Post by Amanda Kimmel on May 16, 2012 17:50:41 GMT -5
Season nine brought eighteen new castaways to Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, where they would be another batch of backstabbers competing for a $1 million purse. The eighteen castaways were as follows:
EPISODE 1: “Assuming Gets You Nowhere”
The eighteen castaways were abandoned at the Tau Pan in the northern Kalahari Desert, having been given absolutely no idea what was going on in the game, as Amanda was busy trying to retrieve her hat from the elephant that had stolen it. After playing some “get to know you” games, the castaways worked together to construct a shelter with provided materials, and tensions and alliances formed immediately. Brianna, Brenda, and Chelsea immediately formed a clique and plotted to go to the end together. Anthony and Yau-Man enjoyed each other’s company and aligned; they saw Penner as a third. Michael talked to several people and wanted to get into a showmance with Brenda or Chelsea, since he thought they’d be easy partners in crime, but he did not know of their alliance; Michael also regarded Ace as “shady.” Many people, however, were immediately off-put by Crystal’s big mouth, terrible work ethic, asking people who they hated, and desire to offer alliances to everyone, and her name quickly came up as a first target in the eyes of all early alliances, to which she was completely oblivious; the only person to have true alliance intentions with Crystal was Alicia. Brenda and Chelsea came with an elaborate plot to get Colton to turn straight for Crystal and stage a showmance between the two people they disliked the most; it fell apart quickly. The castaways arrived at their first challenge on day two, greeting Amanda for the first time. They competed in the challenge for an unknown prize, widely speculated to be tribe captains, plus a trip to Deception Valley; when Jen and Anthony won the challenge, they won immunity and it was announced that all eighteen players would attend Tribal Council and vote two people out. At Deception Valley, Jen and Anthony found a vast array of boxes, some of which were said to contain “lies.” They each picked a box. Jen’s box contained a double vote that could be real or fake at her discretion and Anthony found a reward nullifier; they agreed to exchange their items with each other, so both would have legitimate rewards. Sash was immediately brought up as the first target, since he wasn’t talking to anyone and had done poorly the challenge, and nobody wanted to be on a tribe with him. Angie’s name came up since she was distraught during the challenge, but she informed people that she had been dealing with issues in her personal life and the plank-giving had confused her, so she stepped up talking to people and many minds were changed. Yau-Man started vomiting on night two and was checked out by medical, but he refused to leave the game and return to his estranged wife. On Day 3, Crystal made rude comments about autism, which offended Courtney, whose son was autistic. After Courtney informed them, many people started conspiring to blindside Crystal, and Michael got the ball rolling which led to a presumption that he was in charge, a presumption that made Penner and Jen suspicious about him. Brenda started having other ideas, and decided Chelsea might not be the best final two partner after all, while Chelsea thought of herself as equally close to both Brenda and Brianna. Anthony moved forward with Michael’s plan and got paranoid that he had too much control, when he had wanted to lay back. Almost everyone changed their minds about Angie, who seemed to have come into a good position overnight. Michael made a split-second decision to vote for Kenny as a sort of warning, since Kenny struck him as anti-social. At Tribal Council, Crystal got paranoid that she was the target and tried to make amends with Courtney, but it was too late. She, along with Sash who had gotten lost on his way to Tribal, were voted out with 13 and 16 votes respectively, with Alicia, Kenny, Chelsea, Colton, and Penner also receiving votes.
EPISODE 2: “Indebted to Us”
Chelsea was livid that someone had voted for her and became determined to find out who it is. She took the issue to Brenda, who enjoyed the thought of playing along despite having been the one who voted for Chelsea. Michael took complete credit for taking Crystal out, although Courtney and Anthony had also been instrumental in her departure, and eased into a position of what he thought was full control. Penner and Chelsea bonded over both of them receiving votes and agreed to watch each others’ backs due to their paranoia of the relatively quiet ensemble they were living with. Penner also formed an alliance with Anthony, Yau-Man, Jen, and Ace as they all felt they had common interests. At the challenge, several castaways did not put forth effort and dropped early, while Chelsea, Yau-Man, Ace, and Anthony stayed in for over four hours and each received a Hidden Immunity Idol shard, which was a portion of their Hidden Immunity Idol. Ace and Anthony won immunity and were asked if they would give it away in exchange for another shard, but both declined. Back at camp, many people wanted to vote Alicia out for being anti-social and someone who cared the least, but Michael used his presumed power in an attempt to lead everyone to vote for Shawna, who he deemed the least useful. This caused many people to distrust Michael, as he was playing too hard. Jen, Yau-Man, and Penner immediately started rallying the troops to vote for Michael to deal his ego a crushing. They recruited Ace, Brianna, Chelsea, Brenda, Kenny, and Anthony, thus bringing the two major alliances together; almost everyone in the group had said Michael had told them protecting Alicia would keep them “in debt to us” in the same vein as Angie being loyal for him saving her the prior round. Many people suspected he was aligned to them first and everyone else later, and was telling everyone stories under a presumption that they would all vote for his own consensus. They informed Richard about the plot, and he revealed he had been suspicious about Michael also, but this led Richard to believe he was being left out of major alliances. The group then told Shawna that Michael was trying to get rid of her so she’d vote him off too. Angie, hearing these rumors, tried to repay the debt she owed Michael, just as he had planned, but everyone lied to her that they’d vote Shawna and plotted for her to go next. Michael got increasingly paranoid at Tribal Council in regards to people not following his orders, which made several people smile. Michael’s paranoia led to his 10-4-2 blindside, sending him packing.
EPISODE 3: “Personal Vendetta”
Angie came back from Tribal Council devastated by the loss of Michael, and realized that she was next. She resented herself to her fate and declined talking to people. Many people were, however, more focused on Colton’s laziness around camp and lack of personality, and saw him as expendable given his poor performance in the past two challenges. Brianna, however, was uncertain about Courtney’s loyalties and pondered targeting her, and brought this to a few people only to be rejected. The challenge displayed an alliance of Kenny, Anthony, Yau-Man, and Jen trying to take charge, and Kenny won immunity; Anthony, Jen, and Chelsea won trips to Deception by virtue of a tie. Kenny, Anthony, Yau-Man, and Jen all exchanged prizes with each other, including prior prizes and one fake, while Chelsea sent a legitimate triple vote to Brianna, leading Penner to realize that Chelsea was not committed to a final two with him. Almost everyone saw Colton putting forth no effort in the challenge, and realized that he would be a major liability if they were ever divided into tribes. Voting for Brianna aside, Angie had decided to do nothing, accepting her elimination, but she was surprised to see the only vote against her had come from Colton, who was voted out 12-1-1-1 at an uneventful Tribal Council.
