EPISODE 14:
Returning from Tatianna's elimination, Glazed Donut pulled Amanda aside, wanting an explanation as to why she didn't play her idol, as it was no obvious that she possessed it. Amanda explained that while she did feel bad for Tatianna, she was only willing to play the idol on herself in the game, and that she didn't want to save Tatianna simply to tie the votes up 3-3 the next round. Glazed Donut said that he understood how difficult the position must have been for her, and that they should just hope for a miracle in the next round. Meanwhile, the Patsy/Luke/Taylor/So alliance reunited, celebrating that Tatianna was successfully out of the game, but worried that there was a 50% chance that an idol would be played in the next round.
The next day, the contestant competed in a reward challenge, along with their loved ones. Fellow vine celebrity Rudy Mancuso came for Amanda, Glazed Donut's Brother Chocolate Ice Glazed Donut came and Luke's father Andrew came for him. Life-long friend Edina Monsoon participated with Patsy Stone, Twin sister Doo came for So Kim and finally Taylor was joined by his mother Deborah. In a heart-filled competition, Doo and So won, getting to experience a sailboat journey along with another pair of their choice. So chose Glazed Donut and his brother to accompany them as the other pair of siblings in the game. Jeff then announced that they could choose one more pair to join them; without hesitation, she chose Taylor and his mom knowing how strong their connection was. Immediately after the reward commenced, So announced that she didn't want any strategy talks to take place and for them just to enjoy their experience, to which the other castaways agreed. Back at camp, with Taylor gone and Patsy asleep, Amanda took the opportunity to campaign to Luke to keep her in the game, knowing she would be the next target at tribal council. Luke became upset after admitting that Amanda would be the target for the next elimination if she didn't win immunity, and there was nothing he could do about it. To combat this, Amanda suggested that Luke tie the upcoming vote, assuring him that Patsy and Taylor would not take him to the final 3 over So, as she was too big of a goat to pass up. While Luke denied that the duo would do that to him, Amanda asked him to think on it, as Patsy and Taylor would do anything to win the game. In a confessional, Luke admitted that Amanda had given him something to think about, as although they had agreed that they would vote out So at the final 4, he wasn't so sure thinking about it that they would go through with it.
In the memory-based immunity challenge, Patsy's slow and steady approach earned her the win over Taylor in a close-fought battle, securing her place in the final 5. Back at camp, Amanda once again approached Luke about the plan to tie the vote, saying that it was up to him who Glazed Donut and themselves voted for. Luke suggested So over Taylor, feeling that he couldn't trust her as much, and wouldn't be so sure she wouldn't flip on him in the future. Amanda agreed, and stated that would be the plan.
Later on, the La Flor alliance reunited to solidify the plan to vote for Amanda at tribal council, as the superior strategic threat of the two. After So had left, Luke admitted that Amanda had spoken to him, wanting to work together and that they had agreed to vote for So at tribal council. While Patsy assured Luke that Amanda was just trying to get in his ear, and they would definitely go to the final 3 with him, Taylor entertained the idea of Luke voting with the minority. In doing so, and tying the vote up between Amanda and So, in the case that Amanda did play her idol, it would send So home, not only confirming Luke's place in the final 3, but would send home a big physical threat. Patsy agreed to the plan, using it as an act of loyalty, and that Luke would just have to flip back in the re-vote. Before tribal council, Luke confessed in a confessional that he still wasn't sure what to do.
At tribal council, Jeff questioned Patsy on what the plan was, and whether the threat of the two unplayed idols in the game was still of concern. Patsy explained that it was extremely scary, however as the majority alliance had the votes to split between Amanda and Glazed Donut, that that would be the logical outcome. Jeff then questioned Amanda, who many had assumed had the idol about whether this would be the tribal to use it. While she still avidly denied owning the idol, she did state that she did have some "tricks up her sleeve". The castaways then voted. Before the vote, Amanda chose not to use her idol, much to the shock of Patsy, Taylor and particularly So. At the vote reveal however, So was even more shocked to see the votes tie 3-3 between Amanda and herself. In their pleas, Amanda plead that people had to think about the final 3 at this point in the game, and how likely it would be that they made it to the final tribal council, while So stressed her undying loyalty to her alliance, unsure of who had flipped. In an even more shocking outcome however, Luke failed to switch his vote in the re-vote causing a deadlock tie, forcing a rock draw between Glazed Donut, Luke and Taylor. While Amanda was extremely happy that she had managed to save himself, Patsy burst out that Luke had ruined his own game. This words proved to be ominous, when it was Luke himself who pulled the purple rock, essentially sending himself home with an idol in his pocket.
