Fake Survivor: All-Stars

A Season Worthy of its Name

What if the Survivor franchise lived in alternate reality? A reality where different players were cast on different seasons? The purpled players might rise to dominance and Survivor icons might be a simple blip in the history of a long-running show. This is the purpose of our Fake Survivor series, a reimagining of the franchise’s season in chronological order.

Last week, we followed along as Natalie Bolton became the winner of Fake Survivor: Pearl Islands. This week, 16 new castaways come in with the hopes and dreams of following in his footsteps, but only one can become the victor of Fake Survivor: All-Stars.

First, the established rules of this series:

•To decide any season’s roster, I will load up the season I am simming (in this case All-Stars), go over to the simulate tab, and choose random. This ensures that no bias will have gone into choosing my cast of players for the season.

•While the cast of players is random, I will follow a season’s theme to the limits of their possibility (IE: All-Stars will be all returning players from the first 7 simulations, Micronesia will have half returning players, Cambodia will be all second-time players).

•Speaking of which, returning player seasons is where there will be some bias because I will not be able to complete a roster by randomizing. I will hand pick players from past seasons to compete in those seasons and do my best to avoid preconceived notions from reality, simply abiding by their performance in Fake Survivor history. I will try to mirror the number of returning players from each season based on reality but I will not follow it to the letter.

•I have not altered any player’s profile to make them better or worse than anyone else on the season. I have not adjusted any player’s relationship to other players in any way to impact a season’s results.

•For simplicity’s sake, we will assume all players are the age they were the first time they played real Survivor. Otherwise it would be weird to imagine an infant Will Wahl on like Survivor: Africa or something like that.

•No restarts if a player I like in real life ends up being an early boot, that’s just the reality and likely kills his chances to return in the future. That’s life man.

So, with all that well-established, let’s get into… Fake Survivor: All-Stars!

To follow along, here is the link to the simulation: http://brantsteele.net/survivor/allstars/r.php?c=HnnMQLjt

The most awaited Fake Survivor season of all-time is finally upon us, Fake Survivor: All Stars! 18 players from the past have come back to Brant Steele’s island for another chance at winning a million dollars. I will thank the many people who gave me suggestions for their own All-Stars. I received a lot of messages and tweets about this upcoming season, more than I expected, which warmed my heart. I tried to pick the most common suggestions, along with the people I felt from the start were automatically going to be chosen. So, without further ado, here is the roster that has been chosen to compete on this season.

Fake Survivor: Borneo castaways

Chelsea Townsend, Fake Survivor’s first ever winner, she’s hoping she can prove that going the distance wasn’t an accident and that Lucy wasn’t the strategy leader of her alliance as some might have suggested after Chelsea’s win.

Judd Sergeant, the first ever boot in Fake Survivor history, looking to change his narrative on his second chance.

Tyson Apostol, a chaotic contestant who performed well in challenges and feuded with his own ally, to his own detriment.

Tammy Leitner, the second half of the ally feuding pair, can she mend bridges with Tyson and find a way to victory?

Fake Survivor: Australian Outback castaways

Corinne Kaplan, head of a dominant 5-person alliance and Fake Survivor’s second winner.

Burton Roberts, cut at the knees by Corinne in the F3, he is hoping to go all the way this time.

Randy Bailey, a fan favorite during his season as the last person to oppose the 5-person majority, Randy is hoping to find better allies this time around.

Fake Survivor: Africa castaways

Vecepia Towery, her season’s winner who navigated a messy tribe dynamic with a small but effective 3-person alliance, loyalty is her game.

Colby Donaldson, a sometime ally to Vecepia, Colby stumbled his way through most of the game and was cut at the F3, where his social abilities had left him with a legitimate shot to win.

Cindy Hall, the last remaining Boran member who went much further than she should have by using her wits to stay in the majority alliance’s good graces.

Fake Survivor: Marquesas castaways

Devon Pinto, the winner whose victory may have been the most convoluted, Devon flipped through alliances, ended up in bad tribe situations and still managed to always find an opening.