EPISODE 4: “Eternal Damnations”
After returning from Tribal, Brianna grew paranoid that Anthony had many rewards from Deception, but in giving her a triple vote from there, Chelsea assured Brianna that Anthony himself was not stockpiling them. Brianna still marked Anthony as a threat, and was also determined to find out who had voted for her. At the challenge, the red team of Anthony, Angie, Brenda, Kenny, Penner, Shawna, and Yau-Man defeated the Yellow Team of Ace, Alicia, Brianna, Chelsea, Courtney, Jen, and Richard. At camp, the consensus amongst the Yellow Team was to get rid of Alicia, but Courtney eyed targeting the lazy, naked Richard. Richard took credit for taking out Colton despite it being a group decision, and approached Courtney about Brianna and Anthony suggesting Courtney be the vote last round, which shocked her. Brianna talked with Jen about possible other targets, and let Chelsea’s name slip as a possible blindside. Jen told Chelsea, who did not take kindly to being told that, but figured it was a lie. Jen, Richard, Ace, Courtney, and Alicia convened and realized that Brianna was like Michael before her and presumed she was in control. Ace told Chelsea last minute of the Brianna blindside, who scrambled to tell her friend to ready the triple vote and try to get one person to switch their vote for Courtney, who she figured had the one been plotting Brianna’s demise as revenge for being targeted. The girls pled to Ace and Jen to instead target Courtney, and Ace regretted his decision to tell Chelsea. Several people immediately wanted to know who ratted to Brianna and strongly considered changing the vote to them. Realizing that taking Courtney out wouldn’t work, Brianna and Chelsea rescinded and chose to go with the initial plan. Ace went to Tribal Council torn, where Brianna called Courtney out for scheming and intimidated her, and threatened Alicia for “sucking.” The votes were read and Brianna was voted out 5-4, with her tripler being unable to save her. She called Alicia out for being fake and swore she’d have her vengeance.
EPISODE 5: “World War III”
After Tribal, Jen and Richard separately assured Chelsea that Brianna had brought her name up, and that she was not to be trusted; Alicia was tempted to confront Chelsea for voting against her, but upon seeing Chelsea’s kind heart and realization of distrust for Brianna, she backed off. Jen went to Anthony to talk about taking Richard out because he was shady, and they knew either he or Ace was the one that had ratted to Chelsea about Brianna and had taken credit for moves that had not been his. Anthony agreed, but knew it had to be kept on the down-low. At the challenge, Anthony won again, and he, Chelsea, Jen, Kenny, and Yau-Man all got trips to Deception due to a triple elimination mess-up. The major alliance continued to exchange rewards, most of which were fake, and Chelsea picked a real triple vote to send to her ally Brenda. Back at camp, Ace pushed to vote for Angie because of her anti-social behavior and laziness around camp, but several people saw Angie as a pocket vote. Realizing that Ace was protecting Richard, the alliance of Anthony, Yau-Man, Jen, and Kenny saw Ace as “the head of the snake” and, with pressure from Shawna and Yau-Man, decided to blow rewards and go after him, with Alicia and Penner in tow. A total of four votes were nullified at Tribal Council, including Kenny’s fake double vote nullifying his vote instead (unbeknownst to him), and Ace was blindsided 4-2-1, with Angie’s self-vote proving that he had been right about her.
EPISODE 6: “Playing with the Wrong Side”
Angie came back to camp extremely angry in regards to how Amanda had been annoyed by her not voting, and vowed to seek revenge upon the host. Brenda and Chelsea started observing that Shawna was acting like an invisible alien and decided that the Bushmen had replaced her with an impostor. Yau-Man and Anthony were each approached individually by the staff to rank all remaining players; they were instructed to not tell anyone of this. At the challenge, everyone was surprised when Amanda announced tribes. The red tribe, which named themselves Kiwano after a native melon, consisted of Anthony, Angie, Courtney, Jen, Penner, and Richard. The yellow tribe, which called themselves Ndebele after a local tribe referenced in the movie Mean Girls, consisted of Alicia, Brenda, Chelsea, Kenny, Shawna, and Yau-Man. It was also announced that Angie had earned a penalty sit-out for her prior self-vote. In the challenge, Yau-Man got Ndebele off to an early lead, but it quickly fell apart when their communication broke down, allowing Anthony to command Kiwano to a win, sending five of them to Deception, which excluded Angie as per her penalty, making her vow to swear revenge unbeknownst to her tribe. At Deception, while the tribe was exchanging rewards, they talked about getting rid of Richard or Courtney if they were to go to Tribal. Courtney got wind of this and got into an argument with Jen. At Ndebele, Shawna approached Brenda about a possible alliance. Shawna said she could recruit Alicia, and Brenda said she’d bring in Chelsea. The four dubbed themselves “The Plastics” to again reference Mean Girls and agreed that Kenny was ugly, shady, and aligned to Anthony and Jen, who they all wanted to break up. Shawna told Yau-Man that Kenny was above him in the hierarchy, which got Yau-Man paranoid enough to want him out. On the way to Tribal Council, Alicia, who was walking last, was mauled by a cat creature, which turned out to be Brianna in costume, exacting her vengeance. At Tribal Council, the girls’ vote to kill Kenny was successful despite Yau-Man playing a fake triple vote. Kenny was voted out 3-2, which included votes for the missing Alicia. He became the first member of the jury and Alicia was never heard from again.
EPISODE 7: “A Hot Mess I am Proud Of”
Yau-Man was furious that his triple vote had backfired and was completely baffled as to what had happened. He began to distrust Anthony, as he thought he had been lied to, but eventually came to the conclusion that some of the rewards at Deception were, in fact, lies. At the Reward, this was confirmed, and all of Yau-Man’s fake rewards were removed; Anthony, Penner, and Jen also got their inventories cleared. Yau-Man and Jen were also each able to secure their second idol shard. Amanda also had another surprise, as the two tribes merged into one once again and returned to the Tau Pan. The purple-wearing tribe decided to name themselves Ambo Ovambo, an amalgam of two names for the same tribe based in the Kalahari. Yau-Man returned to Anthony and cleared up that Anthony did not know the triple vote was a fake. Penner and Chelsea rekindled an earlier blossoming relationship, though they did not inform each other of a temporary deal with Anthony and The Plastics, respectively. Shawna meanwhile contemplated blindsiding one of her plastic allies but decided that laying low was the best move for the time. At the immunity challenge, Anthony pulled out yet another win, annoying Chelsea and Brenda with his dominance. Angie threw together something cheap and said she just didn’t want to try hard for a host she didn’t like, which not only angered Amanda, but also her alliance. Anthony realized that Angie was poison and decided to push forth her boot so she wouldn’t ruin the game for everyone else. Angie ran around saying she wanted to be the biggest jury goat possible so people would take her to the finals and she could ruin the game for Amanda. Brenda and Chelsea began plotting to blindside Jen, as she was too close to Anthony; Shawna, meanwhile, threw the rest of her plastics alliance under the bus, saying that Brenda, Courtney, and Chelsea were close and people should vote for the latter. This enraged Brenda and Chelsea immediately, and they realized that Shawna was not to be trusted even though she said she’d vote Jen. They leaked this to Anthony, who had thought Shawna would vote with him, and it wasn’t long before everyone realized that Shawna was playing both sides for fools. A movement to blindside her ensued, which angered Anthony because he had wanted to cure the poison by booting Angie; however, his allies reminded him that Amanda had shot Kelly C in a similar situation the prior season, and they all expected her to take Angie out in a similar manner. Richard went missing, which led everyone to question if the cat creature had gotten him too; Richard, had, in fact, gotten lost and stumbled upon the pre-jury lodge, where he was forced to stay. At Tribal, Angie mouthed off and continued to be disrespectful to Amanda, which irritated Kenny on the jury and several players around her. Angie and Amanda got to arguing and Amanda pressed Angie’s uselessness and desire to be nothing but a troll. Realizing that she had another Kelly C on her hands, there was no choice left. The barrel of Amanda’s mini handgun stared Angie down, a bullet went off, and the fire consumed the body of a troll nobody wanted to deal with.
