Shannon and Athena face off in an elimination puzzle challenge. Photo / TVNZ
Shannon and Athena face off in an elimination puzzle challenge. Photo / TVNZ
After taking out the three strongest players in the game, is Shannon Ryan finally about to be ousted from Celebrity Treasure Island?
With just two more episodes to go, fans have been left on a major cliffhanger with Shannon facing off against Flava radio host Athena Angelou in an epic puzzle challenge to see who will be eliminated next.
Tonight's episode marks Shannon's fourth elimination challenge in a row, having been put up time and again as her fellow celebs have made a major push to get her off the island because they all know they can't beat her if she makes it to the final treasure hunt.
She's been pegged from the start as one of the strongest players in the game and as a result, was the obvious choice to knock out everyone's biggest threat Eric Murray.
After that, Hits radio host Sam Wallace realised he needed to get her out of the game if he had a shot at the prize money, and put her up on the chopping block twice more, seeing the TV host knock out CTI heavy hitters Moses Mackay and Barbara Kendall.
After that, boxing champ Shane Cameron said what we were all thinking: "Geez you're a weapon girl!"
Athena vs Shannon: Who will be the last woman standing with the boys? Photo / TVNZ
And that weapon only got sharper in tonight's episode with Shannon proving that you need both brains and brawn to win CTI - and she's got 'em both.
She led the newly named Team Kakariki - now down to just Shannon, Sam, Athena, Shane and Gary 'The Wiz" Freeman - in some puzzle practice on the beach, showing herself and Athena to be the strongest when it came to the intellectual challenges.
Honestly, it all seemed a bit pointless until everything came down to puzzle work later on.
We know what you're thinking: Did Treasure Island just do a bit of foreshadowing?
You're damn right.
When it came to the individual challenge, Shannon completely tanked in the physical half of the wero but came through for the win by smashing out the puzzle half with ease, winning herself four new clues to bring her total haul up to 11.
Shannon channels her inner Miss America with this epic "I won?" face. Photo / TVNZ
As she sat on the beach to go through them all, it was finally revealed to us at home that the treasure is buried in one of the graves at a fake graveyard somewhere on the island.
The problem is, being the one person with a good nine clues more than your competitors is a sure-fire way to draw a big ol' target on your back. Sure enough, when The Wiz (finally!) won his first challenge, putting Shannon up for the fourth time in a row was a no brainer.
He then put Athena up to go against her, which on the surface looks like a "boys-only in the final treasure hunt" move, but actually, was a (albeit slightly backhanded) nod to the radio star.
He said she was the only person there who - having proved her puzzle skills during Shannon's puzzle practice that morning - was capable of making it a fair challenge (note: the boys took a fair while to figure things out and Sam never figured it out at all).
And so the pair faced off in puzzle, which anyone who's spent enough hours scrolling past Instagram ads will have seen before, and which the boys on the sidelines could see the answer to clearly.
However, in the heat of the moment, Treasure Island's puzzle queens were visibly flustered and frustrated - sort of like all of us watching at home who now have to wait until Monday night to see who comes out on top to make the final four.
