Post by Amanda Kimmel on Aug 10, 2012 21:09:48 GMT -5
Season ten brought back twenty-two castaways from previous seasons to duke it out in another backstabbing bloodbath for $1 million. The twenty-two returnees were as follows:
From Survivor: Manchuria [S4]
From Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley [S6]
[/li][li]Klein Wilhelm, Eighth Place, The Megalomaniac
[/li][li]Julie Berry, Tenth Place, The Heart[/li][/ul][/color]
From Survivor: Turkey [S7]
From Survivor: Generic Tropical Island [S8]
From Survivor: Kalahari [S9]
Additionally, Survivor: Jiuzhaigou winner Parvati Shallow opted to continue being a producer this season, as opposed to playing; Survivor: Turkey castaways Kelly Bruno, J.P. Calderon, and Stephen Fishbach all declined, as did Survivor: GTI contestant Tyson Apostol, and Survivor: Kalahari castaway Jonathan Penner. Survivor: Tonga villain Natalie Bolton, expected back this season, was nowhere to be found.
EPISODE ONE: “People Can Be Cutthroat”
In the two-hour season premiere, twenty-one contestants began by landing on an island in the South Pacific, ready to do a battle of wits. Lacking tribes, they immediately began scrambling, rekindling friendships and renewing rivalries. Many saw Yau-Jess as a major threat and hoped to be able to conspire to get her out, while others like Anthony and Tracy badly wanted to work with Yau. Brenda and Chelsea immediately reunited and began gossiping, telling stories about their cast mates; Klein eyed them up, making them both uneasy. Ashley found socializing a hassle, and was angry that she had to deal with socially awkward people like Klein and “obsessive freaks” like Mikayla. The castaways’ scrambling was interrupted by Amanda approaching them, and they were greeted by a plane dropping a capsule, which contained Michslut, the winner of Survivor: Turkey, who proclaimed to have become “Michangel” after being enlightened in her coma. Despite that, she and Sandra immediately fought in front of everyone, which led many people to recognize Sandra’s short temper and Michangel’s loud mouth, though people mostly thought aligning with Michangel was a better idea. The reward challenge commenced; Anthony and Kelly each won a Veto but would not be told what it did until later, and the tribes came out as such:
Aldatma (Turkish for “Deception”): Anthony, Courtney, Eliza, Heidi, Sandra, Shawna, Tracy
Dgra Sha Len (Tibetan for “Revenge”): Alex, Ashley, Brenda, Chelsea, Jeff, Kelly, Papa Bear
Rugsteek (Afrikaans for “Backstab”): Adam, Julie, Michangel, Michelle, Mikayla, Misty, Yau-Jess
Klein finished in last place after putting no effort into the challenge. He went to exile, where his sanity dissipated and he contemplated quitting, as he did not want the curse to affect his future in the game; the psychologist on staff attended to him to prevent him from doing anything drastic. At Rugsteek, Misty and Julie banded together and were wary of Adam, who had betrayed their alliance in Jiuzhaigou; Mikayla immediately assumed a position of power and, knowing she had people willing to do so, she began forming bonds to take out both Yau-Jess and Michelle. Michangel and Adam bonded to the point she considered him a “boy toy.” At Dgra Sha Len, Brenda and Chelsea were quick to make a final two alliance, and Papa Bear approached them thinking he could get in with them, which sparked an interest in an alliance. Alex, Ashley, and Jeff bonded as well, and Kelly began having loyalties to both sides. At Aldatma, several smaller alliances began forming, and most people wanted to take out Courtney, Sandra, or Shawna for being weaker links. Anthony did not trust Courtney and considered playing a Villain this season.
At the Immunity Challenge, Amanda unveiled a treasure chest similar to the one from Survivor: Turkey and said that the winning tribe would open it up. The castaways competed in their brawls; Aldatma dominated the challenge, though Rugsteek was close behind, Aldatma ultimately won the box. Misty attacked Alex hardcore after he called her an idiot, and as Chelsea was the only one to win a match for Dgra Sha Len, they were sent to Tribal Council. Papa Bear had been an easy casualty in the challenge, and as he had been the worst performer in the reward as well, his name came up immediately; however, he began bonding with Brenda and Chelsea in an attempt to save himself. At Aldatma, they gave the prize contents to three people who had won their matches most decisively: Anthony, Eliza, and Tracy. Back at Dgra Sha Len, Kelly shifted the target of the Alex-Ashley-Jeff alliance to Chelsea to anger Amanda for no apparent reason and perhaps get her to remove Klein due to his psychological evaluation process, while Brenda and Chelsea decided to target Ashley because she was anti-social. Papa Bear waffled to their side realizing that Ashley could chew him to pieces, leaving Kelly in the middle. Ashley grew paranoid, figuring Kelly was up to something. At Tribal Council, Kelly sided with Brenda and Chelsea and Ashley was the first All-Star to burn out with a 4-3 vote. On her way out, she accused Kelly of being a double-dealing immoral bigot in a last-ditch effort to turn the rest of the tribe against her.
EPISODE TWO: “Walking on Eggshells”
At Dgra Sha Len, Alex was disgusted that Kelly had betrayed him in booting Ashley and aimed to break up the girls by whatever means possible, but knew he was in trouble of being Kelly’s next target as he was likely the next biggest threat. A somewhat stable Klein returned to the tribe and was welcomed, but he too felt vulnerable as he was their weakest member and he had a curse that would activate later in the game. At Aldatma, Sandra continued to annoy some of her tribemates, and an alliance of Eliza, Heidi, and Tracy came forward. Eliza offered deals to both Shawna and Anthony, and both were accepted, leaving Courtney and Sandra out of the loop. At Rugsteek, Yau-Jess’s unique personality began aggravating the rest of the tribe, while everyone began ignoring Michelle T because they did not think she deserved to be there. At the Immunity Challenge, Dgra Sha Len fell behind due to Papa Bear sleeping and Brenda falling ill. Rugsteek and Aldatma competed closely with Aldatma again taking the win and opting for immunity. They could not agree on who to give the box to, so a coin was tossed and Dgra Sha Len took the box, discovering a motherlode of rewards which they split evenly, with Kelly, Alex, and Chelsea each taking two for their contributions in the challenge. Dgra Sha Len was relatively tame until Papa Bear suggested booting Brenda because she had fallen ill and did not seem as passionate about the game as she had in Kalahari, but he decided to keep it from Kelly and Chelsea to avoid being blindsided. Uniting the men, Papa Bear blindsided Brenda 4-2-1 and she was the second person voted out. At Rugsteek, Mikayla organized Adam, Michangel, Julie, and Misty to vote for Yau-Jess for being a major threat and awkward to talk to. The group lied to Yau that Michelle was the target, which prompted Yau to try to save her and blindside Mikayla. Michelle opted to vote for Julie since the two did not have a good rapport but told nobody, and Yau’s pleas fell on deaf ears. At an uneventful Tribal Council, the Survivor: Kalahari winner was sent packing in 20th place with a 5-1-1 vote.
EPISODE THREE: “The First Thing”
Chelsea was extremely bummed that Brenda had left, but she had half-expected it due to Brenda’s sudden loss of passion. Kelly tried to regain control of the tribe after voting in the minority, and thought she was in a good position to at least survive another vote. Rugsteek was happy to have gotten rid of a threat, but Michangel was not happy with how Mikayla was running the show. She talked to Mikayla about who their weakest members were, and Mikayla said Misty. Michangel decided this information would be useful come the next Tribal Council. At Aldatma, Sandra asked Eliza and Tracy for an alliance, and they decided to bring in Heidi as a fourth; ensuring that Courtney was the least connected on the tribe and could be an easy boot if they went to Tribal. However, Aldatma won immunity and another box, which contained a single measly nullifier, which the tribe, under Eliza’s lead, gave to Heidi; Dgra Sha Len was the second tribe to complete the puzzle, sending Rugsteek to Tribal Council again. Many at Rugsteek were iffy on the decision to boot Yau, and following the same trend, Mikayla, paranoid that Michangel was after her, decided to target the former winner and keep Michelle, the supposed second boot, because nobody liked Michelle and she would be a target. Mikayla told the idea to her number two, Julie, who did not like it one bit because she and Michelle had never gotten along; Julie and Misty tried to convince Mikayla to vote for Michelle but to no avail. She angrily went to Adam and the two suggested that Mikayla was overplaying and might have to go, but Julie was still insistent on voting out Michelle, which left Adam in a swing spot. He came up with a plan for Michelle and Michangel to vote Mikayla, while Julie and Misty would vote Michelle and Mikayla would vote Michangel. Julie was convinced that Adam was loyal and the vote would be 4-2 with Michelle T leaving, unaware that Mikayla could be getting votes. Adam questioned his decisions, knowing full well the fate of his entire game was in this round, and at Tribal Council, he once again betrayed Julie and Misty, and Mikayla was blindsided royally by a 3-2-1 vote, leaving all three of them completely stymied.