EPISODE 8: “Even More Complicated”
Many people were relieved by Angie’s death, and many people wondered how truthful people had been with their intentions to vote. With both Richard and Angie gone, the game was down to eight, and everyone knew that it would be a final two with seven jurors. The reward brought a Survivor Auction, and tension flared as people outbid each other. Anthony had a touching reunion with his father and the items won caused people to be labeled as bigger threats, though Chelsea’s Medallion of Power was transferrable even if she were to be voted out. Shawna wondered if The Plastics had been intending on voting for Jen, and eventually word got out that Shawna would have left had it not been for Richard and/or Angie. At the immunity challenge, Anthony once again proved his dominance, and Penner won the other immunity; both went to Deception and immediately began arguing. Anthony realized that Penner could not longer be trusted and had his own agenda, and that he would have to leave the game as soon as possible. Back at camp, the two alliances were divided. Penner came back and made an alliance with Brenda and Chelsea to get rid of Jen, who he had felt had been a snake, and they presumed Courtney and Shawna would vote alongside them; however, Jen lied to Courtney that Chelsea had leaked the plan to her, which led to Courtney campaigning to get rid of Chelsea. Chelsea grew paranoid as Courtney was no longer talking to her, but decided not to call her out. At Tribal Council, Chelsea’s paranoia came true as she was voted out 5-0 with several nullifiers being played on her alliance. She became the second member of the jury, finally giving Kenny some company, and chose to give her Medallion of Power to Brenda.
EPISODE 9: “Naked”
Brenda and Penner were livid about Chelsea’s departure and swore to avenge her, but the alliance of Yau-Man, Anthony, and Jen, referring to themselves as “The Trinity” wouldn’t have it. Anthony and Penner tried to make amends, but all fell through and Anthony realized Penner was too sneaky to be trusted, and that their alliance was not meant to be. Anthony finally lost an immunity when Shawna was the most emotional, leaving him feeling naked. Shawna became exempt from Tribal Council, while Anthony, Jen, and Yau-Man set their sights on Penner. Penner and Brenda discussed which of The Trinity would be the best person to target, and the decision was split between challenge beast Anthony and manipulator Jen; ultimately, they decided that Jen was the bigger strategic threat and would be the better person to target. Penner tried to weasel his way into the alliance, but only made the target on him bigger, and rewards were brought up. Given that Anthony, Jen, and Yau-Man all knew theirs were legit, they knew they could control the vote. Almost feeling sorry for Penner, Jen decided she would double his vote to give him a chance, but Penner chose to use his triple on Brenda instead in a reward-flying fest at Tribal Council, which included a strange idol that Yau-Man played on Jen but was rendered useless. Ultimately, only two votes, those of Anthony and Yau-Man, survived, and both were for Penner, who was sent to the jury.
EPISODE 10: “Little Lies Make My Heart Crumble”
Yau-Man’s allies questioned his sanity in regards to him playing an idol he knew was fake, while Brenda resorted to knowing she would be the next to go due to her friends on the jury. She was determined to win the next immunity, but contemplated saving her Medallion of Power to assist her in going on a streak. She ultimately did not use it, and barely lost the challenge to Yau-Man and Jen, the latter who earned her third Hidden Immunity Idol shard which allowed her to complete her rocket. Yau-Man gave his immunity to the increasingly depressed Courtney, who had begun worrying about her family back home, and earned a Hidden Immunity Idol as well. The Trinity conspired to take out Brenda, but Shawna had other ideas until Jen informed her of Yau-Man’s reward reverser, which would ensure the vote would go the Trinity’s way. Jen felt increasingly comfortable because of this, and decided to have all three of them play their Hidden Immunity Idols at the same time, a move which both Anthony and Yau-Man felt unnecessary. At Tribal Council, all three idols and the reward reverser were played, reversing Brenda’s last hope of using her legit double and triple votes to blindside Jen. Brenda was sent to the jury 4-1, with her fake vote changer becoming real to make Jen vote Shawna.
EPISODE 11: “A Lamb to the Slaughter”
The Trinity celebrated their controlling status and another successful vote, while Shawna plotted to stay by whatever means necessary. She knew she would need to get Jen to turn on Anthony, which Jen had already been considering due to Anthony’s beastliness in the challenges, and also pick up the vote of Courtney the pawn. Jen did not agree to anything, but said she would tell Shawna if she heard her name. Jen won immunity, and took Anthony to Deception to ensure he felt safer. Shawna figured she was leaving by such, and although Yau-Man felt like Jen’s third wheel, he figured now would not be the time to do anything about it because he would have more control in the final four if he didn’t. Anthony got word that Jen was considering betraying him, but that Shawna was the one trying to convince her, and he had no idea why Jen would consider it. With Jen immune, he knew he had to vote out Shawna or Courtney and Shawna was the more obvious choice. At Tribal Council, Shawna knew she was a goner, and exposed all of the skeletons in the Trinity’s closets, calling Jen out for being a liar in regards to the deal to watch her back, Yau-Man for offering multiple final threes with only one other Trinity member, and that Anthony had been the third wheel in the alliance from the beginning and that both Yau-Man and Jen wouldn’t hesitate to betray him. Shawna left 4-1 as she expected, with only Anthony using a legit vote changer on Courtney for the vote she already cast. Rewards were no more following this round.
EPISODE 12: “The Promises We Made”
Shawna’s words at Tribal Council immediately made their impact on the Trinity. They all began to distrust each other, while Courtney chose to stay out of the drama. Jen began pushing Yau-Man to get rid of Anthony, fearing he would be the biggest jury threat, to the point that he began to get annoyed with her. He approached Anthony about this, and Anthony realized how determined Jen was to get rid of him. At the challenge, Anthony was the only to get any questions correct for the reward as many of the others were stumped, giving him a reward he did not need. Anthony and Jen duked it out in immunity for an eight-hour period until Jen’s plate fell, giving Anthony an immunity he badly needed. This left Jen extremely vulnerable, and she acted like nothing was wrong and that Courtney would be the Trinity’s final victim. Anthony and Yau-Man discussed Jen’s loyalty and her motive behind lasting so long in the IC, which felt like a means to stop Anthony and vote him out. Both knew that Courtney would vote for whoever they said to save herself. Realizing that Jen was a potential jury threat despite her increased shadiness and desire to break apart the Trinity, they settled on their decision. At Tribal Council, Jen was sent crying to the jury 3-1, shocking everyone.
Jen’s boot left a major hole in the final three, as the Trinity had been broken and Jen’s tears had made Yau-Man feel guilty. The final three went along the rite of passage to pay respect to their fallen comrades, reflecting upon who had been friends, who had been enemies, and who they had wished had been friends. They then competed in the final immunity challenge, which Anthony won in a landslide. He was to immediately vote out one person, and he sent Courtney to become the final member of the jury.
On Day 39, Anthony and Yau-Man enjoyed the traditional final-day breakfast before heading to the Final Tribal Council, where seven angry jurors awaited to interrogate them. After Anthony and Yau-Man recapped their games, in which Yau-Man admitted that his true final two was Courtney and Anthony confessed his double-dealing with Penner, the jury began questioning. Brenda went first and warned the two men that they would be facing a tough crowd. She called them both “prize whores,” said Anthony was “fake” and Yau-Man was an “enemy” and asked that if they would have made the end if there was no Deception Valley. Both claimed that they would be. Brenda pressed further and asked about which member of the Trinity they’d axe if they had to before the merge, and Yau-Man and Anthony said each other because they both were closest to Jen.
