Characters / Survivor: Ghost Island

This is Survivor: Ghost Island. And like all seasons of Survivor, spoilers are going to be unmarked. Proceed with caution.

The Tribes

Initial Tribes: Malolo (Orange), Naviti (Purple) → Tribe Switch: Malolo, Naviti → Second Tribe Switch: Malolo, Naviti, Yanuya (Green) → Merged Tribe: Lavita (Black)

Malolo

• Artifact of Doom: Throughout the season, much was made not only of the idea that Malolo was cursed as a tribe, but that even their orange tribe color was hexed: for instance, the orange teams in reward challenges post-merge tended to lose. This even extended to the finale, where Wendell was dead-set on not sitting at the orange station for the final four firemaking challenge. He manages to convince Angela to switch with him...and, lo and behold, Angela loses the challenge, with her orange station getting blasted by wind and putting out potential fires for her at least twice.
• Burning the Flag: After losing the episode six reward challenge, Malolo did this to try and break their "curse." It worked, as they won the final immunity challenge before the merge.
• Butt-Monkey: Other than winning two challenges, Malolo went through a poor losing streak no matter what tribe lineup they have. And that's not getting into how original Naviti members cruelly eliminate each member because of original tribal lines.
• Dramatic Irony: Jacob boasts on day one that he thinks Malolo is going to be one of the best tribes ever. Fast-forward to the midway point of the game, where Desiree convinces Malolo to burn their tribe flag because the name is jinxed with bad luck.
• Dwindling Party: Original Malolo lost five of its members in six rounds, reducing them to half of what they once were. By the final eight, only Donathan and Laurel remain.
• Failure Tribe: Not just the original members who have been cut down to half, but the tribe itself, regardless of lineup, can't seem to win a challenge.
  • Entering the merge, Malolo finishes the tribal phase with a final challenge record of 3-11, or a 21.43 win percentage. This is the same winning percentage that Ulong, generally considered the losingest tribe of all time, had.
• Paper Tiger: Despite having three of the most athletic guys and plenty of strong women, they lost the first two immunities.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Their first success in episode three after the swap, where the Malolo minority overthrew Naviti's majority. They also managed to win the final immunity challenge before the merge (though according to this, that challenge was actually thrown).
• Total Party Kill: The second and third incarnations of this tribe got wiped out when Sebastian was eliminated at the Final 6 and when Angela was eliminated at the Final 4, respectively.

Naviti

• A House Divided: By the final eight, the Naviti six starts to fracture between gender lines, and after Chelsea's elimination, Angela and Kellyn are on the bottom.
• The Ace: With the exception of the third immunity challenge, Naviti has won almost every challenge so far.
• Foil: After the tribe swap, the original Naviti tribe members that stayed on their tribe can be one towards the original Naviti tribe members that switched to Malolo. They both ended up getting an advantage in numbers at the tribe swap in which on paper, that is able to get them past the swap. However, while the latter seems to be able to stick with those numbers three episodes in, the former is unable to stick with those numbers thanks to the feud between Chris and Domenick.
• Purple Is Powerful: Invoked by their tribe colors. Played straight in the first episode as they've won immunity twice. Additionally, as of the merge, Naviti has only lost two original members, compared to five down for Malolo in the same timespan.
• Undying Loyalty: It seems that no matter the situation (separate tribes or the merge), Naviti continues to remain strong together and never back stab each other. However, it's sort of played with as three of the four eliminations from the tribe were a result of a couple of factors ^note  Bradley was a constant dick that it eventually led to Domenick and Chelsea teaming up with the original Malolo members to get him out, Chris and Domenick could not get along (resulting in Chris getting voted out right after the merge), and Desiree's plan to try and blindside Kellyn backfires, and her growing temper led to a majority vote off.
  • However, the unity seems to be subverted by Episode 12 as two sides (primarily the men vs the women) were forming to get the other out.

Yanuya

• Emerald Power: They're green, and just like Ikabula and Tavua before them, managed to win the immunity challenge the episode they were formed. They finished the tribal phase undefeated, finishing first place in both immunity challenges they participated in.
• Flawless Victory: Won all the challenges in the span they were around.

The Sole Survivor

Wendell Foster Holland II

Tribe: Naviti —> Naviti —> Yanuya —> Lavita

Age: 33

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Occupation: Furniture Company Owner

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• The Ace: He's well-liked around camp, a solid strategist, an excellent puzzle-solver, and athletic to boot.
• Advantage Ball:
  • Some exploring on Yanuya camp led him to find Erik Reichenbach's immunity necklace, which now functions as an immunity idol.
  • Gained Malcolm's second chance advantage at Ghost Island later in the game. This didn't do anything for him, unfortunately, as he blew the second chance immediately after his first slip-up.
• Ambassador: Tried to play this role to deescalate tensions between Chris and Domenick. It doesn't work, and he ultimately sides with Dom.
• Apologetic Attacker: He apologized to Chelsea profusely back at camp after she was left in the dark about a vote against Desiree (shown in a secret scene on YouTube not included on TV).
• Ascended Fan: He's a big fan of the game, and auditioned for the show as early as 2012, where a clip from his video from that time was played.
• Bash Brothers: Pretty close to Domenick and could be considered his right-hand man, and the two bounce ideas off each other and joke around.
• Brutal Honesty: Absolutely eviscerated Chris in confessional while voting for him.
  Wendell We, uh, we won a lot together, respect for that, but socially, you don't know what you're doing. I hope you stop saying "I" so much, I hope you start listening to people...and, oh yeah, finally, somebody had to say it, I'll say it: stop rapping. You're trash. (Starts to fold the vote, then stops) ...at rapping. You're garbage at rapping, you can't rap. You have no bars. (Starts to fold the vote, stops again) Put the mic down, bro. (Starts to fold the vote, stops) Put the pen down, bro. Use an eraser.
• The Charmer: Fancies himself as one of these, saying that his persuasive abilities will seal him the win.
• Decided by One Vote: Laurel was the one who cast an additional eleventh vote to tip the scales and declare him as the winner of Ghost Island.
• Determinator: After losing the third bag of puzzle pieces in the episode five immunity challenge, he ran all the way back to get it, which led to Yanuya winning despite a major time setback.
• Follow Your Heart: He left a comfortable position at a law firm to do this. He went with making furniture instead. Some tribemates even joked about planning to order furniture from him.
• Genius Bruiser: He's the best puzzle solver of the season (besides Kellyn) and one of the best athletes in the game.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: He took one taste of a fish eye in the gross-out eating challenge for immunity and quit on the spot.
• History Repeats:
  • Wendell received a do-over advantage that Malcolm Freeberg got in the Philippines season, but also failed at the challenge. Unlike Malcolm, however, Wendell was not voted out that night, though he still came one vote shy of a tiebreaker vote against Chelsea and was a major target to get out by the Naviti girls.
  • Just like Domenick's decoy, Wendell started making a fake necklace idol to throw off the other players outside his circle of allies, which he mentions later to Domenick. Unfortunately, it also gives rise to a blowup with Donathan, who is slowly spiraling out of control and fearing his allies are conspiring against him.
• Idiot Ball: A justified case happened to him in Episode 12, when a minor controversy erupted at the end of an Immunity Challenge. 35 days out in Fiji brought on exhaustion to all the castaways, and Wendell finished a slide puzzle first. Except for one small detail: he did not have the sense to call Jeff over to check his slide puzzle, allowing Laurel to finish next, who did call him over. Jeff was fair about this by allowing Wendell to dispute the finish, but Wendell gracefully took the "L" instead of the "W" because he knew it was on his head for not speaking up in time and allowed Laurel to have the win, and they could review the footage recorded out there that day for exact clarification because nobody except those next to Wendell's puzzle station had been alerted of his progress. It was such a bizarre incident that Jeff had nothing to go off of from past experience on the show, as this had never happened before because it was instinctive for players to do what Wendell failed to do- call him to check their work- revealing a need for Jeff to confirm before a challenge like this in the explanation phase that contestants have to call him over when they finish a puzzle. Come next challenge, he screamed for Jeff to check his work, learning his lesson well.
• Improperly Paranoid: Becomes convinced that the color orange is cursed (which, in Wendell's defense, is a common Survivor fandom superstition) to the point where he doesn't want to sit in the orange coded seat at final four fire making. Angela agrees to swap seats with him and let Wendell sit at the purple seat instead where he ends up winning.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: Wendell and Domenick knew they were a power pair of players, but came to the conclusion that they couldn't go to the final three together because they were an even match for one another. They agreed to gun for each other when the time came, but even so, this didn't pan out as planned and both went to the end equally worthy of the grand prize, which caused the show's first hung jury.
• Jack of All Stats: Claims to be this: he's athletic, good at puzzles, and is good with people.
• Only Sane Man: Among the Naviti, he's the only one who acknowledges that Chris and Domenick's feud is pointless and stupid. He also sees it as all-consuming and destructive and forcing battle lines to be drawn as the two embroil everyone, seem poised to wreck everything, and always mess up the peace.
• Oral Fixation: Can often be seen chewing on a toothpick.
• The Power of Friendship: At the end of the day, his strong social bond with Laurel, who he viewed as being like his sister, and who he played an immunity idol for at final five, is what gave him the edge when Laurel had to break the tie at Final Tribal.
• Self-Deprecation: He hates losing, and beats himself up when he squanders opportunities, like Malcolm's ill-fated reset advantage over a chance to be with his dad on reward.
• Sole Survivor: Of Ghost Island.
• Undying Loyalty: To Domenick, but this also extends to Laurel as he is willing to keep her safe. It was his loyalty and willingness to keep Laurel safe that ultimately crowned him the Sole Survivor.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Is partially responsible for Kellyn's attempted coup. After being given a spot on a Loved Ones reward, he rejects it in favor of a challenge advantage: A move that outrages Kellyn and the other women for leaving an empty slot on a reward they could had in favor of what would have been the only upside to them not being picked.

