Fake Survivor: Redemption Island

Almost Like The Real Thing

It’s that time of the week again. Friday has rolled around, the world is still in a weird limbo state of uncertainty. But fear not, Fake Survivor is back to make you forget about the real world, if only for an hour or so. This week, we tackle one of Survivor’s weakest seasons, Redemption Island. Can our fake Survivor cast manage to overturn the generally negative reception that its real-life counterpart has received? I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

First, the established rules of this series:

• 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.

To follow along, here is the link to the simulation: http://brantsteele.net/survivor/redemptionisland/r.php?c=70xZtZEu

Here is our cast for this season of Fake Survivor, in which you will see our returning duo:

As you’ve probably noticed, our returning twosome is from just last season, Fake Survivor: Nicaragua. It’s the underdog duo of Dreamz Herd and Steve Wright. They played last season as a pair, fighting against a powerful alliance during their time on the island. Both players were immunity threats and Steve showed a knack for finding hidden immunity idols. As fan favorites, they earned their chance to compete for the win a second time. I’d like to thank Ben Ingersoll for the suggestion, I received numerous other great picks, but this is ultimately the one I felt worked best.

In real-life, production created a season around two people who couldn’t stand each other. That meant that Redemption Island was born with this weird, negative energy around it. With Dreamz and Steve being former allies, that energy is dispelled. It’s just two competitors hoping for a second shot at glory. Hopefully that can lead to a more positive season.

You’ll also notice on the Ometepe tribe, a familiar but younger face from the real-life Redemption Island. That’s right, Survivor’s poster-boy, Boston Rob Mariano, is finally making his Fake Survivor debut. By this point in the franchise’s history, Rob was becoming a four-time player. He won’t have all that experience heading into this season so let’s see if Marquesas Rob can put on a performance like the real-life Redemption Island Rob did.

There are a couple of big names alongside Rob on that Ometepe tribe. Jerri Manthey is an old-school Survivor icon. She’s the original villainess of Survivor and anybody who followed the show through All-Stars knows of her reputation. Like Rob, she’s starting a little later this time around, but she still has her shot to make an impact on the history of Fake Survivor. The same could be said of Yau-Man Chan, one of the most beloved characters to ever be on Survivor. He’s got to be thanking his lucky stars that there will be no car reward on this season, given that he is on a starting tribe with a certain Dreamz Herd.

The rest of the Ometepe cast is filled out with quieter personalities. Christa Hastie is best remembered as Sandra Diaz-Twine’s original bestie. Darrah Johnson was a contestant on that same season. She even went on an immunity run at the end of Pearl Islands, but she’s also one of the season’s least memorable characters. Real-life Stacy Kimball has experience with both Dreamz and Yau. Hopefully neither of them ask her how to make some French press coffee. Will Wahl is best known for being young and on Survivor. Bi Nguyen is the franchise’s most recent quit, though it was for health/career related reasons. Hopefully she has better luck on this fake season.

Steve’s Zapateras isn’t as well-stocked in memorable real-life characters. Brendan Synnott is key to Survivor lore for being the dragon that would inspire the Dragonslayer. Michelle Tesauro’s best Survivor moment is throwing up in the middle of a strategy discussion with Rupert while Rupert showed no concern for her well being. Artis was a casualty in the clusterfuck that was Tandang. Reynold Toepfer is the king of carnival games. Stacey Powell is the queen of sound effects. In real-life, she could have some great bonding experiences with Brendan over their mutual hatred for Benjamin Wade. Michael Snow was branded by Corinne Kaplan as her “gay” and given no other personality traits. Molly is the most recent in a long line of Parvati 2.0s that went out early. So Kim is a first boot.

But that’s the beauty of Fake Survivor. Your real-life resumes don’t matter in this universe. All these players have a chance to write a new story. One in which they become legends. Artis could easily become one of our franchise’s greats. Everybody has a shot to be somebody, so let’s get to it.

Episode One

The Alliances

Coming off the back of Fake Survivor: Nicaragua, Dreamz isn’t about to repeat history. He spent much of that season trying to find his footing after his smaller alliance took a hit early. This time around, he’s corralled Jerri, Will and Yau to create an alliance he hopes can rule Ometepe. Boston Rob, not one to take orders, has created his own counter alliance that includes Bi and Darrah.

Christa and Stacy are the hold outs on this tribe. They will decide the fate of this tribe as king makers. Boston Rob doesn’t have the numbers edge right now, but all he needs to do is convince both to join his side. Given his past history of persuasion, that’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Over at Zapatera, things are a little more cut and dry. It seems like unlike Dreamz, Steve enjoyed his experience in playing from the bottom. He’s formed a little trio with Brendan and Michael. Meanwhile the other five: Artis, Michelle, Molly, Reynold and Stacey, have formed a majority alliance. Some credit should be given to Reynold for figuring out basic alliance math this time around.

There is only one unidentified player on this tribe: So Kim. Maybe she’s afraid to make any moves early on because she can feel the pain of her real-life first boot in the alternate universe. Sometimes, it feels like those experiences translates between worlds in a supernatural way.