A very bitter Jen was next. She called Yau-Man a hypocrite for voting her out for treason against the Trinity when he was planning to take Courtney to the end. She asked him for his real reason for voting her out, to which he said it was for treason against the Trinity. He explained that she had wanted him gone so bad that it was clear she could no longer be trusted, and that since she was a major threat to win, that excuse was as good as any. Jen accused Anthony of having made the end on challenge wins and Deception prizes alone, and wanted to know what else he had done and to compare it to Yau-Man. Anthony said that although his challenge wins were what were on the surface, he did plenty of social and strategic gameplay on top, but his actions were overshadowed by Yau-Man and Jen, respectively. He admitted that Yau-Man may have played him – and everyone – well, and that Yau-Man had ensured anyone in the final five would have taken him to the end.
Courtney was third. She appreciated the effort both of them had put into informing her of situations, so she asked what they’d do in certain situations, and who they preferred over other people. Anthony and Yau-Man both paid respect to Brenda’s desperation to overcome the odds and both thought Chelsea and Kenny had been robbed of their full potential. Yau-Man was sympathetic with Jen’s feelings, but wished for there to be no bad blood between them down the road.
Kenny went next. He asked for the final two to go over every person in the game from strongest to weakest. Yau-Man felt Brenda was his biggest threat, while Anthony brought up Ace, saying if Ace had been left in the game, things would have been very different. Both echoed sentiments that Richard was a wild card, Sash never existed, Chelsea was an unknown, and that Jen was an extremely social snake.
Shawna allocated her questions to explaining the Trinity, and how each person involved contributed in their excelling aspect. Anthony, whom Shawna said was the muscle, said his challenge prowess helped them stockpile rewards, including an idol which could have been used as extra ammunition. Yau-Man said that as the social butterfly, he was able to gather connections which led to Courtney and Shawna siding with the Trinity over Brenda, Penner, and Chelsea. Shawna asked them both who would have been the third if Jen had not been the third member of the Trinity. Both said Penner or Kenny and they felt Kenny would have been more loyal. Shawna asked Anthony why he wouldn’t vote Yau-Man, and he said Yau-Man abused potential friendships to the point he had hurt people. Yau-Man got defensive, saying one should separate friendships from a game for a million dollars. Anthony said he understood, saying he just got the feeling that he and Yau-Man were a final two, and all was well and good.
Chelsea followed Shawna and wanted to know what set each of the final two apart from who was sitting next to them. Yau-Man played his relationships and lack of immunity throughout the game, saying he could not have made it there without people willing to keep him, and while Anthony won multiple challenges to get to the end, Yau-Man had four people willing to take him. Anthony stated his challenge prowess was his biggest accomplishment on the surface, but in doing so he controlled the Deception Valley items and was able to form relationships due to his safety. He said that his challenge streak would likely be the most memorable thing about the season for its players, and that since he was rarely a target when vulnerable proved that people at least liked him enough to keep a threat around, and he indicated he and Penner had developed a relationship that gave him an extra option for which to betray the Trinity. He said that he had also regained Shawna’s loyalty at the final 8, which was instrumental in a Trinity victory.
Penner closed the show, and he was angry. He started out by calling Yau-Man a deranged, attention-seeking pervert, and demanded to know more about Yau-Man as a person. After calling Penner an immature, bitter freak, Yau-Man went through a long recap of his life, which almost put half the jury to sleep, but not Penner, who was pleased to learn that Yau-Man was actually a person. Penner then went to berating Anthony, calling him an annoying coward who hid behind challenge wins and prizes and that he had zero strategy besides that, and that with fewer prizes, Shawna and Courtney would have sided against the Trinity. Anthony rebuked Penner by saying that he made the right decision in voting Penner out and that he actually made moves, such as being integral in forming the Trinity, blindsiding Crystal round one, and that without him, the Trinity would not have won anything. Penner blew him off and sat down grouchily.
The jury went to vote. In the end, Yau-Man Chan defeated Anthony Robinson in a 5-2 vote, earning the votes of Kenny, Penner, Courtney, Jen, and Shawna, and became the Sole Survivor and a million dollars richer.
All-Stars were announced as the following:
Yau-Man Chan, “The Kook” – A crazy player who, despite the oddities, formed many relationships which propelled him into the best position come the merge. A huge social threat, everyone liked and respected him and he ended up winning the million dollars.
Anthony Robinson, “The Emperor” – A challenge dominator who many people initially saw as king of the hill, he forged great bonds and came on strongly, and was able to control the rewards and get his alliance to the final four.
Brenda Lowe, “The Bombshell” – A fierce player in all departments that ended up on the wrong side of the coin, she was ultimately screwed by her enemies’ rewards and had earned respect from all of them.
Chelsea Meissner, “The Cutie” – Like her ally Brenda, she ended up on the wrong side and tried to make the most of it by making friendships that ultimately never worked out. She ws robbed by excessive prizes and was dubbed a major wild card.
Shawna Mitchell, “The Stealth Bomber” – An incredibly sneaky player who knew when to lay back and when to go in gunning… and when she went in gunning, she made an instrumental impact on the game.
Courtney Marit, “The Dancer” – A strong UTR player who made strategic decisions based on her relationships. Although gullible, she danced her way to the final three, and was seen as redeeming in the eyes of many of her peers for her genuine nature.
Jonathan Penner had been offered a spot, but declined. Jen Lyon was initially to be invited, but production later found out she was ineligible.
Kalahari was a truly fun season to host and I enjoyed having another blindside-fest. Those are always fun. I'm happy with all who played and I look forward to All-Stars 2!
- Brenda, a paddleboard company owner
- Ace, a jewelry photographer
- Chelsea, a medical sales rep
- Michael, an investment banker
- Shawna, a retail employee
- Yau-Man, a ping-pong professional
- Anthony, a legal aide
- Kenny, a professional video gamer
- Courtney, a fire dancer
- Jonathan Penner, a television producer and screenwriter
- Brianna, a make-up artist
- Olympic medalist Crystal Cox
- Colton, an openly gay college student
- Jen, a nanny
- Alicia, a special education teacher
- Angie, a bartender
- Richard, a corporate trainer
- Sash, a real estate broker
EPISODE 1: “Assuming Gets You Nowhere”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would anonymously donate planks to each other to assist those who they liked. Castaways would then scramble to retrieve a plank from each person’s crate to build a bridge, which each person’s plank specifically fitting in one spot. The first two people to build their bridge and cross it would win an undisclosed prize – immunity and a trip to Deception.