Runner-Up

Domenick F. Abbate

Tribe: Naviti —> Naviti —> Naviti —> Lavita

Age: 38

From: Nesconset, New York

Occupation: Construction Supervisor

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• Advantage Ball:
  • Went searching for and found Andrea's Hidden Immunity Idol from Caramoan at nighttime when he felt threatened in the game by Chris.
  • Was willed the Legacy Advantage after Morgan's elimination.
  • He found a third one in the form of David's fake immunity idol from Millennial's Vs. Gen-X. Unlike Ozzy's fake idol, this one has not matured into a real idol, but Domenick used it to bluff his way through a potentially dangerous vote at Final 6.
• Anti-Villain: He engages in some pretty ruthless gameplay, but he is a genuinely friendly guy who cares about the people he works with.
• Arch-Enemy: Nobody has really made Domenick's blood boil except Chris and Bradley. Chris is paranoid that Domenick needs to be dealt with and won't come off it, causing massive friction and battle lines to be drawn. Bradley was just plain unpleasant and acting like he was in charge and wouldn't be considerate of anyone.
• Big Bad: Zig-zagged. He's likened as "Russel Hantz 2.0" by Chris because of his scheming, but Domenick had actually done less to successfuly influence the game than Chris himself, who isn't even trying to be the bad guy. Chris was simply tipped off by Domenick's over-the-top demeanor that this guy means business. Later on, Domenick and Chris are split up into separate tribes and the tension subsides, and Domenick remains on winning teams and even coaches his third tribe to immunity. He hasn't been forced to eliminate anybody yet. Until the midpoint of the game, where he took out both Bradley and Chris, and established control of the entire game.
• Big "WHAT?!": In response to Morgan's blindside.
• Brutal Honesty: Domenick didn't say anything really coarse until being forced to put up with Bradley's repulsive nature, and made a forthright comment that he was "acting like a son of a bitch"- the thing most were probably thinking but didn't have the heart to say out loud.
• Carpet of Virility
• Cannot Keep a Secret: He's been telling everyone who's shown even the barest hint of working with him about his idol. He even lampshades this when he says he really shouldn't be telling anyone about it.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: At every Tribal Council he's attended so far, he's elected to turn on an ally from the original Naviti tribe.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Invoked, but ultimately averted. When the final four paid a final visit to Ghost Island, Domenick had won final immunity and could decide who would compete in the firemaking challenge and who sat with him in the final three. He didn't like that Laurel and Angela were his only choices to take on Wendell, so he got the absolutely insane idea to put himself on the line against Wendell and give his immunity necklace to one of the two. Sadly, he didn't take the risk and the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny wasn't meant to be, Wendell surpassed Angela, and won the tiebreaker vote from Laurel to take home the million dollars.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When the time came for him and Chris to settle their differences, Dom creamed him. His superior social play allowed him to get all but two other players on his side, who didn't vote with Chris either, and Domenick has a Legacy Advantage, ensuring that even if he had votes, he would have been safe. This becomes a running theme in his feuds with Michael and later Kellyn, whom he eliminates just as easily.
• The Don: The jurors are heard comparing Domenick's gameplay to the Godfather, and his playstyle revolves around ruthless extermination of threats while being fiercely protective of loyal members. He even at one point calls his Alliance his "family" and declares anyone messing with it will get hurt.
  Desiree: (whispering on the Jury booth as Domenick is boasting) He's the Godfather.
• Dramatic Irony: Domenick chose the urn used in Cagayan among three cursed urns where the person who won final immunity took the wrong person with them to the end and got beaten, comparing his playing style to Tony. He had a very good shot at winning the season, but made a fatal error when he chose to let another player face down Wendell instead of himself, Angela, taking with him Laurel to the final three, the one person who was closer to Wendell than him. Fully prepared for a tie vote, Domenick was ultimately shortchanged by his own ally being more sympathetic to Wendell than him. Domenick ultimately became not the Tony, but the Russel Hantz 2.0 he was made out to be, and the Woo to his Tony, Wendell, overtook him instead.
• Fatal Flaw: His mouth. Domenick constantly placing himself at the center of attention as well as speaking in an aggressive manner turned off many of the late-game jurors, whose votes ultimately proved pivotal.
• Foil: To Chris. Chris is aggressive and single-minded. Dom is easygoing and friendly. Chris is committed to his allies, but tends to force his views on them, while Dom draws allies in with his charm, but will cut them at the drop of a hat. Despite seeming like an idiot, Chris has good reads on people, but fails at representing himself well, while Domenick presents himself very well, but tends to misread people. And finally, Chris is an Anti-Hero with a soft side, while Dom is an Anti-Villain whose friendly demeanor hides a ruthless and cutthroat mind.
• The Gambling Addict: Was this before the birth of his daughter. He had a problem and had to curtail it for the sake of raising his family. However, when the finale is in sight, he remembers his love of gambling and considers one of the most epic and dangerous moves anyone has ever thought of in the show's history.
• Graceful Loser: He made a tweet congratulating Wendell on his win believing that he deserved his win.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: His feud with Chris in a nutshell. Both are very flawed men with their own virtues, but Chris is looking out for the tribe, while Dom is in it for himself and his family.
• Invincible Villain: Domenick has been completely and utterly unstoppable after assuming control of the game, eliminating all potential rivals in sequence.
• I Shall Taunt You: When it was between him and Wendell for dual Individual Immunity on their team (Lavita had been split into Orange and Purple; Chelsea won for Purple and Dom and Wendell were the only ones left on team Purple), Dom started razzing Wendell in a light-hearted manner because the stakes were nonexistent as they're allies and both have Hidden Immunity Idols and it turned into a simple face-off of who had the mightier testosterone. Wendell faltered and Domenick won.
• It's All About Me: Ultimately, he's in the game to win, and is fully willing to cause chaos in the tribe to consolidate power.
• Jerkass: Deconstructed. Domenick is a Nice Guy in real life and a true buddy, but his antics in the game rub a ton of people the wrong way. Their outward impression of him for the most part is that he's a rude, showboating, and overall arrogant goon, and showing off his idols as bling and getting Wendell to join in only worsens their opinion of him. Domenick has to explain to them that this was all part of the act to stay in the game.
• Love Redeems: Cited his daughter as his main inspiration for cleaning up his act.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Morgan and Wendell already got the Malolos on their side. However, Dom decided to solidify the alliance by showing them his fake idol and claiming Chris mistook it for the real one. This alerts James to the fact that Dom may be lying to and using them. Dom subverted it when Laurel and Donathan seemed willing to work with him and he confided he has an actual idol on him... while saying nothing about the Secret Advantage he just got willed.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Despite his craftiness, Dom is a surprisingly blunt instrument who simply removes his rivals from the game without warning the second they begin to build up power.
• The Purge: Domenick's playstyle revolves around eliminating potential threats before the can even build a foundation to marshal forces against him. This has led to him knocking out several power players such as Bradley, Chris, Desiree, Michael, Kellyn,and Donathan in short order.
• Refuge in Audacity: Says one of his personal items would be an antihistamine, which he would "spike in somebody's drinking water if they are relentlessly annoying me and/or the group on the island."
• The Starscream: Openly criticizes Chris' leadership and is plotting to overthrow him. Chris's brazen attempt to command Lavita makes it a cinch.
• Take a Third Option: He one of the wildest ideas any castaway ever professed in the series by considering giving up his hard-earned immunity and guaranteed seat at the final three just to take Wendell on at a firemaking challenge, as opposed to having Laurel or Angela face him. Subverted when Domenick felt the risk was too great.
• True Companions: With Wendell.
• Worthy Opponent: Ultimately seemed to view Chris as this, as the two buried the hatchet pretty quickly after the latter was voted out.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Domenick is very charismatic and likeable, allowing him to get all but two of the merged tribe to take out Chris.

Tiebreaker Juror

Laurel Johnson

Tribe: Malolo —> Naviti —> Yanuya —> Lavita

Age: 29

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Occupation: Financial Consultant

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• Academic Athlete: While at Yale, Laurel also played for the school's volleyball team.
• Action Girl: Laurel's been very strong in challenges so far, and singlehandedly won Naviti the episode three reward wit her performance
• Affably Evil: Laurel is very nice and composed, and doesn't appear like a threat or big player to the unassuming person and seems harmless like Donathan. However, Laurel has a lot of moxie as well, and is more than happy to team up with Domenick and show she's come on to the game to really play.
• Ascended Fan: A self-described superfan.
• The Creon: Laurel knows that she needs to play hard, but she doesn't want to make any moves that will put the spotlight on her and turn her into a target. This is the mistake Desiree made that got her eliminated, and what influenced Laurel to choose a vote against Chelsea knowing that her alliance with the Naviti women was cracking but the one with the guys was strong and cracking it herself by making a move against them would be disastrous.
• Dirty Coward: Laurel had several opportunities to make a move against Domenick and Wendell, but ultimately never went through with them because she didn't want to put a target on her back. This didn't just backfire, it completely disqualified her from being even considered for a single vote as the Jury, Michael in particular, boiled her for latching on to the two strongest players of the game and riding their coattails.
• Glory Seeker: Unlike the other castaways, Laurel says she's specifically playing for the title of Sole Survivor.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She protected Domenick and Wendell from several blindsides throughout the game. Ultimately, her gameplay was seen as cowardly by the jury, and she received no votes at Final Tribal.
• Honor Before Reason: Bonding with Domenick and Wendell drives her to consistently refuse to vote them out, despite knowing that she does not stand a chance against them at the Final Three.
• Jack of All Stats: A self-proclaimed "triple threat."
• Jerkass Has a Point: She got mad just like Kellyn when Wendell invited Sebastian and Angela on reward simply because they hadn't gone on any in a while, as it gave her opponents a chance to relax and get their bearings. However, she took it a little too far, bordering on entitlement, when she complained that she deserved to go on another reward with her major ally in the game.
• Kingmaker Scenario: The final tribal council vote ended in deadlock: five votes for Domenick, five votes for Wendell. Based on the rules, Laurel, having earned no votes, was chosen to cast the 11th and deciding vote to choose a winner. She chose Wendell.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After a game of sitting behind Domenick and Wendell instead of striking out for herself, she got completely disregarded as a goat for the final three due to never splitting away from the two guys she let drag her along to the end.
• The Mole: She gives Domenick all of the info Malolo provides her.
• Playing Both Sides: At the final 8 she and Donathan have the alliance of Naviti girls and Naviti guys believing they are on their side.
• The Quisling: Decided to abandon Malolo in favor of a secret alliance with Domenick.
• Sadistic Choice: She was given one in Episode 12. She could either go with the Naviti girls to vote out Wendell where she will have a lesser chance at making it to the end but a better chance at beating them at the final tribal council if she does make it there or go with the Naviti boys to vote out Chelsea where she is more likely to make it the end but has a less likely a chance to win the game. Even more so, having to cast the sole winning vote and decide who won the entire season. She was in tears after writing down Wendell's name.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: When she failed to go after Wendell when she believed it was her last chance to, she doubted there would be another chance to take either him or Domenick out of the game. Even though her alliance was strong and it helped her slide right into the final three, she had zero shot of winning. In fact, for the first time ever, the Jury had a tie vote, and Laurel got no votes at all, rendering her effectively eliminated by result without ever having her torched snuffed, and turning her into the series's first extra juror.
• The Smart Girl: Graduated from Yale. Also a very skilled person at turning attention away from herself and being good at sneaking intel.
• The Stool Pigeon: Every time someone wanted to blindside Dom and Wendell, Laurel was the one who would expose the plot.
• Undying Loyalty: Domenick, Wendell and most notably Donathan. Despite knowing in Episode 12 that she may not have a chance of winning with either of them around, she decided to stick with the two and get Chelsea out.
• Wild Card: She pivots between the Naviti women and Domenick and Wendell. At one point, she thought about teaming up with the women to go after the latter two following a reward where Wendell made a power move because Chelsea was beginning to emerge as a strong player and Angela stood out as an additional number and strong ally, but then Domenick brought home immunity and snapped Chelsea's winning streak, and Laurel realized the vote was going to split between Wendell and Chelsea and if she tried to go against Wendell, her disloyal vote would be traced back to her and she'd have to contend with the guys possibly going after her.
• Ur-Example: The first person to ever be tiebreaker juror in the history of Survivor.

