Placements for eliminated players thus far: 18th Darnell - Brawn (voted out Episode 1, Day 3)
17th Jenny - Brawn (voted out Episode 2, Day 6)
16th Liz - Brains (voted out Episode 3, Day 8)
15th Caleb - Beauty (medical evacuation due to heat stroke, Day 9)
14th Alecia - Brawn (voted out Episode 4, Day 11)
13th Anna - Beauty (voted out Episode 5, Day 13)
12th Peter - Brains (voted out Episode 6, Day 16)
---Start forming the jury---
11th Neal - Brains (medical evacuation due to infection near knee, Day 19)
10th Nick - Beauty (voted out Episode 8, Day 22)
9th Debbie - Brains (voted out Episode 9, Day 24)
8th Scot - Brawn (voted out Episode 10, Day 27)
7th Julia - Beauty (voted out Episode 11, Day 29)
6th Jason - Brawn (voted out Episode 12, Day 32)
5th Joe - Brains (medical evacuation to prevent kidney damage, Day 34)
Tribes as of the beginning of Episode 14 (Finale):
Dara (merged tribe - black buffs)
Aubry - former Brains
Cydney - former Brawn
Michele - former Beauty
Tai - former Beauty
Reward Challenge:
Summary: Race under a net crawl. Slide tiles across a table into a target. Use a machete to balance the tiles and bring them through a series of obstacles (see-saw, balance beam) to a finish table. Once all tiles are at the finish table, sort them into pairs based on the pattern of lines on the back. Use the numbers on the other side of the three tiles that don't have a match to unlock a combination box. Winner gets a meal of steak, vegetables, drinks, and protein bar.
Details on order of challenge and who did what:
Order through the net crawl: Tai, Aubry, Cydney, Michele.
Cydney finishes the tile slide first and starts transporting 4 tiles.
Aubry finishes the tile slide next, followed immediately by Tai.
Aubry gets 5 tiles to the finish table, then 5 more in the next batch, the another batch.
Michele gets her first stack of tiles to the table as Aubry arrives with her final tiles.
Aubry starts matching tiles. There are 23 total - 10 pairs of two with three unmatched.
Cydney finally gets some tiles to the end. Michele gets more tiles to the end.
Aubry tries a combination that fails. She goes back to attempt another combination when the camera shows us that one of her pairs of tiles does not match, so she's using the wrong numbers.
Tai gets his first batch of tiles to the end.
Aubry has tied a few more incorrect combinations.
Tai is now working on the tile matching.
Aubry turns over her numbers and realizes she had an incorrect pair and corrects the problem.
Aubry, Cydney, and Tai all try a combination. Tai and Cydney are wrong while Aubry gets it right.
Aubry wins her first individual reward challenge.
Jeff gives Aubry the option of bringing one person with her on the reward.
Aubry chooses Cydney to share the reward in order to gain trust and increase the chances of Michele not winning the next immunity challenge by fueling Cydney.
Reward (day 36):
Back near camp, Aubry and Cydney enjoys reward together.
Camp (day 36):
Michele tries to convince Tai to vote out Aubry at the next tribal council.
Immunity Challenge (day 37):
Race out into the ocean, retrieve a key to unlock a set of stairs,. Get a 2nd key at the top of the stairs and use that key out in the ocean to unlock a ball. Use the ball attached to a rope to drop a ladder. At the top of the ladder there is a 3rd key and use that one out in the ocean again to release a pole. Use the pole to knock off a bag of puzzle pieces. Bring the bag back to the beach and use the puzzle pieces at a station beyond the top of the ladder to solve a 3-level puzzle.
Details on order of challenge and who did what:
Order getting out to the platform in the ocean: Cydney, Aubry, Tai, Michele.
Order unlocking the 1st lock to release the stairs: Aubry, Tai, Cydney, Michele.
Order unlocking the 2nd lock to release the ball at the ocean platform: Aubry, Cydney, Michele, Tai.
Order releasing the ladder with the rope & ball: Aubry, Tai, Cydney, Michele.
Order unlocking the 3rd lock to release the pole at the ocean platform: Aubry, Cydney, Tai, Michele.
Order starting the puzzle at the top of the beach platform: Aubry, Tai, Cydney, Michele.
Each level of the puzzle has 6 identical height posts with the lightest color as level 1.
Tai is 1st to finish level 1, followed by Michele.
Tai finishes his 2nd level. Michele finishes her 2nd level a bit later.
Michele comes from behind to finish the 3rd level and wins immunity.
Tribal Council (night 37):
With only 4 people left, not much was revealed about who would vote for whom. The vote ends in a 2-2 tie with votes cast for Aubry an Cydney. Aubry and Tai voted for Cydney, while Cydney & Michele voted for Aubry. Neither Tai nor Michele are willing to change their votes, so it goes to a fire making challenge.
Aubry is the 1st to start a fire. She builds it up higher with larger pieces of wood. The wind is blowing the flame backwards and to the right from the perspective of the players. Aubry's rope starts to burn, but the flames shift further and her fire structure collapses a bit. Aubry's fire is now out and she only has embers left.
Cydney gets her fire started briefly, but it goes out quickly.
Aubry gets her fire started strong this time thanks to the hot embers. This one is positioned better to burn through the rope. Aubry wins!
Cydney becomes the 8th member of the jury.
Reward Challenge (day 38):
Instead of a final immunity challenge, we have a final 3 already selected, but the winner of this challenge gets to vote out a member of the jury.
Balance on a wobbly beam with a large spring supporting one side. Use a long pole to stack balls vertically with stands between them. This was the dexterity challenge from the very first episode, but the one that none of the teams selected to compete in.