The eighteen castaways were abandoned at the Tau Pan in the northern Kalahari Desert, having been given absolutely no idea what was going on in the game, as Amanda was busy trying to retrieve her hat from the elephant that had stolen it. After playing some “get to know you” games, the castaways worked together to construct a shelter with provided materials, and tensions and alliances formed immediately. Brianna, Brenda, and Chelsea immediately formed a clique and plotted to go to the end together. Anthony and Yau-Man enjoyed each other’s company and aligned; they saw Penner as a third. Michael talked to several people and wanted to get into a showmance with Brenda or Chelsea, since he thought they’d be easy partners in crime, but he did not know of their alliance; Michael also regarded Ace as “shady.” Many people, however, were immediately off-put by Crystal’s big mouth, terrible work ethic, asking people who they hated, and desire to offer alliances to everyone, and her name quickly came up as a first target in the eyes of all early alliances, to which she was completely oblivious; the only person to have true alliance intentions with Crystal was Alicia. Brenda and Chelsea came with an elaborate plot to get Colton to turn straight for Crystal and stage a showmance between the two people they disliked the most; it fell apart quickly. The castaways arrived at their first challenge on day two, greeting Amanda for the first time. They competed in the challenge for an unknown prize, widely speculated to be tribe captains, plus a trip to Deception Valley; when Jen and Anthony won the challenge, they won immunity and it was announced that all eighteen players would attend Tribal Council and vote two people out. At Deception Valley, Jen and Anthony found a vast array of boxes, some of which were said to contain “lies.” They each picked a box. Jen’s box contained a double vote that could be real or fake at her discretion and Anthony found a reward nullifier; they agreed to exchange their items with each other, so both would have legitimate rewards. Sash was immediately brought up as the first target, since he wasn’t talking to anyone and had done poorly the challenge, and nobody wanted to be on a tribe with him. Angie’s name came up since she was distraught during the challenge, but she informed people that she had been dealing with issues in her personal life and the plank-giving had confused her, so she stepped up talking to people and many minds were changed. Yau-Man started vomiting on night two and was checked out by medical, but he refused to leave the game and return to his estranged wife. On Day 3, Crystal made rude comments about autism, which offended Courtney, whose son was autistic. After Courtney informed them, many people started conspiring to blindside Crystal, and Michael got the ball rolling which led to a presumption that he was in charge, a presumption that made Penner and Jen suspicious about him. Brenda started having other ideas, and decided Chelsea might not be the best final two partner after all, while Chelsea thought of herself as equally close to both Brenda and Brianna. Anthony moved forward with Michael’s plan and got paranoid that he had too much control, when he had wanted to lay back. Almost everyone changed their minds about Angie, who seemed to have come into a good position overnight. Michael made a split-second decision to vote for Kenny as a sort of warning, since Kenny struck him as anti-social. At Tribal Council, Crystal got paranoid that she was the target and tried to make amends with Courtney, but it was too late. She, along with Sash who had gotten lost on his way to Tribal, were voted out with 13 and 16 votes respectively, with Alicia, Kenny, Chelsea, Colton, and Penner also receiving votes.
EPISODE 2: “Indebted to Us”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would stand on a step and step up one every five minutes. The last two people to remain standing would win immunity and a trip to Deception, and anyone who lasted over four hours would get a bonus.
Chelsea was livid that someone had voted for her and became determined to find out who it is. She took the issue to Brenda, who enjoyed the thought of playing along despite having been the one who voted for Chelsea. Michael took complete credit for taking Crystal out, although Courtney and Anthony had also been instrumental in her departure, and eased into a position of what he thought was full control. Penner and Chelsea bonded over both of them receiving votes and agreed to watch each others’ backs due to their paranoia of the relatively quiet ensemble they were living with. Penner also formed an alliance with Anthony, Yau-Man, Jen, and Ace as they all felt they had common interests. At the challenge, several castaways did not put forth effort and dropped early, while Chelsea, Yau-Man, Ace, and Anthony stayed in for over four hours and each received a Hidden Immunity Idol shard, which was a portion of their Hidden Immunity Idol. Ace and Anthony won immunity and were asked if they would give it away in exchange for another shard, but both declined. Back at camp, many people wanted to vote Alicia out for being anti-social and someone who cared the least, but Michael used his presumed power in an attempt to lead everyone to vote for Shawna, who he deemed the least useful. This caused many people to distrust Michael, as he was playing too hard. Jen, Yau-Man, and Penner immediately started rallying the troops to vote for Michael to deal his ego a crushing. They recruited Ace, Brianna, Chelsea, Brenda, Kenny, and Anthony, thus bringing the two major alliances together; almost everyone in the group had said Michael had told them protecting Alicia would keep them “in debt to us” in the same vein as Angie being loyal for him saving her the prior round. Many people suspected he was aligned to them first and everyone else later, and was telling everyone stories under a presumption that they would all vote for his own consensus. They informed Richard about the plot, and he revealed he had been suspicious about Michael also, but this led Richard to believe he was being left out of major alliances. The group then told Shawna that Michael was trying to get rid of her so she’d vote him off too. Angie, hearing these rumors, tried to repay the debt she owed Michael, just as he had planned, but everyone lied to her that they’d vote Shawna and plotted for her to go next. Michael got increasingly paranoid at Tribal Council in regards to people not following his orders, which made several people smile. Michael’s paranoia led to his 10-4-2 blindside, sending him packing.
EPISODE 3: “Personal Vendetta”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would each have 50 ropes and would count a specified number of rocks to earn the ability to cut someone else’s rope. The person with the most ropes after a specific amount of time would win immunity, and the top three would all go to Deception.
Angie came back from Tribal Council devastated by the loss of Michael, and realized that she was next. She resented herself to her fate and declined talking to people. Many people were, however, more focused on Colton’s laziness around camp and lack of personality, and saw him as expendable given his poor performance in the past two challenges. Brianna, however, was uncertain about Courtney’s loyalties and pondered targeting her, and brought this to a few people only to be rejected. The challenge displayed an alliance of Kenny, Anthony, Yau-Man, and Jen trying to take charge, and Kenny won immunity; Anthony, Jen, and Chelsea won trips to Deception by virtue of a tie. Kenny, Anthony, Yau-Man, and Jen all exchanged prizes with each other, including prior prizes and one fake, while Chelsea sent a legitimate triple vote to Brianna, leading Penner to realize that Chelsea was not committed to a final two with him. Almost everyone saw Colton putting forth no effort in the challenge, and realized that he would be a major liability if they were ever divided into tribes. Voting for Brianna aside, Angie had decided to do nothing, accepting her elimination, but she was surprised to see the only vote against her had come from Colton, who was voted out 12-1-1-1 at an uneventful Tribal Council.
EPISODE 4: “Eternal Damnations”
Immunity Challenge: Two teams of seven would square off in a pit with an encampment on each side and several jewels strewn about the enemy side. The team that stole the most amount of jewels without getting caught after a set period of time would win immunity and would go to Deception; the losing team would go to Tribal.
After returning from Tribal, Brianna grew paranoid that Anthony had many rewards from Deception, but in giving her a triple vote from there, Chelsea assured Brianna that Anthony himself was not stockpiling them. Brianna still marked Anthony as a threat, and was also determined to find out who had voted for her. At the challenge, the red team of Anthony, Angie, Brenda, Kenny, Penner, Shawna, and Yau-Man defeated the Yellow Team of Ace, Alicia, Brianna, Chelsea, Courtney, Jen, and Richard. At camp, the consensus amongst the Yellow Team was to get rid of Alicia, but Courtney eyed targeting the lazy, naked Richard. Richard took credit for taking out Colton despite it being a group decision, and approached Courtney about Brianna and Anthony suggesting Courtney be the vote last round, which shocked her. Brianna talked with Jen about possible other targets, and let Chelsea’s name slip as a possible blindside. Jen told Chelsea, who did not take kindly to being told that, but figured it was a lie. Jen, Richard, Ace, Courtney, and Alicia convened and realized that Brianna was like Michael before her and presumed she was in control. Ace told Chelsea last minute of the Brianna blindside, who scrambled to tell her friend to ready the triple vote and try to get one person to switch their vote for Courtney, who she figured had the one been plotting Brianna’s demise as revenge for being targeted. The girls pled to Ace and Jen to instead target Courtney, and Ace regretted his decision to tell Chelsea. Several people immediately wanted to know who ratted to Brianna and strongly considered changing the vote to them. Realizing that taking Courtney out wouldn’t work, Brianna and Chelsea rescinded and chose to go with the initial plan. Ace went to Tribal Council torn, where Brianna called Courtney out for scheming and intimidated her, and threatened Alicia for “sucking.” The votes were read and Brianna was voted out 5-4, with her tripler being unable to save her. She called Alicia out for being fake and swore she’d have her vengeance.