EPISODE FOUR: “Boys Are Jerks”
At Rugsteek, Adam immediately tried to do damage control with Misty and Julie, promising them that they could still trust him. Misty went along with it, which made Adam unsure how upset she was, while Julie was more confrontational and made it clear she no longer trusted him. The next morning, Adam and Michangel began cuddling in private, which made Julie even more suspicious. Rugsteek could not agree on who would do what tasks in time for the immunity challenge, and ended up getting a disadvantage; this caused Michelle to underperform, especially when paired with Misty. When Rugsteek inevitably lost, the tribe quickly went at each other’s throats. While Aldatma got another three-reward bronze box which Eliza dictated reward distribution in, they celebrated having not been to Tribal Council yet; DSL was relieved to have avoided the drama for so long. Adam was unsure about which side he should vote with. He had seen Michelle doing horribly in yet another challenge, yet his loyalty lied with Michangel. Adam confided in Misty that he was unsure how much Julie trusted him and that he was contemplating voting her off, which upset Misty. She informed Julie of this, who approached Adam and confronted him about his true loyalties. This put him in a role he didn’t want to be in, and he realized that he had no choice but to vote out the one person whose trust he could never regain. Julie grew more paranoid as Adam acted more shady around her, ultimately leading to her departure in a 3-2 Tribal Council vote.
EPISODE FIVE: “The Pulling Out Method”
Misty felt alienated by her tribe and pleaded for a swap to save herself, while Michangel and Michelle were happy that they had an easy vote if they lost again. Aldatma became increasingly annoyed by Sandra’s laziness, and figured that they would vote her off if they’d lost. When the tribes came for an immunity challenge, they were shocked to be greeted by a twist which put all seventeen of them living together at a lagoon where Klein had previously been exiled at. Klein’s curse also came into play, revealing that any vote he received would be doubled and that he would be unable to compete in challenges until his curse was broken, which led to speculation on how to break it. The challenge proved brutal for several people, but in the end Anthony and Eliza once again showed their challenge prowess and took the win. Realizing this was his chance, Papa Bear, thinking for some reason that the tribes would go back to the way they had been before after this round, decided to weaken Rugsteek and blindside Michangel. He went to Aldatma and tried to propose a voting block that would unite the two more powerful tribes. Eliza and Anthony entertained the idea, but ultimately realized that DSL’s platinum box and sudden desire to vote together posed a bigger threat to them. Thinking they were voting together, Alex offered a list of who had what rewards to Eliza, and she returned the favor with some information about Aldatma’s, but she immediately ran to her tribe about it. She told Tracy, who told Anthony. They decided to target former winner Kelly, who had the connections and the most rewards. They tried to get enough votes together, but they realized it was risky, especially that Misty had joined Kelly’s side and Sandra didn’t hesitate to jump on board with voting out Michangel. They decided to spread lies about Kelly being the target, in order to get her and her friends to fruitlessly blow rewards, and in reality target Klein since he had the double vote curse. Everything, however, was interrupted when Shawna cut her finger while slicing a coconut, and the bleeding was so extensive she had to be pulled from the game, delivering a blow to the Aldatma alliance. Realizing that the timing was poor to lie to Kelly, Eliza decided to back out of the original plan and just vote Klein. At Tribal Council, DSL used no rewards, and Klein was voted out 8-8, receiving 16 votes due to his curse. The curse left with him.
EPISODE SIX: “Drama and Confusion”
Most of the original DSL weren’t surprised that the Aldatma group had taken the opportunity to vote one of them off. Sandra accused Michangel of whoring herself to get votes, which led to a full-on argument with vulgar name-calling and exposing of each other’s strategies; most everyone decided to sit back and watch Michangel destroy Sandra’s reputation. After the dust settled, Michangel got her old tribe together and wanted them to stick together, as he knew Misty had jumped ship the last round. This effort was marred by Michelle confronting Misty for betraying them and for previously voting for her. Michelle went as far as making attacks on Misty’s game, thus permanently alienating Misty from their group and causing Adam to state that Michelle was expendable. Michelle claimed in a confessional that Misty had done everything to make her untrustworthy, and that she’s not one to sit and be fake with people. Meanwhile, Anthony talked to Eliza about DSL’s rewards, and she said she got the information from Tracy, which contradicted what Tracy had told him the day prior. Realizing that Aldatma was not to be trusted, Anthony told Papa Bear and the two made a final two deal. The castaways gathered for what was a presumed immunity challenge, and once again Anthony and Eliza won after over five hours of competing. To everyone’s shock, Amanda announced this was a reward challenge and that although Anthony and Eliza would be immune at their next Tribal Council, they were picking tribes. Eliza became captain of Aldatma, but Anthony got first pick. The tribes became as follows:
New Dgra Sha Len: Anthony, Heidi, Courtney, Chelsea, Misty, Papa Bear, Alex
New Aldatma: Eliza, Adam, Tracy, Michelle, Michangel, Sandra, Kelly
Jeff was left unpicked and was to remain in the lagoon. He found a note in the bottle, indicating some sort of buried treasure, but decided it was a hoax and sent it back out to sea. He instead wrote “OH MEN JEFF WAS HERE” in the sand, a project which took him over an hour.
At new DSL, Anthony was ecstatic that he got an ideal tribe for himself. He had his new final two partner in Papa Bear, Chelsea, who he presumed was close to Papa Bear, two Aldatmas, and a swing vote in Misty. He expected that if they did go to Tribal Council, the vote would be messy, and he was determined to win. At Aldatma, Kelly felt extremely vulnerable being on a tribe with people who had voted Klein out the round before. Several others commented that Kelly was a major threat to their game, especially since she was packing heat, and decided that she would be the target if they lost. At the immunity challenge, the new Dgra Sha Len smoked Aldatma, with only Michelle winning a match for the orange team and Sandra forfeiting in the round that gave DSL the win. Aldatma won a silver box and distributed items to everyone but Kelly, who forfeited her bid at an item, and Sandra, who took enormous issue with it. Facing Tribal Council, Kelly’s name was the obvious choice since she was a big threat, but Sandra’s laziness and forfeiture at the challenge became the center of attention. Michangel badly wanted her foe gone but recognized that Kelly was a bigger threat. Kelly made an alliance with Eliza and Tracy to protect herself, but didn’t want to stir the pot and make herself out to be an even bigger threat and waited for them to give her a name. Eliza and Tracy talked to Adam and they agreed to lull Kelly into a false sense of security, and told her Michangel was the target. They told the same to Sandra to shut her up, when in reality everyone else would be voting for Kelly, who was blindsided 5-2 at Tribal Council. Jeff officially jointed Aldatma in her stead.
EPISODE SEVEN: “A Pain That Will Not Heal”
Jeff immediately felt vulnerable upon arriving at Aldatma beach, feeling that he had no friends on this tribe and plenty of people who would never trust him. Eliza and Tracy discussed voting out Kelly, and realized that it may have been a mistake because she would have helped them in challenges and may have been truthful about voting with them. At DSL, Anthony became stricken with Courtney’s increasing desire to be alone, and that nobody had any clue what she was doing, while Alex was set on getting Misty out because she had a grudge against him and he had no reason why, forgetting that he’d called her an idiot and that she’d beat the stuffing out of him for it. Anthony and Alex compared notes and were not sure if they would go along with each other’s intentions. Anthony also talked to Chelsea and the two hit it off for the first time. Michangel befriended Jeff at Aldatma, attempting to gain his trust and his double vote, which she could use to vote him off if need be. At the immunity challenge, DSL wiped the floor with a disorganized Aldatma tribe, sending them to another Tribal Council. They received another weak box, and Eliza, Michelle, and Michangel all claimed rewards. Sandra immediately began campaigning against Michangel once again, and Eliza said that would be fine, although she had no intention of doing so when there was an original DSL member on the tribe. Michangel quickly got wind of Sandra’s tactics and made herself determined to vote her off instead of Jeff, figuring that she could use Jeff. She convinced him to give her the double vote, and he obliged. She then went to Adam and discussed voting out Sandra, and Adam was initially stubborn about voting for the less trustworthy Jeff who still had connections to Alex, Papa Bear, and Chelsea. Realizing that Eliza was voting Jeff out, Adam felt himself as a pawn in either direction, and went to Michangel about what to do and the two argued intensely over who should be leaving. Michangel contemplated using her rewards, but ultimately decided that would only cause further drama within the tribe. Sandra continued pushing Michangel until Tracy told her that Jeff was the target, just to shut her up. Just before leaving for Tribal, she pled to Eliza to hear her out and get rid of Sandra, and in the end it was enough to switch Eliza’s vote, but not enough to save Jeff, who was voted out 4-3.