Details on order of challenge and who did what:
The initial stand is pre-placed. They alternate balls and stands.
Order getting the 2nd ball placed: Michele, Tai, Aubry.
Order getting the 3rd ball placed: Michele, Tai, Aubry.
Michele drops some when she places her 4th ball.
Aubry drops when placing her 4th ball. Tai drops when placing his 5th ball.
Michele's 2nd stack is very straight through her 5th ball, and Aubry is right behind her.
Michele places her last stand with Aubry right behind her.
Both Aubry and Michele place their 6th ball, but Aubry's stack falls.
Michele wins reward and will vote out a jury member at tribal council that night.
Tribal Council (night 38):
Previously at camp, Michele had contemplated voting out Scot, Jason, Joe, or Neal. Aubry pushed for Scot figuring that he would be very vocal and might vote for Tai. Tai pushed for Neal instead of Joe, figuring that Neal would do a better job arguing for Aubry.
The jury enters tribal council. They notice nobody has an immunity necklace. Jeff informs everyone that this is the final 3, but that final tribal council will be tomorrow night.
Michele gets to read the note that came with her reward.
"Tonight you will vote out one member of the jury. This person will not be present at the final tribal council and will not have a vote in who wins this game. Choose wisely. This may be a million dollar decision."
Jeff thinks it would just be a vote to remove someone who won't vote for Michele, but the conversation leads to the strategy of who might be a strong voice for another finalist.
Michele votes out Neal due to the potential for him to influence the other jury members towards voting for Aubry.
Neal, who is supposed to leave quietly, spews out a tirade against Michele on his way out, thus validating her choice in voting him off the jury.
Final Tribal Council (night 39):
Mark, the chicken, is in attendance tonight, having been brought in by Tai.
Nick says there is some animosity. He says Michele should show off her intelligence. Tai should display awareness with his game play. He says Aubry should display confidence.
Debbie addresses Tai's vote switching and he takes ownership of turning on Scot as a big move. She then addresses Aubry and wonders if Aubry would have helped keep Debbie around early on - Aubry says voting out Debbie is her one regret. No question for Tai.
Julia says Michele was the weakest link for the beauty tribe and got lucky to not have to go to tribal council early, and praises Michele for voting her out when she needed to. She says Tai started strong, but that things got weaker after the merge - Tai rejects the premise that he finished weak. No question for Aubry.
Joe briefly mentions Michele, then moves to Tai. He says Tai is very truthful, and gives him a chance to defend why he should win instead of Aubry. He asks how Aubry's game differs and why should she receive their votes. Aubry indicated that she was on the right side of every vote after the merge, but Tai was on the wrong side 3 times despite having advantages.
Jason doesn't know who he's voting for. He says that Michele voting out Julia was the turning point of the game, but that she didn't know it was going to happen, so was it luck or skill that she made it to the end. He asks why Tai left Scot & Jason for the others. Tai says he was scared and jealous of their relationship. No question for Aubry.
Cydney asks Aubry if it was always the plan to vote her out. Aubry says Michele was supposed to be the vote, but Cydney had done so much and needed to be the one to go. Cydney then asks Michele why she voted for Aubry in the last vote. Aubry then asks if Michele even knew that the other two were voting for Cydney. Michele did not know, but claims she could have switched her vote and didn't, and that had she known she would have tried to save Cydney because she wanted to be sitting next to her tonight. No question for Tai.
Scot calls out Tai for not playing his idol, for not using his advantage in an advantageous way, and having an alliance that didn't trust him. He says Aubry started out well, but wants to know why should he vote for her. Aubry appeals to his competitive nature. He then tells that Michele out-toughed the other two players and applauds her.
Jeff then gives each of the finalists to say something they didn't get the chance to say.
Aubry makes one last plea for why she should win, culminating with her fire-making win.
Tai talks about the goodness in humanity. He rambles a bit, but doesn't make a compelling argument.
Michele indicates that people didn't think she was playing an intelligent game. She had to believe and trust in herself, and breaks down to shed a few tears.
During the voting, we see a few of the votes: Julia votes for Michele, holding true to her promise. Joe votes for Aubry, holding true to the Brains tribe.
We officially say goodbye to Mark the chicken since there is no good way to bring him back to America.
Results of the Final Vote (live reunion show):
Jeff reads most of the votes, in this order: Michelle, Aubry, Aubry, Michelle, Michelle, Michelle
No need to read any more votes.
Michele has won this season of Survivor!
Other notable items from the reunion show:
Sia interrupts the show because she is a fan of the show and she wants to give Tai $50,000 to him and $50,000 to his choice of animal charity as a thank you for him showing America such kindness to animals.
Drew Carey announces that there is a primetime Price is Right, Survivor Edition next Monday.
Caleb gives us a first hand account of his medical evaluation, but he didn't remember hardly anything about the events that day. Dr. Joe indicates that Caleb was the sickest person they've ever had on the show.
Jeff asks why Jason gave Scot the immunity idol when the super idol could be played after the vote. It was a trust issue and there was no reason to think that Tai wouldn't help out.
Jeff indicates there was also a chicken named Jeff, but they ate that one. They were named for Jeff Probst and Mark Burnett.
There is another great season coming up. They will be back in Fiji. The theme is Millennials vs. GenX and will feature 20 all new players. We see brief clips from players named: Chris, Taylor, Mari, Sunday, Zeke, and David.
Go to CBS.com/CASTING if you want to play this game.
Go to SURVIVORAUCTIONS if you want to own props from this season of Survivor, with proceeds going to Survivor Stand Up 2 Cancer.