EPISODE 5: “World War III”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would compete in several stages of puzzles, with two people being eliminated each round for six rounds. The person left standing would win immunity, and the other two finalists would go with them to Deception.
After Tribal, Jen and Richard separately assured Chelsea that Brianna had brought her name up, and that she was not to be trusted; Alicia was tempted to confront Chelsea for voting against her, but upon seeing Chelsea’s kind heart and realization of distrust for Brianna, she backed off. Jen went to Anthony to talk about taking Richard out because he was shady, and they knew either he or Ace was the one that had ratted to Chelsea about Brianna and had taken credit for moves that had not been his. Anthony agreed, but knew it had to be kept on the down-low. At the challenge, Anthony won again, and he, Chelsea, Jen, Kenny, and Yau-Man all got trips to Deception due to a triple elimination mess-up. The major alliance continued to exchange rewards, most of which were fake, and Chelsea picked a real triple vote to send to her ally Brenda. Back at camp, Ace pushed to vote for Angie because of her anti-social behavior and laziness around camp, but several people saw Angie as a pocket vote. Realizing that Ace was protecting Richard, the alliance of Anthony, Yau-Man, Jen, and Kenny saw Ace as “the head of the snake” and, with pressure from Shawna and Yau-Man, decided to blow rewards and go after him, with Alicia and Penner in tow. A total of four votes were nullified at Tribal Council, including Kenny’s fake double vote nullifying his vote instead (unbeknownst to him), and Ace was blindsided 4-2-1, with Angie’s self-vote proving that he had been right about her.
EPISODE 6: “Playing with the Wrong Side”
Immunity Challenge: Two tribes of six would compete in a slider puzzle challenge. The first tribe to solve their giant slider puzzle would win immunity and all participants would go to Deception.
Angie came back to camp extremely angry in regards to how Amanda had been annoyed by her not voting, and vowed to seek revenge upon the host. Brenda and Chelsea started observing that Shawna was acting like an invisible alien and decided that the Bushmen had replaced her with an impostor. Yau-Man and Anthony were each approached individually by the staff to rank all remaining players; they were instructed to not tell anyone of this. At the challenge, everyone was surprised when Amanda announced tribes. The red tribe, which named themselves Kiwano after a native melon, consisted of Anthony, Angie, Courtney, Jen, Penner, and Richard. The yellow tribe, which called themselves Ndebele after a local tribe referenced in the movie Mean Girls, consisted of Alicia, Brenda, Chelsea, Kenny, Shawna, and Yau-Man. It was also announced that Angie had earned a penalty sit-out for her prior self-vote. In the challenge, Yau-Man got Ndebele off to an early lead, but it quickly fell apart when their communication broke down, allowing Anthony to command Kiwano to a win, sending five of them to Deception, which excluded Angie as per her penalty, making her vow to swear revenge unbeknownst to her tribe. At Deception, while the tribe was exchanging rewards, they talked about getting rid of Richard or Courtney if they were to go to Tribal. Courtney got wind of this and got into an argument with Jen. At Ndebele, Shawna approached Brenda about a possible alliance. Shawna said she could recruit Alicia, and Brenda said she’d bring in Chelsea. The four dubbed themselves “The Plastics” to again reference Mean Girls and agreed that Kenny was ugly, shady, and aligned to Anthony and Jen, who they all wanted to break up. Shawna told Yau-Man that Kenny was above him in the hierarchy, which got Yau-Man paranoid enough to want him out. On the way to Tribal Council, Alicia, who was walking last, was mauled by a cat creature, which turned out to be Brianna in costume, exacting her vengeance. At Tribal Council, the girls’ vote to kill Kenny was successful despite Yau-Man playing a fake triple vote. Kenny was voted out 3-2, which included votes for the missing Alicia. He became the first member of the jury and Alicia was never heard from again.
EPISODE 7: “A Hot Mess I am Proud Of”
Reward Challenge: Castaways would get an infinite number of attempts to beat Amanda’s first time at two puzzles. If they beat one, they would get special information about Deception; if they beat both, they would also get an idol shard.
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would design a graphic for the series, its hosts, or the Kalahari Desert. The hosting team would judge and give immunity to the best. The immune person would also choose one person to go to Deception with them and the runner-up would go as well.
Yau-Man was furious that his triple vote had backfired and was completely baffled as to what had happened. He began to distrust Anthony, as he thought he had been lied to, but eventually came to the conclusion that some of the rewards at Deception were, in fact, lies. At the Reward, this was confirmed, and all of Yau-Man’s fake rewards were removed; Anthony, Penner, and Jen also got their inventories cleared. Yau-Man and Jen were also each able to secure their second idol shard. Amanda also had another surprise, as the two tribes merged into one once again and returned to the Tau Pan. The purple-wearing tribe decided to name themselves Ambo Ovambo, an amalgam of two names for the same tribe based in the Kalahari. Yau-Man returned to Anthony and cleared up that Anthony did not know the triple vote was a fake. Penner and Chelsea rekindled an earlier blossoming relationship, though they did not inform each other of a temporary deal with Anthony and The Plastics, respectively. Shawna meanwhile contemplated blindsiding one of her plastic allies but decided that laying low was the best move for the time. At the immunity challenge, Anthony pulled out yet another win, annoying Chelsea and Brenda with his dominance. Angie threw together something cheap and said she just didn’t want to try hard for a host she didn’t like, which not only angered Amanda, but also her alliance. Anthony realized that Angie was poison and decided to push forth her boot so she wouldn’t ruin the game for everyone else. Angie ran around saying she wanted to be the biggest jury goat possible so people would take her to the finals and she could ruin the game for Amanda. Brenda and Chelsea began plotting to blindside Jen, as she was too close to Anthony; Shawna, meanwhile, threw the rest of her plastics alliance under the bus, saying that Brenda, Courtney, and Chelsea were close and people should vote for the latter. This enraged Brenda and Chelsea immediately, and they realized that Shawna was not to be trusted even though she said she’d vote Jen. They leaked this to Anthony, who had thought Shawna would vote with him, and it wasn’t long before everyone realized that Shawna was playing both sides for fools. A movement to blindside her ensued, which angered Anthony because he had wanted to cure the poison by booting Angie; however, his allies reminded him that Amanda had shot Kelly C in a similar situation the prior season, and they all expected her to take Angie out in a similar manner. Richard went missing, which led everyone to question if the cat creature had gotten him too; Richard, had, in fact, gotten lost and stumbled upon the pre-jury lodge, where he was forced to stay. At Tribal, Angie mouthed off and continued to be disrespectful to Amanda, which irritated Kenny on the jury and several players around her. Angie and Amanda got to arguing and Amanda pressed Angie’s uselessness and desire to be nothing but a troll. Realizing that she had another Kelly C on her hands, there was no choice left. The barrel of Amanda’s mini handgun stared Angie down, a bullet went off, and the fire consumed the body of a troll nobody wanted to deal with.
