Survivor 45

By Parker Compton

Survivor 45: there is a lot to say about this amazing season! From challenges to Tribal Councils, this article covers the highlights of Survivor 45 that crown it the best season in Survivor history.

Tribe Dynamics of Survivor 45

The Reba Tribe consists of Julie (also known as Mama J), Dee, Austin, Drew, J. Maya, and Sifu. Early in the game, Julie, Dee, Austin, and Drew cultivate a strong alliance as they work together to find an immunity idol. The “Reba Four” continues through the game as one of the most powerful and influential alliances in Survivor history.

The Lulu Tribe consists of Emily, Brandon, Kaleb, Sabiyah, Hannah, and Sean. This tribe is dubbed the “Lulu Losers,” losing every challenge and consequently going to every tribal council before the tribe swap. From Hannah quitting to Brandon’s inability to contribute in challenges, only Kaleb and Emily remain at the Merge to represent the Lulu Tribe, both having fought for their lives to escape this Lulu curse.

The Belo Tribe consists of Bruce, Kellie, Jake, Katurah, Brando, and Kendra. Although very relaxed from a strategic standpoint, conflict arises between Bruce and Katurah that ultimately tears the Belo Tribe apart.

The Three Best Challenges of Survivor 45

In Survivor 45, episode 7, players participated in the third-best challenge of the season. Jeff Probst explains the rules: “For today’s challenge, you’re going to hold onto a pole for as long as you can. When you drop, you’re out. Last person left standing wins immunity.” The twist is that the players are divided into two groups of six by drawing rocks. “The person who lasts the longest for each group earns individual immunity…Both groups are going to go to tribal council separately. So tonight, two people will be safe, two people will be going home.” To further heighten the stakes, Jeff adds, “And at that first tribal council, the first person voted out will not make the jury. So after fourteen days, not only will you not win this game, you won’t have a say in who does.” The person last to drop earns their group a trip to the sanctuary and the privilege of going to the second tribal council. Dee wins immunity in the red team and Kellie wins immunity in the blue team. After a thrilling showdown, Dee outlasts Kellie. “I was just thinking about my family up there—my parents, my brother—and the pole signified the American dream for me,” Dee says. “And I knew I wasn’t going to let go…I just want to make them proud, I want to take care of them. And that’s what got me through.”

The second-best challenge of the season takes place in episode 9. The players are told via treemail that they must divide themselves into three groups of three without any idea of what those groups mean regarding the challenge. They decide upon group one consisting of Drew, Jake, and Dee, group two consisting of Kendra, Bruce, and Julie, and group three consisting of Austin, Katurah, and Emily. The challenge has three stages. “For the first stage, you’re going to retrieve a disc and use it to balance a ball as you navigate a balance beam,” Jeff Probst explains. “Once all three players are across, you will race to dig up three rope rungs.” The last group to finish does not move on to the next phase. All three players lose their vote at tribal council and have the opportunity to earn them back by going on a journey. “For the next stage, you will use those rope rungs to build a rope bridge,” Jeff continues. “Once each person is across their bridge, you’ll race to land three balls on three very small rings. First group to finish moves on to the final round…For the final round, you are no longer a team. You will now compete against each other. You’re going to have your arms outstretched with your fingertips pressed against two wooden discs. If at any point a disc drops, you’re out. Last person left standing wins immunity” The first group out is Austin, Katurah, and Emily. The second group out is Drew, Jake, and Dee, leaving Kendra, Bruce, and Julie battling for immunity. In the end, Bruce wins individual immunity.

In the finale of Survivor 45, the final four players participated in the best challenge of the season. “For today’s challenge,” Jeff Probst begins, “you’re going to maneuver through a grid of ropes while using a long fork to place a bowl on a perch. Once you get a bowl, you’ll go back and get another one. Here’s what’s going to make it tricky. The entire structure is connected to that perch. So if you hit a rope just a little too hard, that perch will wobble, your bowls will drop, you’ll have to start again. First person to finish wins immunity, guaranteed a spot at that final tribal council, where you will get a chance to plead your case to your jury about why you deserve the title of Sole Survivor and the million-dollar check that goes along with it. In addition, as you know, you also have power because you decide who you put in that second seat next to you and who you force to make fire to earn that third and final seat.” From Austin restarting twice to Jake breaking the challenge, the pressure could not be more intense. Dee wins the challenge, motivated by the thought of her family and the American dream.

The Three Best Rewards of Survivor 45

The third-best reward of the season is a do-it-yourself barbecue at camp. Drew wins this reward and invites Austin and Jake.

The second-best reward of the season is a helicopter ride to a sandbar island for a picnic. Austin wins this reward and invites Dee to share this romantic, once-in-a-lifetime experience with him. He also invites Katurah so that Drew is still at camp to “babysit” Julie.

The best reward of the season is a sleepover at the sanctuary following an extravagant dinner and opening letters from home. Emily wins this reward and invites Julie, Katurah, and Dee for a “girls’ night.”

The Five Best Tribal Councils of Survivor 45

1. A game-changing shot in the dark

Entering Tribal Council, everyone knows the name they are writing down—Kaleb. A huge social threat, Kaleb’s only option is to play his Shot in the Dark which gives him a one-in-six chance at immunity at the expense of his vote. Kaleb makes history with the first successful Shot in the Dark of Survivor. Every vote is deflected from Kaleb and everyone suddenly scrambles to decide on a target for the revote. The victim of the revote is J. Maya despite her efforts to place the target on Emily.