If Zapatera goes to tribal council, it seems like Steve is putting himself in prime position to get Russell Hantz’ed over to redemption island. Maybe Steve is relying on his scavenging skills to secure a hidden immunity idol. He did it a few times on Fake Survivor: Nicaragua, so maybe like Russell, it’s gone to his head. There’s only one way to find out.

At the first immunity challenge, Zapatera shows up. They become the first to complete their puzzle and secure their spot into next episode. For Ometepe, it could be an interesting first tribal council. Depending on how Christa wants to vote and where the idol lands (if anywhere), we could see some fireworks.

After their immunity victory, Artis somehow decides that this is the right time to isolate himself from the rest of the tribe. He was in a majority alliance just paragraphs ago. Now, he’s likely removed himself from that group and given Steve and his trio a chance to breathe. Nobody has found the Zapatera idol in this round.

As for the Ometepe idol, it is found by Will Wahl, a member of the 4-person alliance that hopes to rule Ometepe. That means that going into tribal council, Boston Rob is going to be facing off against a group that has more numbers than him while also holding on to an idol. His best chance will be to convince the stragglers that allowing the 4-person alliance to have their way, while also having an idol, is giving them too much power. The odds certainly seemed stacked against him.

Give his status as a returning player, Dreamz will be the target for Rob’s trio. It makes sense. Dreamz has established a leadership role early on for the tribe. Boston Rob wants that role for himself so to get there, he must take out the person currently occupying that spot. Fake Survivor winner Hunter Ellis has felt that burn in real-life. So, those are three votes headed Dreamz’s way.

In retaliation, Dreamz’s 4-person crew will be pinning their votes on Rob. The outcome of this vote will be determined by our two players that haven’t yet chosen an alliance. For Rob to survive this vote, he needs both players on his side. Christa, he managed to convince because she likes Dreamz less than she likes Rob. As for Stacy, the Boston Rob magic did not work. She decided to side with Dreamz’s alliance and in a 5–4 vote, Boston Rob becomes the first boot of Fake Survivor: Redemption Island. His game isn’t over yet, he will go to redemption island and await his chance for a duel.

It feels like perfect symmetry that for real-life Rob to win Redemption Island, his fake counterpart would have to go out first. I’m sure that’s a trade Boston Rob is willing to make every time, given that he will never even know that this series exists.

Episode Two

As mentioned in episode one, it’s confirmed in episode two that Artis has removed himself from his majority alliance at Zapatera. If Steve can somehow swing him and So Kim to his side, he could turn the tide on the presumptive dominant alliance at his camp. That would be quite the turnaround before they’ve even attended on tribal council.

Could it be that Boston Rob was Ometepe’s weak link? Without his presence, the tribe wins their first immunity challenge. They also win some fishing gear. Glad that our fake people won’t be fake starving. We wouldn’t want that on our hands.

After their win, tempers flare a little bit at Ometepe. Jerri and Yau, members of the same alliance, get into a small fight. It probably won’t impact their alliance just yet but it’s something to keep in the back of our minds if one ever decides to turn on the other. It’s not like Jerri to be picking fights with people on Survivor.

Before tribal council, So goes and manages to find the hidden immunity idol. As the outsider, this is some good protection for her. If she starts to feel like both alliances want to “Christy Smith” her, she has protection against it. Meanwhile, Stacey is starting to rub her tribe the wrong way. They’re just a bunch of Chuckie the Cheese bitches.

At tribal council, So feels uneasy tension in the air and decides to play her idol. Meanwhile, Steve’s trio decides to go after Artis, whose isolation has been annoying the tribe. Because she wants to side with majority, So goes along with that plan. The man himself, Artis, decides to vote for Reynold, a member of his former alliance. The other four people remaining in that alliance all vote for So. Because she played the idol, those votes are nullified and in a 4 to 1 vote, Artis becomes the second boot of the season.

Let’s flashforward to the beginning of this article when I said:

But that’s the beauty of Fake Survivor. Your real-life resumes don’t matter in this universe. All these players have a chance to write a new story. One in which they become legends. Artis could easily become one of our franchise’s greats. Everybody has a shot to be somebody, so let’s get to it.

We can scratch that possibility for Artis.

This was a great idol play from So. If she hadn’t decided to use it here, we would have had a 4–4–1 tie between Artis and So. The one vote is from Artis on Reynold meaning that in a revote, Artis and So wouldn’t have been allowed to cast their votes and it would have come back a 4–3 vote against So.

Now, ideally, Steve’s trio plus So would have targeted a member of the other alliance instead of Artis. If they had just thrown their votes in with Artis, they could have gotten him out and So could have kept their idol. Maybe that wasn’t in play. Maybe they didn’t know where Artis was voting. Given that, at the very least, I can credit So for saving herself in a tight spot.

Episode Three

This will be the first episode in which we will see a redemption island duel. It will be between Boston Rob and Artis. Truly a clash of the titans.

This challenge is a Survivor classic. It’s the one where you’re locked behind a jail cell and you have to create a long enough tool out of wooden branches to get a key. It’s mostly a challenge so that Jeff can make thinly veiled euphemisms about Boston Rob’s dick. Unfortunately for Probst, Boston Rob’s stick will not be strong or long enough this time around.