The Jury

Angela Antoinette Perkins

Tribe: Naviti —> Naviti —> Malolo —> Lavita

Age: 42

From: Cincinnati, Ohio

Occupation: Army Veteran

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• Action Mom: A pre-show example, due to having served in the Army for 21 years.
• Advantage Ball: Subverted; right after she made a strong series of power plays and went to Ghost Island with a positive outlook and a chance to play for an advantage with 2 out of 3 odds, she picked the cursed capsule and lost her vote for the next Tribal Council and regretted it when Desiree was tossed from the tribe over Michael. Editing seemed to play up her rise as a major opponent over episodes 8 and 9, only for her game to hit a bump in the road.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Woefully aware of being on the outside of nearly every tribe she's been put on and aptly disgusted when she's not talked to.
• Artifact of Doom: Orange was the color people identified with the ever-failing Malolo tribe all season. After Wendell complained about having to sit at the orange flag station for making fire instead of purple as the "orange curse", Angela asked if he wanted to switch and they agreed to move. He took purple, and she took orange. Shockingly, Wendell was right. Angela, who was the queen of tending the campfire, was met with the wrath of Mother Nature herself, something completely out of her control. The wind blasted her station repeatedly and snuffed the flames of her fire beyond recovery while Wendell got a huge fire going and got his rope to burn and raise his flag.
• Batman Gambit: After the merge, Angela stars instigating a push against Michael because he's been on the bottom enough that it would be easy to go after him and deceives most of the tribe that Michael is throwing names out, knowing that people get confrontational when they think that someone is trying to speak against them.
• Berserk Button: Angela is used to having orders barked at her by people in the military, and that doesn't bother her because they had the right and rank to do so. However, if someone tries to call the shots without the platform or rank and disregards her as a person, Angela finds it insulting. What irked her was how Chris talked at her as opposed to with her at camp, which led her to go idol sniffing with others when she felt it would interfere with her game.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Angela blabs about almost everything she's told, and it stops people from aligning with her. The only one who sees benefit in it is Domenick, which results in Domenick picking up a steady source of intel from her as she leaks information with little provocation and joking she has this compulsion to just open her mouth. It also directly leads to the end of Seabastian's run in the game.
• Chekhov's Skill: Her military training. She eventually puts it to good use when she is able to psychologically trick most of Lavita into thinking Michael is gunning for more people than he is letting on.
• The Chessmaster: Seems to have risen to this position after Chris's elimination, using his ouster to help set herself apart and want to play her own game, and then she becomes influential in getting Michael targeted and manages to have all bases covered by having Libby take the fall if Michael uses an idol as a backup plan.
• Cool Old Lady: Downplayed slightly. At only 42, she's the oldest woman in the cast, the oldest member of her tribe, and the oldest castaway altogether.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: Her game is decided by a freakish and oppressive wind that keeps snuffing her fire in the final showdown of the season. There was no way anyone could have predicted this without knowledge of how to read the wind itself, especially on Day 38 when everyone still in the running is exhausted to their limits.
• The Dragon: Played With. While a few tribe members viewed her as one towards Chris after the tribal swap, it wasn't so much a team-up as Chris trying to find someone who would be loyal and Angela hesitantly following his lead and wondering if Chris had both their best interests in mind or wanted a vote who would merely follow his lead. After her tribemates nearly voted out because of their perception of her, this trope was more played straight knowing that both her and Chris were being targeted by her tribemates.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Takes advantage of the confusion caused by Chris' ouster to push herself into a position of power.
• Empty Nest: Played straight, as revealed in episode 5. Angela's only daughter left the house to go to college, and Angela did not handle it well. Her marriage collapsed as a result and she got a divorce.
• Epic Fail: The slide puzzle challenge gauntlet Individual Immunity. While everyone else made it to the final stage, Angela didn't even get past the first stage, and Jeff verbally discounted her being as good as "out", having no shot of winning the challenge because of how badly behind she was. From there, she goes into a severe decline where she trails behind in almost every following challenge.
• Graceful Loser: Admits defeat in her exit statement, but shares her disappointment at wanting to win and not getting to the end.
• Locked Out of the Loop: She's on the outside of almost every conversation in the game, and hates it. See Cannot Keep a Secret for justification.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Completely severed all ties with the original Naviti after the tribe tried to stab her in the back, which is fortunately very appealing to the Malolos like Kellyn and Bradley because that gives them a reason to pull her in as an additional ally and avoid trouble on the smaller 5-person tribes.
• Oh, Crap!: Her reaction to when she saw her tribe attempted to vote her out.
• Out of Focus: Has receded into the background following the Morgan boot. But then comes back around the merge.
• Red Baron: "The Sea Slug Slugger," given to her by Sebastian after her tremendous performance in episode 8's gross food immunity challenge.
• Retired Badass: Served in the Army for over 21 years.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Wendell invites her on a challenge at the final five because Angela hasn't gotten to enjoy any reward for a while.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite being betrayed by Naviti, she remained aligned with them to take out James. Although, it should be noted that neither of the Navitis she voted with participated in her attempted ouster. She also refused to vote for fellow Naviti Domenick at the merge, despite Chris' insistence.
• Unwitting Pawn: She told Domenick everything in the finale about how Donathan and Sebastian were trying to plot against him, and she even thought that she had a better chance of beating Domenick than Sebastian because Sebastian was likeable. She played right into Domenick's hand.
• Villain Decay: Sets in almost immediately after her one immunity win, as Angela begins to bomb challenge after challenge and never returns to the forefront, ending with her elimination in the fire-making showdown. Justified in that she's the oldest competitor of the cast, and has not been able to refuel herself because she's been missing out on almost every reward late in the game, and thus reached exhaustion faster than the rest.
• Worf Had the Flu: In the final stages of the game, Angela has a disastrous showing on both physical and mental levels, unable to think puzzles through clearly and keep up with the other competitors. It does her game in when she is unable to strike her flint aggressively enough to keep a fire going in the showdown with Wendell. Also, the curse of Malolo orange may have hit her orange station, which Wendell was very adamant about switching places with... and her fire was repeatedly struck by freak gusts of wind, snuffing it out twice.

Donathan Michael Hurley

Tribe: Malolo —> Naviti —> Naviti —> Lavita

Age: 26

From: Phelps, Kentucky

Occupation: Caretaker

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• Action Survivor: Though not very impressive on a physical level, Donathan is surprisingly unpredictable and is notorious for his "truth bombs," which always seem to shake up the game and allow him to keep pushing through the game, despite the odds being against him.
• Ascended Fan: Donathan is a superfan and a regular poster on the Survivor subreddit.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Donathan puts up a good resistance near the end of the game, but is promptly swept out by a unanimous vote and Domenick and Wendell using their Hidden Immunity Idols to cover themselves and Laurel while Wendell sits pretty with challenge-won Immunity.
• Boisterous Weakling: Donathan bases a lot of his game around dropping bombshells, but is frequently terrible at challenges; this does not stop him from trying hard to win, with his highest placing as second.
• Catchphrase: Fond of the term "truth bomb".
• Conflicting Loyalty: Donathan is torn between his allegiance to original Malolo and to Laurel, who is betraying Malolo in favor of Domenick.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He is sitting at the bottom of Lavita and mocked as though he's not really playing the game and acting like it's a vacation, but then Donathan finds both halves of the notorious Super Idol from Kaoh Rong and assembles it to make a regular Hidden Immunity Idol. He also delivers an enormous blow to Desiree's game at the Tribal Council following her clash with Laurel that helps lead to Des's elimination.
• The Dreaded: To Domenick, when Donathan becomes erratic late into the game. Even though Kellyn has been his biggest opponent, he remarks, "At least Kellyn has sense."
• Gayngst: Came out at the age of 13 and remarks about being bullied and not having a voice because of how badly the bullying affected him, but playing Survivor rebuilt his confidence and allowed him to be more vocal. This is something that moves Sia into giving him a consolation prize.
• History Repeats:
  • Lauren Rimmer may have a Spear Counterpart. Once again, a not-so-athletic player with a strong Southern accent calls out a strong athletic player who thinks they're in control for smudging the truth during the third Tribal Council with the current tribe format and helps secure their elimination that same night. Same player successfully finds and assembles a two-piece Hidden Immunity Idol that only works if both halves come together as one. The only differences here are that Lauren is a woman, the third TC in question was pre-merge, not post-merge, and Lauren made a catastrophic error with her idol that got her voted out.
  • Like Tai before him, another openly gay player, he won over the singer Sia with his spirit, and at the live finale, Jeff reveals she donated a $10,000 prize to him.
• Innocently Insensitive: Due to his conservative upbringing in Kentucky, Donathan is thrilled to meet and befriend others from different backgrounds. Although his comments leave a lot to be desired (calling James "exotic", or getting excited over having a black friend), it's made clear that his comments are not intentionally insensitive and that he's a genuinely nice, if very sheltered, person.
• Mama's Boy: Donathan has a big emotional stake in the game in that he has spent a long time caring for his ailing grandmother (his "Mamaw", as he affectionately calls her) with his mother, and it has tired out the both of them and Donathan wants to win Survivor to get his grandma a place to be cared for and give his mom a chance to rest.
• Nice Guy: If a little oblivious.
• Non-Action Guy: Donathan outright admits that he's not the strongest or even smartest player out there.
• Oh, Crap!: Donathan had a VERY unhappy look on his face when he played the Super Idol and learned Jenna would have been voted out regardless.
• Picked Last: Because he's shown he's a very weak physical player (or is he?), as the odd man out, Donathan is not even picked at all for a reward challenge for a picnic, though it earns him automatic safety from being picked for Ghost Island, even if rocks are used to decide who goes there.
• Playing Both Sides: At the final 8 he and Laurel have the alliance of Naviti girls and Naviti guys believing they are on their side.
• Pom-Pom Guy: He used to be a cheerleader back in high school. He started gymnastics when he was 8.
• Sanity Slippage: After 34-35 days of exhaustion, Donathan succumbs to paranoia. He starts making wild accusations that he wants to play for himself and capsizes his healthy relationship with the strongest players of the game out of fear they won't take him to the end, when they had never considered him as a target up until then. Worse, he sees Domenick and Wendell moving around a mysterious item from one bag to another in a furtive manner and starts accusing them of peddling additional advantages in secret- all they were doing was trying to avoid letting other players learn about their current Hidden Immunity Idol monopoly. From there he becomes an unreasonable and irrational wreck who screws up his and almost gets himself voted out by the next Tribal Council because Domenick sees him as an obstacle.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Wouldn't even let Domenick reason with him at the Tribal Council about who to vote for following his meltdown. It later bites him in the ass when Domenick uses his own words against him for not knowing about a plan to get out Kellyn because he told Domenick to shut up.
• Straight Gay
• Southern-Fried Genius: A self-described nerd.
• The Unintelligible: Donathan's Kentucky accent is so thick that he frequently mushes his speech and the editors must provide subtitles.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Donathan may have done this with regards to Malolo's losing streak by quietly trying to throw his ring throws in the last immunity challenge before merge, as he has attested in social media posts that his bad showing was all an act, and he does mysteriously start losing his aim after landing several rings on the money. Also, it may have been an excuse to see that Bradley got voted out, as Donathan didn't like being around him like anyone else.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Made some highly destructive moves that imploded his social game with Domenick and Wendell in the last few days of the game. Granted, he wasn't the only one behaving foolishly by then; most of it came about by endgame fatigue and not being able to think clearly, as other players started losing their bearings, too.
• Wild Card: His allegiance went nuts when there were only seven people left in the game. He goes from being an easily bought number to being totally unpredictable.

