Shane Powers

Shane Powers is a contestant from Survivor: Panama.

A heavy smoker who entered the game while going through nicotine withdrawal, Shane's self-professed need for cigarettes saw him going on several volatile outbursts and rants towards his tribemates, particularly Courtney Marit and Danielle DiLorenzo. Nevertheless, Shane founded the Casaya Alliance, whose majority on the Gitanos tribe allowed him to make it to the final five. However, when he grew closer to outsider Terry Deitz after the family visit, his allies became wary of their relationship and blindsided in fifth place.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Shane Powers was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. After finishing high school, Powers moved to Los Angeles.

In 1999, Powers and two business partners established a boutique specialty marketing company with the goal of effectively branding products. On the side, Powers makes time to coach his son's football team. Previous employment included work as a club promoter and restaurant manager.

Powers describes himself as witty, outgoing and funny. His most important accomplishment, still in progress, is raising his son. His hobbies include basketball, softball, writing and frequenting bookstores.

Powers believes he can be the Sole Survivor because of his unmatched communication skills. He believes he is also a physical threat and has the ability to manipulate people and not have them be resentful. If he wins, he wants to buy some real equipment and a great field for his son's football team.

Powers currently resides in Los Angeles under the watchful eye of his son, Boston. His birth date is November 28, 1970.^[1]

Survivor[]

Being one of the four oldest male contestants of the season, Shane started the game on the orange La Mina tribe. Being the youngest member of the tribe, Shane felt like an outsider, feeling like an outcast. With this, he did not do many camp chores and isolated himself further from the tribe. Additionally, his suffering grew worse, as he claimed that his body was collapsing due to his nicotine withdrawal, wherein he confessed that he smoked several packets a day. But during the first Immunity Challenge, Shane went on to win safety, as La Mina finished second.

On Day 4, the four tribes merged into two and Shane became a member of the new Casaya tribe. His lack of cigarettes took a further toll on him, resulting in several outbursts and rants. His depression made him initially want to quit the competition, But despite Shane's volatile demeanor, fellow new Casaya member Aras Baskauskas managed to convince Shane to overcome his condition and made a four-person alliance with Courtney Marit and Danielle DiLorenzo. When the new Casaya lost the Day 6 Immunity Challenge, Shane informed Cirie Fields and Melinda Hyder that one of them would be going home that night, and whoever stayed would be the next the vote after. Meanwhile, Cirie and Melinda exploited Shane's mood swings as an opening to possibly break the yet-untested alliance. That night, Cirie's lobbying failed, and her ally Melinda was sent packing. Shane's old La Mina tribemate Bruce Kanegai later joined the tribe, due to the stipulations of his banishment to Exile Island during the Tribe Switch. Shane's unpredictable behavior started to wear his alliance out, as he started petty fights with everyone. Despite this, Casaya's dysfunction did not prevent them from winning the next two Immunity Challenges, decimating the rival La Mina tribe to five members.

When Casaya lost the fifth Immunity Challenge, Casaya's incohesiveness reflected during the vote, as their Tribal Council concluded with a puzzling 3-2-1-1 vote, resulting in Bobby Mason's elimination. However, Casaya made a comeback by winning the Day 15 combined Reward/Immunity Challenge, further reducing La Mina to their last four members. During the reward, Shane made amends with his alliance for his misdeeds. Also, he joked to a Panamanian local that he would take all of his clothes in exchange for a cigarette. Shane went back to camp with high spirits after smoking after a long abstinence.

On Day 16, Casaya and La Mina merged into the Gitanos tribe, with Casaya having the numbers, six to four. While Terry Deitz dominated in the individual Immunity Challenges (while secretly having the much-coveted Hidden Immunity Idol in his back pocket), Shane led the Casaya Alliance and voted out Terry's allies Nick Stanbury, Austin Carty, and Sally Schumann. On Day 25, Bruce was medically evacuated due to severe stomach pains. The continual struggle to survive had driven Shane over the edge, getting upset over not winning individual challenges, confronting Cirie about playing an under-the-radar strategy, and even adopting a piece of wood that he called his "Blackberry", much to Danielle's annoyance. After Bruce's departure, Terry continued his winning streak, bagging immunity for a fourth consecutive time, thus forcing the once-strong Casaya Alliance to turn on each other. Before Tribal Council, Cirie noticed that Shane was apparently protecting Courtney, intent on keeping her until the end because of her unpopularity, stating that anybody could win should they bring Courtney. With this, Cirie concocted a plan to get rid of Courtney next by making a power play with Aras and Danielle. The plan worked, and Courtney was sent packing, throwing Shane off-guard.