Artis will remain on redemption island. Boston Rob is officially our first player out of the game. He will not become a real-life legend. He will not meet his wife on Survivor. Boston Rob will simply go back to Boston and live his life like this show never happened for him.

At the immunity challenge, Ometepe wins another challenge that ends with a puzzle. Zapatera, after winning the first immunity challenge of the season, will go back to see Jeff Probst for the second consecutive episode.

Before tribal council, So once again goes out looking for the idol. She’s the only one on this tribe who has found the idol so far this season (Steve whimpers sadly at the memory of idol’s past). Luckily for her, that experience pays off and So finds her second hidden immunity idol in consecutive episodes.

Rather than finding idols, Steve spends his time bonding with Michelle from the opposing alliance. Maybe Steve feels like trying to constantly fight from the bottom last time didn’t end well for him. It could be a conscious choice not to be the one always looking for idols but instead, he could be choosing to stay back at camp and make social bonds. We’ll see how that pays off for him shortly.

Despite the heat she felt at the first tribal council, So decides not to play her idol this time around. Maybe she feels like she’s found a strong group with Steve’s trio. In that sense, if So thinks this vote is going to be a 4–4 tie and she trusts her side to go to rocks, she realizes she might be better off holding onto the idol. If the vote is indeed on her from the other side, she’ll become immune from drawing a rock after the revote and will survive the round with the idol in her pocket. High risk, high reward.

So and the Steve trio decide to put their votes on Reynold. If they had just done that one tribal ago, they could have had their way, but I digress. The four-person alliance counters by placing their votes on So, as she predicted. If the vote stands on the revote, she will have found a way to become immune from this rock draw and it’ll be a very solid play.

Unfortunately for So, it seems like the bonding that occurred between Steve and Michelle wasn’t just for show. Possibly because of that bond with the other side, Steve feels safe enough on the revote to flip over to avoid the tie. He doesn’t want to risk going to rocks for somebody who isn’t officially in his alliance. Especially if he knows that she has a second idol.

In this vote, So outplayed herself. She should have just thrown out the idol to avoid any chances that Steve’s alliance might flip on the revote. It would have bee a cool move if it had worked but it was too high-level of a risk this early on, with people she hasn’t built trust with. Instead, So leaves with an idol in her pocket and a tough road to return to the game.

Episode Four

The next redemption island duel is the one where they have to stack tiles like dominoes and avoid trip wires. It’s another classic redemption duel.

Establishing himself as the king of redemption, Artis wins his second consecutive duel. That means that So, our overly strategic queen, will meet an untimely early demise. Still, as far as very early boots go, So left a big impression on the game. I wouldn’t count her completely out of a return down the line. But for now, she’s off to Ponderosa to go drink with Boston Rob.

After the duel, it’s time for another immunity challenge. Ometepe continues its early season dominance on Zapatera by winning a third straight immunity challenge. First, Dreamz did it individually in Nicaragua, now he’s got his whole tribe in on the fun.

To celebrate their win, Dreamz’s alliance decides to dissolve after the challenge. They’ve successfully voted off a member of the opposing alliance. They currently have, at worse, an even number of people with anyone not in their alliance. They could have controlled this game and despite all that, the alliance crumbles into thin air, leaving Bi and Darrah as the only official alliance on Ometepe. What a mess.

Meanwhile, on Zapatera, Molly has secured the hidden immunity idol that was re-hidden after So was voted out. Now that alliance has the numbers and an idol. Steve’s trio is in some serious danger going into this tribal council.

Because Steve has managed to build a bond with Michelle, the majority alliance is not going to target him just yet. Instead, they will target the dragon, Brendan, one of Steve’s allies. They place four votes on him and by the numbers, Steve, Michael and Brendan can do nothing but watch. Their three votes on Reynold go down the drain and in a 4 to 3 vote, Brendan is voted off the island.

Episode Five

With two duels and two victories, Artis is starting to feel himself on redemption island. Brendan could be his biggest test yet. The guy is fit and intelligent, not a lot of obvious weaknesses to be found. They will need to race to retrieve puzzle pieces and then assemble them into a cube.

When all is said and done, Brendan is declared the victor of this duel. After two hard fought duels, Artis is dethroned and sent out of the game. We will have barely any memories of him, much like in real-life.

In the main game, the immunity challenges have been a little less even than what we’ve seen on redemption island. After losing the first challenge, it seems like Ometepe has really founds its groove. That continues being the case when they hand Zapatera yet another L in episode five, sending them back to tribal council for the fourth straight time. Boston Rob really was holding this team down.

Before we can get to Zapatera, it’s pointed out that the alliance between Bi and Darrah on Ometepe, otherwise known as the only alliance left on that tribe, has officially become a very weak alliance. Maybe all this winning has made these people complacent. It seems like there is no strategy going on at their beach. This could bite them later in the game because lord knows Zapatera is going through the ringer.

With the idol already in Molly’s hands, there isn’t a lot that Steve or Michael can do at this point. They are at the mercy of the four-person alliance and so far, it doesn’t look like that group is willing to crack. Given that Steve has done a good job of getting close to Michelle, Michael is the obvious target for this vote.