Sebastian Andrew Noel

Tribe: Naviti —> Malolo —> Yanuya —> Lavita

Age: 22

From: Melbourne, Florida

Occupation: Fishing Guide

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• A Day in the Limelight: Episode 12 gives viewers a chance to see Sebastian snag his first in-game advantage from Ghost Island and muse that now he might be able to have real impact on the game. He also has a stake in the finale, but then his game implodes from some really poor choices.
• Advantage Ball: Get's Kellyn's vote steal from Ghost Island.
• Affectionate Nickname: Dom called him "Seabass" in the first episode and the rest of the cast began to refer to him as "Seabass".
• Big Bad Wannabe: Throughout the season, Sebastian got by through playing an honest and clean game and behaving nicely, not having any enemies except those who felt he could beat them in challenges. The one time Sebastian tries to be a major contender in the game, he is really, really bad at it, and it all gets squashed before he even manages to execute a plan.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Sebastian has attracted some attention because of his bizarre, cryptic confessionals and way of speaking. Most noticeable, in one of his confessionals, he not only warped the tribe name Malolo into a pun, he gave us a full tongue twister statement. (#Malololow) He's also prone to writing strange things on his votes: he wrote "Waffle Wednesday" on his vote for Steph (which was edited out), and "Lumber Legs" on his vote for Michael.
• Dreadlock Rasta: An unusual Caucasian version of this, Sebastian qualifies because he has a very long mane of hair he likes to have in cornrows (commenting to Stephanie he worries he won't have anyone to help him manage the hairstyle), he's often associated as being laid-back, exudes free-spirited mannerisms and qualities, and behaves in an easygoing and zen-like manner. That, and production loves to throw in thinly-veiled weed jokes. Subtle. Most of the time outdoors, Sebastian has his hair tied up in a bun or under his buff (or both) just so it doesn't get in the way, but when he lets it down, the full glory of the dreads comes out.
• Looks Like Jesus: The long hair, stubble, and tan are giving him that look.
• Lovable Rogue: On top of having a goofy but endearing charm, it's commented that he looks kinda like a pirate, especially in his getup in Episode 12. Sebastian finds that hilarious.
• Nature Lover: Loves being in the water.
• Nice Guy: Says he's "everyone's favorite person" in his day to day life.
• Official Couple: Became one with Jenna after the season.
• Out of Focus: He has not been seen much, or been in a lot of major plans. The exception to that is one big challenge win where he got to be with his sister for reward and chose who came with him with their family members. Then he gets big spotlight in the finale when he tries to mount a plan to go after Domenick.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Sore Loser: We saw one extra salty Seabass at the Jury booth when he called Domenick out for tricking him into withholding his extra vote just to dupe him out of the running.
• The Stoner: Obviously not explicitly mentioned, but between the way he behaves and looks and the fact he said his biggest inspiration was Bob Marley, it's not hard to draw this conclusion.
• Sweet Tooth: Like his tribemate Kellyn, he says he's addicted to candy. He's frequently mentioned it in confessionals, as well.
• Surfer Dude
• Too Dumb to Live: The whole point of having the extra vote in his pocket was to keep it a secret. All it took was one slip of the tongue about his extra vote to the one person who can't keep quiet and Sebastian's game was shredded. Once Domenick caught wind about it, he manipulated Seabass into keeping it in his pocket... and Seabass was shortly drummed out of the game thereafter.

Kellyn Sue Bechtold

Tribe: Naviti —> Malolo —> Malolo —> Lavita

Age: 31

From: North Manchester, Indiana

Occupation: Career Counselor

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• Advantage Ball: Won Sarah's extra vote from Game Changers on her second trip to Ghost Island.
• Amazon Brigade: With Angela, Chelsea, and Des(Before her Betrayal)
• Anticlimax: Much is made of her rebellion against Domenick and Wendell, and she spends two rounds trying to rouse forces against them, only to be unceremoniously voted off in an episode where she barely had any screentime.
• Ascended Fan: Kellyn says that the "human experiment" aspect of the show is what drew her in.
• Batman Gambit: Did not take the risk of losing her vote for an advantage at Ghost Island because it gave the people original to Naviti on the new Malolo majority vote. When Naviti surprised Malolo at the following Immunity Challenge, Kellyn felt relieved that she played defensively.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Kellyn is one of the gentlest players of the season, but when crossed, her temper is incorrigible and anyone who manages to stir it up is in for a tongue-lashing. Similarly, Desiree feared that Kellyn was such a strong and positive social presence that it would make her look very desirable as a candidate to win the game if she made it to the final three castaways. Ironically, this led Desiree to go after Kellyn without much forethought and it backfired horribly when it looked to the rest of the tribe that Des was irrationally targeting someone who had been unfailingly nice to everyone- and Kellyn was very quick to give a piece of her mind to Des.
• Born Unlucky: If something goes wrong, Kellyn is almost always the one who gets the worst end of it. Her trips to Ghost Island were unfortunate, her alliance was unfortunate, her time was mostly spent as a Malolo- a tribe that was really unfortunate, and every single big move she made in the game took an unfortunate turn (misplaying the extra vote so badly it returned to Ghost Island so Sebastian could try to use it right, having to be voted against twice to get her out of the game).
• Butt-Monkey: Nothing ever goes right for Kellyn. After wining the first immunity challenge at the merge she had no luck in challenges , two trips to Ghost Island, no chance to enjoy reward with her brother, needed to be voted against twice, and no strong allies left to back her up by the time she was eliminated. By the time she's eliminated, she's not handling things well because of how much crap she's endured.
• Catchphrase: "Empathy is my superpower."
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Like Chris and Michael before her, the moment Kellyn decides to make a move against Domenick is the moment she seals her fate, resulting in her closest ally Chelsea getting voted out and then her shortly after with little fanfare.
• Disc Three Final Boss: Kellyn was the most active strategic player among the women throughout the game, who plotted to go after the tough guys. Unfortunately, her bad timing and lack of enough strong players who could overpower the guys led to her going out right before the final stretch thanks to a collapsing network of Naviti female allies that finally got down to just her.
• Fatal Flaw: Narrow mindness. Throughout her time in the merge, Kellyn was adamant on keeping things "Naviti strong" by pagoning the Malolos, all while completely blind to the fact Wendell and Domenick were running the show. Once Kellyn realizes this, it is far too late as she burned so many possible connections she could have made and was voted out right before the finale.
• Graceful Loser: As hard as she played to try and stay alive in the final seven episodes, she was nothing but gracious on the way out.
• Gut Feeling: Goes off of this more often than not, even going as far as to Take a Third Option when asked by Jeff if she makes her decisions based more on her head or her heart.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Kellyn seemed to be under the impression she could trust Desiree by sheer virtue of them sharing a tribe, while mistrusting Domenick because of his domineering and aggressive nature. Desiree betrayed her, while Dom was the one who helped save her.
• Irony:
  • She does not believe Domenick when he tells her that Desiree is planning on betraying her accusing him of being paranoid. The following episode shows her acting extremely paranoid fully believing in Michael's lie about having an idol hook, line, and sinker and wasting her extra vote thanks to her paranoia.
  • In a season where some of the biggest misused advantages were brought back, Kellyn's misuse of her extra vote was so big, it was sent back to Ghost Island, and into the hands of Sebastian.
• Jack of All Trades: Before getting into counselling, Kellyn was a waitress, a worker in a plant nursery, and a receptionist at a crematory.
• Loose Lips: Has a tendency to blurt out things that she regrets later.
• Nice Girl: A self-proclaimed extravert who wants to talk to people and be friendly.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Kellyn had a short-lived marriage after jumping into a relationship too quickly and later coming to realize this was not where she wanted to be.
• Rule of Empathy: Voting out the Malolos seems to be taking a toll on her, as she was visibly in tears after voting out Stephanie.
• Sanity Slippage: After successfully instigating Michael's elimination, Kellyn's emotions are getting the better of her and causing her to lose her temper in front of people, particularly Domenick. She really starts falling over the cliff after Wendell gives up a chance to be with his dad to go to Ghost Island and gets angry he wasted a free slot any of the other girls could have enjoyed.
• The Starscream: She slowly grows to mistrust Domenick and his scheming, aggressive personality and elects to turn on him.
• Sweet Tooth: Says one of her luxury items would be a bag of Skittles.
• Tempting Fate: When she opened her mouth about not wanting to go to Ghost Island and got the white rock that sent her to Ghost Island in episode three, Kellyn felt the Survivor gods were picking on her.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Kellyn has never turned her back on her original tribemates. Des targets her under the impression that she's likely to reach the end of the game and carry the votes and might turn against her Naviti cohorts at some point. When Des begins painting a target on her back, Kellyn is shocked that Des believes she would be dangerous and immediately assures Domenick and Laurel that she isn't a threat at all. The only person Kellyn targeted was Michael, and she never wavered from that target. Instead, Desiree made such a fuss that the tribe decided to go after her and put the vote for Michael on hold.
  • However, by Episode 12, she gets pissed when the Naviti men got to spend time with their loved ones, and planned a coup with Angela and Chelsea to get Wendell out. It didn't work as Donathan and Laurel were siding with Domenick and Wendell, and she lost Chelsea in the process.