Joe Anglim, last time he was helped by having his real-life fiancée on his starting tribe and he was one immunity away from a certain victory, can he repeat the same success on his own?

Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa, she started off as one of Devon’s enemies only to turn into his closest companion, with both in the game, will they be able to last long enough to play together again?

Fake Survivor: Thailand castaways

Woo Hwang, a messy player who was one half of the worst mutiny ever seen on Survivor, real or fake, this is his shot at redemption.

Elizabeth Olson, the second half of the messy mutiny, like Woo, she is hoping to change her image with this All-Stars opportunity.

Fake Survivor: Amazon castaways

Ozzy Lusth, potentially the weakest winner in Fake Survivor lore, Ozzy coasted through much of the season, powering through the end on immunity wins and won thanks to his ability to make friends.

Jane Bright, the real mastermind behind Fake Amazon, Jane’s willingness to betray anybody in her way got her to the end but it also cost her the game, can she strike a better balance this time around?

Fake Survivor: Pearl Islands

Kass McQuillen, last time out, she was always on the bottom of tribe hierarchies but she always fought her way through, making her a gigantic fan favorite despite being disliked by most of her castaways.

I would like to mention some tough cuts along the way, chief among them Reem Daly and Malcolm Freberg. I don’t doubt that they will both see an opportunity to return somewhere in the future even if this wasn’t their time. I also wish I could have brought back Brandon Hantz, as the first ever rock draw victim, one of Sarah Jones or Carl Bilancione since they were part of Vecepia’s run to the win and Sarita White for her OG robbed goddess reputation.

With 5 winners entering the season, we’ll keep a close eye on whether they are targeted like they were in the real Survivor: All-Stars. Since Brant Steele doesn’t recognize the Fake Survivor winners as former winners, I don’t think they will be blatantly targeted but you never know when this website will gain full sentience. I wasn’t a fan of putting 3 winners on one tribe, but it’s how my tribe division ultimately ended up.

Enough preseason chatter, let’s get to the tribes:

Dividing the tribes proved to be a little tougher than I anticipated. The men in particular are mostly fit, challenge beasts and then you have Judd and Randy. From there, I wanted to make sure Ozzy, Joe and Colby didn’t share a tribe. From there, it was mostly trying to balance the women and “pre-existing” relationships from past seasons. Because it’s Brant Steele, it shouldn’t matter too much either way but I wanted the feeling of realism for Fake Survivor’s grandest season yet.

Right away on Chapera, the winners realize what might happen to them if they don’t align. Unlike real All-Stars, putting 3 of them on a tribe together is giving them the opportunity to do something about bottom feeders coming for the throne. That’s how we see an alliance of Chelsea, Vecepia and Ozzy form on day one. Figgy is tagged as the 4th member of the alliance, likely from knowing Devon, another winner, so closely.

That leaves Burton and Judd as a 2-person duo in the minority. This must be giving Judd major PTSD to his boot in Borneo. If anybody is going into this season hoping to at least survive one single vote, it’s gotta be Judd. Going out first twice, and being the first ever boot in Fake Survivor history, would be a tough legacy to swallow.

On Mogo Mogo, there is another 4-person group. It’s spearheaded by another winner, Devon, and includes Randy, Tammy and Elizabeth. This is an interesting group because Randy and Tammy both went deep into the game as the last surviving member of their original tribe. Elizabeth, on the other hand, is known for faltering loyalty to her original tribe and dooming them with a bad decision to mutiny at an inopportune time.

The other two players on Mogo Mogo, Colby and Kass, are not part of an alliance with each other. They have not yet committed to anything in the game and are looking like nice pieces to run over should Mogo Mogo lose a couple of early immunity challenges.

Saboga has the most interesting tribe dynamics to start off. There are two pairs who seem somewhat loyal to each other. Cindy and Corinne are one pair. Joe and Woo are the other (that’s one hell of a challenge beast duo). Tyson and Jane have not declared any loyalty to each other, which makes sense considering the games they both played in their first seasons. Neither fully committed to their alliances and in separate ways, it cost both the game.

