Iowans up the strategy ante on ‘Survivor’ — but did they keep their momentum?

Both local 'Survivor” competitors got lots of screen time Wednesday night in an episode dubbed 'Out for Blood.”

Strategy came to the forefront on the CBS reality show's test of strategy, stamina and skill.

After Denise Stapley's Sele tribe lost another Immunity Challenge, the members had to strategize who would be next to leave their Fiji jungle island and land on the Edge of Extinction, where the banished can try to play their way back into the game.

'It's a critical vote,” said Stapley, a mental health therapist from Marion. 'It could blow up a lot of peoples' games.”

Meanwhile, Sarah Lacina of Cedar Rapids got to put her stealth detective skills to use. She found a hidden challenge that meant sneaking into the Sele camp under cover of darkness to find a 'steal a vote” note. It was hidden in one of the torches each person carries into Tribal Council for the tense voting sessions.

'Mission accomplished,” she said after finding her target, despite snapping twigs and making too much noise clanging the tall torches while Stapley's tribe members slept nearby.

Lacina also again proved her mettle in her Dakal tribe, by helping to finish the puzzle to secure another Immunity Challenge victory that not only kept them all on the island to play another day, but also won them a chicken kebabs meal and grill. Food wins are paramount in a game where both tribes scramble to gather fruit and fish to complement their meager rice meals.

Stapley's Sele tribe served up its own surprising twist to end the episode. Ethan Zohn, whose name hadn't been bandied about, was the person voted off the island. A cancer survivor, the social entrepreneur and keynote speaker from New Hampshire said he wasn't worried about surviving the Edge of Extinction - he'd already teetered on a much bigger edge of extinction and won.

Think you have what it takes to play the game? Applications are being accepted at Cbssurvivorcasting.com.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com