Chelsea C. Townsend

Tribe: Naviti —> Malolo —> Naviti —> Lavita

Age: 24

From: Salt Lake City, Utah

Occupation: EMT/Pro Cheerleader

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• A Death in the Limelight: Got a final confessional and a lot more dialogue and exposure in Episode 10 and we met her younger sister in a Reward Challenge for family.
• Arch-Enemy: Wendell. He was the only person to directly target Chelsea. After seeing Chelsea consistently pulling within the top three finishes of Individual Immunity Challenges and himself slipping up repeatedly and being beaten by her, Wendell decided to quickly remove her for outshining the pack. Wendell also had a target on him for his strong influence in the game and risked elimination to make this gutsy move, because Chelsea several Naviti girls in her corner.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Even though Chelsea is in a game setting where people's appearances get scraggly after a while, she manages to maintain the dark red dye in her hair and have a persistent sky blue mani-pedi.
• Color Contrast: Chelsea's deep red hair is very striking (probably the most intense hair color of this season's cast), and yet she is very demure.
• Decided by One Vote: Another person on the losing end of Laurel's Wild Card tendencies. Chelsea was part of a Naviti girls alliance of herself, Desiree, Kellyn, and Laurel. Laurel considered siding with the Naviti women to keep her in the game, but found more comfort in her strong alliance with Domenick, Wendell, and Donathan that she forged prior to the merge. After seeing that the women were outmatched, she flipped her vote to Chelsea, as the closing seconds of the episode reveal her vote was the last one Jeff read and the swing vote.
• Fatal Flaw: Shyness. Chelsea had a graceful but extremely quiet and timid social game. While people really liked her, she didn't have much influence as a quiet tribemate and lost out to Wendell's moxie by one Laurel. Had she been bolder, that may have swayed Laurel to not intersect alliances again.
• Femme Fatale: Says that, like Parvati before her, she'll use her charm to build relationships.
• Fun Size: The smallest castaway of the season, but she insists and proves she's tough.
• Jaw Drop: Her jaw flung southward than anyone else's the moment Jeff suddenly announced he would read the votes for the winner of the season on the island instead of stateside.
• Living Prop: The one castaway whom producers just didn't find interesting enough to pay attention to was given a downright puny amount of screentime, in some ways appearing even less than the notoriously ignored Purple Kelly, who earned this treatment as payback for quitting the game in a disgraceful manner.
• Ms. Fanservice: One glance at that photo proves Chelsea is extremely pretty.
• Must Have Coffee: She may be the person who appreciates having a camp coffee making kit the most.
• Outdoorsy Gal: Loves hiking and camping.
• Out of Focus: Chelsea will probably like a word with the producers when she learns they made her the true ghost of Ghost Island. Because Chelsea is a very quiet person, the editors don't have much to work with. It took until episode three (the fourth hour of the season) for her to finally get her first confessional. Her screen-time is also minimized next to more boisterous players until the merge when she surprises the cast with a strong performance at her first individual immunity challenge. As of Episode 9, she is the only member of Lavita to not receive an individual confessional following the merge. This telegraphs her elimination when she gets unusual focus in Episode 10 and we learn a rivalry has slowly been brewing between her and Wendell. Overall, her four confessionals through 12 episodes makes her the most invisible contestant of all time. If you want a little consolation though, she gets a lot of secret scenes and a decent Ponderosa installment.
• The Quiet One: Seems to be laying under the radar more than most. What little she says in the first three episodes is not much beyond simply agreeing with other people and a gentle confessional about how she views the tribe. She also elects to sit out the reward challenge of episode three. The apparent lack of contribution makes Brendan and Michael see her as one of the people on the bottom. However, by merge, Chelsea is one of the strongest players at Individual Immunity challenges, and that says otherwise. She is arguably the least suspicious person in Lavita and likely to avoid elimination while the noisier players erupt and several strong competitors take themselves out of the game, making it easier for her to slide by unnoticed.
• Shrinking Violet: A secret scene reveals Chelsea is a shy person who has stayed in her shell for much of the game. When she sees Desiree voted out, she is the only one aside from Des herself to vote for Michael, identifies it as the first time her name has come up as a potential troublemaker, and realizes her chances of surviving rely on her coming out of this shell and winning Individual Immunity repeatedly, and she steps up her determination accordingly.
• Spear Counterpart: The almost invisible player who everyone suspects might be a huge threat in the fanbase. Last season, it was JP Hilsabeck. He did not survive the double elimination episode, and never won Individual Immunity (but came very close). Chelsea, however, did.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: After becoming the first person to dominate Individual Immunity, Wendell started viewing her as a major threat. As her endurance challenge tenacity emerged and Wendell lost a challenge even with an advantage from Ghost Island, Chelsea exploded all over Wendell's radar as a challenge beast. The moment that win streak snapped and his biggest ally Domenick took the win, Wendell wasn't in a gentle mood. Wendell immediately coordinated an effort to eliminate Chelsea while he could.
• Tender Tears: She teared up over the sight and taste of coffee at the Naviti camp after the second tribe swap.
• Took a Level in Badass: Post-merge, she is the only person to have two consecutive Individual Immunity wins, and thanks to the double elimination twist, she survives three consecutive eliminations as a result. It's one of the reasons why Domenick wanted her gone, as she was too strong in the challenges, and the one time she lost immunity, she got voted out.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: In the gross-out food eating challenge, Chelsea is only beaten by Wendell in how bad they bomb the challenge in their respective first rounds. She is incapable of swallowing a single bite of a fish eye and promptly spits it out and runs over to the nearby shoreline heaving, possibly throwing up.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Serves as one to Wendell when she and she alone consistently crushes a string of challenges and is the one person he really feels threatened by as the one he can't beat at endurance, so he uses his social politics to outmaneuver her and gambles sitting on an idol. Wild Card player Laurel was once again the deciding vote, however. Also becomes one to Domenick when Wendell capitalizes this indomitable quality of Chelsea. Dom thinks Wendell makes a good point, and helps orchestrate the vote against her.
• Weak, but Skilled / Stronger Than They Look: Chelsea has shown okay to not so good performance in physically demanding challenges and disgusting food and is quickly outpaced by the athletic dynamos, but when it comes to challenges of endurance, focus and discipline, she's incredible where the rest of the cast find themselves thwarted. Her first one was a third place finish, and her second one scored her her first individual Immunity win- and this one was on a challenge where nearly everyone else was knocked out of the running in two minutes or earlier. She followed up with a second consecutive win in another Immunity challenge where the Lavita were split into purple and orange, being the last one to survive on the purple team and then bowing out as third place overall with no need to continue any further.
• Well Played: Gave Wendell props for the effort to get her eliminated when she sensed she was progressively coming up as a target.
  Chelsea: Well played, sir.
  Wendell: Good game, lady.

Michael Ernst Yerger

Tribe: Malolo —> Malolo —> Malolo —> Lavita

Age: 18

From: Knoxville, Tennessee

Occupation: Real Estate Agent

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• Advantage Ball: In addition to finding the China idol, he also managed to find a second idol: the "fucking stick" from Micronesia. While the former backfired on him as it led to Brendan's elimination, the latter managed to save him from elimination.
• Arch-Enemy: Kellyn's unfailing drive to get him voted out after three unsuccessful attempts has made her his biggest opponent.
• Ascended Fan: The first season he watched was China, which leads to a cool moment when the idol he finds on Malolo turns out to be one of the idols James Clement had.
• Butt-Monkey: Virtually nothing went right for him. He lost his original tribe mates left and right, been in all but two tribal councils, and was the only original Malolo against three women from the original Naviti tribe until the merge. Then, he was the main target only because he's been in the bottom a lot since the merge, and was finally eliminated by the final 10.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Outnumbered, down an idol, and left only with his own ingenuity, Michael simply had no chance of beating Domenick and his Naviti Strong Alliance. While he certainly triggered a split on his way out, his fate was a Foregone Conclusion.
• Disc Two Final Boss: Michael remained a major target for the entire first and second halves of the game up to his successful elimination, and he resisted the decisive vote many times.
• Doom Magnet: Brendan, James, and Libby and all have Michael to thank for their games being cut short due to his plans backfiring and his ability to push targets away from him- at least until the target grows too big to dodge.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Though he was eliminated, his gambit of lying to Kellyn that he had found yet ANOTHER idol successfully panicked her enough that it drove the biggest wedge yet between his "Naviti strong" opponents. And going by the preview for the next episode, the discord he created may even spread through even the half of the players not even involved at his part of Tribal Council.
• Failure Hero: In addition to constantly being on a losing tribe, watching his allies get voted out one after another, it seems every time Michael plays an idol, one of his closest allies goes home instead of his target. He winds up getting voted out after losing all of his allies and idols.
• Foil: To Will Wahl from Millennials vs. Gen X who is the only other male castaway to be playing survivor at the age of 18. While Will is much more open about his age and he does not keep it a secret from everybody on his tribe, Michael actually lied about his age. When the tribe swap ended up happening, they both ended up having three other people from their original tribe come with them. While it would have been a majority in Will's case if he didn't blindside Michaela, it became a minority in Michael's case. Also, while Will ended up witnessing Jay (aka Will's closest ally) getting the idol, Michael ended up getting the idol with Brendan (aka Michael's closest ally) witnessing that scene.
• Graceful Loser: Despite all the crap he had to endure, Michael left the game with no ill regards, and hugged everybody (except Kellyn) before leaving.
• History Repeats: The China idol brings another player bad luck. Michael had a solid plan for it, but because he misjudged who would become a target, it misfires completely.
• Irony: James never got to play his idols in China. When Michael tries to play one and say he didn't go home with it still in his pocket, it saves someone nobody voted for that night and the person he joked about using it to save- his closest ally Brendan- goes home instead. Ouch. Funnier still, the next idol he gains is Ozzy's crude carved stick, which now has all the power of a hidden idol but still remains the game's least idol-like idol.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Michael was overjoyed when he gained possession of one of James's idols, as Survivor: China was the first he ever saw, when he was nine, and he's long since wished James could have done better with either one and feels honored trying to use it correctly in his own hands.
• Kid Hero: The youngest member of what is a very young cast overall.
• Older Than They Look: Says he plans to utilize this as part of his strategy, telling his tribemates he's 23 rather than 18.
• Refuge in Audacity: In order to try and convince a Naviti to flip to Malolo in episode four, Michael came up with the lie that his idol could actually protect two contestants instead of one. It didn't pan out, but the attempt deserves a little credit.

Jenna Marie Bowman

Tribe: Malolo —> Malolo —> Yanuya —> Lavita

Age: 23

From: Detroit, Michigan

Occupation: Advertising Account Executive

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Her whole game seemed to revolve around being the one person who was always kept on the bottom and not really appreciated. When she sees that Michael receives hugs after getting eliminated, she gripes, "Nobody came to hug me." Libby, of course, pats her on the shoulder to soften the blow.
• Backstab Backfire: On Donathan, which is the reason she's eliminated.
• Butt-Monkey: She suffers a lot of bad luck and little sympathetic reaction when she gets voted out, kinda similar to what happens to Libby. Her boot is so swift she goes immediately onto the Jury booth without a chance to get cleaned up at the Ponderosa, and she spends the remainder of the night with a glum look on her face, and Kellyn is pretty much the only person who is sorry she got voted out. Also, because of the double elimination format, her exit statement is cut out of her boot episode just like Gonzalez and only on the SurvivorOnCBS YouTube channel.
• Fearless Fool: Jenna convinced herself she was not in trouble even though Malolo tribe originals were elimination magnets. She rather cockily believed that Donathan, the other player who most believe is a joke, was going to be booted. However, Donathan displayed some intelligence unbeknownst to her and procured an idol, and had an alliance with Laurel. Jenna, on the other hand, was yet another Malolo who had no more allies to protect her. She chides herself for not knowing better in her exit statement.
• The Load: Jenna was one of the people who frequently stumbled right out of the starting gate at Individual Immunity challenges, and was considered to be among the goats of the season. When Lavita temporarily split into Orange and Purple, it became a simple matter of voting her off just because she was the player nobody really saw value in keeping around, even less so than Donathan.
• Nice Girl: Says she's happiest when she makes somebody else happy.
• Number Two: To Stephanie, as the two are in an alliance together with Stephanie calling the shots.
• Official Couple: Became one with Sebastian after the season.
• Only Friend: Libby, as the other person constantly left on the bottom of the social hierarchy, had some bonding time with Jenna and the two thought to team up. Unfortunately, that was when Libby got eliminated as a backup target in lieu of Michael.
• Out of Focus: She's the least-visible Malolo entering the merge, with her only major screentime coming during the Stephanie Johnson boot.
• Perpetual Frowner: Notes that her resting face is always an off-putting scowl.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Her biggest inspiration is "all of the unique creatures, cultures, and nature that surrounds us on this planet."
• Too Dumb to Live: Jenna quite easily believed the words of Naviti when they lied about voting for Donathan, and rather than tell him to truth, send him to talk to them to gather more information, or try to work with him and get the idol played on herself, she instead decides to side with the Navitis and get him out despite the fact he was willing to save her. She even called him stupid in a confessional. And sure enough, she's the one eliminated in a majority vote.