EPISODE EIGHT: “I’m Making This Personal”
Immediately upon returning to camp, Sandra refused to talk to anyone and went off in the woods to vent and throw coconuts, angry that, in her mind, Michangel had many of them wrapped around her finger. Meanwhile, Michangel vented that Eliza had more pawns than she could count, and that something needed to be done. At DSL, information surfaced that Alex had sold out the original DSL’s rewards to Eliza, which made Anthony and Papa Bear both think he was untrustworthy and that they should blindside him when given the chance. Alex, meanwhile, was focused on settling his feud with Misty by voting her out. At the immunity challenge, the tribes discovered that both would attend Tribal Council, and an insanely personal, violent challenge would determine the immunity winners, who would also vote at the other tribe’s TC in addition to their own. Heidi won a hard-fought victory at DSL, while Eliza edged Tracy at Aldatma. Back at Aldatma, the vote was set to finally get rid of Sandra, whose laziness and lippiness was aggravating several people, and that since she wouldn’t stick with them at a potential merge at 11 that she needed to go. Tracy and Eliza eventually felt weirded out by this, feeling that an original Rugsteek majority would vote one of them out if there were not a merge, so they struck a deal with Adam to blindside Michelle should they lose again. Sandra began campaigning against Michangel for the umpteenth time, which made her the set target, but Tracy grew uneasy and hopped on that bandwagon and went to Michelle to see if she would join them. Already angry at Tracy for attacking her in the challenge, Michelle felt uncomfortable by Tracy’s suggestion and immediately ran to Michangel and the two decided to blindside Tracy instead of getting rid of non-threat Sandra. Tracy relented, realizing that Sandra was the obvious choice, but at Tribal Council, Tracy was blindsided by a 4-3 vote, with Michangel spending Jeff’s double vote and a 1x nullifier, and she angrily left calling the original Rugsteeks jerks. At DSL, there was chatter about taking out Alex, but that Courtney, who had grown increasingly anti-social and lazy, would be a more plausible target. Several people grew increasingly paranoid that the scuffle between Alex and Misty was cover for a secret alliance, which, in fact, did not exist, as Misty was gung-ho about getting rid of Alex. She went to Courtney and the two bonded and decided Alex was indeed a weasel and could not be trusted. Alex heard his name from Anthony and realized that now wasn’t the time to take Misty out and jumped on getting the original DSL to vote Courtney out. Anthony, realizing that he had committed to a side, had no choice, either, but the old DSL didn’t trust him. Using several of their Platinum box rewards when they, in reality, had everyone but Courtney and Misty on their side, they voted Courtney out 7-0, ending the original Aldatma tribe’s dominance.
EPISODE NINE: “Dead Meat Tonight”
At Aldatma, Michelle relished that she had pulled off a blindside and made it look like Michangel was the one behind it. Michangel, meanwhile, began to get sick of Michelle’s condescending attitude, and contemplated blindsiding her longtime ally. At DSL, Alex and Misty started ignoring each other, getting people to question if their feud was actually legit. They both talked about voting the other out, and many people felt that Alex was shady – this was later confirmed when Papa Bear and Anthony realized that Alex was the one who sold out DSL’s rewards to Eliza and Michangel, making them realize that an Erciyes alliance could, in fact, be a reality. Chelsea and Anthony had a discussion, and she said she didn’t trust Alex and that he should be the one to leave. When the immunity challenge came around, Misty and Alex began arguing and Alex continued his condescending streak against her in an attempt to throw the challenge; DSL fell behind until Aldatma got confused and Anthony organized DSL to pull out the win; however, they surrendered immunity to a shocked Aldatma to instead go for the box to claim rewards. The tribe discussed rewards and decided that Alex starting an argument and trying to throw a challenge against the tribe’s wishes meant he shouldn’t get a reward, but he grabbed a double vote and the tribe didn’t let him have it. Alex was angry that he didn’t get a reward and Misty did, saying it was like giving terrorists a nuke. Alex and Anthony discussed the vote, and Anthony lied that Misty was still set to go, when in reality both Alex leaking rewards and Chelsea’s feelings had convinced him that Alex was not to be trusted. Chelsea went to Papa Bear and told him that Alex was likely aligned with Eliza and the Michelles, which got him thinking. Alex got arrogant about his “superiority” over her and was unaware that Chelsea, Anthony, Heidi, and Papa Bear were all fed up with his weaseling; led by Chelsea’s planted seed, they blindsided him at Tribal Council by a 5-1 vote, making him the first member of the jury.
EPISODE TEN: “Playing with Fire”
At DSL, Anthony seemed to be the only person who recognized that Chelsea had been the one to initiate the Alex vote, and he figured that she would be an ideal person to take to the end based on she was an ideal partner in crime. At Aldatma, Sandra and Michangel, both expecting a merge, decided to put aside their differences and form a temporary truce so the Aldatmas would stick together. Eliza, however, was wary of both of them, and did not want an alliance in which she would be fifth. The two tribes merged that afternoon into Hatutu, named for a generic tropical atoll, and enjoyed a feast of fried appetizers, fruit, and stuffed crust pizza. They were then greeted with a difficult immunity challenge, which, as expected, was won by Anthony and Eliza. Back at camp, Sandra decided to target Chelsea for no apparent reason, but said privately that it was because Chelsea was the hardest to predict; her Rugsteek alliance mates saw Chelsea as an easy vote, not realizing that Chelsea had been the one to blindside Alex and that she was a core member of the DSL alliance. That group unified together and pretended to agree with the Chelsea vote to prevent the possibility of the Rugsteek trio playing too many rewards. Papa Bear decided he wanted Michangel to go and began talking to his tribe about it, but was shocked when Alex having been blindsided got Misty to be on a power trip and she decided that Michelle should go for the confrontation before the captains’ challenge. Michangel told Anthony that Heidi and Eliza needed to be separated, and the two made a final three deal that Anthony had no intention of honoring. Anthony leaked this information to Heidi, who leaked it to Eliza, and together, everyone realized that Papa Bear had the right idea and that the Survivor: Turkey winner needed to go, and they managed to sway Misty. Realizing that Rugsteek could play some rewards, they slipped a few in at the Tribal Council vote, but none were needed as Michangel was blindsdied 6-3 and went to join Alex at Pornonosa.
EPISODE ELEVEN: “All Is Fair in Love and War”
Adam and Michelle were fuming that their ally had been blindsided, but understood why their trio needed to be broken up. Sandra went off to vent, and even she didn’t understand why she was so angry over her rival having been voted out. Michelle was most angry at Eliza, saying she wanted others playing the game for her, while Eliza was happy to be out of an alliance where she was fifth. The new DSL alliance got together to discuss whether Sandra or Michelle should be the next to go, as they felt that both had overstayed their welcome. Eliza pushed to keep Michelle, confessing that she might be useful, not realizing that the latter was firmly against her and that Sandra was not, contrary to her believe, aligned with Papa Bear in any way; Heidi, however, disagreed because Sandra was less of a threat because Michelle was close to Adam. When Eliza won immunity, Michelle had to put plans to blindside on hold, and decided to start harassing Misty to distract everybody. This caused several members of the DSL alliance to want Michelle gone even more, but realizing that Eliza could defect back to the Aldatma group, they didn’t have a choice. Michelle decided to throw her vote to Misty and argue with her at Tribal Council to increase her paranoia, while everyone else sent Sandra packing in a straightforward 7-1-1 vote.