EPISODE 8: “Even More Complicated”
Reward Challenge: Survivor Auction. Prizes awarded were as follows:
- Anthony – Visit with his father
- Penner – Triple vote (secret), dummy item
- Chelsea – Medallion of Power
- Yau-Man – Reward Reverser (secret)
- Jen – Note to be read at F7 immunity
- An idol shard was also available, but won by nobody
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would stack balls in towers in front of them. They were allowed to destroy each other’s towers. The two people who had built the highest towers in a set amount of time would win immunity.
Many people were relieved by Angie’s death, and many people wondered how truthful people had been with their intentions to vote. With both Richard and Angie gone, the game was down to eight, and everyone knew that it would be a final two with seven jurors. The reward brought a Survivor Auction, and tension flared as people outbid each other. Anthony had a touching reunion with his father and the items won caused people to be labeled as bigger threats, though Chelsea’s Medallion of Power was transferrable even if she were to be voted out. Shawna wondered if The Plastics had been intending on voting for Jen, and eventually word got out that Shawna would have left had it not been for Richard and/or Angie. At the immunity challenge, Anthony once again proved his dominance, and Penner won the other immunity; both went to Deception and immediately began arguing. Anthony realized that Penner could not longer be trusted and had his own agenda, and that he would have to leave the game as soon as possible. Back at camp, the two alliances were divided. Penner came back and made an alliance with Brenda and Chelsea to get rid of Jen, who he had felt had been a snake, and they presumed Courtney and Shawna would vote alongside them; however, Jen lied to Courtney that Chelsea had leaked the plan to her, which led to Courtney campaigning to get rid of Chelsea. Chelsea grew paranoid as Courtney was no longer talking to her, but decided not to call her out. At Tribal Council, Chelsea’s paranoia came true as she was voted out 5-0 with several nullifiers being played on her alliance. She became the second member of the jury, finally giving Kenny some company, and chose to give her Medallion of Power to Brenda.
EPISODE 9: “Naked”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would be judged on displays of certain emotions or emotion-provoking characteristics. The one with the best score would win immunity and go to Deception instead of Tribal Council.
Brenda and Penner were livid about Chelsea’s departure and swore to avenge her, but the alliance of Yau-Man, Anthony, and Jen, referring to themselves as “The Trinity” wouldn’t have it. Anthony and Penner tried to make amends, but all fell through and Anthony realized Penner was too sneaky to be trusted, and that their alliance was not meant to be. Anthony finally lost an immunity when Shawna was the most emotional, leaving him feeling naked. Shawna became exempt from Tribal Council, while Anthony, Jen, and Yau-Man set their sights on Penner. Penner and Brenda discussed which of The Trinity would be the best person to target, and the decision was split between challenge beast Anthony and manipulator Jen; ultimately, they decided that Jen was the bigger strategic threat and would be the better person to target. Penner tried to weasel his way into the alliance, but only made the target on him bigger, and rewards were brought up. Given that Anthony, Jen, and Yau-Man all knew theirs were legit, they knew they could control the vote. Almost feeling sorry for Penner, Jen decided she would double his vote to give him a chance, but Penner chose to use his triple on Brenda instead in a reward-flying fest at Tribal Council, which included a strange idol that Yau-Man played on Jen but was rendered useless. Ultimately, only two votes, those of Anthony and Yau-Man, survived, and both were for Penner, who was sent to the jury.
EPISODE 10: “Little Lies Make My Heart Crumble”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways were to write stories about the events of the game. They would be judged by the hosts and the one with the best story would win immunity.
Yau-Man’s allies questioned his sanity in regards to him playing an idol he knew was fake, while Brenda resorted to knowing she would be the next to go due to her friends on the jury. She was determined to win the next immunity, but contemplated saving her Medallion of Power to assist her in going on a streak. She ultimately did not use it, and barely lost the challenge to Yau-Man and Jen, the latter who earned her third Hidden Immunity Idol shard which allowed her to complete her rocket. Yau-Man gave his immunity to the increasingly depressed Courtney, who had begun worrying about her family back home, and earned a Hidden Immunity Idol as well. The Trinity conspired to take out Brenda, but Shawna had other ideas until Jen informed her of Yau-Man’s reward reverser, which would ensure the vote would go the Trinity’s way. Jen felt increasingly comfortable because of this, and decided to have all three of them play their Hidden Immunity Idols at the same time, a move which both Anthony and Yau-Man felt unnecessary. At Tribal Council, all three idols and the reward reverser were played, reversing Brenda’s last hope of using her legit double and triple votes to blindside Jen. Brenda was sent to the jury 4-1, with her fake vote changer becoming real to make Jen vote Shawna.
EPISODE 11: “A Lamb to the Slaughter”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would complete a series of six puzzles of the same image, only two of which were exactly alike. The first person to correctly guess which two were the same would win immunity and go to Deception, and also take a friend.
The Trinity celebrated their controlling status and another successful vote, while Shawna plotted to stay by whatever means necessary. She knew she would need to get Jen to turn on Anthony, which Jen had already been considering due to Anthony’s beastliness in the challenges, and also pick up the vote of Courtney the pawn. Jen did not agree to anything, but said she would tell Shawna if she heard her name. Jen won immunity, and took Anthony to Deception to ensure he felt safer. Shawna figured she was leaving by such, and although Yau-Man felt like Jen’s third wheel, he figured now would not be the time to do anything about it because he would have more control in the final four if he didn’t. Anthony got word that Jen was considering betraying him, but that Shawna was the one trying to convince her, and he had no idea why Jen would consider it. With Jen immune, he knew he had to vote out Shawna or Courtney and Shawna was the more obvious choice. At Tribal Council, Shawna knew she was a goner, and exposed all of the skeletons in the Trinity’s closets, calling Jen out for being a liar in regards to the deal to watch her back, Yau-Man for offering multiple final threes with only one other Trinity member, and that Anthony had been the third wheel in the alliance from the beginning and that both Yau-Man and Jen wouldn’t hesitate to betray him. Shawna left 4-1 as she expected, with only Anthony using a legit vote changer on Courtney for the vote she already cast. Rewards were no more following this round.
EPISODE 12: “The Promises We Made”
Reward Challenge: Castaways would be quizzed on Amanda’s backstage exploits during the game. The one who got the most answers correct would get an advantage in the final four immunity challenge, which would occur immediately after before results were revealed.
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would balance an unstable hat on their head while holding a heavy plate with one hand. If either fell, the castaway would be out of the challenge. The last person standing would win immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final three.
Shawna’s words at Tribal Council immediately made their impact on the Trinity. They all began to distrust each other, while Courtney chose to stay out of the drama. Jen began pushing Yau-Man to get rid of Anthony, fearing he would be the biggest jury threat, to the point that he began to get annoyed with her. He approached Anthony about this, and Anthony realized how determined Jen was to get rid of him. At the challenge, Anthony was the only to get any questions correct for the reward as many of the others were stumped, giving him a reward he did not need. Anthony and Jen duked it out in immunity for an eight-hour period until Jen’s plate fell, giving Anthony an immunity he badly needed. This left Jen extremely vulnerable, and she acted like nothing was wrong and that Courtney would be the Trinity’s final victim. Anthony and Yau-Man discussed Jen’s loyalty and her motive behind lasting so long in the IC, which felt like a means to stop Anthony and vote him out. Both knew that Courtney would vote for whoever they said to save herself. Realizing that Jen was a potential jury threat despite her increased shadiness and desire to break apart the Trinity, they settled on their decision. At Tribal Council, Jen was sent crying to the jury 3-1, shocking everyone.
