FRED was the most inactive out of the gate. The tribe voted him out unanimously. Pretty mundane first vote.
1️⃣7️⃣ Tristin (Baseball03) - Khmu - Day 2 (5-0)
1️⃣6️⃣ Cory (Waffleman) - Tai Dam - Day 2 (5-1)
1️⃣5️⃣ Kolby (ThePug) - Hmong - Day 2 (3-1)
This is when the game got interesting. JP ( TwentyOnePilots), my co-host at the time, and I were really strategic with this format after a dull S1. The tribes disbanded for the challenge and one player won power, that was LIMA. For winning the challenge, LIMA had to give each tribe a scenario as they entered tribal council.
He gave TAI DAM the pre-merge tribal council, where nobody was safe. CORY was voted out unanimously.
He gave KHMU the post-merge tribal council, where MARK, the most vulnerable KHMU member was safe. Therefore, TRISTIN was voted out as the next player on the outs.
For his own tribe, he had to save all but two people. KOLBY and NICK were left vulnerable, as the tribe voted KOLBY out in a 3-1 vote. X voted for NICK.
1️⃣4️⃣ Logan (Logie56) - Tai Dam - Day 3 (1-0*(4))
The drama from the triple tribal trickled into the next vote where TAI DAM was sent to vote someone out. ROSS was the obvious vote before he found an idol right before the votes were due. He played it and blindsided his biggest adversary LOGAN in the process.
1️⃣3️⃣ Josh (Bjorn) - Tai Dam - Day 4 (2-1-1)
Throughout the pre-merge, only one of the three tribes would win immunity. They would then choose one of the two remaining tribes to be safe while the other one would go to tribal council. In the last round before the merge, the decision made by the winning tribe, KHMU, would not be revealed until after the votes were revealed.
HMONG went to tribal council to vote X out unanimously, but he was eventually spared.
In this vote, the four TAI DAM members all wanted to be safe and were willing to vote any name. Ultimately, BRITTANY and ROSS came together to oust JOSH right before the merge.
------- Merge -------
1️⃣2️⃣ X (FireX) - Hmong/Phou Bia - Day 5 (11-1)
The three tribes merged into one. The players were surprised that a swap did not come about, but this was in the cards all along, and it made for an exciting merge. Ultimately, everyone did not want to be the first one voted out of the merge, and X was an easy name for people to agree on because he was just voted out at the HMONG "faux" tribal council. X is also the only player to make the merge and never be part of the jury or final tribal council.
------- Jury -------
1️⃣1️⃣ Eli (EliOrtiz1234) - Khmu/Phou Bia - Day 6 (5-5-1/5-3)
The sides amongst the merge tribe began to form after the first vote. All of KHMU (ELI, JULIAN, MARK, ZYLER) sided with GAVIN (on the outs of TAI DAM) while the HMONGwives alliance (LIMA, NICK, PAUL, GARRETT) sided with TAI DAM (BRITTANY & ROSS).
NICK won immunity for this round and was not around for much of the strategizing portion of this round. He voted ROSS because it was the original vote at the time and did not change it when the group changed to ELI. This is how the tie was forced.
In the revote, everyone remained true except MARK, who did not want to draw a rock for ELI, someone who would have voted him out if KHMU went to another tribal council.
ELI became the first member of the jury.
1️⃣0️⃣ Mark (HeyItsFox) - Khmu/Phou Bia - Day 7 (3-1)
0️⃣9️⃣ Ross (Ross56) - Tai Dam/Phou Bia - Day 7 (4-1)
The One Day Tribes were activated at the Auction at the Final 10.
The PURPLE tribe consisted of JULIAN, BRITTANY, ZYLER and MARK. JULIAN and ZYLER were not happy with MARK after he flipped and BRITTANY joined them to vote him out.
On the ORANGE tribe, PAUL, NICK and LIMA held the numbers, and GAVIN joined them to take ROSS out of the game.
The HMONGwives + BRITTANY were in control of the game, but NICK did not want to vote out their next target, GAVIN. Instead, NICK wanted BRITTANY out of the game.
NICK won immunity this round and was not afraid to force a tie because he did not have to draw a rock.
Unfortunately for JULIAN, rocks were drawn and his name popped up in Chatzy.
0️⃣7️⃣ Brittany (LaFierceBrittany2) - Tai Dam/Phou Bia - Day 9 (4-3)
GAVIN, NICK and ZYLER were now in the minority and needed someone from the HMONGWIVES alliance to flip. NICK was able to successfully bring PAUL over to shift the balance of power in the tribe as BRITTANY was voted out 4-3.
0️⃣6️⃣ Garrett (Garrett5) - Hmong/Phou Bia - Day 10 (4-1-1)
The new alliance of GAVIN, NICK, PAUL and ZYLER were in control and they had to choose whether to vote GARRETT or LIMA out. They opted for GARRETT, who was more active and had a better shot at immunities than LIMA.
0️⃣5️⃣ Paul (paul028) - Hmong/Phou Bia - Day 11 (3-2)
At the beginning of the finale, LIMA won immunity, which threw a wrench into everyone's plans. LIMA was willing to have a HMONGwives reunion with NICK and PAUL to vote ZYLER out, but PAUL failed to come online or send a bootlist, which gave him the self-vote that eventually sent him home.
0️⃣4️⃣ Zyler (MJFJUNE) - Khmu/Phou Bia - Day 11 (3-1)
NICK won his fourth immunity of the game. GAVIN joined him and LIMA to vote out ZYLER, a definite jury threat if he made it to the Final Tribal Council.
0️⃣3️⃣ Nick (BluJay112) - Hmong/Phou Bia - Day 11 (1-0)
GAVIN won the final immunity of the season, and he made the smart decision by voting out the best player of the season in NICK.
---- Final 2 ----
0️⃣2️⃣ Gavin (greyconverse) - Tai Dam/Phou Bia - Runner-Up (3-6)
0️⃣1️⃣ Lima (LimaBean) - Hmong/Phou Bia - Winner (6-3)
Despite being on and offline during the Finale, LIMA was able to win the jury over in a 6-3 vote. LIMA received all three jury votes from the HMONGwives and the other three votes from ROSS, BRITTANY and MARK.
In all of my hosting, this remains as one of my favorite games to watch and host. There were so many power shifts throughout the game and it remained unpredictable right until the very end.
The cast was active and fun and that was part of what drove this season in the right direction. They wanted to play hard and they got a good season.
I also think the three-tribe format with no swap helped the season. Giving tribes decisions on who to save gave the tribes that cross-tribal interaction that was needed before the merge. Huge props to JP for helping me produce the season.
Majority of this cast would go on to play in future seasons because this cast had a lot to offer. It's quite possibly the best cast of players top to bottom that I've worked with.
Rating: 9/10
Ranking: 2/20
Returnees: Lima (VoV), Gavin (All-Stars), Nick (All-Stars, Melanesia), Paul (Skeleton Coast, Flops vs. Tops), Garrett (Skeleton Coast), Brittany (All-Stars, Melanesia), Julian (All-Stars, Melanesia, VoV), Eli (All-Stars), X (Henan, Edge of Glory), Logan (Gold Coast, Edge of Glory), Kolby (Flops vs. Tops)
