Heat is on in ‘Survivor: Winners at War’

Strength and tenacity kept the Yara and Dakal tribes intact and their members in play on Wednesday's episode 7 of 'Survivors: Winners at War” - including Sarah Lacina of Cedar Rapids and Denise Stapley of Marion.

They helped power their tribes through a tough obstacle course that involved carrying a heavy saucer full of water over an obstacle course to a well. Once each team dumped enough water to fill their well, a set of puzzle pieces fell. The first two tribes to solve their puzzle were sent back to camp to relax.

The Sele tribe, which lost to Stapley's Dakal tribe by mere moments, was sent back to strategize who they would vote off the main island and onto the Edge of Extinction. Those already banished faced their own challenge, racing to the top of their Fiji Island mountain to find fire tokens that can be used to earn their way back into the main race for the $2 million prize.

In another bounce from last week, when Stapley's 'flashy” moves using two Immunity Idols to keep her and Jeremy Collins in play and casting the lone vote needed to kick Sandra Diaz-Twine to Extinction, Diaz-Twine opted out of the game. Saying she was ready to retire, she added that she's still the queen and will always be the queen.

Back at the Sele camp, after a day of plotting their moves, the tribe members sent Yul Kwon to the exile island. There, he joined the other 'old school” players who won the show's early seasons. 'This game has evolved three notches above where it was before,” Kwon said, noting that the fire tokens 'added a new layer of options.”

Next week, the tribes fall by the wayside as those left on the main island will merge into one group, living in one camp until the end of the competition.

'Survivor” continues at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS-TV and CBS All Access.

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