Knowing everything that was on the line, Judd must have put on the performance of a lifetime in the immunity challenge. The Chapera tribe finished first, Mogo Mogo came in right behind them, leaving the paired off Saboga tribe to figure it out at tribal council.

Before we get to Saboga, it’s worth mentioning that the Mogo Mogo 4 went from a medium strength alliance to a very strong alliance after the immunity challenge. That makes it an even more uncomfortable situation for Colby and Kass. They now seem locked out of any strategy talk on this tribe and will need to continue winning if they want to see a swap and some breathing room.

Prior to tribal council, Tyson bonded a lot with Joe. That might indicate which way his vote is leaning. It will be interesting to see who the targets become at this first tribal council and if the pair will look at each other or turn on Jane, using Tyson as an extra vote.

Heading right to the vote, it did come down to the two pairs fighting it out. Joe and Woo decided to target Corinne, likely due to her pedigree as the winner of Fake Australian Outback. Corinne and Cindy went for Joe, since their tribe is full of strong men and Joe is dangerous to leave around.

The vote would be decided by the two players in the middle. Both understanding the game, Tyson and Jane agreed to vote together. The work that Joe had put in with Tyson ended up paying off when he sided with Joe’s pair and voted against Corinne.

Sometimes, history is bound to repeat itself. Tina Wesson, winner of the real Survivor: Australian Outback, was voted off first during the real Survivor: All-Stars. Unable to break the curse, Corinne Kaplan, winner of Fake Survivor: Australian Outback, was voted off first during Fake Survivor: All-Stars. It will remain to be seen if Corinne can make a glorious comeback during Survivor: Blood vs Water more than a decade down the road.

Despite thinking they would bounce back easily given their tribe strength, Saboga struggled in the episode 2 immunity challenge. This time, Mogo Mogo came in first and Chapera finished second, but the end result was the same: Saboga was heading back to tribal council.

Before we go to Saboga, an important event happened at Chapera after the immunity challenge. The Winners alliance of Ozzy, Vecepia, Chelsea and tagger-on Figgy dissolved in plain sight. Maybe they had a rough argument during the challenge or they realized their respective games wouldn’t align but it’s done. This is the first time Vecepia is part of a real alliance that dissolves like this, it will be interesting to see how she adapts.

The easy vote on Saboga would be to pick off Cindy, who is now alone following Corinne’s departure. Then again, these are All-Stars and they don’t always play easily. While Tyson and Jane may not be a confirmed alliance, they are using their powers as kingmakers very cohesively. Not wanting to give all of the power to one pair on Saboga, Tyson and Jane decided to side with Cindy and vote for Woo as All-Stars’ second victim. This marks a short game for a player who failed to make the merge his first time out too.

Now an alliance with 0 confirmed alliances, Saboga needed a win to stave off the bleeding for a round or two. They got a reprieve when they limped to a second-place finish in the episode 3 immunity challenge. In first place? Mogo Mogo, meaning that Chapera would be the second tribe to lose a member in this All-Stars season.

Before tribal council, there was a blow up at Mogo Mogo, a tribe that had already secured safety. Tammy and Devon, members of a very solid alliance, had a huge fight. It will remain to be seen if that impacts the game or if it was just a hunger fueled argument that has no long-term implications.

Remember, this is a tribe that had a massive alliance collapse on itself before even attending a tribal council. Now, the sole alliance is a two-person duo of Burton and Judd. Everybody else’s loyalty is unannounced. During this crucial time, Ozzy decided it would be best to isolate himself from the tribe and push people away… not great.

Right away, we got confirmation that this was not good for Ozzy. Ever the loyal person, Vecepia stuck with him and they both voted for Judd. The problem is that everybody else voted for Ozzy and sent him packing in a 4–2 decision. Three votes into the season, two winners have already bitten the dust, once again, sometimes history is bound to repeat itself.

