Terry Deitz

Terry Deitz
Contestant Profile
Born	October 10, 1959 (1959-10-10)
Hometown	Simsbury, Connecticut
Occupation	Pilot
Survivor Career
Version	United States
Tribe(s)	La Mina Gitanos
Finish	3/16
Alliance(s)	La Mina Alliance
Challenge Wins	16
Votes Against	1
Days Lasted	38/39
Tribe(s)	Ta Keo
Finish:	15/20
Challenge Wins	6
Votes Against	0
Days Lasted	13/39

Terry Deitz is a contestant from Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Cambodia.

A former Navy Pilot, Terry is credited with his discovery of the Hidden Immunity Idol and becoming the de facto leader of the post-Switch La Mina Tribe. Despite La Mina reaching the merge in the minority and being unable to convince Casaya's remnants to turn against each other, Terry's idol and and individual immunity winning streak allowed him to navigate the post-merge competition with ease. His success would come to an end when he lost immunity at the final 3 and was voted out a day short of the Final Tribal Council.

The second time he played in Cambodia, he focused on improving his social game, but was pulled from the game due to his son's heart condition.

Profile

Retrieved from CBS.com

Panama Cambodia Terry Deitz was born and raised in Matawan, New Jersey, by his mother, Peggy and father, George. He has three brothers, Mickey, Skip and Tommie, and one sister, Pegi. Deitz attended St. Joseph's Grammar School in Keyport, New Jersey, where he played little league baseball, football and basketball. He was also an avid swimmer and a member of the dive team. He then attended St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel, New Jersey, where he earned 11 Varsity letters in football (quarterback), baseball (catcher) and wrestling. He received All County and All Conference awards and made All-State Baseball 1st Team. In addition, he was Varsity Captain for three sports. From 1978 to 1982, Deitz attended the United States Naval Academy. While there, he played four years of Varsity Division I baseball. In 1982, he was ordered to the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier as a Ship's Officer in the Weapons Department, where he handled ship's defense systems. He was also Officer of the Deck qualified, which enabled him to run the ship for the Captain on a four-hour watch rotation. In 1984, Deitz was ordered to the US Navy flight school in Pensacola, Florida, where he learned to fly a Navy T-34 turbo prop. He earned jet grades and was sent to Meridian, Mississippi for T-2 and T-A4 advanced jet training. After he obtained his Navy wings, he was ordered to NAS Miramar in San Diego, California, for training in the F-14 Tomcat. In 1986, he began flying the F-14. In 1987, he was a pilot with the Fighter Squadron-51 (Miramar/Deployed on the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70). Deitz met his wife, Trish, six days before his last six-month cruise. They had three dates, and then he went away for six months. They eventually married on October 5, 1991. From 1990-1992, Deitz conducted shore duty as an F-14 Instructor pilot. In 1992, married life with family aspirations triggered his decision to leave the active duty Navy. He was honorably discharged from active Navy and entered Navy reserve. He was then hired by American Airlines as a commercial pilot. In 1994, he and his family moved from San Diego to Simsbury, Connecticut to be able to fly out of New York and Boston. While employed as a commercial pilot, he was also hired by the Naval Reserve Logistics Squadron-52 where he flew the DC-9 worldwide out of the Navy air station in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. He was later promoted to Commander and eventually retired in April 2001. Deitz presently resides in Simsbury, Connecticut with Trish and their children, Kayla and Daniel. He continues to fly with American Airlines, piloting the Airbus A300. His birth date is October 10, 1959. Name: Terry Deitz Season 12 Survivor: Panama Current Age: 55 Hometown: Simsbury, CT

Survivor

Panama

Being 46 years of age at time of play, Terry was placed on the La Mina, a tribe which consisted of older men. Terry was selected to run the first challenge, he was the first person to find an amulet and got flint for his tribe. He formed a bond with fellow tribe member Dan Barry as both share an history of aeronautics. Both men, along with Bruce Kanegai, worked hard at camp, leaving Shane Powers feeling left out. At the first Immunity Challenge, La Mina placed second, keeping them safe from Tribal Council.

On Day 4, the four tribes integrated into two. Terry got the orange buff and was the captain of the new La Mina. His first selection was Sally Schumann. At the next Immunity Challenge, the new La Mina tribe won, keeping them safe. They also won the Reward Challenge and the right to exile a member of the new Casaya tribe. La Mina chose to exile Bruce to demoralize the opposing tribe. However, Casaya bounced back and won the next immunity. Although Ruth Marie Milliman was considered the physically weakest, the men of La Mina eliminated Misty Giles for her poor performance and possibly having the Hidden Immunity Idol. Casaya went on a winning streak, and they chose to exile Terry twice. During his time on Exile Island, he found the idol. La Mina managed to break Casaya's streak temporarily, but Casaya won a joint Reward/Immunity Challenge on Day 15. Casaya chose to exile Sally, which would also abstain her from the vote. With the intended target immune, Terry joined Austin Carty and Nick Stanbury in ousting Dan.