At tribal council, that is confirmed to be what is happening with the tribe. Steve shows some loyalty to his former ally by voting in solidarity with Michael against Reynold, but it doesn’t matter. Four votes come raining down on Michael from the alliance and he is sent to redemption island where he will have to battle his former ally to stay in the game.

I don’t think it’s a savvy move from Steve to continuously vote with his fallen allies. Yeah, he might be showing them loyalty but he’s also voting against Reynold constantly. If he wants any chance of somehow breaking down that four-person crew, he can count Reynold out as a possible entryway.

Episode Six

It’s time for yet another duel between two Zapatera members. This time, it’s between two close friends: Brendan and Michael. There are some hooks and a labyrinth, yadda yadda, Brendan wins his second duel.

Then, things keep getting worse for Zapatera as Ometepe comes into yet another immunity challenge and destroys them. Maybe the Ulong curse had to go onto someone when they were able to break through on Fake Survivor: Palau. It sure feels like that curse may have gotten to Zapatera.

There are two ways this tribal council might go. If they want to be straight-forward, the Zapatera four will stick together and vote out Steve. There’s zero risk involved. Molly has the idol so Steve can’t possibly have one too. He’s a returning player and letting him sniff the merge, where he could reunite with Dreamz, could be dangerous.

Now, it could also go the way of chaos. If Michelle feels like Steve is a number in her pocket and she wants a chance to survive the merge, potentially through Steve’s association with Dreamz, she might decide to cause an upheaval. That would be tricky because Steve has very clearly alienated Reynold by constantly voting against him. Michelle would need to figure out which other member of the alliance she could trust to flip and, if that person isn’t Molly, manage to avoid getting an idol played.

Somehow, at tribal council, we got a bastardization of both outcomes meshed together. Michelle decided she wanted to salvage her relationship with Steve and tried to avoid voting against him. In the process, she voted against Stacey, a member of her actual alliance. Meanwhile, Steve knowingly decided to throw his vote on Reynold, despite the fact that Michelle was giving him a hand by voting against Stacey.

Undeterred, the other three voted against Steve and sent him home in a bizarre 3–1–1 vote. Michelle has placed herself squarely at the bottom of a tribe that keeps losing immunity challenges. Not an ideal move.

For the second consecutive season, Steve found himself at the bottom of his tribe and just couldn’t find a way out. This time around, the process was quickened by the fact that his tribe could not win a challenge to save their lives. The fact that Steve was unable to find any idols also didn’t help his chances. This was just further confirmation that while Steve is someone that is fun to root for, his strategic chops maybe aren’t at the level they need to be for this game.

Still, he will be a threat on redemption island. This is the last person Brendan wants to see walking on his beach.

Episode Seven

As far as duels go, this one between Brendan and Steve might be the biggest clash we get on this season. It therefore tracks that this would be the lamest challenge they could do, the memory challenge. You know, like the ones you play with your kids that has princesses on them and you must match two and your kid always cheats three rounds into the game (or is that just my experience?).

Brendan wins this meeting of the minds and continues to establish his reign on redemption island. Steve sadly goes out much earlier than he would have liked to. Dreamz can do nothing but watch his former closest ally go home before he has a chance to even speak to him. But he’s doing so well this season, leading his tribe to dominant victories. He can’t let Steve’s boot distract him from his goal.

Mercifully, Zapatera manages to win the immunity challenge in this episode. With the Zapatera alliance the only members left on the tribe, this win will allow them to avoid turning on each other for the time being. Plus, it’ll be interesting to see what happens at Ometepe after such a long layoff from tribal council. Especially given that only one alliance has held firm since that time and that alliance contains only two players.

At Zapatera after the victory, Molly and Reynold bond a lot. With Michelle’s vote against Stacey in the last episode, Molly and Reynold seem like the two key cogs in that four-person alliance. Reynold is the perceived leader, given he received all those votes from the Zapatera minority. Molly holds the immunity idol. They have all the power in that alliance.

A quick reminder before we go to this Ometepe tribal council that Will currently holds his tribe’s hidden immunity idol. You could be forgiven for forgetting given that this happened in episode two and they haven’t been back to tribal council since.

I have no idea where this is heading so let’s try and find out.

Bi and Darrah are the only official alliance on this tribe. So, we can start there and assume they will vote together, which they do. Both players put their votes on Jerri. Then you have the two former stragglers, Christa and Stacy. Christa votes for Bi because she doesn’t like her. Similarly, Stacy votes for Jerri for the same reasons.

So, at this point, that’s 3 votes on Jerri, 1 vote on Bi with the former alliance of Dreamz, Jerri, Will and Yau left to vote. If they still stick together despite officially breaking up, Jerri will be saved. If not, things could get interesting. Remember also that Yau and Jerri had a flare up back in episode two and that there might be unresolved issues between the two.

Obviously, Jerri isn’t voting for herself, so she becomes a vote against Bi. Will stays with his former ally in voting against Bi. Yau, maybe begrudgingly, sticks with the former alliance in voting for Jerri. That pushes Bi’s votes against to 4 while Jerri has 3 to her name with only our returning player, Dreamz, left to vote.