Feeling themselves a little bit, Saboga secured first place in the next immunity challenge. Hellbent on avoiding tribal council, the Mogo Mogo tribe continued its streak by finishing second (we also got confirmation that the 4-person alliance was still strong despite the Devon/Tammy fight). This meant a reeling Chapera would be going back to tribal council.

Both safe tribes had some drama before we could get to Chapera. Looking like an instigator this season, Devon picked another fight. This time with Colby, who at least is outside of his alliance. At Saboga, Jane started isolating herself from the tribe, likely giving Tyson some pause on if he can continue to work with her.

In an already confusing tribe, the only alliance, Burton and Judd, went from a solid alliance to a medium strength on before tribal council. I don’t doubt they will still vote together for this round but it doesn’t spell great things for their future as a locked in duo.

At tribal council, Vecepia’s head was on the chopping block. She was the one Burton and Judd wanted to see gone. Despite not being an official alliance anymore, Vecepia pleaded to Chelsea and Figgy. Her case to Chelsea was obvious, “you can’t let all the winners go out or you’ll be next.” To Figgy, the case was more, “you may not be a winner but people associate you with one, if you want to get to Devon, you need to vote with me here.” It was an impressive showing that reminded everyone why Vecepia was already a winner. It was enough to convince both Chelsea and Figgy. They voted with Vecepia and that marked the end of Judd’s redemption tour. Not the game he hoped to play but at least he got to go to multiple tribal councils this time around.

Despite never losing an immunity challenge, Mogo Mogo came in last during the reward challenge in which the dissolve would occur. That means that the 6 Mogo Mogo castaways would be evenly dissolved into Chapera and Saboga. Elizabeth, Randy and Tammy went to Chapera. Kass, Devon and Colby went to Saboga.

On the new Chapera, the dissolve meant a few reunions. Chelsea was joined by Tammy, somebody she had worked against for much of Borneo but they had also spent a few rounds together when it came time to get rid of Tyson. Randy and Burton got to reunite and much like Tammy and Chelsea, they had spent most of their season on opposing factions.

At the new Saboga, there was a major reunion between Joe and Devon. While Devon didn’t remain fully loyal for an entire season, he and Joe always had a close bond. Devon was also the one to vote Joe out at F3 but he did so out of hope for his own game. For his part, Colby got to link up with Cindy, two players who really didn’t work together in their original season but might feel connected through familiarity.

Down to only two tribes, Saboga won sole immunity. This is a tribe that is now filled to the brim with strong physical competitors in Tyson, Joe, Colby, Devon and Cindy. Jane and Kass are on hand to complete puzzles.

Speaking of Tyson, he took this opportunity of safety to start rubbing his tribe the wrong way. After starting off with some tough losses, these consecutive victories have probably gotten to his head and this has allowed classic Tyson to be released. He better watch himself before his behaviour entices the people around him to vote him off.

In another show of her game sense, Vecepia dominated this tribal council. Knowing she was just barely saved by Figgy and Chelsea in the last vote, Vecepia decided loyalty wasn’t going to get her the win this time around. She saw three new players arrive to her tribe and did the math: in a 7-person tribe, four is the majority. Simple enough. Knowing that the old-Mogo Mogo castaways would feel uncomfortable, she approached them and proposed voting with them. They obviously agreed and those 4 votes were enough to send Burton packing in a close 4–3 decision, with Randy being the 3-vote recipient. Maybe she’s playing too hard, too fast but Vecepia has easily been the strategic standout for the first 3rd of this game.

Chapera proved they were weakened but not dead by winning the following immunity challenge. Much like Tyson, Randy decided that winning an immunity challenge was the proper time to annoy his tribe. He proceeded to rub the rest of Chapera the wrong way, just days after he was barely saved by Vecepia’s flip.

After controlling most of the early-Saboga dynamics with his flip-flopping, things turned on Tyson at this vote. With the influx of new players from Mogo Mogo, everything changed. It didn’t help that Tyson took the time to annoy these new tribe members. In a rare 4–2–1 vote, Tyson found himself suddenly out of the game.

