South Portland resident Bob Crowley appeared close to being eliminated heading into last week’s episode of “Survivor,” but gained a “lease on life,” as he said, after the two teams merged into one.

Crowley, who is a physics teacher at Gorham High School, appears to have jockeyed himself back among the game’s strongest competitors as the teams merged last week. The seven remaining players now will focus their energy on several antagonistic players when Episode 10 airs at 8 p.m. Thursday on Channel 13, the CBS affiliate.

“I was dead in the water,” a relieved Crowley said during last week’s episode. “I was the only remaining Kota member on a team with all Fang members, and I was the target.”

Crowley, 57, and the season’s oldest competitor, demonstrated his ingenuity during last week’s episode when he couldn’t find the personal immunity idol on Exile Island. With competitors unaware that the idol has already been found, Crowley made his own idol in order to convince the other players that he found the real thing so they wouldn’t vote him off in later episodes.

“Making that fake idol while at Exile Island was definitely a good move,” said Gorham colleague Sally Hatch. “Now Bob is starting to play the game.”

During the final team reward challenge last week, Crowley proved a valuable player as his team sought to win a modified version of golf. The teams played a round of three holes using a large slingshot to send a softball-sized golf ball down rocky and uneven fairways. Crowley used his physics knowledge to outsling the other team three times. Despite his best efforts, though, his team lost.

During the solo immunity challenge, Crowley failed to build a fire to burn through a rope. He looked perplexed after the challenge.

The seven competitors remain from an original 18.

Bob Crowley