Voted Out: Luke Hemmings (3-3/2-2/Purple Rock)
EPISODE 15 - PART 1:
In one of the most shocking tribals of the season, many of the bewildered castaways were silent upon their return to camp. Around the campfire, Taylor questioned Amanda whether she knew of Luke's plan to force a deadlock tie, to which she admitted however stressed that she didn't actually think that he'd go through with it. Taylor congratulated her on pulling off a great move, but she shouldn't expect it to happen again. In a confessional, Amanda was happy that she had somehow managed to survive tribal, even if it was at the expense of one of her closest allies, and changed little in the game. The next day, Patsy and Taylor confronted So over the close-call, and ensured her that they had nothing to do with Luke's previous votes. So thanked them, and the trio reaffirmed their final 3 deal with each other.
With the numbers now 3-2, Amanda pulled Glazed Donut aside, finally admitting to being in possession of the hidden immunity idol. While Glazed Donut wasn't surprised, this opened a door for them, as if one of them were to win the upcoming immunity challenge, the idol could be played on the other one, giving them both immunity, and allowing them control over the vote. In a confessional, Glazed Donut explained how he had somehow ended up in a good position in the game, with Amanda acting as a shield, and members of the majority alliance not viewing him a threat. He continued that all he had to do was keep his head down to keep him out of danger.
At the immunity challenge, which required Nicaraguan general knowledge and puzzle-solving skills, Amanda and Glazed Donut both knew that they needed to win to secure their safety, however their plans were faltered when So pulled out her first individual immunity victory, securing her spot in the final 4. While all of the castaways congratulated her, Amanda started crying, knowing there was now a 50/50 shot that she would be going home. Back at camp, Patsy, So and Taylor met up to discuss who to target between Amanda, knowing that they had to vote for the person who wouldn't have the idol played on them. Taylor suggested that the logical option would be to vote for Glazed Donut, as Amanda would more likely use it on herself to secure her own safety, however So suggested that she might expect that, and then play it on Glazed Donut, leaving the group unsure as to what was their best move. Meanwhile, Amanda and Glazed Donut shared a similar conversation, in which they had to decide who they thought the majority alliance would vote for. In a confessional, Amanda stated that she was willing to hand over her idol to Glazed Donut if need be, but didn't want that to be the move that sent her home.
At tribal council, Jeff rejoiced over the fact that an idol would be played at that tribal as he's obsessed with ~big moves~ and ~blindsides~. Luke's elimination was also a topic of conversation and how he had somewhat screwed things up his own alliance. Patsy stated although Amanda would play her idol that night, she wasn't worried in the grand scheme of things as a La Flor member would win the overall game. To further shock the majority, Amanda finally revealed her idol to the rest of the tribe, wearing it round her neck, leaving Glazed Donut cackling, and Taylor looking worried. Jeff then revealed it was time to vote; during the voting process, Amanda loudly shouted that her vote would be for Patsy in an attempt to scare her, to which Patsy shook her head. After everybody had cast their votes, Amanda said that she wanted to play her idol... on herself, and just hoped that her plan was successful. This proved to be the case when one-by-one, three votes against Amanda were negated. Both of the remaining two votes were revealed to be for Patsy, sending her home as the eighth jury member.
Voted Out: Patsy Stone (2-0)
EPISODE 15 - PART 3:
During the voting process, Glazed Donut jumped for joy that the vote had gone through in his favour, and skipped the entire trip back to camp (even though he doesn't have legs). This annoyed Taylor, who felt like he was gloating at somebody else's misfortune, which he didn't think was right. When confronting him about it, Glazed Donut accepted the fact that he was gloating, and continued to revel in his and Amanda's victory at surviving once again. In a confessional, Taylor stated that Glazed Donut was showing his true colours, something that wouldn't go down well with the jury if he had anything to do with it.