EPISODE TWELVE: “I May Be a Villain but I’m Not a Monster”
Tempers immediately flared between Misty and Michelle, which Michelle intended to lead people to believe she had gone insane and that nobody would expect a major blindside from her, which she planned to be Eliza or Anthony, the two biggest threats. At the Survivor Auction, Michelle was disappointed to not get an item that would help her in the vote, and complained when Eliza did, which annoyed several of her tribemates, including Eliza began to regret keeping her. Back at camp, Eliza and Michelle had a discussion in which Michelle accused Eliza of letting Anthony play the game for her, which made no sense to Eliza as she had betrayed an alliance she was on the bottom rung of. She began to ignore Michelle, saying that she wasn’t going to play Michelle’s game like Michelle apparently wanted her to, and the effect made Eliza decide that Heidi was right and that Michelle needed to go soon. Michelle also lied that she had found a Hidden Immunity Idol with the clue she’d won at an auction, and to others said she could request a re-do of an immunity challenge. Misty won the revealing challenge, much to Michelle’s chagrin, as she claimed unfairness and was immediately shut up by a Lividmanda stare. Back at camp, people became unconcerned with the challenge results when all hell broke loose when Eliza and Papa Bear decided they wanted to blindside each other, but Eliza was quickly talked out of it by the majority voting Michelle. Michelle suggested to Adam that they should blindside Anthony and get Papa Bear and Chelsea on board. However, they did not realize that those two were in a final three alliance with the emperor, so naturally Papa Bear refused and insisted upon Eliza. Figuring that Anthony was the bigger threat since Eliza “wasn’t playing her own game” in Michelle’s mind, Michelle gave her triple vote to Adam to make his count six times, and Adam decided that they should spend all their rewards to split the vote like they had with Mikayla early in the game, an idea Michelle loved. They tried to convince Misty but she ignored Michelle due to their prior fights, which angered Michelle, who had done it to herself. Papa Bear, meanwhile, blabbed to Anthony that Adam was going after him, which caused Anthony to be completely bewildered. To play it safe, Anthony loaned Papa Bear his rewards just in case something happened, and Papa Bear, thinking that Adam had bitten the hook that Eliza should go, decided to nullify her vote, while Eliza and Heidi allocated rewards to prevent anything wrong from happening because of Michelle. At Tribal Council, rewards flew in every direction in an extremely complicated vote. Papa Bear and Chelsea were shocked to be the only two votes for Eliza and that nullifying Eliza’s vote forced a tie of Anthony and Michelle receiving four votes each, Michelle’s courtesy of Eliza reversing her vote and 2x nullifier. A reward-free revote was held and everybody but Adam, most of whom were in a final three alliance with Anthony, decided they’d had enough of Michelle’s rude, condescending attitude and she was voted off 5-1.
EPISODE THIRTEEN: “A Little Bit Tricky”
From Survivor: Manchuria [S4]
- Sandra-Diaz Twine, Eighth Place, The Instigator
From Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley [S6]
- Ashley Underwood, Runner-up, The Black Widow
- Adam Gentry, Sixth Place, The Diplomat
- Misty Giles, Seventh Place,
[/li][li]Klein Wilhelm, Eighth Place, The Megalomaniac
[/li][li]Julie Berry, Tenth Place, The Heart[/li][/ul][/color]
From Survivor: Turkey [S7]
- Michelle “Michangel” Chase, Sole Survivor, The Only
- Eliza Orlins, Third Place, The Answer
- Alex Angarita, Fourth Place, The Weasel
- Michelle Tesauro, Sixth Place, The Analyst
- Mikayla Wingle, Seventh Place, The Escapist
- Jeff Probst, Ninth Place, The Lost
- Mark Anthony “Papa Bear” Caruso, Twelfth Place, The Wrecker
From Survivor: Generic Tropical Island [S8]
- Kelly Wiglesworth, Sole Survivor, The Doubler
- Heidi Strobel, Runner-up, The Socialite
- Tracy Hughes-Wolf, Third Place, The Mom
From Survivor: Kalahari [S9]
- Yau-Jess Chan, Sole Survivor, The Kook
- Anthony Robinson, Runner-up, The Emperor
- Courtney Marit, Third Place, The Dancer
- Shawna Mitchell, Fifth Place, The Stealth Bomber
- Brenda Lowe, Sixth Place, The Bombshell
- Chelsea Meissner, Eighth Place, The Cutie
Additionally, Survivor: Jiuzhaigou winner Parvati Shallow opted to continue being a producer this season, as opposed to playing; Survivor: Turkey castaways Kelly Bruno, J.P. Calderon, and Stephen Fishbach all declined, as did Survivor: GTI contestant Tyson Apostol, and Survivor: Kalahari castaway Jonathan Penner. Survivor: Tonga villain Natalie Bolton, expected back this season, was nowhere to be found.
EPISODE ONE: “People Can Be Cutthroat”
Reward 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. Once they crossed their bridge, they would grab a buff which would designate which tribe they would end up on; the first two to finish would also win an undisclosed reward, and the person in last place would be exiled and cursed. This challenge was first used in Survivor: Kalahari.
In the two-hour season premiere, twenty-one contestants began by landing on an island in the South Pacific, ready to do a battle of wits. Lacking tribes, they immediately began scrambling, rekindling friendships and renewing rivalries. Many saw Yau-Jess as a major threat and hoped to be able to conspire to get her out, while others like Anthony and Tracy badly wanted to work with Yau. Brenda and Chelsea immediately reunited and began gossiping, telling stories about their cast mates; Klein eyed them up, making them both uneasy. Ashley found socializing a hassle, and was angry that she had to deal with socially awkward people like Klein and “obsessive freaks” like Mikayla. The castaways’ scrambling was interrupted by Amanda approaching them, and they were greeted by a plane dropping a capsule, which contained Michslut, the winner of Survivor: Turkey, who proclaimed to have become “Michangel” after being enlightened in her coma. Despite that, she and Sandra immediately fought in front of everyone, which led many people to recognize Sandra’s short temper and Michangel’s loud mouth, though people mostly thought aligning with Michangel was a better idea. The reward challenge commenced; Anthony and Kelly each won a Veto but would not be told what it did until later, and the tribes came out as such:
Aldatma (Turkish for “Deception”): Anthony, Courtney, Eliza, Heidi, Sandra, Shawna, Tracy
Dgra Sha Len (Tibetan for “Revenge”): Alex, Ashley, Brenda, Chelsea, Jeff, Kelly, Papa Bear
Rugsteek (Afrikaans for “Backstab”): Adam, Julie, Michangel, Michelle, Mikayla, Misty, Yau-Jess
Klein finished in last place after putting no effort into the challenge. He went to exile, where his sanity dissipated and he contemplated quitting, as he did not want the curse to affect his future in the game; the psychologist on staff attended to him to prevent him from doing anything drastic. At Rugsteek, Misty and Julie banded together and were wary of Adam, who had betrayed their alliance in Jiuzhaigou; Mikayla immediately assumed a position of power and, knowing she had people willing to do so, she began forming bonds to take out both Yau-Jess and Michelle. Michangel and Adam bonded to the point she considered him a “boy toy.” At Dgra Sha Len, Brenda and Chelsea were quick to make a final two alliance, and Papa Bear approached them thinking he could get in with them, which sparked an interest in an alliance. Alex, Ashley, and Jeff bonded as well, and Kelly began having loyalties to both sides. At Aldatma, several smaller alliances began forming, and most people wanted to take out Courtney, Sandra, or Shawna for being weaker links. Anthony did not trust Courtney and considered playing a Villain this season.
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would square off with one member from each opposing tribe in three-way brawls. The first to fall in each match would be out; the second would score 1 point and the last person standing 3 points. The tribe with the most points would win immunity and Pandora’s Box. The second-place tribe would also win immunity. This challenge first appeared in Survivor: Generic Tropical Island in twosome brawls.
At the Immunity Challenge, Amanda unveiled a treasure chest similar to the one from Survivor: Turkey and said that the winning tribe would open it up. The castaways competed in their brawls; Aldatma dominated the challenge, though Rugsteek was close behind, Aldatma ultimately won the box. Misty attacked Alex hardcore after he called her an idiot, and as Chelsea was the only one to win a match for Dgra Sha Len, they were sent to Tribal Council. Papa Bear had been an easy casualty in the challenge, and as he had been the worst performer in the reward as well, his name came up immediately; however, he began bonding with Brenda and Chelsea in an attempt to save himself. At Aldatma, they gave the prize contents to three people who had won their matches most decisively: Anthony, Eliza, and Tracy. Back at Dgra Sha Len, Kelly shifted the target of the Alex-Ashley-Jeff alliance to Chelsea to anger Amanda for no apparent reason and perhaps get her to remove Klein due to his psychological evaluation process, while Brenda and Chelsea decided to target Ashley because she was anti-social. Papa Bear waffled to their side realizing that Ashley could chew him to pieces, leaving Kelly in the middle. Ashley grew paranoid, figuring Kelly was up to something. At Tribal Council, Kelly sided with Brenda and Chelsea and Ashley was the first All-Star to burn out with a 4-3 vote. On her way out, she accused Kelly of being a double-dealing immoral bigot in a last-ditch effort to turn the rest of the tribe against her.
EPISODE TWO: “Walking on Eggshells”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would score points for their tribe by placing weights in a bin once an hour over the course of the day. Points would be awarded based on the number of tribemates who did it successfully every hour and bonus points would be awarded for simultaneous donations. The tribe with the most points would win the right to delegate who got immunity and who got the box; two tribes would attend Tribal Council. Similar challenges appeared in Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley and Survivor: Turkey.
