Ten years ago, Terry Deitz was stranded alone on a deserted island in the middle of Panama, searching for salvation. He found it at the base of a Y-shaped tree, definitely deep within the ground, in the form of a shrunken head with the power to keep him alive for 28 more days. “This is my ace in the hole,” he said, grinning, as he dangled the awesome artifact in front of him. “That’s the end right there.” It was not the end. Really, it was only the beginning, as Terry pocketed one of the most powerful hidden immunity idols in Survivor history. He removed it from his pocket a handful of times over the coming weeks, but he never needed to call upon its powers until Day 37. Up until that moment, Terry was too busy winning other forms of immunity, crushing all competitors who stood in his path, carving out a place for himself as one of the most decisively dominant challenge performers Survivor had ever seen before or since. Now, nearly ten years later, Terry is flat on his back. Sweat covers his body as he rests face up beneath the shade, eyes closed, mouth shut, breathing slow. His Ta Keo tribe mates are scattered around — some of them off gathering wood, others working on fire, still others dealing with smaller forms of labor. Not Terry. Minutes ago, he was sitting still in the shelter, making idle chat with Woo Hwang. Now, he’s on the ground, just around the bend from his camp, looking as weak as he’s ever looked on Survivor, and it’s exactly where he stays for the remainder of my hourlong visit. That’s the second day of Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance. Two days earlier, at Ponderosa, the 55-year-old fighter pilot from Fat Freaking City, Connecticut is a much more vibrant sight. Those Terry Deitz dimples are on full display as he smiles wide, sitting in a chair, his posture impeccable, his hands moving deliberately to emphasize all the points he wants to hit over the course of our conversation. The main point is this: “I’m totally stoked.” In the weeks leading up to this moment, Terry was working as hard as anyone to secure enough fan votes to win a spot on Second Chance, the 31st season of Survivor, taping 20 seasons after his first stint in Panama. Terry tells me that the pre-gaming process has been grueling, but also exhilarating, and he suspects that’s the case for just about everybody. “The whole campaign got us really fired up about it,” he says. “We knew who we were going up against. It got me energized. It got us being able to openly talk about the game. I got even more suggestions on how I can play an even better game. Obviously the challenges went well, but now I’m 55, and I need other parts of the game.” “So, yeah, I’m totally stoked about this. I’m ready to go,” he says, and without skipping a beat, he slips in one more comment: “Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.” Indeed it is. For Terry and the 19 other competitors, “tomorrow” is Day 1 of Second Chance. Many of them suspect it, though no one truly knows it, and I am not allowed to confirm their suspicions. My lips are sealed when Terry says “tomorrow” now, and they remain sealed when he says it again. When the moment passes, and I’m nodding along with some of Terry’s other comments, I’m thinking about what he just tried to pull off. I appreciate that he’s attempting to play mind games with me, trying to draw out some information. I’m not experiencing this kind of game with everyone, at least not so actively. It shows me that Terry has placed some new weapons in his arsenal since the last time he played — rentals, at least, if not outright purchases. Terry Deitz knows he’s going to need more than challenge prowess and a shrunken head in his pocket if he wants to survive the coming weeks in Cambodia, given who he’s up against, and given who he is now, ten years after finding his ace in the hole, and two days away from being sprawled out on Ta Keo beach. ON THE NEXT PAGE: The Old Terry Deitz

Thirty-four days into his run on Survivor: Panama – Exile Island, things were looking bleak for Terry Deitz. The Survivor medical team was forced to evacuate contestant Bruce Kanegai from the game just a few days earlier, and now, in the middle of a reward challenge, one of Terry’s tribe mates was concerned that history was about to repeat itself. “Somebody call the whambulance,” shouted Aras Baskauskas, “Terry’s crying on the course!” Okay, so no actual contestants were harmed in the running of Station By Station, and no tears were shed — but feathers were indeed rustled, as the heated rivalry between Terry and Aras finally boiled over. The silver-fox pilot and the young college athlete, 46 and 24 respectively at the time, crashed together on the ropes course, scraping their heads against one another, neither man willing to surrender an inch. These two battering rams were at each other’s throats both at camp and especially at challenges ever since the merge, when Terry’s La Mina tribe ran into the buzz saw of Aras and the Casaya Six, one of the most well-functioning dysfunctional alliances in Survivor history. Terry survived Tribal after Tribal only by the grace of the immunity necklaces he kept earning at challenges. “The Casaya Six, they were a stone wall,” Terry tells me. “It was old school Survivor. There was no breaking them up, and no blindsiding them. I couldn’t break through, even with the hidden immunity idol.” Now, coming into Second Chance, old school Survivor is out the window. Terry is firmly in new school territory, with 12 of the Second Chancers having played Survivor within the last three years. The times have changed, and Terry wants to figure out how to change with them. “I think you’ll agree with me that people are people, for the most part,” he says. “A leopard can’t change his spots… but the gameplay will be different.” When considering the three central pillars of Survivor, Terry’s face is one of the first that comes to mind in terms of outplay. He knows that might no longer be the case, considering the current level of competition. “All the guys here are fit, every one of them,” he says. “They’re all taller than me. I’m the old man. I don’t have the washboard stomach anymore. That’s fine.” I’m looking right at a shirtless Terry Deitz throughout the conversation, and while the abs are not what they were, they are indeed fine. But I digress. The point is, Terry is less concerned about muscles and more focused on other aspects of his gut — sharpening his instincts, and getting a preemptive strike on others by setting up alliances early on. “The new part for Terry Deitz,” he says, “will be the outwit and outlast.” When it comes to setting up alliances, Terry never mentions his supposed pre-game pact with Jeff Varner, but he does call out one person from the alleged group: Vytas Baskauskas, brother of Aras. “I met him nine years ago and haven’t had any interaction with him since,” says Terry. “He’s an old school soul, but he’s played the new game. I want to bring in someone like that — someone who’s familiar with these new ways, but getting it together with old school loyalty.” Terry talks about other players who fit that mold, like Spencer Bledsoe from Survivor: Cagayan, and some of the other younger players who “probably understand the new game better than me.” As for himself? “I’m like their dad,” he says with a smile. He wants to downshift the physical part of his game, and accelerate the father figure role. He wants to hang up the Joe Torre hat and let some of these new school players handle the leadership instead. “I don’t want to show up on day one as the leader,” he says. He wants to emulate someone like Keith Nale, working “in the background. ‘Hey, old guy!’ Count me in. Stick to the plan. Maybe a little bit more like that.” Maybe, but maybe not. Terry has an obstacle to overcome in terms of his reputation as an alpha type with one of the single most impressive challenge resumés in all of Survivor, and certainly the most impressive on Second Chance. His physical game is still so revered that when he ran into reigning Survivor champion Mike Holloway in the bathroom at the Worlds Apart finale, Mike spent their brief conversation showering Terry with praise. (Phrasing, I know.) “I congratulated him on getting to five,” says Terry, talking about Mike reaching the rarified air of winning five immunity challenges on a given season. “And he goes, ‘Oh, let me correct it. You got five in a row. I only got five.'” It’s the kind of thing that puts you on the radar, and fighter pilot Terry knows a thing or two about the radar — and already, one of his countermeasures for avoiding detection has malfunctioned. ON THE FINAL PAGE: Terry Takes A Hit