The next morning, Amanda approached So about the upcoming vote, with it being clear that the vote would go to a tiebreaker, between whoever each alliance decided to vote for. Wanting a girl to win, Amanda suggested that they push their respective partners to vote for each other, to ensure that they both make the finals, to which So agreed. Moreover, Amanda then put forward that So vote with her alliance, to save the hassle of going through a fire-making challenge, and that she would gain the jury votes of her La Flor alliance members up against two of them. So considered it, but stated that she had promised Taylor she wouldn't betray him again after their rough patch during the tribal stage. Amanda accepted her reasons, and the pair shook on it.
At camp, Taylor secretly broke down at losing his closest ally Patsy, not wanting to be voted out and to have wasted 38 days of his life. He explained that being a 'hot actor' meant he was often stereotyped as being dumb, and wanted to use this experience to prove his intelligence. Back at the main camp, Glazed Donut told So that he wanted her to being in the final 3 with him over Taylor, despite Amanda not having the conversation with him yet. So thanked him, but admitted that she couldn't promise him the same in return. In a confessional, while still angry at Taylor for overreacting, didn't want it to affect him game by getting him voted out, and planned to apologise to him after the immunity challenge. At the said endurance-based immunity challenge, the final four castaways had to balance golden coins on a sword handle for as long as possible. Glazed Donut was the first to drop after a few seconds, while the other three lasted over an hour. Amanda dropped next and was almost immediately followed by Taylor, allowing So to win for the second time in a row, and secure her spot in the final 3.
Back at camp, both duos separated from one another in preparation for the imminent fire-making challenge that was to ensure. Taylor, who had been pretty helpful in general camp life thus far, found the task relatively easy and stopped practising after 30 minutes after several successful attempts. Meanwhile both Amanda and Glazed Donut worked tirelessly to perfect their skills, however weren't quite as successful, leaving them hoping for a miracle. Shortly before tribal, the group shared one last huge with each other, wishing each other luck in the final round of the game.
At tribal council, Jeff asked about camp life, to which So almost immediately brought up Glazed Donut and Taylor's earlier argument. While Taylor was relatively dismissive of the whole event, not wanting to bring it up again, Glazed Donut took the opportunity to apologise for perhaps rubbiing it in, to which Taylor accepted. Jeff then asked whether this meant that tribal lines had finally ended, to which all of the castaways answered with a resounding "no". When it was time to reveal the vote, the outcome was as expected with a tie between Glazed Donut and Taylor with 2 votes apiece, which was then repeated in the re-vote, leading to the inevitable tiebreaker challenge. In the challenge, surprisingly Taylor struggled with the flint, but was the first to create a fire, and began to build his teepee. A few minutes afterwards, a piece of Glazed Donut's dodgy icing fell off, which quickly caught a light due to it's unnaturally high chemical content. While Taylor's fire grew steadily, Glazed Donut's fire roared from the chemicals, almost obliterating his rope, giving him the underdog win. This meant that Taylor would leave the game in 4th place as the ninth and final member of the jury.
Voted Out: Taylor Lautner (2-2/1-1/Tiebreaker)
EPISODE 15 - PART 3:
Returning back from the final tribal of the season, So stated in a confessional how bad she felt for Taylor on just missing out on making the final 3, but ultimately he was a big threat to win and may have beaten her in the finals. She then stressed that everybody came into the game for themselves, and ultimately as long as she wins, she doesn't care how anybody else fares. Meanwhile, Amanda and Glazed Donut rejoiced at making it to the final 3, and celebrated all of the obstacles they had overcome. In a confessional, Glazed Donut stated how happy he was for himself and Amanda as they truly deserved their place in the finals, and how he would be happy if either of them were to take home the million dollar prize. The next morning, the final 3 were greeted with their congratulatory breakfast, which they enjoyed before burning down their camp, and heading off to the final stage of the game.
Arriving at the final tribal council, the jury members consisting of Britney, Tisha, Fabio, Loveita, Marco, Tatianna, Luke, Patsy and Taylor were introduced. The final three then began their opening statements. In her opening statement, Amanda stressed how she wanted to play under-the-radar as she noted how big characters such as Donald, Shawn and Hillary were all voted out relatively early. The made minor moves at the beginning of the game, such as finding the idol from under Tatianna's nose, and keeping it a secret, before waiting until the end game to make her big moves. For So's opening statement, she made the case of playing hard from the get-go, unlike Amanda, as she had a reputation which she wanted to forget. Although admitting to flipping between alliances and going back on her word several times, she stressed that Survivor is a game, and she was only playing it to the best of her ability. Finally in his turn, Glazed Donut stressed that like Amanda chose to lay low for the majority of the game, but his was mostly due to no one wanting to align with him, which often made him vulnerable. Despite having no alliances however, he was able to form the social bonds necessary to keep him in the game, rather than lying on advantages such as immunity necklaces or idols.