Despite what we know of the real-life Dreamz, in Fake Nicaragua, he stayed true to his alliance to the very end. Not once did he flip on his side, even in moments where a rock draw might be coming his way. Maybe this season, Dreamz felt like he needed to play a little more aggressive to further his chances in the game. That could be why in this moment, he felt like it was time to flip on Jerri and tie the vote against her.

On the revote, given that Yau was already not totally thrilled to be siding with Jerri, he flipped his vote and decided to send her out of the game with a 4 to 2 count. If there were ever any questions about the existence of this alliance after it dissolved, this vote should confirm that it’s all but dead. Dreamz did his own thing. Yau joined him on the revote and Will is left holding to pieces (and an idol) after it exploded in his face.

Episode Eight

This will be the final duel of the pre-merge. Whoever wins the challenge between Jerri and Brendan will be back in the game. After winning three straight duels, it would be an epic return for Brendan. If Jerri were to win the duel, it would make for a very interesting merge for Ometepe. They will have the numbers on paper either way but at the moment, this seems like a very broken tribe. Especially compared to the remaining Zapateras who have voted against each other at their last tribal council, but up until that point have remained a very strong alliance.

Much to Dreamz’s delight, at least I can assume, Brendan is able to defeat Jerri, win his fourth consecutive duel, and win his way back into the game. I can’t see a way in which Brendan will be willing to work with the people who voted him out. That means he might become an ally for the Ometepes, whose alignment still needs to be figured out. This upcoming merge vote is going to be huge for how the rest of the season shakes out.

Here is our final roster for the merge:

A quick aside, I always thought Murlonio was one of the stupider tribe names in Survivor history. It sounds like a discount version of a wizard you would see in fairy tales.

Heading into the merge, the Zapatera 4 have the most loyalty to each other (and it’s not that high, they are a 5-loyalty alliance). Everything else is going to be thrown out the window. I think the Zapateras might be high on the list of priorities but so too could Dreamz. He’s a returning player. His tribe dominated the immunity challenges and he’s been a monster in the individual challenges in the past. Giving him too much room to get comfortable could be a bad idea for both tribes.

Our first immunity winner of the season is Christa. She has been a true lone ranger so far this season. Her votes have mostly come down to who she likes better between the targets and that isn’t likely to change. She was also probably not going to be in any danger for this vote, given that there are bigger fish to fry from multiple angles.

Before the vote, Brendan and Michelle get into a bit of a fight. He’s probably holding on to some resentment after getting voted out so early. Michelle just became the icon of betrayal for him (shout out to the Genius). A quick reminder that idols are currently held by Will and Molly. Let’s find out where this vote is going.

For a vote with potentially a lot of moving pieces, this was right down the middle. It came down to original tribes, despite Ometepe’s hugely divided camp. They put their combined seven votes on Reynold. He finally takes a fatal shot after absorbing all of Zapatera’s minority votes in the pre-merge. Being the obvious leader of the alliance would have been fine near the end of the game, but at the beginning of the post-merge and with an alliance down in the numbers, it was never going to work out.

The Zapatera alliance plus Brendan, who oddly voted with his old tribe, put their votes on Bi. It should be noted that it’s at least a little bit surprising that Molly did not consider playing her idol for Reynold. We know they are close, and it would have gotten them one step further to getting even with Ometepe as more solid alliance. They might have had a chance.

Reynold played a very old-school game in a franchise that is quickly evolving in style. He got in with an alliance he trusted, and he was going to ride it out until the end. If Zapatera could have stopped Dreamz and the Ometepes’ immunity onslaught, that strategy might have worked for him. Given that he went into the merge without the numbers, Reynold needed to adapt, and he couldn’t do it. That was his downfall. He’ll have to go to redemption island and wait for a competitor.

Episode Nine: Part One

After feeling a bit of heat at the previous tribal council, Bi flexed her muscles a bit and won the following immunity challenge. If the Zapateras were going to try and cause an upheaval, it wouldn’t be on her. Bi’s behaviour around camp also started to become appreciated by her fellow castaways. A pretty strong episode overall for her in the early post-merge.

At tribal council, Ometepe stayed consistent. They are one big tribe and they aren’t going to let Zapatera Foa Foa them out of existence. Given that Reynold is a strong competitor, the Ometepes chose to put their votes on Brendon to go duel him. Either way, a strong competitor will get knocked out of the game after they meet at redemption and that’s a win for Ometepe. Unless of course they both finish ahead of whoever comes next at redemption island, which would be worst case scenario.

Zapatera’s votes went to Christa in a failed effort to convince a few Ometepe stragglers to knock out the least connected player in the game. It was worth a shot but with their numbers dwindling rapidly, the remaining Zapateras are in some trouble moving forward.

Episode Nine: Part Two

Continuing her tour de force episode, Bi won her second immunity challenge in a row. I don’t know if this is just raising her target for later on, when Zapatera is but a faint memory, but she’s killing these individual challenges with impressive force.