The 4 votes came from two different sources. Two were from Colby and Kass, Mogo Mogo transplants. The other two came from Cindy and Jane, Saboga OGs who were done with Tyson’s presence at their camp. Joe voted along with Tyson against Devon, which confirms that despite their previous bond, there was no Joe/Devon bromance this season. Uncommitted to either target, Devon pinned his vote on Kass, once again displaying the aloof demeanor that somehow produced his first win.

Continuing the back and forth, Saboga retaliated against Chapera by winning immunity. They also kidnapped Figgy, making her immune for the coming vote (let’s assume Devon had a lot of influence in this decision). After Vecepia’s defection in the previous Chapera tribal council, Figgy’s disappearance doesn’t seem like it will be good for Chelsea, who suddenly doesn’t have a lot of room to operate in.

Indeed, the three Mogo Mogo OGs decided to band together and vote against Chelsea. Possibly because of the winner’s bond, Vecepia did not go along with that plan and instead, voted with Chelsea, against Randy. This is easily the biggest mistake she has made all game and it might cost her big time if things go from bad to worse on Chapera.

Thankfully for Vecepia, she won’t have to worry about that just yet because the back and forth continued when Chapera won immunity in episode 8. After seeing Tyson walk out of tribal council at their last tribal council, there was a feeling that another Saboga original might go down after him.

The oddly constructed voting block of Cindy and Joe, Saboga OGs who were once against each other, and Kass and Colby, Mogo Mogo castaways who were not part of the original Mogo Mogo alliance, decided to work together for this vote. The target became Jane, who had previously helped Cindy and the two Mogo Mogos get rid of Tyson. Once again, Devon continued to show no real willingness to get involved by voting with Jane against Colby.

After the Jane vote, it was time for the “Amber Brkich memorial swap twist”. Joe, Cindy and Colby ended up on Chapera where Randy and Vecepia stayed. Vecepia, already in a tough spot after her previous voting mishap, was now joined by the guy she had previously eliminated at the F3 and Cindy, the girl she eliminated in the same season’s F5. It’ll be fun to see how that plays out.

That meant that Figgy, Elizabeth and Tammy joined Kass and Devon on Saboga. After 9 episodes, Devon and Figgy found themselves on the same tribe but given Devon’s odd voting patterns and the fact that he had no relationship with Joe, a former close ally, would he even be willing to work with Figgy, his former ride-or-die?

Well, it wouldn’t take long to find out as the new Chapera would follow the swap with an immunity challenge victory, sending Saboga to tribal council. And this is where we might have gotten some insight into Devon’s weird voting for the past couple of rounds.

Immediately upon Elizabeth and Figgy’s arrival, Devon got together with them. Tammy, who had been part of the Mogo Mogo majority with Devon and Elizabeth, was ostracized. Whatever happened to break up that original alliance, it leads to Tammy being on the outside looking in. From an outsider’s perspective, it looks like Devon was just biding his time until he could get back to Elizabeth and Figgy to form his real alliance. Those 3 then voted for Tammy who in turn voted against Devon. Out of the loop, Kass put her vote on Figgy and that is how Tammy went home in a 3–1–1 vote.

Finally, it was time to merge. The Chaboga Mogo tribe has a bunch of dynamics that are almost impossible to keep track. Devon, Figgy and Elizabeth seem like a trio. Devon and Randy are also extremely close, which means that he is likely part of this group. Cindy and Joe started off as rivals on Saboga but voted together at their last tribal council and they are the only original Saboga members to make the merge. Mogo Mogo outcasts Colby and Kass seem to have bonded by being pushed away from the rest of the tribe. Vecepia seems like a hired gun, by herself voting where the wind takes her.

What you might notice from that paragraph is that there are no large alliances. This is almost unheard of for Brant Steele simulations but I would wager that the 3 starting tribes and multiple swaps had an impact on not keeping big groups together. It also helps that many tribes had big alliances dissolve early in the game, opening it up for the smaller groups who might have otherwise been picked off.

