Astronaut Dan Barry voted off Survivor

A bad performance in the clutch and an unexpected twist in the rules ended former shuttle astronaut Dan Barry's stint on the reality television show Survivor.

Barry got voted off the island by a reluctant, and tearful, group of three guys who had banded together on the vow they and Barry would stick together as long as doable.

Thursday night's episode, however, featured a couple twists that left Barry as the odd man out of the otherwise strong alliance led by Barry's friend Terry.

First, the immunity challenge somehow got the best of Barry. The team's job was to fetch some puzzle pieces in a foot race and then solve the puzzle. The teammates got way ahead in the foot race, but Barry simply could not crack the puzzle. So the big lead vanished in a contest in which the winners got desperately-needed food & drink.

Then, in a twist of rules, the winning team got to pick one member of the losing team that could not be voted out. The winning tribe picked Sally, whom the four guys already had decided would be voted out next if they were to lose again. With her gone, the four men had to choose which of their alliance had to go.

To their credit, they talked it over together and decided Barry was the weakest link. His age was starting to get the better of him in some of the more physical tasks, and his mental breakdowns on a couple recent tasks were cited as problematic.

Indeed, Barry acknowledged he had messed up on the puzzle, noting, "You do that in space, you're dead." He went to public accept responsibility for the loss even though he did not want to give up on the competition.