On Day 17, the tribes merged into the Gitanos tribe and the former La Mina was outnumbered 6-4. Terry tried to get Bruce, Shane, Cirie Fields, and Danielle DiLorenzo to flip. The Casaya Alliance, however, held strong and targeted Terry, but he won consecutive immunities, keeping him safe. However, he had no choice but to watch his fellow La Mina Alliance members Nick, Austin, an Sally be voted out. At the final six, Terry tried to get Courtney Marit under his wing. After winning immunity again, Terry targeted his rival Aras Baskauskas and believed he was going home. However, Cirie started noticing Terry aligning with Courtney. Viewing this as Terry getting insurance for the Final Two, Cirie arranged for Courtney's elimination.

On Day 33, Terry tied a record when he won his fifth individual Immunity Challenge in a row and Shane was voted out to prevent Terry from aligning with him. When returning from camp later that night, Cirie left her torch on the ground, causing Terry to trip over it causing an argument between the two, but Aras defended Cirie telling Terry it was simply an accident. At the final four, Aras won the Reward Challenge. Despite Terry's protests, Aras chose to bring along Cirie, automatically exiling Terry and Danielle. Danielle decided to align with Terry and conspire to eliminate Aras, though this plot was foiled when Aras won immunity. Despite Danielle's pleas, Terry refused to give her the idol, meaning its powers had gone to waste, forcing Danielle to face Cirie in a fire-making tiebreaker at Tribal Council, which Danielle narrowly won. On Day 37, Terry won an advantage at the Final Immunity Challenge. Despite that, Terry was the first to fall in the challenge, with Danielle winning immunity. Despite teaching Danielle how to make fire, Danielle did not hold her end of the deal and voted out Terry, making him the seventh and final member of the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, Terry gave his vote to Aras, likely in retaliation for Danielle's betrayal.

At the live Reunion Show, host Jeff Probst polled the jury on who would have voted for Terry had he made it to the final two instead of Aras and 5 of the 7 jurors raised their hands, meaning he would have won if he and Danielle made it to the Final Two.

• Challenge History
• Voting History

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	La Mina	Skull Crush	Reward	No	1st
		4x4	Immunity	No	2nd
2		A Reptile Dysfunction	Reward	No	Won
		Anchor Management	Immunity	No	Won
3		Cross Fire	Reward	No	Won
		Battle Dig	Immunity	No	Lost
4		Puzzle Paranoia	Reward	No	Lost
		Sea Level, Tree Level	Immunity	No	Lost
5		For Cod's Sake	Reward	No	Lost
		Buried at Sea	Immunity	No	Won
6		In-Cog-Neato	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
Tribes Merged, Day 16
8	Gitanos	Vampire Bats	Immunity		Won
9		Rock the Boat	Reward		Lost
		Ups and Downs	Immunity		Won
10		Get Hooked	Reward		Won
		Marine Memory	Immunity	No	Won
11		Voo Doo	Reward		Lost
12		The Key of Sea	Reward1		Won
					Won
		Hold Your Own	Immunity		Won
13		Second Chance	Reward		Won
		Vertigo	Immunity		Won
14		Station By Station	Reward		Lost
		Puzzle Dig	Immunity		Lost
15		Wall to Wall	Reward		Won
		Balance of Power	Immunity		Lost
Voted Out, Day 38
Notes: ^1 This was a two-part Reward Challenge. The members of the team that won the first part of the challenge were eligible to compete in the second part for another reward.

Episode	Terry's Votes	Voted Against Terry
1	La Mina Tribe Immune
2	La Mina Tribe Immune
3	Misty	-
4	Ruth Marie	-
5	La Mina Tribe Immune
6	Dan	-
8	Shane	Individual Immunity
9	Aras	Individual Immunity
10	Aras	Individual Immunity
11	No Tribal Council
12	Aras	Individual Immunity
13	Aras	Individual Immunity
14	Cirie	-
15	Ineligible	Danielle
Voted Out, Day 38
Voted for Sole Survivor	Aras

Cambodia

Terry was one of twenty castaways chosen by the public to compete on the "Second Chance" season, Survivor: Cambodia.

Terry was initially placed on the Ta Keo tribe. After hitting the beach, he along with Kelly Wiglesworth, Vytas Baskauskas, and Woo Hwang set up camp, forming an "old-school" alliance. After losing the first Immunity Challenge, Ta Keo had to go to Tribal Council immediately. At Tribal Council, Terry, along with the old-school players, voted for Abi-Maria Gomes for her volatility, but Vytas was voted out after Jeff Varner and Peih-Gee Law sided with the new-school players. After Vytas' elimination, most of the tribe laughed at Abi-Maria for her behavior, resulting in her feeling alienated. However, Terry comforted her because he felt bad for her and thought that this would improve his social standing within the tribe. After losing the next Immunity Challenge, Shirin Oskooi and Spencer Bledsoe became the targets for their strategic prowess. Terry, along with the others, split their votes between Shirin and Spencer, and Shirin was voted out.