Not skipping a beat at the merge, the fantastic duo of Devon and Figgy won the two immunity necklaces up for grabs. They also happened to be taken by Joe, winner of the individual reward, to an overnight resort stay. This seems like Joe extending the olive branch to his fellow Marquesas players after voting against Devon in the pre-merge. Devon continued his huge merge episode presence by picking a fight with Elizabeth, somebody we presumed he was close to. Devon has been a messy bitch this entire season.

Then came time to vote and shit hit the fan. The vote barely makes sense to what the alliances might be and it seems like people once again, were voting in pairs. Allow me to explain it the best I can. Randy and Kass, two original Mogo Mogos, were the two targets. Cindy and Joe, allied through Saboga, voted together against Randy. Oppositely, Devon and Randy, the strongest alliance in the game, voted together against Kass. Those are the easiest votes to explain. Elizabeth and Kass, both original Mogo Mogos, voted against another original Mogo Mogo in Randy. Vecepia and Colby, maybe from their past Survivor: Africa bond (explained by Brant Steele as their new Chapera bond), voted against Kass. That left the vote at 4–4 and Figgy to break the tie.

You would figure that given their history, Figgy would vote with Devon to send Kass home. But Brant Steele doesn’t care about history or feelings. It cares only about cold, hard facts and the facts are that Figgy was an original Chapera and that Devon and Randy were both original Mogo Mogos and the strongest alliance left in the game. Because of that, Randy had to go and Figgy went for the biggest throat cut she could right out of the merge gates. That must have been an awkward walk back to the tribe beach.

Feeling the burn of those 4 votes, Kass was motivated even harder to win immunity in the following episode. Thankfully for her, the immunity challenge was a slide puzzle, which she probably solved in less than 30 seconds and in doing so, guaranteed her safety for one more round.

By some grace of God, almost everybody agreed on who the next target would be: Elizabeth. Being the messy bitch that he is, Devon was the sole detractor from that sentiment. Instead, hurt from her decision from the previous round, Devon voted against Figgy! In an almost poetic decision, an insanely close relationship that was formed after Devon tried to vote her out in Fake Marquesas was demolished in Fake All-Stars after Devon tried to vote her out. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Also, in case this isn’t clear, Elizabeth went home 6–2.

But the beauty of Devon’s irrationality didn’t stop there. The Elizabeth vote must have been a wake up call for both Figgy and Devon. They talked everything out following Devon’s vote against her and against all odds, once again ended up on the same page. They roped in Vecepia, Figgy’s original Chapera colleague and the only other winner left standing, and targeted Colby out of fear that he could go on an immunity run and for Vecepia, that he might want revenge.

Unfortunately for that trio, Cindy and Joe recruited the two original Mogo Mogo outcasts, Kass and Colby (who had just previously voted against Kass, what the fuck is this cast doing?) to target Figgy. Those four votes were enough to end her game at the F7 but at least she goes down having fixed her broken relationship with Devon.

It only seems fitting that following Figgy out the door would be Devon. Even more fitting that the vote would be as chaotic as his gameplay has been over the course of this season. As has been the case for the entire post-merge, Cindy and Joe have been the catalysts for the vote. They are the one pair that has managed to stay on the same page and it has been deadly. This time, they roped in Vecepia, whose survival instincts kicked in once again. All season, Vecepia has been all about burning bridges as long as it assures her survival, a far cry from the original game she played in Fake Survivor: Africa. Those three pinned their votes on Devon.

Feeling the heat, Devon managed to pull in Kass, who up to this point had been fairly loyal to Colby. The only problem is that they decided their target would be… Colby. Obviously the man wasn’t going to vote against himself so their chance made it impossible to create a tie vote scenario. Instead, Colby cast his vote into the void for Vecepia, a retaliation vote for the one she cast against him in the previous round. Just like that, Devon 3–2–1’ed himself out of the game but his impact on the season will be forever. Nobody worked harder to make this Fake All-Stars better than the real one ever became.