Desiree Afuye

Tribe: Naviti —> Malolo —> Malolo —> Lavita

Age: 21

From: Newark, New Jersey

Occupation: Student

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• A Death in the Limelight: Was sporadically shown at times throughout the season, but really got a lot of screentime in her boot episode.
• Alpha Bitch: Desiree reached a tenacity like no one else in episode 9 when she tried to rein in the Naviti to do her bidding after spending the earlier stages of the game laying low and growing sick of losing many challenges. When it became apparent she lacked the influence to sway Naviti and targeted a well-liked player without laying the groundwork to be trusted or convince anyone why this choice made sense, Des got even more fired up. The rest of the tribe took conflict with her temper rapidly failing and promptly voted her out.
• Arch-Enemy: Seems to be setting herself up as this to all five of the remaining Malolos. She is the only Naviti in the game actively trying to get rid of them all. Laurel arguably served as the most antagonistic to her in the end, with Kellyn as a close second because Des knew her social game was very strong and it would be enough to defeat just about any of the other girls sitting next to her if Kellyn got to the final three.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Uses this mindset on Wendell when he tries to appeal to their friendship as a reason for him to get her Jury vote, but she'd rather let the vote be decided by who was the most competitive player.
• Backstab Backfire: Tried to target Kellyn as a result she got voted out by almost the whole tribe.
• Big Bad Wannabe: She wasn't lacking in ambition, but she simply lacked the skill and charisma to actually take over the game.
• Broken Tears: She was crushed after Malolo lost a crucial immunity challenge where she was the one guiding her tribe to the finish and felt directly responsible for the loss.
• Burning the Flag: Suggests that Malolo do this to break their streak of bad luck in challenges. It works!
• Brutal Honesty: She looks back fondly on the humorous discussion about rappers between her and Wendell when they bonded in camp when he campaigns for votes in the final Tribal Council, but Desiree tells him that she's not going to give her vote to someone based on a conversation they had.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Des expresses great disappointment in her exit statement, because Kellyn was the perfect blindside and going to be the first of many plans she wanted to get to, and she blasts Laurel for ruining everything.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: She is one towards players who ended up laying low at the beginning of the game only to attempt to make big moves afterwards. During the episode that she was voted out, she attempted to a big move and get out a big threat in the game to prevent her from being seen as a goat towards the end of the game. However, it ended up leading to a Backstab Backfire instead. The reason for this is very simple: Desiree was so focused on a stealth-based strategy that she laid too low to the ground and she never built up the strong social relationships needed to carry trust.
• Dramatic Irony: On Malolo, Des and the others decided to cut loose James because he didn't have much social presence on the tribe to be considered trustworthy. On Lavita, Des falls into this position and thinks it's okay to make a big move to build her resume for the Jury and team up with bigger players, but she confides a plan to go after Kellyn to Laurel, who has already gotten well-acquainted with the big dogs of the tribe unbeknownst her. Laurel spills her guts to Wendell and Domenick and wipes out Des's entire game in one sweeping motion.
• It's All My Fault: Feels this way after blowing the episode 5 immunity challenge. Her tribe sloughed through a difficult blindfolded challenge and she was the one who decided to be the coach with no blindfold, but despite doing her best to guide the others through the sections of the challenge, their coordination isn't enough to avoid last place, and because of it, the tribe is forced to vote someone out when nobody is against anybody, and they decide to pick James simply because nobody there is particularly close to him.
• In-Series Nickname: "Des London".
• My Country, Right or Wrong: She flatly refuses to vote against other Naivits, and is single-mindedly obsessed with Pagonging the original Malolos.
• Nothing Personal: When she votes out James in episode 5, she announces that it's only because it's either him or her.
• Rags to Riches: Says that her winning Survivor would take her "from village to Versailles" in terms of her life.
• Seen It All: In her own words, owing to her life experiences from homelessness to being a student in New York and living in a house with seven other women.
• Sore Loser: Downplayed. Des has a right to be mad at Laurel for ruining her game, but she's so annoyed at being voted out that she starts to walk out of Tribal Council before Jeff even finishes the compulsory Elimination Statement. Des wishes the rest of the girls good luck with a derisive tone of voice and hopes they'll survive.
• Take a Third Option: Refused to side with Dom or Chris, and attempted to rally the Naviti women to instigate a pagonging of the remaining Malolos. She failed.
• Villainous Breakdown: A progressive example. After Laurel implodes her strategy by leaking intel to Domenick (and by extension, Wendell), Kellyn learns she is Desiree's target and Desiree gets an earful from her, and Des starts speaking against Laurel. Des begrudgingly reverts back to a plan to vote out Michael, but the damage continues all the way to Tribal Council, where Jeff calls on Donathan first, who immediately refers to the he-said, she-said debacle brewing between Des and Laurel and then Des gets defensive again... and makes a fatal error because she tries to present the tribe with a watered-down version of what happened to cover her butt and Donathan intervenes and gives the full and un-doctored version of what happened, causing Des to get even more unraveled and griping at half the tribe and especially Laurel. After this display, consensus is that Des has to go for showing her true colors, and so she does.

Elizabeth Kate "Libby" Vincek

Tribe: Malolo —> Naviti —> Naviti —> Lavita

Age: 24

From: Houston, Texas

Occupation: Social Media Strategist

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• The Cutie: But don't take your eyes off her, as Morgan learned the hard way.
• Hidden Depths: Doesn't say a lot that can reveal much about her true self, but acts in a sneaky manner that's been labeled "Parvati 2.0". Her Ponderosa also reveals she is a very good cook.
• Ms. Fanservice
• Passionate Sports Girl: Quite proud of her athletic abilities.
• Outdoorsy Gal: An avid camper, hunter, and fisher.
• Out of Focus: Has been all but invisible following her pivotal role in the Morgan blindside. Comes back out of invisibility when she is targeted after the merge.
• The Scapegoat: Much to her chagrin, she never lives down the fact that she broke the trust of her original tribe. After helping to blindside Morgan, Libby's name kept going on parchments simply because people kept thinking she was too dangerous to trust, until she was finally used as a backup option to eliminate if Michael held an idol.
• Silk Hiding Steel: As cute and friendly as she is, Libby isn't afraid to lie to someone. This is showcased perfectly when she and Morgan are shown to get along very well, but she still votes her off when her alliance asks her to.
• Southern Belle: Says the contestant that she's most like is Elisabeth Filarski.
• Token Religious Teammate: The only contestant who explicitly refers to their faith as being one of the main reasons for competing.

Christopher B. "Chris" Noble

Tribe: Naviti —> Naviti —> Yanuya —> Lavita

Age: 27

From: Florida Keys, Florida

Occupation: Male Model

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• Anti-Hero: He's very tough and arrogant, but he also has a very clear soft side and is genuinely trying to do what's best for the tribe, unlike his rival Dom.
• Arch-Enemy: Domenick. Chris felt threatened by Dom's bombastic personality from the starting hours of the game and never ceases to have conflict with him any time they are stuck on the same tribe together. When they are split up by tribe swaps, it temporarily defuses the yin-yang madness, but once the merge happens, the two are back to butting heads.
• A Shared Suffering: Bonded with Donathan over the fact that both have ailing mothers waiting for them at home.
• Beneath the Mask: Chris is a very assertive and tough fellow in public, but at Ghost Island, he crumbles and realizes he's finally having a chance to let down his stress and release his emotions, which are so pent-up that he cries.
• Broken Tears: In his Ponderosa arrival video, a scene of him shedding a few tears of disbelief with JT's unused idol while slumped over on the Tribal Council exit path receive notice.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: In-universe example. To say Laurel wasn't surprised when he told her that he's a model would be an understatement.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When the time came for him and Dom to settle their differences, Dom creamed him. Chris' arrogance turned other players against him, he lost his vote at Ghost Island, and Domenick played a Legacy Advantage, not that he needed it, because Dom received no votes while Chris got all but two AND went home with an idol in his pocket.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Chris has been through a lot of personal heartache because his mother has Multiple Sclerosis, and could very well die any day. She has been in assisted living ever since he was fifteen, and it keeps him from living very freely.
• Dumb Jock: Deconstructed; Chris is well aware of this stereotype of a model being viewed as stupid and wants to show people he's actually got a brain upstairs. His attempts to compensate for the stereotype are a little silly, though charming. Ultimately played straight, however, at his boot, where he doesn't play his idol despite being a clear candidate to go home.
• Expansion Pack Past: He's absolutely loaded with stories, from his mom to a background in pitching, modeling, freestyling hobby, and a lot of other things.
• Fatal Flaw: Hubris. Chris' incessant gloating made people strongly dislike him. And his refusal to even contemplate the possibility of failure led him to choosing to hold onto the idol when he was voted out near-unanimously.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Not only is he easily the strongest challenge competitor of the season, he is hilariously arrogant.
• Foil: To Domenick. Chris is aggressive and single-minded. Dom is easygoing and friendly. Chris is committed to his allies, but tends to force his views on them while Dom draws allies in with his charm, but will cut them at the drop of a hat. Despite seeming like an idiot, Chris has good reads on people, but fails at representing himself well, while Domenick presents himself very well, but tends to misread people. And finally, Chris is an Anti-Hero with a soft side, while Dom is an Anti-Villain whose friendly demeanor hides a ruthless and cutthroat mind.
• Graceful Loser: Took his elimination pretty well, all things considered. He congratulated Dom and Wendell on voting him out and stopped to give high fives to the rest of the tribe on his way to give Jeff his torch.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: His feud with Domenick in a nutshell. Both are very flawed men with their own virtues, but Chris is looking out for the tribe, while Dom is in it for himself and his family.
• Hidden Depths: He looks and acts like your typical alpha male Jerk Jock, but he is a lot smarter and far more sensitive than he lets on.
• History Repeats: Chris gained possession of JT's idol from Game Changers that JT neglected to take with him to Tribal Council after getting cocky and not thinking he would be blindsided. Chris found a surprise clue hidden in one of the merge tribe buffs by luck of the draw and later sneaked off at night and went to Ghost Island to claim it, found out it had diminished in power to only be good for the next Tribal Council and gambled away his vote to extend its life up to five weeks, managing to tack on an extra week before losing the game of chance. Chris then proceeds to get way too familiar and pushy, assuming that this new merge tribe will trust him and mindlessly follow his wishes and is also voted out without using the idol, claiming it is definitely cursed and both he and JT will remember that.
• Honor Before Reason: Chris does not lie. Ever. He refuses to even pretend to agree to a truce with Domenick, and constantly tells the truth as he sees it.
• Humiliation Conga: The merge was not kind to him. It started with him losing his vote at Ghost Island, and went downhill from there. Two of his closest allies, Desiree and Angela, refused to participate in the feud, and at Tribal, Domenick played the Legacy Advantage, ensuring that no matter what Chris did, Domenick would still be in the game. And then Chris decided not to play his Hidden Immunity Idol. And then the votes were read: Nobody voted for Dom, and Chris received ten out of twelve possible votes.
• Idiot Ball: Was holding onto it hard at his elimination. See Curb-Stomp Battle or Humiliation Conga above, Too Dumb to Live below, or the Survivor What An Idiot page for the gory details.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Played with. Chris is trying not to be seen as a Dumb Jock but apparently doesn't believe he's all that great and shows hints of this by his compulsive need to seek people's approval. While a little info doesn't hurt, he doesn't stop until he gets the pat on the head. The end result is Chris shares his bio in excruciating detail to the point he looks like a big narcissist and his tribemates doing their best to let him talk himself out as they smile and nod.
• The Leader: Sees himself as this, by virtue of his self-professed "alpha" mentality. He goes for it in the first episode, but this causes friction with Domenick.
• Malaproper: A minor example. See if you can figure out where he stumbles on this confessional:
  Chris: I'm hesitant to tell people that I model because, for some crazy reason, people think that models might be self-absorbed, they might be dumb... just a lot of things that might not be beneficirary to me in a tribe setting.
  • In the preview for the merge episode, we also get to see him mispronounce "suave" as suav-ay.
• Momma's Boy: When he's alone on Ghost Island, he breaks down in tears and admits how much he misses and loves his mother, who he also sees as his source of strength and inspiration.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's obviously very attractive, to the point where Versace featured him on a billboard.
• Oh, Crap!: He looked more and more shocked with every vote that came his way at his boot.
• Odd Friendship: Seems to be forming one with Donathan.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In camp life, his constant bragging and cluelessness brings a lot of levity to the season. His arrival at the Ponderosa only encourages him to film an impromptu rap video. No, seriously- the filming crew actually humored Chris with a music video shoot. It is exceptionally cringeworthy, and one of the most bizarre yet beautiful things to come out of Survivor.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: One of his hobbies is rapping. He even closed his preseason interview with Josh Wigler by doing a quick freestyle. He has also done it twice in the game: once after winning the episode 4 reward challenge, and once at the merge feast. The trend continued all the way to his Ponderosa video.
• Properly Paranoid: Discussed. At the Ponderosa, Chris doesn't think he got too paranoid and believes his own behaviors were at fault because he wasn't careful enough about how he presented himself, citing that the game of Survivor makes it hard to tell when someone's being genuine. After a couple of days cooling off from the game, he explains that outside of it, people no longer behave with a hidden agenda and then you find out how people really feel and show real respect for others and can say that there was nothing personal and it was only part of the game fueling the way they acted.
• The Rival: To Domenick.
• Too Dumb to Live: Okay Chris, you just saw your greatest rival in the game play the Legacy Advantage, and you made a risky move a few nights before to win an immunity idol of your own, even though it cost you your vote. Are you gonna play it? No? You sure? Alright, your loss. And as a little icing on the cake, the idol's previous holder was none other than J.T. Thomas, who also decided against playing an idol at a vote where he was an obvious target.
• Tragic Mistake: Two of 'em. First was his refusal to even pretend to agree to a truce with Domenick, setting both Dom and Wendell against him from the get-go, and second was choosing not to play his immunity idol.
• Undying Loyalty: His greatest virtue. He is totally committed to the well-being of the tribe under his leadership, and mainly wants Domenick gone because of his disruptive presence.
• Worthy Opponent: With Domenick, at the end of the day. The two buried the hatchet pretty quickly after Chris was eliminated. And, true to form, he gave Domenick his vote at Final Tribal.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: Gets this distinction, because on the Lavita flag that everyone signed, to give it a cooler look, he made the "S" on his name a hurricane symbol, ergo "Hurricane Chris"- a name he lives up to.