This is the perfect episode to make into a two-parter because it helps accelerate the Zapatera slaughter. This time, Stacey is the recipient of Ometepe’s seven votes. BLAM! This also settles the Stacy vs Stacey feud that we haven’t covered this season. Stacy Kimball can rest easy knowing whatever happens, she is the ultimate Stacy of Fake Survivor: Redemption Island.

Meanwhile, the three Zapateras opted to put their three futile votes on Yau-Man. At this point, they’re sharing the wealth, letting everyone get a taste of them as they get knocked out of the game.

Episode Ten

It’s time for our first three-way challenge (yeah, okay that doesn’t sound great). Reynold, Brendan and Stacey will compete in a card stacking competition to stay alive in the game. Holding up his reputation as the king of redemption, Brendan wins this challenge handily. That leaves Stacey and Reynold in a battle for second place.

In a shocker, Stacey comes out strong and defeats Reynold, the king of carnival games, in the duel, sending him out of the game. I can’t tell you if Stacey has some scathing words for anyone, or if she refuses to call Dreamz by that name and simply calls him Andria, but I can tell you that she will be around for at least one more duel. Hope isn’t gone for our beloved sound effect queen.

Maybe boosted by the high of being the ultimate Stacy, Mrs Kimball wins her first immunity challenge of the season, dethroning Bi in the process. Dreamz’s behaviour is beginning to be appreciated by the people at camp. Look at our guy playing that social game that eluded him so badly in both real-life and his first fake season. We’re proud of you man!

We are getting closer to Molly eventually playing the idol for herself. If Ometepe keeps going the way they’ve been going, they can only vote for Michelle and Molly. If they don’t split the votes, they’re crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Brant Steele simulation with an intentional vote split, it’s like the AI isn’t built to understand how to do it.

Sure enough, Molly plays her idol at this tribal council. She must have felt like the vibe was enough. And sure enough, Ometepe doesn’t split the votes. What a great read by Molly. What a terrible play by Ometepe. They’ve left their fates in the hands of two people. And those two people voted for…

God damn it! I won’t lie. I love Dreamz. I wanted him to do well so badly. And he was killing the game so far. A dominant tribe heading into the merge. They’re picking off the other side. He’s laying low, not trying to win challenges he doesn’t need and attracting unwanted heat on himself. All Ometepe had to do was SPLIT. THE. DAMN. VOTE. They didn’t do that and Dreamz becomes the victim.

This was a good call by Michelle and Molly. Dreamz is a big threat going down the stretch and as a returning player, he might have been the piece holding Ometepe together. In real-life, maybe Zapatera would have had a chance if they took out Boston Rob early in the merge. We’ll see if this works out better for these two than it did for the real Zapas.

As for Dreamz, the dream isn’t dead yet. He gets a chance to fight for his life at redemption. That’s something you would think he would excel in, but the competition is steep. Brendan has been a beast and Stacey proved herself against some tough opponents.

Episode Eleven: Part One

Two tribal councils in this episode. It’s almost like when you have two players coming back into the game in one season, the whole thing needs to be at an accelerated pace.

First, our redemption island duel. Once again, Brendan continues to crush the competition and finishes first in the challenge. The battle to stay alive comes down between Dreamz and Stacey. This time, Stacey can’t get it done as Dreamz defeats her and keeps his chances alive.

In the main game, Bi decides to take back her throne by winning her third immunity challenge of the season. Bi is quickly becoming a front runner between these challenge skills and having a lock-solid ally in Darrah. While she’s been very quiet in the strategy of the game, Darrah has been a useful ally for Bi during this post-merge run.

There is no idol re-hidden in the game. Probably because Will still holds his idol and it’s unlikely he will need to play it in this round. Though you never know. Dreamz getting voted out could start a chain reaction nobody was expecting. At least that’s what Molly and Michelle are hoping might happen at this tribal council.

Unfortunately for them, Ometepe is not shaken from its mission. Losing Dreamz to an idiotic decision to not split the votes was merely a sidestep. The Zapateras must still be annihilated. This time around, it was Molly’s turn to face the music as six Ometepe votes came raining down upon her. Molly and Michelle put two useless votes on Christa but it was for naught. Dread it. Run from it. Death by Ometepe still comes.

Episode Eleven: Part Two

Possibly because she was miffed to hear I was downplaying her involvement on the season, Darrah rose like a Phoenix to win the second immunity challenge of the season. This is another great time to have a double episode because it seems like the likely end to the Zapateras existence in the main game. Meaning that some interesting votes might start happening as soon as next episode.

As expected, Michelle cops six votes. She puts her own vote on Bi because, guys… she’s won three immunities already, she’s going to beat all of you. But Ometepe won’t hear of it. Zapatera must be smashed into bits until there is nothing left of them. If Dreamz can do his part at redemption, the mission will be officially complete.

Episode Twelve

In our first ever four-way duel, the winner will receive a reward in the form of a loved ones visit. Dreamz is our big winner of the challenge. He makes the smart decision not to have his loved ones visit (it was his truck, much to Yau’s dismay) and instead gives it up to all the players left in the game. This is the most socially aware Dreamz has ever been on Survivor. He may be voted out of the game but I’m still impressed.

