Every Wednesday on 'Survivor,' someone gets voted off the island during tribal council. So, who was voted off of 'Survivor 45' in tonight's episode?
Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Survivor 45 Season Finale.
One of the things that makes Survivor so engaging is that it isn't just a game of surviving the wilderness but also about surviving socially and strategically. To win, one has to form (seemingly) genuine connections with fellow players while vying for the million-dollar grand prize.
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Each week during Season 45, at least one person is voted off the island during tribal council. With 90-minute episodes, 26 days, 18 castaways, and a whole bunch of new twists, this season is the most unpredictable yet.
So, who was voted off Survivor 45?
Who won ‘Survivor 45’?
With the final three of Austin, Dee, and Jake, Survivor 45 was anybody’s game. Dee played a dominant social, strategic, and physical game, but Austin and Jake’s final tribal council performances were just as strong as hers as they argued their cases for the jury. Ultimately, however, it was Dee who took home the $1 million prize, with Austin as the runner-up.
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Week 13 (Final Four) — Katurah Topps
Katurah was definitely a social threat considering that she was on the right side of every single vote up until that point. After Dee won immunity, she wanted to take Katurah out in the Final Four Fire Making Challenge without giving Austin another flashy move in front of the jury. Luckily, Jake’s fire-making skills proved adequate and Katurah went home.
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Week 13 (Final Five) — Julie Alley aka Mama J
Mama J played such a good social game that she seemed to be everyone’s biggest competition. After Jake found a hidden immunity idol and Austin won immunity, Jake shared his secret so that votes would go on Katurah. His plan was to save Katurah and they’d vote out Dee. Instead, Katurah got cold feet and wrote down Julie’s name to join with Austin and take her out of the game.
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Week 12 — Drew Basile
After Dee leaked the information to Julie in the prior episode, Julie had her sights set on voting out Drew, the first to betray her. Dee supported this plan because Drew had been calling the shots, and Jake and Katurah were on board to pave their way to the end.
With Austin left out of the vote, he played his amulet-turned-idol unnecessarily for himself, but the question remains: can Austin ever trust Dee again?
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Week 11 — Emily Flippen
Emily’s trajectory throughout Survivor 45 saw her go from most unlikable to the biggest social threat in the game. After her move to take out Bruce, Julie wanted to target Emily. But Emily rallied the troops against Julie. However, Austin’s closeness with Dee led to him leaking the secret. Julie played the idol Austin gave her in an earlier episode and voted for Emily (although she considered voting for Austin) and Emily became the fifth member of the jury.
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Week 10 — Bruce Perrault
After days of trying to get Bruce out of the game, the remaining castaways finally did it. He won immunity for two weeks straight with a major target on his back as he held onto an immunity idol. The tribe was convinced he’d use the idol, so they split their votes between him and Jake, but Emily convinced Bruce that she, Jake, and Katurah would vote with him to take out Julie.
Her lie worked and Bruce went home with an idol in his pocket.
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Week 9 — Kendra McQuarrie
It seems like Survivor 45 is essentially a Belo bloodbath. After a wild immunity challenge in which Austin, Emily, and Katurah lost their votes, strategizing was a challenge. Because Kendra placed a target on Dee, Dee wanted to rally her troop and vote Kendra out. In a unanimous vote, the Reba four were able to get her out of the game, proving that Jake or Bruce will likely be next.
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Week 8 — Kellie Nalbandian
After the split tribal, Kellie seemed to be in the best position of the tribe. Everyone wanted to work with her, she had Bruce in her pocket, and she was strong enough to win challenges, but not too strong that she was a threat. Everyone wanted Bruce out, but because he won immunity, Jake became the target.
But Drew and Austin wanted to take control and take someone even more dangerous out — Kellie.
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Week 7 — Kaleb Gebrewold
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It seems that Kaleb's day finally came after he was voted off. Jake tried to force a tie but the other players, mainly Katurah, Dee, and Julie, were not having it. We thought Kaleb was a good competitor but we think his biggest problem was that none of the others trusted him or knew what to make of him half the time.
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Week 7 — Nicholas "Sifu" Alsup
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But wait! There's more. It was a double elimination night and the other player that was sent packing was Sifu. We can't say that we are surprised. Sifu is a definite threat and when they saw an opportunity to get rid of him, that's exactly what they did. It's those guys that hang back and make it every week you have to watch out for in that game.
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Week 6 — J. Maya
In one of the best episodes of Survivor 45, a tribal council first sent J. Maya home. The toughest challenge yet led to seven of the castaways getting to the merge and staying safe at the tribal council.
Out of the six players at risk, Kaleb seemed to be the biggest threat thanks to his charming ways. But he played his shot-in-the-dark at tribal council and it was safe, canceling out a unanimous vote against him. Although J. Maya tried to rally the troupes against Emily, everyone saw J as untrustworthy and voted her out.
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Week 5 — Brando Meyer
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On an episode with plenty of camp life and strategy, Brando’s elimination was still completely unexpected. After the new Belo tribe lost the immunity and reward challenge, the old Belo and Reba alliances scrambled to get Emily on their side. But Brando scrambled a little too hard, trying to trick Drew, who showed his loyalty to Emily with Austin’s new advantage. So Emily ultimately decided to vote with Austin and Drew to take out Brando.
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Week 4—Sean Edwards
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Lulu finally won the immunity challenge! But only after a tribe swap, which means that while Emily and Kaleb stayed safe, Sean was at risk on the new Reba tribe. Although his in with J. Maya convinced the girls to blindside Sifu, he shared that his life with his husband is his “greatest adventure” and asked for the tribe to vote him out. In his exit speech, it seems like this was genuine, and not a play to blindside Sifu. So Sean sadly went home, essentially becoming the second player to quit this season of Survivor.
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Week 3—Sabiyah Broderick
Sadly, Lulu lost the immunity challenge again despite winning the reward. Without their flint, Sabiyah was forced to tell Emily that she had an idol, but to get her vote, she’d need to throw her idol into the fire. However, Emily didn’t fully trust Sabiyah, and told Kaleb about Sabiyah’s plan to get him out. Kaleb sensed during Tribal Council that Emily was telling him the truth, and Sabiyah wrongly trusted Emily to vote for Kaleb. So, Sabiyah became the third person voted out of Survivor 45.
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Week 2—Brandon Donlon
No one was surprised when the Lulu tribe was forced back to Tribal Council once again. Some Survivor critics have called Lulu the "messiest tribe in Survivor history," while others shared sympathy towards Kaleb, Sabiyah, and Sean, who got stuck on the hot mess express. Regardless, Brandon had not one, but two, failed challenges in the episode. And he gave up the opportunity to get an immunity idol. Emily successfully ingratiated herself into the tribe, sending Brandon home in a 3-0 vote.
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Week 1—Hannah Rose
In an upsetting twist of events, the Lulu Tribe lost both sweat and savvy, and the immunity challenge. As expected, they're a bit of a "hot mess" but we love them anyway. However, Hannah didn't seem to be a target, but the long days without food got to her quickly. She was "crying every 30 minutes" and despite her upbeat personality, her heart wasn't in it. She asked for the tribe to send her home, and they sadly complied.
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New episodes of Survivor 45 air every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
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