The jury then began their questioning of the final 3. Britney was up first and surprisingly kept her speech short and sweet, noting that her vote was pretty obvious, as only spent 3 days total in the game with Amanda and Glazed Donut, but wished them both luck. Luke was next and like Britney, congratulated all three finalists. His one and only question was to Amanda, as to why she didn't play her idol at the tribal council he got purple rock'd. Amanda tried to defend herself, explaining that she didn't want to have to play it if she didn't need to, however Luke quickly stated that she deliberately put him in a difficult position when she would have stayed regardless. Up next was Patsy who in contrast, ripped into all three finalists calling Glazed Donut "invisible", Amanda an "invisible suckass" and So just a "plain old chinese bitch". Any attempts to interject by So were immediately shut down by Patsy. Tatianna asked Glazed Donut what his biggest move was, which he struggled to answer, stating that he didn't make any major moves per say, but developed the relationships needed to put himself in a position in which he didn't need to make a big move.
As one of the few people she actually connected with, Tisha personally congratulated Amanda for making the finals and asked her to explain why she felt keeping the idol hidden was her best move. Amanda pointed out that by keeping her idol a secret, it created a sense of mystery around the minority alliance, giving them more options in the game. Loveita followed and congratulated her fellow Espada alliance members on making the finals. She then went on to criticise So's game, and how she would make unnecessary deals which she had no intention of sticking to. She continued to explain that she genuinely looked out for her in times of need in the pre-merge portion of the game, something which wasn't reciprocated from her in the post-merge. Taylor continued on a similar sort of line bashing So's style of gameplay as "schizophrenic" going from one extreme to the other. While So pointed out that she had remained loyal to him since the merge, and that it was in fact him and Patsy who flipped on her numerous times, he was having none of it. Nevertheless, he stated that at least So was a part of numerous strategic discussions, where Amanda and Glazed Donut were not. For Fabio's question, he turned to Amanda as to why she turned on him, essentially handing the game to the La Flor tribe. Amanda answered that unlike Luke, she didn't want to rely on a rockdraw to determine her fate, as this was an individual game, rather than a group one. Furthermore, Fabio stated how happy he was Glazed Donut had made the finals as nobody saw it coming. Finally, Marco concluded the questioning asking each of the finalists to name who they felt was the most deserving of the win, as he was still undecided on his vote. Glazed Donut and Amanda both answered each other, due to their similar games, while So shockingly answered Glazed Donut, stating that Amanda only spoke to tribemembers when she saw an opportunity to use them in the game, rather than to form relationships.
Afterwards, the jury voted for their winner; Britney's voting confessional for So was shown wishing her luck, Fabio was seen holding Glazed Donut's name, stating that he played the most honest game, while Tatianna was seen writing Amanda's name, insinuating a three-horse race. Back in Los Angeles, the three finalists eagerly awaited the results. The three votes for each of the finalists were shown, before Jeff revealed the final 6. The next vote was for So, which was met with mild cheers. The next vote was for Glazed Donut and was met with large cheers, as was the next vote for Amanda, tying it up 2-2-2. The seventh vote was revealed to be for Amanda, putting her in the lead, however in a surprise turn, the final two votes were shown to be for Glazed Donut, giving him the majority and the title of Sole Survivor!
In the end, Glazed Donut's strong social game was highly valued by almost all of the jury members (earning the votes of Fabio, Loveita, Luke and Patsy), while Amanda and So's less personal strategic approach fell short for them (Amanda received votes from Marco, Tatianna and Tisha, while So's two votes were from Britney and Taylor).
Comments
GLAZED DONUT IS SUCH AN ICON
I REMEMBER WHEN THIS STARTED I HAD NO INTENTION OF WINNING OMG
After forever here ya go
I REMEMBER WHEN THIS STARTED I HAD NO INTENTION OF WINNING OMG