Shocking Betrayal On 'Survivor'

It was a bitter lesson in betrayal on the latest episode of "Survivor: Panama — Exile Island."

Ruth Marie Milliman had every reason to believe she was safely protected in her five-way alliance, but the tables turned. Last night, the 48-year-old from Greenville, S.C., became the latest castoff.

A secret scene, seen only on The Early Show, revealed why Ruth Marie might have been shocked at the sudden turn of events.

Ruth Marie: "I had a conversation with Dan, just to get some reassurance on our alliance. And he told me that the five of us have a solid agreement, no matter what."

Dan: "I am 100 percent on your side. We made a deal, and we are sticking together. We're going to follow to the end. Money doesn't matter. The commitment's been made."

Ruth Marie: "I agree."

Dan: "And if it costs us some bucks, well, too bad. This thing is beyond 39 days. I'm planning to have some friends for the rest of my life. And that's just the way it's going to be."

Ruth Marie: "OK. So I think that I have an agreement with four gentlemen who are stand-up guys."

Joining co-anchor Rene Syler, Ruth Marie told how surprised she was when she realized she would take the fall, rather than Sally.

"It was a little bit shocking. I had about a two-hour window where Dan had come to me to say, 'Oh, my gosh, the vote has changed.' And so I was trying to work Terry and you are constantly trying to save yourself out there," she told Syler. "It's exhausting."

But Austin, Sally's advocate, had convinced Terry that she was an asset during the Immunity Challenge, a complex task involving transporting water on balance beams.

"I thought it was going to take a water-into-wine type of miracle to pull Terry in, keeping Sally as our fifth," Austin said. "Apparently, I have some Jesus of Nazareth powers myself."

As for the question of who was to blame, Ruth Marie says she simply got outplayed.

"I think Sally out-gamed me," she said. "Sally wanted it so bad and she worked Austin, as you should. Austin kind of went back on me just a little bit. But we can't really blame him for keeping the 27-year-old. We're going to cut him some slack on that."

Another big development last night was when Terry, on Exile Island, unearthed the idol, which will grant him security up through the final four players. Ruth Marie says Terry was evasive, but she figured out his news immediately.

"I knew for certain he had the idol," she told Syler. "I think, probably, everybody else did, too. It was too much gibber jabber the way he was explaining it. And no one was asking him directly, so I sort of sensed that everybody kind of knew. I could be wrong because I didn't discuss it with anyone. But I was pretty certain of it."

Adding to the tense atmosphere was the constant, aching hunger from getting by without real food for 11 days. But Ruth Marie says the contestants were able to shake off their lethargy when the pressure was on.

"You would have been amazed. The minute the challenges started, it was like everybody had eaten and was ready to go. So it was pretty amazing," she said. "I thought we had three or four more days until it was going to get a little ugly."

In spite of the disappointment, Ruth Marie says "Survivor" was an experience of a lifetime and she's already looking forward to her next big challenge.

"What I'd like to do is run across the United States, and folks have done that before. But I would like to run at least a marathon a day and never, ever get in a motorized vehicle," she said.