At Dgra Sha Len, Alex was disgusted that Kelly had betrayed him in booting Ashley and aimed to break up the girls by whatever means possible, but knew he was in trouble of being Kelly’s next target as he was likely the next biggest threat. A somewhat stable Klein returned to the tribe and was welcomed, but he too felt vulnerable as he was their weakest member and he had a curse that would activate later in the game. At Aldatma, Sandra continued to annoy some of her tribemates, and an alliance of Eliza, Heidi, and Tracy came forward. Eliza offered deals to both Shawna and Anthony, and both were accepted, leaving Courtney and Sandra out of the loop. At Rugsteek, Yau-Jess’s unique personality began aggravating the rest of the tribe, while everyone began ignoring Michelle T because they did not think she deserved to be there. At the Immunity Challenge, Dgra Sha Len fell behind due to Papa Bear sleeping and Brenda falling ill. Rugsteek and Aldatma competed closely with Aldatma again taking the win and opting for immunity. They could not agree on who to give the box to, so a coin was tossed and Dgra Sha Len took the box, discovering a motherlode of rewards which they split evenly, with Kelly, Alex, and Chelsea each taking two for their contributions in the challenge. Dgra Sha Len was relatively tame until Papa Bear suggested booting Brenda because she had fallen ill and did not seem as passionate about the game as she had in Kalahari, but he decided to keep it from Kelly and Chelsea to avoid being blindsided. Uniting the men, Papa Bear blindsided Brenda 4-2-1 and she was the second person voted out. At Rugsteek, Mikayla organized Adam, Michangel, Julie, and Misty to vote for Yau-Jess for being a major threat and awkward to talk to. The group lied to Yau that Michelle was the target, which prompted Yau to try to save her and blindside Mikayla. Michelle opted to vote for Julie since the two did not have a good rapport but told nobody, and Yau’s pleas fell on deaf ears. At an uneventful Tribal Council, the Survivor: Kalahari winner was sent packing in 20th place with a 5-1-1 vote.
EPISODE THREE: “The First Thing”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would scour a vast field for hidden puzzle pieces, then assemble the puzzle. The first tribe to complete the puzzle would win a box and immunity; the second tribe to complete the puzzle would also win immunity. This challenge previously appeared in Survivor: Turkey.
Chelsea was extremely bummed that Brenda had left, but she had half-expected it due to Brenda’s sudden loss of passion. Kelly tried to regain control of the tribe after voting in the minority, and thought she was in a good position to at least survive another vote. Rugsteek was happy to have gotten rid of a threat, but Michangel was not happy with how Mikayla was running the show. She talked to Mikayla about who their weakest members were, and Mikayla said Misty. Michangel decided this information would be useful come the next Tribal Council. At Aldatma, Sandra asked Eliza and Tracy for an alliance, and they decided to bring in Heidi as a fourth; ensuring that Courtney was the least connected on the tribe and could be an easy boot if they went to Tribal. However, Aldatma won immunity and another box, which contained a single measly nullifier, which the tribe, under Eliza’s lead, gave to Heidi; Dgra Sha Len was the second tribe to complete the puzzle, sending Rugsteek to Tribal Council again. Many at Rugsteek were iffy on the decision to boot Yau, and following the same trend, Mikayla, paranoid that Michangel was after her, decided to target the former winner and keep Michelle, the supposed second boot, because nobody liked Michelle and she would be a target. Mikayla told the idea to her number two, Julie, who did not like it one bit because she and Michelle had never gotten along; Julie and Misty tried to convince Mikayla to vote for Michelle but to no avail. She angrily went to Adam and the two suggested that Mikayla was overplaying and might have to go, but Julie was still insistent on voting out Michelle, which left Adam in a swing spot. He came up with a plan for Michelle and Michangel to vote Mikayla, while Julie and Misty would vote Michelle and Mikayla would vote Michangel. Julie was convinced that Adam was loyal and the vote would be 4-2 with Michelle T leaving, unaware that Mikayla could be getting votes. Adam questioned his decisions, knowing full well the fate of his entire game was in this round, and at Tribal Council, he once again betrayed Julie and Misty, and Mikayla was blindsided royally by a 3-2-1 vote, leaving all three of them completely stymied.
EPISODE FOUR: “Boys Are Jerks”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would compete in various events, with tribes scoring points based on placement. The tribe with the most points would win immunity and a box, while the second-place tribe would also win immunity. This challenge had most recently been used in Survivor: Turkey.
At Rugsteek, Adam immediately tried to do damage control with Misty and Julie, promising them that they could still trust him. Misty went along with it, which made Adam unsure how upset she was, while Julie was more confrontational and made it clear she no longer trusted him. The next morning, Adam and Michangel began cuddling in private, which made Julie even more suspicious. Rugsteek could not agree on who would do what tasks in time for the immunity challenge, and ended up getting a disadvantage; this caused Michelle to underperform, especially when paired with Misty. When Rugsteek inevitably lost, the tribe quickly went at each other’s throats. While Aldatma got another three-reward bronze box which Eliza dictated reward distribution in, they celebrated having not been to Tribal Council yet; DSL was relieved to have avoided the drama for so long. Adam was unsure about which side he should vote with. He had seen Michelle doing horribly in yet another challenge, yet his loyalty lied with Michangel. Adam confided in Misty that he was unsure how much Julie trusted him and that he was contemplating voting her off, which upset Misty. She informed Julie of this, who approached Adam and confronted him about his true loyalties. This put him in a role he didn’t want to be in, and he realized that he had no choice but to vote out the one person whose trust he could never regain. Julie grew more paranoid as Adam acted more shady around her, ultimately leading to her departure in a 3-2 Tribal Council vote.
EPISODE FIVE: “The Pulling Out Method”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways must recall various short clips of music from back home. The two who named the most would win immunity. This challenge appeared in Survivor: GTI.
Misty felt alienated by her tribe and pleaded for a swap to save herself, while Michangel and Michelle were happy that they had an easy vote if they lost again. Aldatma became increasingly annoyed by Sandra’s laziness, and figured that they would vote her off if they’d lost. When the tribes came for an immunity challenge, they were shocked to be greeted by a twist which put all seventeen of them living together at a lagoon where Klein had previously been exiled at. Klein’s curse also came into play, revealing that any vote he received would be doubled and that he would be unable to compete in challenges until his curse was broken, which led to speculation on how to break it. The challenge proved brutal for several people, but in the end Anthony and Eliza once again showed their challenge prowess and took the win. Realizing this was his chance, Papa Bear, thinking for some reason that the tribes would go back to the way they had been before after this round, decided to weaken Rugsteek and blindside Michangel. He went to Aldatma and tried to propose a voting block that would unite the two more powerful tribes. Eliza and Anthony entertained the idea, but ultimately realized that DSL’s platinum box and sudden desire to vote together posed a bigger threat to them. Thinking they were voting together, Alex offered a list of who had what rewards to Eliza, and she returned the favor with some information about Aldatma’s, but she immediately ran to her tribe about it. She told Tracy, who told Anthony. They decided to target former winner Kelly, who had the connections and the most rewards. They tried to get enough votes together, but they realized it was risky, especially that Misty had joined Kelly’s side and Sandra didn’t hesitate to jump on board with voting out Michangel. They decided to spread lies about Kelly being the target, in order to get her and her friends to fruitlessly blow rewards, and in reality target Klein since he had the double vote curse. Everything, however, was interrupted when Shawna cut her finger while slicing a coconut, and the bleeding was so extensive she had to be pulled from the game, delivering a blow to the Aldatma alliance. Realizing that the timing was poor to lie to Kelly, Eliza decided to back out of the original plan and just vote Klein. At Tribal Council, DSL used no rewards, and Klein was voted out 8-8, receiving 16 votes due to his curse. The curse left with him.
EPISODE SIX: “Drama and Confusion”
Reward Challenge: Castaways would compete in a straight-up endurance competition, similar to one from Survivor: Jiuzhaigou. The two winners would win individual immunity and get to pick a new tribe.
Immunity Challenge: One person from each tribe would face off in a duel with a various objective. The first to achieve the objective would win a point for their team, and the first team to 4 points would win immunity. This challenge first appeared in Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley also.