Immunity Challenge: The final three would complete an obstacle course to retrieve puzzle pieces, then assemble their puzzle. The first person to correctly assemble their puzzle would win immunity and a spot in the final two.
Jen’s boot left a major hole in the final three, as the Trinity had been broken and Jen’s tears had made Yau-Man feel guilty. The final three went along the rite of passage to pay respect to their fallen comrades, reflecting upon who had been friends, who had been enemies, and who they had wished had been friends. They then competed in the final immunity challenge, which Anthony won in a landslide. He was to immediately vote out one person, and he sent Courtney to become the final member of the jury.
On Day 39, Anthony and Yau-Man enjoyed the traditional final-day breakfast before heading to the Final Tribal Council, where seven angry jurors awaited to interrogate them. After Anthony and Yau-Man recapped their games, in which Yau-Man admitted that his true final two was Courtney and Anthony confessed his double-dealing with Penner, the jury began questioning. Brenda went first and warned the two men that they would be facing a tough crowd. She called them both “prize whores,” said Anthony was “fake” and Yau-Man was an “enemy” and asked that if they would have made the end if there was no Deception Valley. Both claimed that they would be. Brenda pressed further and asked about which member of the Trinity they’d axe if they had to before the merge, and Yau-Man and Anthony said each other because they both were closest to Jen.
A very bitter Jen was next. She called Yau-Man a hypocrite for voting her out for treason against the Trinity when he was planning to take Courtney to the end. She asked him for his real reason for voting her out, to which he said it was for treason against the Trinity. He explained that she had wanted him gone so bad that it was clear she could no longer be trusted, and that since she was a major threat to win, that excuse was as good as any. Jen accused Anthony of having made the end on challenge wins and Deception prizes alone, and wanted to know what else he had done and to compare it to Yau-Man. Anthony said that although his challenge wins were what were on the surface, he did plenty of social and strategic gameplay on top, but his actions were overshadowed by Yau-Man and Jen, respectively. He admitted that Yau-Man may have played him – and everyone – well, and that Yau-Man had ensured anyone in the final five would have taken him to the end.
Courtney was third. She appreciated the effort both of them had put into informing her of situations, so she asked what they’d do in certain situations, and who they preferred over other people. Anthony and Yau-Man both paid respect to Brenda’s desperation to overcome the odds and both thought Chelsea and Kenny had been robbed of their full potential. Yau-Man was sympathetic with Jen’s feelings, but wished for there to be no bad blood between them down the road.
Kenny went next. He asked for the final two to go over every person in the game from strongest to weakest. Yau-Man felt Brenda was his biggest threat, while Anthony brought up Ace, saying if Ace had been left in the game, things would have been very different. Both echoed sentiments that Richard was a wild card, Sash never existed, Chelsea was an unknown, and that Jen was an extremely social snake.
Shawna allocated her questions to explaining the Trinity, and how each person involved contributed in their excelling aspect. Anthony, whom Shawna said was the muscle, said his challenge prowess helped them stockpile rewards, including an idol which could have been used as extra ammunition. Yau-Man said that as the social butterfly, he was able to gather connections which led to Courtney and Shawna siding with the Trinity over Brenda, Penner, and Chelsea. Shawna asked them both who would have been the third if Jen had not been the third member of the Trinity. Both said Penner or Kenny and they felt Kenny would have been more loyal. Shawna asked Anthony why he wouldn’t vote Yau-Man, and he said Yau-Man abused potential friendships to the point he had hurt people. Yau-Man got defensive, saying one should separate friendships from a game for a million dollars. Anthony said he understood, saying he just got the feeling that he and Yau-Man were a final two, and all was well and good.
Chelsea followed Shawna and wanted to know what set each of the final two apart from who was sitting next to them. Yau-Man played his relationships and lack of immunity throughout the game, saying he could not have made it there without people willing to keep him, and while Anthony won multiple challenges to get to the end, Yau-Man had four people willing to take him. Anthony stated his challenge prowess was his biggest accomplishment on the surface, but in doing so he controlled the Deception Valley items and was able to form relationships due to his safety. He said that his challenge streak would likely be the most memorable thing about the season for its players, and that since he was rarely a target when vulnerable proved that people at least liked him enough to keep a threat around, and he indicated he and Penner had developed a relationship that gave him an extra option for which to betray the Trinity. He said that he had also regained Shawna’s loyalty at the final 8, which was instrumental in a Trinity victory.
Penner closed the show, and he was angry. He started out by calling Yau-Man a deranged, attention-seeking pervert, and demanded to know more about Yau-Man as a person. After calling Penner an immature, bitter freak, Yau-Man went through a long recap of his life, which almost put half the jury to sleep, but not Penner, who was pleased to learn that Yau-Man was actually a person. Penner then went to berating Anthony, calling him an annoying coward who hid behind challenge wins and prizes and that he had zero strategy besides that, and that with fewer prizes, Shawna and Courtney would have sided against the Trinity. Anthony rebuked Penner by saying that he made the right decision in voting Penner out and that he actually made moves, such as being integral in forming the Trinity, blindsiding Crystal round one, and that without him, the Trinity would not have won anything. Penner blew him off and sat down grouchily.
The jury went to vote. In the end, Yau-Man Chan defeated Anthony Robinson in a 5-2 vote, earning the votes of Kenny, Penner, Courtney, Jen, and Shawna, and became the Sole Survivor and a million dollars richer.
All-Stars were announced as the following:
Yau-Man Chan, “The Kook” – A crazy player who, despite the oddities, formed many relationships which propelled him into the best position come the merge. A huge social threat, everyone liked and respected him and he ended up winning the million dollars.
Anthony Robinson, “The Emperor” – A challenge dominator who many people initially saw as king of the hill, he forged great bonds and came on strongly, and was able to control the rewards and get his alliance to the final four.
Brenda Lowe, “The Bombshell” – A fierce player in all departments that ended up on the wrong side of the coin, she was ultimately screwed by her enemies’ rewards and had earned respect from all of them.
Chelsea Meissner, “The Cutie” – Like her ally Brenda, she ended up on the wrong side and tried to make the most of it by making friendships that ultimately never worked out. She ws robbed by excessive prizes and was dubbed a major wild card.
Shawna Mitchell, “The Stealth Bomber” – An incredibly sneaky player who knew when to lay back and when to go in gunning… and when she went in gunning, she made an instrumental impact on the game.
Courtney Marit, “The Dancer” – A strong UTR player who made strategic decisions based on her relationships. Although gullible, she danced her way to the final three, and was seen as redeeming in the eyes of many of her peers for her genuine nature.
Jonathan Penner had been offered a spot, but declined. Jen Lyon was initially to be invited, but production later found out she was ineligible.
Kalahari was a truly fun season to host and I enjoyed having another blindside-fest. Those are always fun. I'm happy with all who played and I look forward to All-Stars 2!
© 2012 Amandy Productions Ltd.
