Casaya

Though originally comprised by middle-aged women, Casaya is often associated to its post-switch iteration which consisted of conflicting strong personalities. Despite the tribe's general dysfunction and lack of unity, Casaya later found successes in the game, winning most of the latter tribal challenges and overwhelming the rival La Mina tribe after the merge.

Members

Original Day 4 Cirie Fields 35, Walterboro, SC Nurse Melinda Hyder 32, Sevierville, TN Singer/entertainer Ruth Marie Milliman 48, Greenville, SC Property developer Tina Scheer 44, Hayward, WI Lumberjill  Aras Baskauskas       Bobby Mason       Bruce Kanegai     *  Cirie Fields       Courtney Marit       Danielle DiLorenzo       Melinda Hyder       Shane Powers

Tribe History

The Older Women

In spite having a tribe full of the older women, Casaya's representative in the Reward Challenge, Ruth Marie Milliman, landed her team in third place. In return, they received flint and with the stipulation that they would not have to have anyone stay on the dreaded Exile Island. Upon their arrival at camp, Casaya quickly prospered under the leadership of Tina Scheer, an expert outdoorswoman; creating a decent shelter and bonfire. Realizing Cirie Fields's lack of outdoor experience, Tina immediately perceived her as a weak link.

Losing the Day 3 Immunity Challenge, Tina lobbied to Melinda Hyder and Ruth Marie to vote Cirie out, but Cirie later made a rebuttal that Tina was a bigger threat in the long run. While Cirie was convincing Melinda and Ruth Marie to oust Tina instead, Tina, who was secretly grieving following the death of her son Charlie, saw a large fish washed up on shore and presented it to her tribe, which seemingly cemented her place in the tribe. However, at Tribal Council, Tina questioned her tribemates' work ethic, prompting Melinda and Ruth Marie to side with Cirie, voting out their strongest member Tina out, 3-1.

The New Casaya

On Day 4, the four tribes divided by age and gender were mixed up into two new ones. Viveros and Bayoneta were disbanded, spreading the fifteen remaining castaways into the new Casaya and La Mina tribes. In a schoolyard-style selection, the new Casaya was composed of two former Viveros (Aras Baskauskas and Bobby Mason), two former Bayoneta (Courtney Marit and Danielle DiLorenzo), a lone former La Mina (Shane Powers), and two of the three remaining "Older Women" (Cirie and Melinda). The 15th player, Bruce Kanegai, was sent to Exile Island and would be staying there up until the next Tribal Council to join the losing tribe to replace its lost member. In their first Reward Challenge, the new Casaya had put up a good fight, but lost to the new La Mina.

Back at Casaya beach, the remaining "Older Women", Melinda and Cirie, immediately became on the outs as the new members formed an alliance. Following the loss at the Day 6 Immunity Challenge, the apparent leader of the majority alliance, Shane, deliberately declared either Cirie or Melinda would be voted out, and whoever remained would go next. However, Shane was also having a hard time getting accustomed to the harsh island life and getting over his nicotine withdrawal. Shane contemplated quitting, but Aras convinced him to stay. The alliance held strong, and Melinda was voted out 5-2. Bruce, who was observing the Tribal Council, joined Casaya and went back to camp with them.

The next day, Casaya lost yet again at the Reward Challenge, with La Mina sending Bruce back to Exile Island, believing that his absence would demoralize the tribe further. Back at camp, the majority alliance's strong personalities finally clashed, with Shane having petty fights with Danielle and Courtney. Cirie, who had predicted the majority's dissent, used this as an opportunity to infiltrate them down the line. At the Immunity Challenge on Day 8, Casaya managed to set their differences aside and eventually won their first Immunity Challenge, sending La Mina to their first Tribal Council. This win, however, did not help unify the tribe as Casaya's dysfunction worsened thereafter; with Shane throwing random temper tantrums, and Bruce getting preoccupied with building a rock garden than doing chores. Despite the tribe's increasingly feckless state, the tribe somehow chalked up a four-challenge winning streak, decimating the La Mina tribe to five. Their anomalous winning streak ended at the Day 14 Immunity Challenge, sending them back to Tribal Council. While fed up with Shane's antics, Danielle, Courtney, and Cirie were just as turned off by Bobby and Bruce's squandering of their reward items for themselves, prompting them to blindside Bobby in a 3-2-1-1 vote.