Most of the original DSL weren’t surprised that the Aldatma group had taken the opportunity to vote one of them off. Sandra accused Michangel of whoring herself to get votes, which led to a full-on argument with vulgar name-calling and exposing of each other’s strategies; most everyone decided to sit back and watch Michangel destroy Sandra’s reputation. After the dust settled, Michangel got her old tribe together and wanted them to stick together, as he knew Misty had jumped ship the last round. This effort was marred by Michelle confronting Misty for betraying them and for previously voting for her. Michelle went as far as making attacks on Misty’s game, thus permanently alienating Misty from their group and causing Adam to state that Michelle was expendable. Michelle claimed in a confessional that Misty had done everything to make her untrustworthy, and that she’s not one to sit and be fake with people. Meanwhile, Anthony talked to Eliza about DSL’s rewards, and she said she got the information from Tracy, which contradicted what Tracy had told him the day prior. Realizing that Aldatma was not to be trusted, Anthony told Papa Bear and the two made a final two deal. The castaways gathered for what was a presumed immunity challenge, and once again Anthony and Eliza won after over five hours of competing. To everyone’s shock, Amanda announced this was a reward challenge and that although Anthony and Eliza would be immune at their next Tribal Council, they were picking tribes. Eliza became captain of Aldatma, but Anthony got first pick. The tribes became as follows:
New Dgra Sha Len: Anthony, Heidi, Courtney, Chelsea, Misty, Papa Bear, Alex
New Aldatma: Eliza, Adam, Tracy, Michelle, Michangel, Sandra, Kelly
Jeff was left unpicked and was to remain in the lagoon. He found a note in the bottle, indicating some sort of buried treasure, but decided it was a hoax and sent it back out to sea. He instead wrote “OH MEN JEFF WAS HERE” in the sand, a project which took him over an hour.
At new DSL, Anthony was ecstatic that he got an ideal tribe for himself. He had his new final two partner in Papa Bear, Chelsea, who he presumed was close to Papa Bear, two Aldatmas, and a swing vote in Misty. He expected that if they did go to Tribal Council, the vote would be messy, and he was determined to win. At Aldatma, Kelly felt extremely vulnerable being on a tribe with people who had voted Klein out the round before. Several others commented that Kelly was a major threat to their game, especially since she was packing heat, and decided that she would be the target if they lost. At the immunity challenge, the new Dgra Sha Len smoked Aldatma, with only Michelle winning a match for the orange team and Sandra forfeiting in the round that gave DSL the win. Aldatma won a silver box and distributed items to everyone but Kelly, who forfeited her bid at an item, and Sandra, who took enormous issue with it. Facing Tribal Council, Kelly’s name was the obvious choice since she was a big threat, but Sandra’s laziness and forfeiture at the challenge became the center of attention. Michangel badly wanted her foe gone but recognized that Kelly was a bigger threat. Kelly made an alliance with Eliza and Tracy to protect herself, but didn’t want to stir the pot and make herself out to be an even bigger threat and waited for them to give her a name. Eliza and Tracy talked to Adam and they agreed to lull Kelly into a false sense of security, and told her Michangel was the target. They told the same to Sandra to shut her up, when in reality everyone else would be voting for Kelly, who was blindsided 5-2 at Tribal Council. Jeff officially jointed Aldatma in her stead.
EPISODE SEVEN: “A Pain That Will Not Heal”
Immunity Challenge: The tribes 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. This challenge was most similar to one used in Survivor: Kalahari, which was based on the infamous “Stealing the Jewels” challenge used since Survivor: Namibia.
Jeff immediately felt vulnerable upon arriving at Aldatma beach, feeling that he had no friends on this tribe and plenty of people who would never trust him. Eliza and Tracy discussed voting out Kelly, and realized that it may have been a mistake because she would have helped them in challenges and may have been truthful about voting with them. At DSL, Anthony became stricken with Courtney’s increasing desire to be alone, and that nobody had any clue what she was doing, while Alex was set on getting Misty out because she had a grudge against him and he had no reason why, forgetting that he’d called her an idiot and that she’d beat the stuffing out of him for it. Anthony and Alex compared notes and were not sure if they would go along with each other’s intentions. Anthony also talked to Chelsea and the two hit it off for the first time. Michangel befriended Jeff at Aldatma, attempting to gain his trust and his double vote, which she could use to vote him off if need be. At the immunity challenge, DSL wiped the floor with a disorganized Aldatma tribe, sending them to another Tribal Council. They received another weak box, and Eliza, Michelle, and Michangel all claimed rewards. Sandra immediately began campaigning against Michangel once again, and Eliza said that would be fine, although she had no intention of doing so when there was an original DSL member on the tribe. Michangel quickly got wind of Sandra’s tactics and made herself determined to vote her off instead of Jeff, figuring that she could use Jeff. She convinced him to give her the double vote, and he obliged. She then went to Adam and discussed voting out Sandra, and Adam was initially stubborn about voting for the less trustworthy Jeff who still had connections to Alex, Papa Bear, and Chelsea. Realizing that Eliza was voting Jeff out, Adam felt himself as a pawn in either direction, and went to Michangel about what to do and the two argued intensely over who should be leaving. Michangel contemplated using her rewards, but ultimately decided that would only cause further drama within the tribe. Sandra continued pushing Michangel until Tracy told her that Jeff was the target, just to shut her up. Just before leaving for Tribal, she pled to Eliza to hear her out and get rid of Sandra, and in the end it was enough to switch Eliza’s vote, but not enough to save Jeff, who was voted out 4-3.
EPISODE EIGHT: “I’m Making This Personal”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would compete in an all-out brawl over the water against members of their own tribe. The last person standing would win immunity for their tribe. This challenge is an increasingly violent version of one in Survivor: Turkey.
Immediately upon returning to camp, Sandra refused to talk to anyone and went off in the woods to vent and throw coconuts, angry that, in her mind, Michangel had many of them wrapped around her finger. Meanwhile, Michangel vented that Eliza had more pawns than she could count, and that something needed to be done. At DSL, information surfaced that Alex had sold out the original DSL’s rewards to Eliza, which made Anthony and Papa Bear both think he was untrustworthy and that they should blindside him when given the chance. Alex, meanwhile, was focused on settling his feud with Misty by voting her out. At the immunity challenge, the tribes discovered that both would attend Tribal Council, and an insanely personal, violent challenge would determine the immunity winners, who would also vote at the other tribe’s TC in addition to their own. Heidi won a hard-fought victory at DSL, while Eliza edged Tracy at Aldatma. Back at Aldatma, the vote was set to finally get rid of Sandra, whose laziness and lippiness was aggravating several people, and that since she wouldn’t stick with them at a potential merge at 11 that she needed to go. Tracy and Eliza eventually felt weirded out by this, feeling that an original Rugsteek majority would vote one of them out if there were not a merge, so they struck a deal with Adam to blindside Michelle should they lose again. Sandra began campaigning against Michangel for the umpteenth time, which made her the set target, but Tracy grew uneasy and hopped on that bandwagon and went to Michelle to see if she would join them. Already angry at Tracy for attacking her in the challenge, Michelle felt uncomfortable by Tracy’s suggestion and immediately ran to Michangel and the two decided to blindside Tracy instead of getting rid of non-threat Sandra. Tracy relented, realizing that Sandra was the obvious choice, but at Tribal Council, Tracy was blindsided by a 4-3 vote, with Michangel spending Jeff’s double vote and a 1x nullifier, and she angrily left calling the original Rugsteeks jerks. At DSL, there was chatter about taking out Alex, but that Courtney, who had grown increasingly anti-social and lazy, would be a more plausible target. Several people grew increasingly paranoid that the scuffle between Alex and Misty was cover for a secret alliance, which, in fact, did not exist, as Misty was gung-ho about getting rid of Alex. She went to Courtney and the two bonded and decided Alex was indeed a weasel and could not be trusted. Alex heard his name from Anthony and realized that now wasn’t the time to take Misty out and jumped on getting the original DSL to vote Courtney out. Anthony, realizing that he had committed to a side, had no choice, either, but the old DSL didn’t trust him. Using several of their Platinum box rewards when they, in reality, had everyone but Courtney and Misty on their side, they voted Courtney out 7-0, ending the original Aldatma tribe’s dominance.
EPISODE NINE: “Dead Meat Tonight”
Immunity Challenge: The two tribes would work as a unit to complete a massive slider puzzle. The first tribe to finish would win. This challenge first appeared in Survivor: Kalahari.