Left in the game were two pairs and a floater. One pair, Cindy and Joe, did not get off on the right foot but since the merge have moved in lockstep. The other, Kass and Colby, have faltered lately, with Kass casting a vote against Colby in the previous round. In the middle, Vecepia continued squirreling away at the competition, hoping to find another lifeline to make it through another day.

It could have been a showdown between two pairs, leaving Vecepia to decide who she wanted to continue forward with. Instead, the two sides connected together and decided to go to the final four with each other. Once upon a time, Vecepia had been part of a group that decided to send Cindy him at the final five. This time around, Cindy was the one pulling the trigger, letting Vecepia go in the same spot, in the same 4–1 vote. Funny how these things work out. Colby must have felt a bit of satisfaction himself, getting the opportunity to send V home after she cut his game just short of the million dollars last time.

At final four, Joe won his first immunity. There very well might be a square off between two pairs of duos but before tribal council, the Colby and Kass alliance officially dissolved. Maybe out of season solidarity, Colby was able to appease to Cindy, and thus Joe, and they all voted in unity, sending Kass home 3–1.

For Joe and Colby, this had to feel like déjà vu. Both were one immunity win away from making it to the final tribal council. For Cindy, this was redemption for road she had just barely failed to reach in her previous attempt. At this point, it feels like Joe and Cindy would take each other. For Colby to make it, he will have to win immunity for himself and in that scenario, I have no idea who he might take along with him.

In a showdown for the ages, the classic “hand on the idol” challenge began. After countless hours, Colby and Joe both dropped, leaving Cindy as the season’s final immunity winner. It also gave her the final call as to whom she would take with her to the end. Like Jeff Probst might say, “this could be a million-dollar decision.”

Going into the merge, there were only two original Saboga members left. Somehow, through the insanity that was this unstable post merge, Cindy got the chance to bring both to final tribal council. In choosing to cut Colby, she did just that. Coming so close twice only to choke at the end has to be gutting for Colby. Regardless, it would be Joe vs Cindy for all the marbles and honestly, I have no clue how this jury might be voting.

At the vote reveal, the game was not as close as I would have figured. Joe received one vote, from Randy who “liked Joe more.” The rest of the jury voted for Cindy. 5 of them felt like “she had the more balanced game” and Kass “just liked Cindy more.” It’s only fitting that over the course of a highly reactive season, a pair that started so at odds with each other would end up being the strongest alliance. Cindy’s first vote of the season was against Joe. But then Saboga started losing and it bonded them closer. By the time they got to the merge, they had already had their differences and fixed them as everyone around them collapsed on to themselves. Cindy played a brilliant game, with Joe she always voted correctly in the post-merge and was always a deciding factor in who was going home next.

Our robbed goddess Colby was named the season’s fan favorite. If it’s anything like real-life, Colby’s disappointment at falling just short will be soothed by the “Rupert Boneham memorial” million-dollar production will be awarding him. Still, his two-time journey to a 3rd place finish will remain memorable and will likely keep him the good graces for a potential 3rd return somewhere down the line.

For me, this season was Devon Pinto’s for most of the game. He had such a chaotic effect on the events that occurred with his inability to vote consistently and his tendency to lash out at his own allies. That relationship with Figgy was intriguing and managed to conclude itself in a fun way. There is no doubt in my mind that Devon has secured himself a spot on season 20, and we know which tribe he will be on.

Then there is Vecepia, the other key to the season. A winner whose original game was all about sticking to her alliance and working together. This season she found herself in a position where her original alliance caved in on each other. After trying to mend it early on, she realized it was a hopeless situation and adapted. From there, she made a lot of ballsy and intuitive moves that allowed her to make it all the way to the F5 and be the last winner standing. This was proof that she might be head and shoulders the best player so far in our Fake Survivor universe.

It’ll be hard to bounce from this season back into a regular man vs woman iteration. Still, this Fake All-Stars proved that Brant Steele can produce some crazy results when the dice rolls the right way. I’m looking forward to the future to see more of these types of season and who knows? Maybe we’ll find another Devon Pinto along the way.