure in Panama.
"On the social side of the game, I made a bunch of mistakes," he said, talking strategy. "I hope to bring some of that stuff I learned back home, as far as interpersonal relationships with my family."
So not a total loss after all.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)