At Aldatma, Michelle relished that she had pulled off a blindside and made it look like Michangel was the one behind it. Michangel, meanwhile, began to get sick of Michelle’s condescending attitude, and contemplated blindsiding her longtime ally. At DSL, Alex and Misty started ignoring each other, getting people to question if their feud was actually legit. They both talked about voting the other out, and many people felt that Alex was shady – this was later confirmed when Papa Bear and Anthony realized that Alex was the one who sold out DSL’s rewards to Eliza and Michangel, making them realize that an Erciyes alliance could, in fact, be a reality. Chelsea and Anthony had a discussion, and she said she didn’t trust Alex and that he should be the one to leave. When the immunity challenge came around, Misty and Alex began arguing and Alex continued his condescending streak against her in an attempt to throw the challenge; DSL fell behind until Aldatma got confused and Anthony organized DSL to pull out the win; however, they surrendered immunity to a shocked Aldatma to instead go for the box to claim rewards. The tribe discussed rewards and decided that Alex starting an argument and trying to throw a challenge against the tribe’s wishes meant he shouldn’t get a reward, but he grabbed a double vote and the tribe didn’t let him have it. Alex was angry that he didn’t get a reward and Misty did, saying it was like giving terrorists a nuke. Alex and Anthony discussed the vote, and Anthony lied that Misty was still set to go, when in reality both Alex leaking rewards and Chelsea’s feelings had convinced him that Alex was not to be trusted. Chelsea went to Papa Bear and told him that Alex was likely aligned with Eliza and the Michelles, which got him thinking. Alex got arrogant about his “superiority” over her and was unaware that Chelsea, Anthony, Heidi, and Papa Bear were all fed up with his weaseling; led by Chelsea’s planted seed, they blindsided him at Tribal Council by a 5-1 vote, making him the first member of the jury.
EPISODE TEN: “Playing with Fire”
Immunity Challenge: Contestants would dig at different coordinates in their own sandpits, taking turns but being unable to see what the others were doing. The two people who had the most of the 16 buried treasures after a certain amount of time would win immunity. This challenge previously appeared in Survivor: Turkey.
At DSL, Anthony seemed to be the only person who recognized that Chelsea had been the one to initiate the Alex vote, and he figured that she would be an ideal person to take to the end based on she was an ideal partner in crime. At Aldatma, Sandra and Michangel, both expecting a merge, decided to put aside their differences and form a temporary truce so the Aldatmas would stick together. Eliza, however, was wary of both of them, and did not want an alliance in which she would be fifth. The two tribes merged that afternoon into Hatutu, named for a generic tropical atoll, and enjoyed a feast of fried appetizers, fruit, and stuffed crust pizza. They were then greeted with a difficult immunity challenge, which, as expected, was won by Anthony and Eliza. Back at camp, Sandra decided to target Chelsea for no apparent reason, but said privately that it was because Chelsea was the hardest to predict; her Rugsteek alliance mates saw Chelsea as an easy vote, not realizing that Chelsea had been the one to blindside Alex and that she was a core member of the DSL alliance. That group unified together and pretended to agree with the Chelsea vote to prevent the possibility of the Rugsteek trio playing too many rewards. Papa Bear decided he wanted Michangel to go and began talking to his tribe about it, but was shocked when Alex having been blindsided got Misty to be on a power trip and she decided that Michelle should go for the confrontation before the captains’ challenge. Michangel told Anthony that Heidi and Eliza needed to be separated, and the two made a final three deal that Anthony had no intention of honoring. Anthony leaked this information to Heidi, who leaked it to Eliza, and together, everyone realized that Papa Bear had the right idea and that the Survivor: Turkey winner needed to go, and they managed to sway Misty. Realizing that Rugsteek could play some rewards, they slipped a few in at the Tribal Council vote, but none were needed as Michangel was blindsdied 6-3 and went to join Alex at Pornonosa.
EPISODE ELEVEN: “All Is Fair in Love and War”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would be judged on displays of certain emotions or emotion-provoking characteristics. The one with the best score would win immunity. This odd challenge first appeared in Survivor: Kalahari.
Adam and Michelle were fuming that their ally had been blindsided, but understood why their trio needed to be broken up. Sandra went off to vent, and even she didn’t understand why she was so angry over her rival having been voted out. Michelle was most angry at Eliza, saying she wanted others playing the game for her, while Eliza was happy to be out of an alliance where she was fifth. The new DSL alliance got together to discuss whether Sandra or Michelle should be the next to go, as they felt that both had overstayed their welcome. Eliza pushed to keep Michelle, confessing that she might be useful, not realizing that the latter was firmly against her and that Sandra was not, contrary to her believe, aligned with Papa Bear in any way; Heidi, however, disagreed because Sandra was less of a threat because Michelle was close to Adam. When Eliza won immunity, Michelle had to put plans to blindside on hold, and decided to start harassing Misty to distract everybody. This caused several members of the DSL alliance to want Michelle gone even more, but realizing that Eliza could defect back to the Aldatma group, they didn’t have a choice. Michelle decided to throw her vote to Misty and argue with her at Tribal Council to increase her paranoia, while everyone else sent Sandra packing in a straightforward 7-1-1 vote.
EPISODE TWELVE: “I May Be a Villain but I’m Not a Monster”
Reward Challenge: Survivor Auction. Prizes were as follows:
1. 2x nullifier [Day 36] - ELIZA for $320
2. Letter from home - CHELSEA for $360
3. Triple vote (secret) - MICHELLE for $300
4. Take someone's money, but double their vote at the next TC - HEIDI for $320 [took $500 from Adam]
5. Medallion of Power [three challenges] - HEIDI for $220
6. Peanut butter and chocolate - MICHELLE for $200
7. Reward reverser good on ONE person [Day 36] - ELIZA for $180
8. Instructions for the immunity challenge - CHELSEA for $140
Immunity Challenge: Survivors would answer questions about each other and then be polled as to who they think the majority said. The person who answered the most questions right would win immunity. This challenge had most recently appeared in Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley.
Tempers immediately flared between Misty and Michelle, which Michelle intended to lead people to believe she had gone insane and that nobody would expect a major blindside from her, which she planned to be Eliza or Anthony, the two biggest threats. At the Survivor Auction, Michelle was disappointed to not get an item that would help her in the vote, and complained when Eliza did, which annoyed several of her tribemates, including Eliza began to regret keeping her. Back at camp, Eliza and Michelle had a discussion in which Michelle accused Eliza of letting Anthony play the game for her, which made no sense to Eliza as she had betrayed an alliance she was on the bottom rung of. She began to ignore Michelle, saying that she wasn’t going to play Michelle’s game like Michelle apparently wanted her to, and the effect made Eliza decide that Heidi was right and that Michelle needed to go soon. Michelle also lied that she had found a Hidden Immunity Idol with the clue she’d won at an auction, and to others said she could request a re-do of an immunity challenge. Misty won the revealing challenge, much to Michelle’s chagrin, as she claimed unfairness and was immediately shut up by a Lividmanda stare. Back at camp, people became unconcerned with the challenge results when all hell broke loose when Eliza and Papa Bear decided they wanted to blindside each other, but Eliza was quickly talked out of it by the majority voting Michelle. Michelle suggested to Adam that they should blindside Anthony and get Papa Bear and Chelsea on board. However, they did not realize that those two were in a final three alliance with the emperor, so naturally Papa Bear refused and insisted upon Eliza. Figuring that Anthony was the bigger threat since Eliza “wasn’t playing her own game” in Michelle’s mind, Michelle gave her triple vote to Adam to make his count six times, and Adam decided that they should spend all their rewards to split the vote like they had with Mikayla early in the game, an idea Michelle loved. They tried to convince Misty but she ignored Michelle due to their prior fights, which angered Michelle, who had done it to herself. Papa Bear, meanwhile, blabbed to Anthony that Adam was going after him, which caused Anthony to be completely bewildered. To play it safe, Anthony loaned Papa Bear his rewards just in case something happened, and Papa Bear, thinking that Adam had bitten the hook that Eliza should go, decided to nullify her vote, while Eliza and Heidi allocated rewards to prevent anything wrong from happening because of Michelle. At Tribal Council, rewards flew in every direction in an extremely complicated vote. Papa Bear and Chelsea were shocked to be the only two votes for Eliza and that nullifying Eliza’s vote forced a tie of Anthony and Michelle receiving four votes each, Michelle’s courtesy of Eliza reversing her vote and 2x nullifier. A reward-free revote was held and everybody but Adam, most of whom were in a final three alliance with Anthony, decided they’d had enough of Michelle’s rude, condescending attitude and she was voted off 5-1.
EPISODE THIRTEEN: “A Little Bit Tricky”
Immunity Challenge: Castaways would plan out an entire fictional season of Survivor using whatever cast deemed necessary. The hosts would judge all submissions and the two with the best stories would win immunity. This challenge previously appeared in Survivor: Jiuzhaigou Valley and Survivor: Turkey.