Casaya then won a crucial Reward/Immunity Challenge on Day 15, winning them a trip to a local village, food, temporary contact with society, and most importantly, a 6-4 numbers advantage come the merge. Shane used this as an opportunity to make amends with Danielle, seemingly giving closure to Casaya's dysfunction. Casaya chose Sally Schumann, the only woman left on La Mina, to be sent to Exile Island, forcing the men to turn on each other, thus losing one potential threat for individual immunity.

By Day 16, the remaining 6 Casaya members welcomed the remnants of the rival tribe at their camp for the merge.

• Challenge History
• Voting History

Episode	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out	Result	Exiled	Eliminated (Vote)	Finish
1	Skull Crush	Reward	Cirie, Melinda, Tina	3rd	None	Tina (3-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3
	4x4	Immunity	None	Lost
Tribes Switched, Day 4
2	A Reptile Dysfunction	Reward	None	Lost	Bruce1	Melinda (5-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 6
	Anchor Management	Immunity	None	Lost
3	Cross Fire	Reward	None	Lost	Bruce	Tribe Immune
	Battle Dig	Immunity	None	Won
4	Puzzle Paranoia	Reward	Cirie	Won	None	Tribe Immune
	Sea Level, Tree Level	Immunity	Bobby	Won
5	For Cod's Sake	Reward	Courtney, Danielle	Won	None	Bobby (3-2-1-1)	5th Voted Out Day 14
	Buried at Sea	Immunity	Bruce, Cirie	Lost
6	In-Cog-Neato	Reward/Immunity	Courtney	Won	None	Tribe Immune
Tribes Merged, Day 16
Notes: ^1 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Bruce, the person not drafted onto a tribe, was sent to Exile Island and rejoined the game as a member of Casaya, replacing Melinda and evening the tribes at 7-7.

		Original Tribes	Switched Tribes
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	8
Voted Out		Tina	Melinda	Tribe Immune	Tribe Immune	Bobby	Tribe Immune	Tribes Merged
Vote		3-1	5-2	—	—	3-2-1-1	—
►►	Aras	On Viveros	Melinda	—	—	Bruce	—
►►	Danielle	On Bayoneta	Melinda	—	—	Bobby	—
►►	Cirie	Tina	Shane	—	—	Bobby	—
►►	Shane	On La Mina	Melinda	—	—	Aras	—
►►	Courtney	On Bayoneta	Melinda	—	—	Bobby	—
►►	Bruce	On La Mina	Exiled1	—	—	Courtney	—
►	Bobby	On Viveros	Melinda	—	—	Bruce
►	Ruth Marie	Tina	On La Mina
►	Melinda	Tina	Shane
	Tina	Cirie
Notes: ^1 Due to the odd number of players at the time of the tribe switch, Bruce, the odd person out, was sent to Exile Island and rejoined the game as a member of Casaya, replacing Melinda and evening the tribes at 7-7.

Gallery

Casaya's intro shot.

The older women on Day 1.

Casaya arriving at their beach.

Casaya competes in the first Immunity Challenge.

Casaya at their first Tribal Council.

Tina voted out.

The new Casaya immediately after the switch.

Casaya at their second Tribal Council.

Melinda voted out.

Casaya in the third Reward Challenge.

Casaya wins its first challenge after the swap.

Casaya competes for reward.

Casaya flooded due to rain.

Casaya at their third Tribal Council.

Bobby voted out.

Casaya on the way to the Panamanian village.

Casaya arrives the Panamanian village.

Casaya at the village.

Trivia

• Bobby sardonically called the original Casaya the "Golden Girls".
• In a rather interesting coincidence, each of the four starting tribes produced a representative in the final four. Cirie became the representative of Casaya.
• The second season of the Israeli version's merged tribe was also named Casaya.
• None of the original four Casaya members were ever sent to Exile Island.
• Out of the original Casaya tribe, Cirie is the only one to make the merge.
• After the Schoolyard Pick, Casaya had two representatives from each original tribe. Aras and Bobby from Viveros, Courtney and Danielle from Bayoneta, Cirie and Melinda from original Casaya, and Shane from original La Mina. Shane was the only representative of original La Mina, but he was joined by Bruce after Melinda's elimination.
• Despite Melinda being on an "older" tribe and Bobby on a "younger" tribe, both were 32 years old at the time of filming.
  • However, Melinda was three months older than Bobby.
• Casaya is one of only two original tribes to enter the merge with more members (6) than it started the game with (4), the other being Tandang in Philippines.
• Casaya became the fastest tribe to lose half of its original members, after Melinda became the second of the four of them to be eliminated on Day 6.
  • Casaya is also the fastest tribe to be dwindled to its final member, achieving this distinction with thirteen players remaining.

References