On Day 7, a tribe switch occurred. Terry and Kelley Wentworth remained on Ta Keo, but were joined by original Bayon's Ciera Eastin, Joe Anglim, Kass McQuillen, and Keith Nale. Terry and Kelley were in the minority, though Ta Keo won the next three Immunity Challenges. However, the other five aligned together and Kelley constantly threw Terry under the bus behind his back. On Night 13, host Jeff Probst came to the Ta Keo camp and told Terry that his son Danny had been hospitalized and that his wife and the doctor wanted him to come back, pulling him from the game. Terry informed his tribemates that he was leaving and they all gave him a hug and wished him luck.

Months later, after Terry returned home, Danny received a successful heart transplant. Terry revealed during the live Reunion Show that Danny is doing much better.

• Challenge History
• Voting History

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Ta Keo	The Marooning	Reward	No	Won
		Quest for Fire	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
2		Yank Yer Hank	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
3		Draggin' the Dragon	Immunity	No	1st
4		Stomp-ede	Reward	No	2nd
		Blind Leading the Blind	Immunity	No	2nd
5		In the Barrel	Reward	Yes	1st
		Air Raid	Immunity	No	2nd
Evacuated, Day 13

Episode	Terry's Votes	Votes Against Terry
1	Abi-Maria	-
2	Spencer	-
3	Ta Keo Tribe Immune
4	Ta Keo Tribe Immune
5	Ta Keo Tribe Immune
6	No Tribal Council
Evacuated, Day 13

Post-Survivor

• Terry hosted a Modern Marvels episode detailing the last flight of F-14 Tomcat before its retirement. It first aired on November 1, 2006.
• On January 9, 2010, Terry attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
• In November 2019, Terry attended the wedding of Joe Anglim and Sierra Dawn Thomas.

Trivia

Statistics of Terry Deitz
Longevity
Seasons competed:	2
Days lasted:	51
Challenge Wins
Tribal wins:	12
Individual wins:	10
Total wins:	22
Tribal Council
Total votes received:	1
Exile Island
Times sent to Exile Island:	4

• Terry is the first castaway to reside in Connecticut at the time of filming.
• Terry is the first castaway to find a Hidden Immunity Idol on Exile Island and the first to find one and not use it before it expired.
• Terry was the only member of the original La Mina tribe to reach the merge and never be a part of the rival Casaya tribe.
• Terry and Cirie Fields are the only castaways from Panama to reach the merge and only be affiliated with two tribes: their original one, and the merged Gitanos tribe.
• Terry won the most individual Immunity Challenges in Panama, with five.
  • Terry is the third castaway to win five individual Immunity Challenges, the single season record for Survivor. The first two were Colby Donaldson and Tom Westman and they would be followed by Ozzy Lusth, Mike Holloway, and Brad Culpepper. Of the group, Terry was the only one who did not reach the Final Tribal Council.
• Terry set the record for the most post-merge challenges won in a single season, with 9. This was later tied by Mike Holloway.
• Terry is the first of two castaways to be eliminated with the only vote cast against them throughout an entire season. He would be followed by Sandra Diaz-Twine on Winners at War.
• Terry is the last male contestant to be eliminated in third place.
• Terry was initially cast on Micronesia, but was cut when it was decided to go from an "All-Stars" season to a "Fans vs. Favorites".
• Terry was considered for Blood vs. Water with his daughter, Kayla as his partner, but was cut.
• Terry is the first returning player that came from either incarnation of La Mina.
• Terry is the oldest castaway to compete on Cambodia.
• Both times Terry played, he played with one of the Baskauskas brothers. A similar coincidence happened with Monica Padilla playing with one of the Morett women, and Troyzan Robertson playing with one of the Culpeppers.
• Terry is the first person to be evacuated for a non-medical reason.
• On a video Terry posted on Facebook congratulating Survivor on reaching 500 episodes, he revealed that his favorite Survivor moment was when Tom Westman killed a shark in Palau and that it inspired him to apply.

References

Survivor: Panama Castaways
Aras Viveros	Austin Viveros	Bobby Viveros	Bruce La Mina	Cirie Casaya	Courtney Bayoneta	Dan La Mina	Danielle Bayoneta
Melinda Casaya	Misty Bayoneta	Nick Viveros	Ruth Marie Casaya	Sally Bayoneta	Shane La Mina	Terry La Mina	Tina Casaya

Survivor: Cambodia Castaways
Abi-Maria Ta Keo	Andrew Bayon	Ciera Bayon	Jeff Ta Keo	Jeremy Bayon	Joe Bayon	Kass Bayon	Keith Bayon	Kelley Ta Keo	Kelly Ta Keo
Kimmi Bayon	Monica Bayon	Peih-Gee Ta Keo	Shirin Ta Keo	Spencer Ta Keo	Stephen Bayon	Tasha Bayon	Terry Ta Keo	Vytas Ta Keo	Woo Ta Keo