Molly finishes second. Which means that for the first time, Brendan is in some hot water. He needs to beat Michelle or he will be sent out of the game. This is the result:

After such a dominant run on redemption island: 6 first place finishes, Brendan’s time on the show has run its course. He should have been the season’s 4th boot and thanks to his challenge prowess, fought his way into episode twelve. That shows a lot of tenacity and courage, no doubt Brendan will be a contender for the fan favorite of the season.

On a season that has seen strong women dominate the immunity challenges, this episode doesn’t go any differently. Stacy wins her second immunity of the season and continues to try to keep the pace with Bi in terms of challenges.

With all the Zapateras out of the game, we might finally some fireworks at tribal council between our six Ometepes. Bi and Darrah are a pair, that much we know. Yau and Will are part of a former alliance. Christa and Stacy have never committed to any alliance outside of the greater Ometepe tribe. How will this all meld into one tribal council? Who knows. But, I’m excited to find out.

Well, I was excited… and then I saw the votes. Despite getting rid of the opposing alliance, it seems like the Ometepes have also decided on a hierarchy within their own numbers. Christa, as the least connected member of this group, would be the first to die of her own sword, going down in a blaze of five votes against her. She chose to vote against Darrah… is that like the kiss of death where Darrah might be next?

Episode Thirteen

We start off the penultimate episode with our penultimate duel on redemption island. Four players will compete but there are only three spots to claim. Who will be left behind in this duel?

Much to Ometepe’s concern, it wouldn’t be Zapateras Molly or Michelle as they finished first and second respectively. The two Ometepes at redemption island, Dreamz and Christa, were left to fend for themselves. One would move on and one would go to Ponderosa where the rest of Zapatera is ready to roast them for following orders.

On his second Fake Survivor stint, Dreamz wasn’t about to let the dream die so easily. He booked his spot in the final duel of the season by defeating Christa and finishing third in the duel. For Christa, it was a sad day when she realized that her Survivor dream was over and that, for much of the season, she had submitted to the will of a tribe that didn’t care for her and cast her away the minute she was no longer of use to them. This is starting to sound like the real Redemption Island.

The other quiet Ometepe has been Will. Our resident youngster currently possesses an idol. On top of that, he’s now won immunity at final five 1.0, which means he will be safe to play his idol at final five 2.0 and has guaranteed his spot in the final four. I don’t know that Will had done enough to differentiate himself from Yau but if he uses that idol correctly, it could be a start.

Brant Steele being Brant Steele, they decided to throw logic out the window immediately. Rather than guarantee his own safety for the next vote, Will decided now was the time to play his idol for Bi. In a vote with five people, Bi promptly received one vote. In one fell swoop, Will burnt his idol and played it incorrectly. Some solid work in front of the jurors.

That one vote came from Stacy. Meanwhile, Bi and Darrah, a confirmed duo decided to place their votes on Yau. Will and Yau, former alliance mates, decided to put their votes on Darrah. So, let me get this straight: Will played an idol for Bi and then voted against her closest ally in the game? What is he thinking?

On the revote, all that would matter was Stacy’s vote. Given that she can’t vote for Bi, I would have figured the next best thing was voting for Darrah, her closest ally. But no, Brant Steele doesn’t work like that. Instead, Stacy likes Bi less than Yau-Man or Darrah, but she likes Yau-Man less than Darrah. I don’t know how that works, but just go with it.

So, in the short span of one vote, Will burned his idol on someone he voted against. Stacy voted for someone who became protected by an idol and then on a revote, saved that person’s closest ally. These two basically burnt down their own games in one round, impressive. The only people acting in their own best interest at this tribal council were Bi and Darrah, who correctly voted together, and Yau, who voted as he should have but was destroyed by a brutal decision from Stacy.

Finally, it took a while, but we get some action in the post-merge.

Finale: Part One

The first item on the agenda is getting to the redemption duel. This one is winner takes all. Whoever manages to balance a vase the longest will return to the game. Everyone else, this is the end of the road.

After a valiant effort in his second season, Dreamz dropped his vase first. He was followed quickly by Michelle. Leaving Molly and Yau-Man to fight for their spot back in the main game. A player that is part of the opposing tribe and someone who just voted off in a chaotic vote. Neither options are that palatable for the people left in the game.

Eventually, we had someone drop their vase and the player returning to the game is…

This shows some great resilience from Molly. If she can find a way to pull out some immunity wins, she may just book the least strategic Fake Survivor win of all-time. It’ll depend how bitter some of the Ometepes are over being bamboozled by their former tribe. Regardless, this is a wrench in the Ometepe plans since they have now kind of destroyed the trust they had within each other. Having Molly around is just another factor these guys are going to have to navigate in this finale.

At the immunity challenge, Stacy once again rose up to win her third immunity of the season. That matches her with Bi as the two women seem to be headed towards a crash course in the end-game. They are probably our two favorites to win right now and it should be primordial for both to want to take out the other.

Having failed to get her out the first time, Will once again decided the time was right to target Darrah. He had one person in Molly, who was quick to agree to this plan. The tricky part would be convincing Stacy to go ahead with the plan. In fact, we know from the previous round that Stacy likes Bi the least out of anyone left in the game. Why wouldn’t Will and Molly pitch Bi to Stacy instead? Bi is the biggest threat right now, she’s vulnerable and he really wants to, Will can try for Darrah next round?

