1️⃣6️⃣ Swaggy B/Burgerman2929292 - Paomai - Day 1 (3-2-1-1)
In the beginning of the game, both tribes had to vote one player out of their tribes. JORDAN was voted out of KAMOKU and CHILI was voted out of PAOMAI.
At the immunity challenge, the winning tribe would have the voted out player come to their tribe to make the numbers 9 to 6.
PAOMAI lost, CHILI joined the KAMOKU tribe and the PAOMAI tribe was looking for a vote. JASOI, RAUL and TIM formed an early alliance to take out SWAGGY B.
1️⃣5️⃣ Michael/OrangeCreamsicle - Paomai - Day 2 (Medically Evacuated)
1️⃣4️⃣ Kayla/MizCrackHead - Paomai - Day 2 (Medically Evacuated)
The reason for the 9 v. 6 tribes was to implement a new twist into the game called the Power of 3. The tribes created groups of three within their own tribe. If they could vote just one member in their group of three before the merge, the rest of the group would receive immunity for the first two tribal councils.
KAYLA and MICHAEL were both medically evacuated for not voting in the first two tribal councils, making it a 9-4 disadvantage for PAOMAI.
1️⃣3️⃣ Jasoi/Jasoi - Paomai - Day 3 (3-1)
1️⃣2️⃣ Jordan/BigBrotherSuperToMe - Kamoku - Day 3 (2-2-0(5)/5-2)
On Day 3, a double tribal council ensued. TIM won the immunity necklace and easily voted JASOI out with RAUL and WADE.
Then, TIM had to will his immunity necklace to someone on KAMOKU. He was trying to throw a wrench in their plans and he did just that. TIM gave his necklace to MEL and negated five votes.
MEL and YANDERE tried to make a big move and take out CHRISTIAN. However, RALIB voted JORDAN as she was in his threesome. JORDAN's self-vote put the vote into a tie and the tribe voted JORDAN out in the revote.
1️⃣1️⃣ Wade/Wade - Paomai - Day 4 (2-1)
TIM and RAUL were the tighter twosome on PAOMAI and they voted WADE out of the game right before the merge.
RAUL and TIM were absorbed into KAMOKU as the tribes "merged." However, luckily for the two ex-PAOMAI members, they had immunity for the first two merge tribals as they eliminated members of their threesome. Therefore, KAMOKU had to pick off one of their own.
CHRISTIAN, CHILI, ERIC and RALIB held an alliance on KAMOKU, but MEL and YANDERE were on the outs. YANDERE was the vote, but the rest of the tribe, led by MEL and TIM banded together and voted out ERIC, creating the biggest power shift of the game.
0️⃣9️⃣ Yandere/Yandereboy12 - Kamoku/Kamoku - Day 6 (4-2-2)
An argument between MEL and TIM made their alliance short-lived and it created another sense of mystery among the Final 9.
Former foes became friends for the vote as YANDERE was voted out in a split vote. CHILI did not vote and did not receive a self-vote because he held immunity.
0️⃣8️⃣ Chili/Lalisa - Paomai/Kamoku/Kamoku - Day 7 (3-1)
0️⃣7️⃣ Mel/me2013 - Kamoku/Kamoku - Day 7 (3-1)
In the One Day Tribes, immunity from the Trios Twist was gone and there was nowhere to hide. CHRISTIAN and CHILI, the strongest alliance left in the game were split up, and when CHRISTIAN won immunity, COLE, CHANDLER and TIM knew that it was time to pull the trigger on CHILI.
On the other tribe, MEL and RALIB were up for the vote and CHRISTIAN and RAUL eventually sided with RALIB to take MEL out of the game.
0️⃣6️⃣ Ralib/Espontaneo - Kamoku/Kamoku - Day 8 (QUIT)
There was a non-live challenge given that required flash. RALIB could not play because he was on a phone. He became very agitated and quit the game at the Final 6. Members of the cast say he was likely going to be voted out if tribal council had still occurred.
0️⃣5️⃣ Raul/MrBird - Paomai/Kamoku - Day 9 (1-0-0(3))
It was the finale and their were two pairs left (RAUL/TIM) and (CHANDLER/COLE) with CHRISTIAN, winner of three straight immunities and an idol left in the game.
CHRISTIAN was the biggest threat left and a rivalry formed between he and TIM. Therefore, CHRISTIAN wanted to throw the Final 5 immunity challenge so he could play an idol and rub it in TIM's face.
COLE won immunity and CHRISTIAN and TIM both played idols. The only person who knew all of this was happening was CHANDLER, who smartly realized it was either him or RAUL getting the boot. Instead of voting CHRISTIAN with the rest of the tribe, CHANDLER displayed one of the greatest tactical moves in Cutthroat history by voting RAUL and saving himself in the process.
0️⃣4️⃣ Tim/lionsden121 - Paomai/Kamoku - Day 9 (2-2/FMC)
CHRISTIAN won the final immunity challenge and wanted TIM out of the game. COLE joined him in that quest and CHANDLER and TIM forced a tie.
The tiebreaker this season involved a fire-making challenge that required spamming. COLE received spams much quicker than TIM and won the challenge. TIM would go on to argue that spamming should not decide a fire-making challenge, which would prompt a change in the future.
CHRISTIAN won a challenge to decide whether to make it a Final 2 or 3. He opted for a Final 3, which was smart on his part as the only jury votes he had locked were from CHILI and ERIC.
TIM spent his time in jury actively campaigning for CHRISTIAN to lose and COLE to win, but his campaign backfired when MEL refused to vote and YANDERE threw a vote towards CHANDLER.
With the tie, CHRISTIAN and COLE had to compete in a challenge to remove one juror's vote. CHRISTIAN won the challenge, removed TIM's vote for COLE and deeming him the winner of Cutthroat Survivor: Lanai.
There is a reason why this season is regarded as the most infamous in Cutthroat Survivor history.
This season was bad because of the cast. It was an inactive, non-strategic bunch to begin with. The twists, although clever, did not fit an inactive cast and did make a bad season worse.
And the cast members who were active did not help the situation by complaining day in and day out.
The tribe division was not well-constructed, a mistake that I have admitted, but I was a young host who did not know any better at the time. This was also JP's final season as co-host mostly because I kicked him off the hosting team for being so inactive. That was adding to the frustration I was dealing with.
RALIB's quit at the Final 6 was absolutely unwarranted and unnecessary and it was the cherry on top of a terrible cake of a season.
There were bright spots:
-JORDAN blindside
-ERIC blindside
-RAUL blindside
These bright spots saved the season from being an absolute zero.
CHRISTIAN's win at the end, although controversial, was 100% deserved. The game was not rigged. He just happened to be better at the challenges than everyone else.
This season also brought on JASOI, CHILI, COLE, CHANDLER and RAUL, all fantastic characters who would go on to take part in several future seasons.
But overall, this season was my least favorite to host. An inactive cast, several people yelling at you daily, and people complaining about the outcome of the season still a year later makes this season one to forget for the most part.
Rating: 3.5/10
Ranking: 19/20
Returnees: Cole (All-Stars, Edge of Glory), Chandler (All-Stars, Flops vs. Tops, Edge of Glory), Raul (All-Stars, Flops vs. Tops), Chili (Melanesia, VoV), Yandere (All-Stars), Jasoi (Gold Coast, Flops vs. Tops)