Voted Out

Bradley Robert Kleihege

Tribe: Naviti —> Malolo —> Naviti

Age: 26

From: Haslett, Michigan

Occupation: Law Student

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• Amoral Attorney: He is studying to become a lawyer, but is frighteningly ambitious. And it shows.
• Ascended Fan: He's been watching the show since he was nine years old.
• Bad Boss: He manages to gain a foothold in the game and influences the eliminations of Brendan and Stephanie, allowing Bradley to play at the head of the table. Then, he messes it all up simply by grumbling so often that people grow sick of his company.
• The Cynic: Bradley complains incessantly and can be severely abrasive.
• Deadpan Snarker: Loads over, to the point where his sarcastic quips wear people's patience thin because it is more annoying than funny and counterproductive. While the first few days don't see him remarking or acting poorly, it's only because nothing has happened to set him off yet.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Was the major antagonistic force in the early part of the game and was picked off just before the merge.
• The Eeyore: He brings down other people with his overwhelming negativity. He especially ticked Brendan off after the tribe swap because of his negative attitude about the new Malolo camp as opposed to the allegedly superior Naviti one. Stephanie grilled him, "I have never heard a grown man whine and complain so much in my life," when she cast a vote for Bradley in the third episode.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • PESSIMISM. Bradley constantly complains. People among the tribes find this behavior cold and ugly; each time he gets moved to a new tribe, it doesn't take much time for him to eradicate the good cheer among other tribemates. His lousy disposition is quick to offend just about everybody, and in a confessional during episode six, he takes a moment to recognize he's having trouble not coming off as "a total dick".
  • Impatience. Bradley acknowledges his worst problem that gets him into trouble with people is he has no patience. He blows up at people and barks orders and lashes out and snaps at people.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Downplayed. Bradley's not horrible, but he has demonstrated a really crummy attitude. He acted rude to his tribemates both old and new after the swap, complained more than he pitched in to help get settled, and put a bad taste in a few mouths and got himself under consideration for being voted out. Even after a second tribe swap returns him to the camp he preferred, the people he's paired with hates listening to him whine all the time.
• Graceful Loser: Surprisingly enough. He congratulated his tribe on a good move and called his time in the game "the adventure of a lifetime." However, it could've been snark. It's hard to tell with his flat tone of voice.
• Griefer: Says one of his tactics to boost tribe morale will be to roast the other tribe.
• Hated by All: On the second Malolo, Bradley quickly became the spiny porcupine no one wanted to interact with but did so anyway because he kept the people on the outs from being picked off. When the second tribe swap removed any semblance of outs by bringing together players who weren't gunning for each other, it didn't take long for Bradley to change all that by being an utter menace. Everyon' who had to endure Bradley's ego was sick of it and fully committed to vote him out as an easy unanimous boot if Naviti lost out on immunity. The only person who remotely wanted to keep Bradley going into the merge was Domenick, and only because he was a Naviti original like him and Libby screwed him over once. Even so, Domenick strongly disliked the way Bradley talked down to him and everyone else and might serve to a problem going into the merge and damage his chances of getting ahead by being insufferable and Domenick taking the flak for keeping him around.
• Hate Sink: In comparison to Chris and Domenick, the editors of this season gave him a very negative edit.
• Jerkass: He's whiny, arrogant, and passive-aggressive.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Bradley suspected Brendan wouldn't keep strong players to the end and lampshaded Brendan's Team Dad status as a strategy to avoid being seen as dangerous. Brendan offered protection to people who he assumed were on the bottom, and Bradley dug in his heels and berated Brendan for claiming he was in charge of the pecking order. He even goes as far as to lampshade himself as playing the "Boston Rob" strategy and implies Brendan is the Hunter Ellis, and the final result that night is that Bradley, like Rob, convinces the majority to do what they want and oust the person who is playing leader more than the rest desired.
• The Leader: Aims to be this, according to his bio. And indeed, he would appear to be the ringleader of the Naviti contingent on post-swap Malolo.
• Out of Focus: Bradley was all but invisible in the first few episodes, with his only content before the fourth boot being him complaining.
• Reverse Psychology: The whole gist of how he got the swing vote to eliminate Brendan. The people from Malolo felt comfortable under Brendan and grew familiarity. However, after a tribe swap sent in a bunch of Naviti members, the newcomers were seen as strangers and Brendan wanted to continue playing with people he knew would not be disagreeable, but extended a hand to anyone wanting to work for him. Bradley makes a nuisance out of himself more than any other Naviti, so Brendan singles him out. While a lot of people agree he should be next to go, Bradley starts punching holes in Brendan's arguments very effectively because Brendan's activity with Michael makes him sketchy. Bradley, annoyed with how Brendan wants to break up the newcomers, and, with Michael, is declaring a few of them to be on the bottom on a surface judgement, drives a wedge in the tribe by painting Brendan as the real enemy.
• Smug Snake: He's incredibly arrogant over his tribe's supposed superiority.
• Spoiled Brat: His complaints about the Malolo camp shows shades of it.
• The Starscream: From the beginning, Bradley insinuated that he did not want to be subservient. Pre-season comments he makes prove he wants to be in control, and after the tribe swap, he climbs his way up the totem pole. He managed a shocking coup of Malolo in episode three when the tribe was split between him and Brendan and Kellyn's swing vote resulted in Brendan's elimination.
• Stoic Spectacles: Bradley is an aloof, passive type and sure enough wears glasses.
• Too Clever by Half: Smart enough to target a person with a strong social game (Brendan) and convince the other tribe members to go along with voting him out and downplay his own bad social game, but not smart enough to realize his rudeness was so bad that nobody wanted to be around him, let alone work with him. He bought a well-disguised spiel that the tribe would target Libby because she once acted untrustworthy (all good reasons that almost convinced Domenick, the one she hindered most, to vote her out instead), but it was long decided that Bradley would go next no matter what.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Managed to tempt enough of the tribe away from Brendan to vote against him, going with the bad guy over the good guy.
• Ungrateful Bastard: His worst quality. Bradley is Goofus incarnate. He pisses off everyone by being impatient with both the game setting and people and feeling entitled to better and not staying in his lane and allowing the other people to chill or letting them do the work and not being particularly helpful in return.

James Lim

Tribe: Malolo —> Naviti —> Malolo

Age: 24

From: Los Angeles, California

Occupation: Business Analyst

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• Academic Athlete: Was the captain of Harvard's track team.
• A Death in the Limelight: Not to the extent of Stephanie, but he shared some more personal information in his boot episode, talking about how and why he came to America as a teenager.
• Ascended Fan: Played with. He initially auditioned to be on The Amazing Race. He didn't make the cut, but he made it far enough that his info was kept in the CBS database, and when he was contacted to be on Survivor, he started watching older seasons to prepare.
• Batman Gambit: When he discovered that Domenick, Wendell and Morgan planned to vote for Angela, who was going to vote for one of the Malolo's, James instead rallied together the four Malolo's and switched the voted onto Morgan, as he saw an opportunity for the minority to weaken the fractured majority.
• Death Glare: Gives one to Angela after finding out she voted against him at his boot.
• Determinator: Comes from a household where success and effort are considered a must.
• Epic Fail: His performance in the second challenge was pitiful, as he couldn't swim down three feet deep in an eight foot area.
• Even the Guys Want Him: In Donathan's interview with Gordon Holmes, he admitted to finding James Lim to be his type.
• Fish out of Water: When he was two, his parents moved to South Korea and he grew up there. When he got old enough to be independent, James decided to be in charge of his life and go to America, where he learned how to speak English and establish a living for himself, even though he was unfamiliar with another country.
• Graceful Loser: Congratulated the tribe on a good play and wished them luck after he was eliminated. It is one of the most pleasant and good-nature goodbyes one can see on the game. No tears, no bitter exit remark, no disappointment- just contentment with playing the game and getting as far as he did and being thankful for the experience and surprised that he had a life-changing experience in only seventeen days. However, he did give a disappointed glance at Michael for not being on his side in the end. His exit is so noble that Jeff can't even get his torch snuffed in one go, and fans joked it was like the Survivor gods favored his actions so much that they were resisting the decision to eliminate him.
• Honor Before Reason: Chose to accept the responsibility of losing the second immunity challenge. Although it didn't get him voted out, it did cause him to become the decoy boot and receive two votes. When Desiree got her own second chance after being responsible for her another tribe immunity loss, James let her have the second chance and expected to become the next person out.
• Irony: He was saved initially despite blowing a challenge, and was eventually voted out over someone else who blew a challenge.
• It's All My Fault: He admits to feeling this way after the second challenge.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Only Friend: Michael was about the only person who he had a decent alliance with, and Desiree could have become an ally had the unfortunate loss in episode 5 not happened. Due to lacking numbers, both men sided together, but when faced with a vote, Michael sided with majority opinion that James's lack of connections in the tribe made it easier to vote him out.
• The Smart Guy: Graduated from Harvard, was a former U.S. Presidential Scholar, and works as a business analyst outside of the game. Jeff Probst says James is the smartest castaway ever based on the IQ tests.
• The Stoic: Other castaways reported him as being very reserved during his time in the pre-game sequester. It's his lack of affability with other tribe members that ultimately decides that he gets sent home sooner rather than later because people don't feel close enough to him to keep him on Malolo.
• Take a Third Option: He and the other Malolos are placed in as tiebreakers in the feud between Chris and Dom. James decides to exploit that feud to place the Malolos on top.