Predictably, Stacy doesn’t want to go for Darrah and despite her dislike for Bi, decides to vote with her and Darrah against Molly, sending her out immediately after coming back in. Kind of deflating… like the real Redemption Island season.

I have to say, Darrah’s social game is impressive so far. She has Stacy completely unwilling to vote her out. To the point that Stacy is willing to vote with her least liked person on the island to keep Darrah around. I hope the jury will consider that if Darrah makes it to then end with Stacy or Bi, and not just competition wins as the end all, be all.

Finale: Part Two

If we are to assume Will is going to keep going after Darrah, he’s in trouble at the final four. He needs to realize that Stacy doesn’t want to go after Darrah but does want to vote out Bi. That is the only way he can probably survive this round if Stacy manages to get another immunity. If not, he might get his wish because Stacy is going to have to vote with him if Darrah and Bi are coming after her (as they should but no one is playing with their own best interest in mind).

Of course, the other way Will can guarantee his own safety is by winning immunity, which is exactly what he pulled off at the final four. This essentially locks Bi and Darrah into voting for Stacy, because it doesn’t look like they are going to vote for each other. Will can dictate where he wants the vote to go and Stacy is going to have to listen to him if she wants a chance to make fire. That means that Will may finally get his wish and have a vote against Darrah work, but let’s see what happens before we make any assumptions.

At tribal council, it becomes abundantly clear to Stacy that Will will not budge from his conviction to vote out Darrah. I don’t know why Will so badly wants to go into final tribal council with two women who completely wrecked him in the challenges, came from behind in the numbers and managed to overthrow Will’s alliance but hey, who knows how the mind of a teenager works.

Given that Will isn’t changing his vote, Stacy does what she needs to do and votes against Darrah, forcing a fire making challenge between the two of them. The results of that fire-making:

Can we consider Boston Rob avenged? He may have gone out first in the season, but his only two allies will be sitting in the final three. Both Darrah and Bi have managed to beat the odds and make it all the way to the end after a brutal start to the game.

Bi’s game revolves around her competition prowess. She won three immunity challenges over the course of the season. If Ometepe hadn’t been such a dominant tribe in the pre-merge, Bi likely would have gotten voted out early. Instead, thanks to her challenge skills, Ometepe won the majority of the pre-merge challenges and it allowed Bi a path to the merge. At the merge, Ometepe bonded together to take out Zapatera. As Ometepe broke down to just their own, Bi was able to use her bond with Darrah as a way to knock out the former Ometepe majority alliance, clearing the way for Bi to sit at final tribal council.

Darrah’s story is linked to Bi’s but is also entirely different. Where Bi made her name known through challenge wins, Darrah dominated socially. She would have been dead to rights on multiple votes if Stacy had been willing to vote against her, but each time, Darrah was able to convince Stacy to spare her. Their bond was so strong that Stacy willingly voted with Bi, whom she hated, to better serve Darrah’s game. When push came to shove, Darrah delivered in making fire and bought her own way into final tribal council. If anyone dictated the course of the end game, it was Darrah.

Will is the only person on the Ometepe tribe who saw through Darrah’s charm. He spent much of the end-game trying to get rid of her, each time failing because Darrah’s bonds with others was too strong. Will got to the end riding on the back of a dominant Ometepe tribe, in which he was part of the early majority. Still, there are questions to Will’s game. The round in which he burned his idol on Bi and then voted against her best interests was truly questionable game play. He was never able to get out his main target. Has Will really done enough to challenge Bi or Stacy? Will’s biggest asset is that he has a large portion of his former alliance sitting on the jury.

But how will the jurors see their games? Let’s find out.

This cast does not respect the social game. All eight of the jurors who voted for Bi voted for her because she won so immunity challenges. Reynold was the lone dissenting juror, giving his vote to Darrah for doing better with jury questioning. It’s a bit disheartening to see Darrah lose so convincingly. Yes, Bi is a deserving winner too, but it just feels like the vote should have been closer. I think it’s safe to say we will see both again down the line.

Yau-Man is the fan favorite. Hard to argue with the choice knowing the personality, but honestly, Yau was pretty quiet all season. He was part of the Ometepe amoeba and mostly kept to himself. He did go out in a brutal fashion, so that may have been some points in his favor. I was expecting Brendan to win this award but maybe the fans don’t respect redemption island as a twist… which isn’t an incorrect take.

This season felt like it was mostly by the book. A tribe took control and never let go of the throttle. That made for a bit of a slow march towards the finish line. But I’m not mad. You need some slower seasons to truly appreciate the wild ones like All-Stars or Heroes vs Villains. Plus, the cast was pretty solid. Bi and Darrah stood out in the end. So too did Stacy for her fighting spirit, Brendan and Dreamz for their will to win on redemption and So Kim as a strategic early boot that showed some promise.

Next week, we have another season with two returning players. Redemption island will also be back. Any thoughts on who you would like to see as our two coaches? I’ve got some ideas but as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.