When Terry won the Loved Ones Challenge and a visit from his wife, he granted Shane an overnight stay with his son, Boston. During this time, Shane got to appreciate his life and surroundings a whole lot more. Terry used this as an opportunity to persuade his fellow remaining original La Mina tribemate to once again attempt to oust Danielle. Cirie took notice of this and further fortified her alliance with Aras and Danielle. At the next Tribal Council, not only did Shane and Terry cast separate votes, but the other three gave their votes to Shane, blindsiding him.

At the Final Tribal Council, Shane berated both finalists and made it clear that Terry was the most deserving to win the game. Shane then asked the Final Two to pick a number between one and one million. Aras said four, while Danielle said ten. As Danielle's guess was closer to his answer (999,999), Shane gave his jury vote to her. However, Danielle would lose to Aras in a 5-2 vote.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	La Mina	Skull Crush	Reward	Yes	1st
1	La Mina	4x4	Immunity	No	2nd
Switched Tribes, Day 4
2	Casaya	A Reptile Dysfunction	Reward	No	Lost
2		Anchor Management	Immunity	No	Lost
3		Cross Fire	Reward	No	Lost
3		Battle Dig	Immunity	No	Won
4		Puzzle Paranoia	Reward	No	Won
4		Sea Level, Tree Level	Immunity	No	Won
5		For Cod's Sake	Reward	No	Won
5		Buried at Sea	Immunity	No	Lost
6		In-Cog-Neato	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
Tribes Merged, Day 16
8	Gitanos	Vampire Bats	Immunity		Lost
9		Rock the Boat	Reward		Lost
9		Ups and Downs	Immunity		Lost
10		Get Hooked	Reward		Lost
Marine Memory		Immunity	Yes¹	Lost
11		Voo Doo	Reward		Lost
12		The Key of Sea	Reward		Lost
12		Hold Your Own	Immunity		Lost
13		Second Chance	Reward		Invited
13		Vertigo	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 33
Notes: ^1 Shane elected to sit out of the challenge to eat hamburgers.

Episode	Shane's Votes	Voted Against Shane
1	La Mina Tribe Immune
2	Melinda	Cirie, Melinda
3	Casaya Tribe Immune
4	Casaya Tribe Immune
5	Aras	-
6	Casaya Tribe Immune
8	Nick	Austin, Nick, Sally, Terry
9	Austin	-
10	Sally	-
11	No Tribal Council
12	Danielle	-
13	Danielle	Aras, Cirie, Danielle
Voted Out, Day 33
Voted for Sole Survivor	Danielle

Post-Survivor[]

Shane was briefly engaged to rapper Eve and had once dated Jenn Hoffman from The Apprentice 6.
Shane is now the host of The Shane Show, a daily cultural and topical improv two-hour radio talk show on DashRadio (live M-Th 5-7am ET). It also appears as a daily television show on the now defunct GoIfMedia app.
Shane narrated the popular Tyler, The Creator's 2015 album Cherry Bomb and is a credited feature on track 2 "BUFFALO". He also worked with Tyler on "I Ain't Got Time" & "Sometimes" from Tyler's 2017 album Flower Boy.
Shortly after not being cast for Cambodia, Rob Cesternino invited him over for an interview titled "The Survivor Funeral of Shane Powers" where Shane reiterated that he was done with Survivor.^[2]
On April 12, 2020, Shane revealed on his Instagram account that he tested positive for COVID-19.^[3]

Trivia[]

Shane is the youngest member of the original La Mina tribe.
Shane's 35th birthday was on Day 29 of Panama.
Shane is the first castaway who cast elimination votes against all of the finalists of their season.
Shane ties with Aras Baskauskas for receiving the most votes against them in Panama with 9.
Shane was cut at the last minute from Heroes vs. Villains in favor of Russell Hantz.^[4]
- Shane also declined appearances on Micronesia and South Pacific.^[5]

Shane Second Chance — Shane's publicity photo for the voting of the *Cambodia* cast.

According to her profile for Heroes vs. Villains, Parvati Shallow listed Shane and Cirie Fields as the previous Survivor castaways that she respected the most.
Shane was one of the 32 contestants eligible to be selected to compete on Cambodia, but was not chosen in the final vote.^[6]
- Shane's exclusion from Cambodia was a major surprise to most castaways who did make the final cut. Shirin Oskooi even felt that Shane was the one person most deserving of a second chance. ^[7]
- Jeff Varner claimed to have made a pre-game alliance with Shane for Cambodia.^[8]
In his campaign video for Cambodia, Shane stated that his iconic moment was when he dropped to his knees when he saw his son Boston at the family visit.^[9]