Stephanie Rae Johnson

Tribe: Malolo

Age: 34

From: Boise, Idaho

Occupation: Yoga Instructor

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• Action Mom: Stephanie has two kids and is extremely fit, regularly participating in Ironman triathlons.
• A Death in the Limelight: Got a much greater personal focus before her elimination, speaking at length about what Survivor meant to her and how her family was motivating her.
• Ascended Fan: Has seen every episode.
• Beware the Silly Ones: As quirky and funny Stephanie is, she's also shown to be very cunning and cut-throat. Despite the fact that Gonzalez was the physically stronger player that was needed for the tribe, she managed to turn everyone against her and keep Donathan, as she saw that the latter was more controllable than the former. And then she manages to get Jacob to not only spill the truth about his idol, but also the fact he gave Morgan an advantage.
• Break the Cutie: Stephanie is in tears at the thought of being at the bottom of her tribe and a target, and crying after being eliminated early in the game.
• Decoy Protagonist: Stephanie spent her five episodes being built up as a major strategic player in a position of power on original Malolo. However, being on the losing end of the numbers after the swap sealed her fate.
• I Just Want to Be Free: In her last episode, she explains that the reason she got a divorce is because she married a man of the Mormon faith thinking it would work out, but eventually found that it dictated too much about her life, and her former husband led her down a path that she didn't want for herself. Similar to another divorcee on Malolo, Kellyn, Stephanie didn't want to be stuck in that place.
• I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: She crushed Jacob's entire game simply by being flirtatious and friendly and getting him into a comfortable position where he coughed up intel about his advantage.
• Iconic Outfit: Almost the whole time she's on the island she's wearing neon striped yoga pants and matching sneakers with neon laces. In fact, even her bikinis are striped and full of rainbow neon colors.
• It Only Works Once: Unlike Jacob, Stephanie's attempt to flirt with Bradley to coax him into divulging his secrets failed hard. He wasn't fooled at all.
• Manipulative Bitch: She turned everyone against Gonzalez, and easily manipulated Jacob into giving up his intel. The tribe turns against her when they start growing wary of how easily she can sway people and her role in Brendan and Michael's alliance and become convinced that it will only keep the tribe divided going further ahead in the game.
• Team Mom
• The Heart
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Not only is there another Stephanie in the game, but they share a starting tribe, too.
• Survival Mantra: Draws the word "Hope" into the sand on her camp's beach when she's feeling low.

Brendan Michael Shapiro

Tribe: Malolo

Age: 41

From: Herndon, Virginia

Occupation: Physical Education Teacher

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• Ascended Fan: He's applied for the show several times, including making it to the late stages of casting for Survivor: Marquesas before being cut.
• Cool Old Guy: Downplayed. At 41, he is the oldest member of his tribe, oldest man, and is the second-oldest member of the cast altogether.
• Family Man: Says one of his three luxury items would be a framed photo of his wife and kids.
• Happily Married: Cites his wife as his biggest inspiration.
• History Repeats / Irony: Applied to a season with a guy who greatly resembled him in both appearance and behavior, and went out of the game in the exact same way by a guy aping Boston Rob.
• The Leader: He appears to be the leader of the tribe. When the season began, Brendan stepped up to be the acting leader of Malolo, and people were cool with that because the tribe won immunity twice under his watch, and most of the discomfort was tilted toward Domenick and Chris.
• Mr. Fanservice: He's in very good shape, as you'd expect from his job.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Brendan was a kind leader who only expressed dismay toward people he thought were too selfish. Bradley was the only person who rebelled against him because he didn't want to be led. Unfortunately, that one person was so forceful it corrupted the tribe's view of Brendan, and Brendan learned the hard way that when someone expresses enough ambition to convince the rest of the tribe to follow their own pursuits, they don't want to be led like sheep.
• Spotting the Thread: He knew Jacob was lying when he claimed to have left the idol paper back at Ghost Island, due to knowing that Jacob was a super fan of the game.
• Team Dad: He's very encouraging and supportive to his tribe, which is due to him being a P.E. teacher and father.
• Take Up My Sword: Encourages his tribe mates to continue opposing the Naviti alliance on his way out.

Morgan Shea Ricke

Tribe: Naviti

Age: 29

From: New Albany, Indiana

Occupation: Marine Animal Trainer

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• Advantage Ball: She's the first holder of the Legacy Advantage, courtesy of Jacob.
• Ascended Fan: She's been watching the show since season two.
• Backstab Backfire: Despite the fact Angela came clean on Chris's plan and was willing to keep the Naviti together during the swap, Morgan was in on the scheme to eliminate Angela. However, her attempt at backstabbing the older woman was foiled by the Malolo's sticking together and gaining a 4-3-1 lead over the fractured Naviti — which resulted in Morgan's elimination instead.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: In the closing moments of her elimination statement, she wills the Legacy Advantage to Domenick on the grounds that he was the most friendly, open, and trusting to her.
• Death Glare: Gave Libby a frosty side-eye as she had her torch snuffed and exited the game with a very pointed remark at her.
• Determinator: As a young girl and competitive gymnast, she suffered what many doctors told her would be a career-ending injury. She made a complete recovery and went on to earn an academic scholarship.
• Dramatic Irony: In threefold! She's voted out carrying the Legacy Advantage in the same episode that referenced when James got voted out with two idols in China. Worse, she's the second person to screw up using it after Sierra and Morgan actually kept it secret and knew better. Worse still, she was Jacob's secret weapon and got voted out right after he got voted out, taking away his last lingering impact in the game.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first thing she says in the premiere is an emphatic no to a puzzle challenge, and Jeff immediately puts all eyes on her for it just to make her sweat.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Morgan completely trusted Libby to vote with her, even after acknowledging that she could be lying, due to seeing her as a kindred spirit who looks cute, innocent and trustworthy. Libby even states during tribal council, and before the votes, that she was not someone to trust.
  Morgan: Never trust the cute blondes... (Libby slinks down guiltily)

Jacob E. Derwin

Tribe: Malolo

Age: 22

From: Merrick, New York

Occupation: Music Teacher

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• Ascended Fan: Before coming onto the show, he wrote for a prominent superfan site called InsideSurvivor. On a lesser note, he's been dreaming of being on the show for a decade.
• Batman Gambit: Talks about how his tribe is the best tribe ever in order for him to be sent to Ghost Island.
  • Out-Gambitted: When he tries to get sent there again, the other tribe shocks him by sending Donathan instead. And then his fake idol gambit goes awry, which leads him to being the second boot.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Eventually spills to Stephanie that his idol is a fake, and that he gave another person on the opposite tribe an advantage.
• Death By Sigh Of Relief: Brendan wanted to placate Jacob to avoid any use of his "idol" that he swore to use next Tribal Council, and Jacob was so complacent he didn't notice Brendan and Michael caught on to his charade to betray one of them and got the tribe to plunge our Jacob instead.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the "neurotic superfan" that has been so prevalent recently. Previous examples such as David and Cochran were able to charm their tribe long enough to keep them around to the merge and allow them to dominate the strategic portion of the game, with their quirks being more endearing than anything else. Jacob's neurotic quirks were an active detriment to his social game, and his obvious gameplay turned everyone against him.
• Dramatic Irony: Employed by Jeff as Jacob leaves the game when he reminds everyone how Jacob boasted that Malolo was "the best tribe ever" after starting the game with two consecutive Tribal Councils. Then, they continue losing through two tribe swaps until Desiree decides Malolo should just burn their name and gets the tribe to torch the flag to end the curse of Jacob.
• Hidden Depths: Despite his appearance, he says he's very comfortable living outdoors.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Shortly after arriving at camp, Jacob made the mistake of setting a pair of shoes too close to the shore, and when the tide came in, it sucked them into the ocean.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Jacob tried to make his tribe appear to be the best, but everything he did sagged it down and helped the other tribe. Even willing the Legacy Advantage he got to Morgan backfired. Ultimately, Jacob's entire game amounted to nothing, and the final result was that Domenick got a second safety net when Morgan was voted out next and she willed the advantage to him.
• No Social Skills: According to Jenna, Jacob is this. And it is eventually proven true as he is the second person voted out.
• Self-Deprecation: Loves to poke fun at himself.
• Starter Villain: Had a large amount of screentime building him up as a wily and crafty player who would be a hard one to shake. He tried bluffing a fake idol and saved himself from being an easy first boot by getting himself sent to Ghost Island and winning Sierra's 13 or 6 tribe members Legacy Advantage to pass to Morgan, but Jacob ultimately poked too many holes in his own game and made Mavolo wary and unwilling to humor his antics because while others did poorly at challenges, he was a giant red flag at all times as opposed to a momentary weak link.
• Stronger Than They Look: Claims to be this, though time will tell if that's the case.
• Too Dumb to Live: In his brief time on Survivor, Jacob managed to make the absolute wrong decision at every juncture, and paid for it by getting voted out second.
  • He went off to search for the idol while everyone was getting to know each other without a good excuse, throwing a poor first impression on him from the get-go.
  • He baited Naviti into sending him to Ghost Island so he could acquire an advantage. Not a bad plan, per se, but telling everyone he did so made him even more suspicious.
  • He made a fake idol on Ghost Island and decided to show everybody. They sussed out he was lying immediately.
  • Allowed Stephanie to manipulate him into giving up all of his intel. Now that he was no longer of any use to her, she led the tribe to bonk him out of the game.

Stephanie Ann Gonzalez

Tribe: Malolo

Age: 26

From: Aguada, Puerto Rico

Occupation: Graphic Sales

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• A Death in the Limelight: Actually got a decent amount of focus for the first boot, as she had cunning along with an alluring personality and charm.
• Ascended Fan: She's a self-described student of the game.
• Bad Boss: Got very annoyed with her tribe for not following directions on a puzzle challenge and it upsets her because she wants to be in control of things, and the tribe sees this side of her as troublesome because it hints that she wants to dictate some things too strenuously.
• Culture Shock: Mentions in her intro that she needed time to learn English because when her family came to California that the place they moved had zero population of Puerto Ricans. She tried to avoid talking to people thinking they'd make fun of her accent and height.
• Graceful Loser: Her remark about going out first is a short but blunt exit: "Sad."
• Last-Name Basis: To avoid confusion, she'll be going by "Gonzalez".
• Ms. Fanservice
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: Stephanie implies this when friends joked about her tall height.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Not only is there another Stephanie in the game, but they share a starting tribe, too.
• Refuge in Audacity: Wasted no time conspiring out in the open when she knew she was being marked for elimination, but in doing this, Gonzalez overplayed her hand.
• Starter Villain: The first player out, but not without a fight. She actively tried to conspire for votes when she realized her name was on the line, but her shady display was enough proof that she could be trouble going forward and Malolo kept Donathan, who appeared more docile and unlikely to be problematic... at the time.
• Tomboy: A self-defense self-described one. She sees herself as a driven person with a very take-charge personality that her friends find astonishing, but she can become the party girl who goes out in a dress for a drink at a club.
• Vasquez Always Gets Voted Out: Gonzalez is probably the most tomboyish, outdoorsy, and physically powerful girl on her tribe. She's also the first boot of that same tribe. In her exit statement she laments and lampshades being targeted and out first for looking so prepared and that the game is just getting started and she hopes that as Ghost Island this will haunt her tribe.