Chelsea immediately regretted voting for Eliza, and went up to her to apologize. Eliza understood it and was willing to make a truce, but wasn’t sure if she could trust Chelsea any longer. While Adam was baffled nobody else took the opportunity to blindside the biggest threat, Papa Bear thought that it was a stupid move and that Adam would be gone fast for it. Anthony was relieved to have lived, but was nervous that his two final three alliances would discover each other. The immunity challenge was won by Anthony and Michangel, who gave immunity to Adam, but this was vetoed by Anthony’s Round 1 Veto and he chose to give immunity to Chelsea, who finished third. Tensions flared back at camp. While Papa Bear faithfully returned the rewards he’d hidden for Anthony after being reminded, Eliza began to think Anthony had left her out to dry and had a side deal with Papa Bear and Chelsea, and contemplated separating him from Papa Bear. She discussed this with Heidi, who insisted they target Adam because they didn’t want an entire jury playing for his immunity in the final allotted round. Heidi went to Anthony, who seconded her motion. A torn Eliza realized she couldn’t protect Adam and that she had no business aligning with him, as he had no business aligning with her. Papa Bear meanwhile felt the same disdain towards Eliza and wanted to vote her out, but was pulled out of it by Chelsea and Anthony for the same reasons as Heidi. At Tribal Council, Michangel was able to interact with everyone for having won immunity and also being able to vote, and she threw accusations and names everywhere, saying Chelsea did nothing (not realizing she’d blindsided Alex) and that Misty was worthless; she stopped after nearly getting buzzed by Lividmanda lasers. In a predictable vote, Adam was sent to his allies on the jury 7-1, with Eliza doubling her vote and Misty nulling Adam’s as insurance.
EPISODE FOURTEEN: “Another Fun Week”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.
Eliza expressed frustration that Anthony had increased her paranoia, and questioned who his true allies were. She went to Heidi, who thought Eliza was just being paranoid and that Anthony was indeed in a final three with them, and that he wanted to be fair with his Veto decision. Heidi wanted to target Misty, while Eliza wanted to blindside Anthony; however, she was silenced when Anthony predictably destroyed the endurance immunity, securing him a spot in the final five. Eliza then waffled between Papa Bear and Chelsea, and brought out potential targets in a group discussion of her, Heidi, and Anthony. Heidi desperately wanted to target Misty as had been planned, whereas Eliza was insistent on otherwise. Throughout the afternoon, Anthony continually heard arguments from both sides on why their target was the right decision, aggravating him. He brought the idea of targeting Misty to Papa Bear and Chelsea as a safe option, as this was the final round to use rewards and he did not want to betray Eliza because she had saved him during the tied vote. Misty felt powerless and decided to do nothing about it; she was told to vote for Chelsea by Eliza, but rejected this idea as she and Chelsea had bonded. Anthony informed Heidi that he was voting for Misty, as he didn’t want the two arguments and disagreement to cause a bigger mess than necessary. At Tribal Council, four votes were doubled and four were nullified, canceling each other out and sending Misty to the jury 4-2.
EPISODE FIFTEEN: “The Biggest Hero”Immunity Challenge: Castaways would be quizzed on events of the game and the four seasons prior to it. The one with the most correct would win immunity.
Eliza and Heidi were furious that Anthony had voted for Misty and chewed him out for it, but he claimed it was so Heidi would get her way, which cooled Heidi off a little. Anthony however began to realize that Eliza was no longer loyal to him in any shape or form. Thinking along the lines of swapped tribes, Chelsea seemed to think Heidi would vote out Eliza as the two were somewhat, but this was not the case, and realizing that Heidi had voted for her the prior round, her faith in Heidi dried up. Heidi hid her distrust for Anthony and was genuine with him, but under no circumstances would vote Eliza out. Anthony won immunity again, leaving the alliance of Heidi and Eliza to target his two true allies again. They discussed the vote at camp, and decided that it was nearly hopeless. Just a half hour before going to Tribal Council, they approached Chelsea and told her that Papa Bear was completely loyal to Anthony, and that allowing the two of them to stay in the game could jeopardize her chances at facing the jury. Chelsea was immediately torn and broke down in confusion, but the situation was amended when Papa Bear approached her just as they were leaving and clarified that it was him, her, and Anthony until the end. An emotional Chelsea ultimately sided with her longtime allies in voting out the biggest threat, Eliza, 3-2.Immunity Challenge: Castaways would keep in a brutal, four-hour obstacle course of epic proportions, escaping from a cage and solving multiple intelligence-based tasks. The first person to cross the finish line would win immunity and earn a spot in the final three.
Heidi felt alone after having her closest ally voted out, while only fueled her fire to win the final immunity challenge, as she felt she would be leaving next. The final four were instructed to travel along the Rites of Passage and pay respect to those eliminated before them; a process in which their true feelings were completely spilled. At the final immunity challenge, all four struggled with an intensely difficult series of tasks, frustrating even challenge whore Anthony, who ultimately won while Papa Bear was still trying to untie himself. Back at camp, Anthony felt increasingly guilty about the game he’d played, and that he’d lied to almost everyone on the jury and felt he would be trounced by them. He recalled being voted “Biggest Hero” at the Majority Rules challenge and knew that it would no longer be the case. He contemplated the unbelievable: giving immunity to Heidi, so the three others, who each had a chance, could plead their cases. He talked to Heidi about this idea, and she was in pure shock. Chelsea and Papa Bear meanwhile figured Heidi would be voted out, as she had friends on the jury whereas Chelsea and Papa Bear both felt they had some enemies there, until they were approached last minute by Anthony. At Tribal Council, Anthony stunned everyone by giving immunity to Heidi, then getting voted out 3-1. On the jury, Eliza and Michangel were disgusted by his actions.
The next morning, the final three were treated to a full service Tiki bar with mixed drinks and tasty food. Their minds were out of the game for the first time in a while, but all knew what was looming. Facing an angry jury, they all knew they had to prepare hardcore.
Papa Bear opened first, recapping what he did in the entire game, while being unfocused and Anthony-centric. Heidi followed, saying she got no votes against her because of a stellar social game. Chelsea kept hers short and sweet, saying she was social and loyal.
Anthony was the first juror to speak, and said he couldn’t be happier with having let the three of them be in the finale together. The rest of the jury, however, weren’t exactly happy about the events that transpired. Chelsea surprised several people by revealing that she had turned the tables on Alex, a sentiment which fueled his hate for her. The jury appeared bitterly divided amongst the vote, yet many couldn’t give credit to Papa Bear for having an unclear game, Heidi for not doing anything, and Chelsea not knowing the full extent of the events occurring around her. Michangel and Alex were particularly bitter towards Chelsea, thinking she’d done nothing and the unnecessary, respectively, but, when asked, Chelsea stood up to Michangel which only annoyed the juror. Papa Bear's answers confused many of the jury, while Heidi's focus on her social game became redundant, and it was not clear what else she had done.
In the end, the jury had mixed emotions, and ultimately Chelsea’s weakness was atoned for by her strong Final Tribal Council answers. Chelsea Meissner was crowned the Sole Surviving All-Star by a vote of 3-2-2-1, earning the votes of Sandra Diaz-Twine, Michelle Tesauro, and Misty Giles. Mark Anthony “Papa Bear” Caruso got votes from Michelle “Michangel” Chase and Anthony Robinson, while Heidi Strobel got the votes of her friend Eliza Orlins and Alex Angarita. Adam Gentry couldn’t make up his mind and did not cast a vote.
Ten players were announced for the Ultimate Game:
-All-Stars 2 winner Chelsea Meissner
-Survivor: Jiuzhaigou winner Parvati Shallow
-Survivor: Kalahari winner Yau-Jess Chan
-Survivor: Kalahari runner-up & All-Stars 2 4th place Anthony Robinson
-Survivor: Turkey 3rd place & All-Stars 2 5th place Eliza Orlins
-Survivor: GTI and All-Stars 2 runner-up Heidi Strobel
-Survivor: Jiuzhaigou 6th place & All-Stars 2 7th place Adam Gentry
-Survivor: Jiuzhaigou 7th place & All-Stars 2 6th place Misty Giles
-Survivor: Turkey 6th place & All-Stars 2 8th place Michelle Tesauro
-Survivor: GTI 3rd place & All-Stars 2 13th Place Tracy Hughes-Wolf
-Survivor: Kalahari 6th place & All-Stars 2 21st place Brenda Lowe
All-Stars 2 was truly one of the most epic adventures I've ever been a part of. It was an unpredictable crazy ride from beginning to end and a roller coaster of emotions and strategies, and it truly managed to live up to the first All-Stars. I can't wait for The Ultimate Game, can you?© 2012 Amandy Productions Ltd.