2. Kellie did not see that coming!

The plan for Tribal Council is to vote out Jake. However, Drew, Austin, Dee, Julie, and Emily know no one wins Survivor by playing it safe. As expected, the first three votes are for Jake. Jeff Probst reads the next vote: Kellie. Immediately, Kellie’s relaxed expression of relief transforms into pure shock. “Ninth person voted out and the second member of our jury…” Jeff Probst announces, “Kellie.” This devastating blindside causes Kellie to blackout, Kendra to cry, and Jake to shout with happiness.

3. An idol in his pocket

Bruce’s winning streak has long shielded him from being voted out at Tribal Council. When he finally loses a challenge, Bruce becomes a massive target to be voted out. Emily persuades Bruce not to play his immunity idol by giving the impression he is not the target because of the predictability of his idol plays. She states, “Bruce could not play his idol if he’s confident in whatever it is that he thinks is going to happen tonight but I would be surprised if that were to happen. I think everybody here would be surprised. I think Bruce has made his intentions very clear.” This ultimately causes Bruce to go home with an idol in his pocket.

4. Blindsiding the blindsiders

Julie (or Mama J) is the biggest threat and my favorite player of the season. Everyone loves Julie, hence her nickname. “I love Julie so deeply that I would give Julie a million dollars,” Katurah explains. “She’s super strategic…and everybody loves her. That makes her super dangerous.” Drew organizes a blindside against Julie. However, Dee warns Julie of this and Julie plays her idol, blindsiding the blindsiders, deflecting every vote, and picking who goes home. “Twelfth person voted out and the fifth member of our jury…” Jeff Probst announces, “Emily.” This mama has a ruthless side!

5. A war between Drew and Julie.

Julie becomes an even bigger threat after surviving a Tribal Council where she was unanimously voted for. Drew is determined to finish the job of voting out Julie and backs her into a corner until Tribal Council. In a powerless position, Julie flips the game on its head and returns all the power to herself by working with Dee, Jake, and Katurah to blindside Drew. This blindside is so effective that Austin does not even consider playing his amulet on Drew. Once again, Julie outwits yet another of her threats.

The Survivor 45 Finale

The final five of Survivor 45 are Austin, Dee, Jake, Julie, and Katurah, respectively. The final Tribal Council is the single-most disorganized of the season. Jake and Katurah planned to vote out Dee; however, due to her lack of trust in Jake, Katurah votes for Julie in a desperate attempt to save herself. If Jake told Katurah he would play his idol on her (which he did), Dee would have been voted out and Julie would have won Survivor 45. 

Dee wins the final challenge and takes Austin to final three, forcing Jake and Katurah to compete for the final spot by making fire. Jake earns the third spot.

Finally—the voting of the Sole Survivor. Dee and Austin battle for the million dollars like their lives depend on it. Dee is crowned the winner of Survivor 45! There could not be a more deserving winner. In the aftershow of Survivor 45, Dee explains, “I had to win. There was no other option for me because I came on Survivor to retire my parents and take care of my loved ones. I was born in Cuba, emigrated to the US; my parents have been through so damn much. I knew that I was going to take care of them.”

The Five Best Moments of Survivor 45

The Survivor auction returns! Beginning by collecting bamboo tubes of cash scattered across the island, players bid on various food items with a twist: the person with the most money left when the auction ends loses their vote. Everyone has so much fun reliving this iconic Survivor experience.

Survivor 45 showcased Emily’s inspiring growth as a person. When Emily first arrives, she states, “It’s a complete waste of time if you’re not the Sole Survivor. Excuse me for being honest.” Within five minutes, Emily already picks a fight with Bruce despite the overwhelmingly friendly atmosphere. Her harsh, negative personality makes Emily the obvious choice to be voted out at Tribal Council. However, due to Hannah’s quitting, Emily is given a second chance, and she uses this opportunity to write a new chapter for herself. “When somebody holds a mirror up to you, you can’t just close your eyes and look away,” Emily explains. “It might be hard at points, but you learn a little bit about yourself.” Emily embraces the feedback from the people around her and has an epiphany about her life and the essence of herself while opening letters from home: “The first letter I open is from Eric, my boyfriend. We’ve been together for almost a decade, and I’ve said almost my entire life, ‘I don’t think I want to get married.’ I don’t view myself as a wife…It’s not a term that I use to describe myself. And now I’m out here, and I can’t imagine myself not spending the rest of my life with Eric. You think about somebody every single day, and it’s funny; when you get stripped of everything else…that makes you realize what’s important. All these notions that I force on myself to be a certain way, I don’t need to be that. I can just be Emily. And maybe Emily loves Eric, and maybe that’s okay. And maybe Emily will get married.”

A showmance develops between Austin and Dee in Survivor 45. Unlike the typical shallowness of showmances, Austin and Dee’s relationship proves to revolve around real love. Austin mentions Boston Rob and Amber, the iconic showmance sparking on Survivor that manifested into marriage: “Maybe I’ll find my Amber on the island.” Following a flashback of Boston Rob and Amber, Dee tells Austin, “My friends were always like ‘maybe you’ll find your husband out there.’” This is an essential milestone for their relationship that unveils the depth of their showmance, making this one of the best moments of Survivor 45.

Katurah overcomes her fears in Survivor 45, inspiring us to do the same. While participating in an individual immunity challenge, Katurah has a panic attack about falling in the water. Katurah explains in the aftershow of Survivor 45, “I had practiced for this, I had planned for this, I had trained for this, and guess what. Turns out, you’re human.” Nonetheless, Katurah decides to swim back to the boat when given the option not to. “It feels so refreshing to know that I can have those moments of absolute weakness and uncertainty, have no idea of where it comes from, and…I pushed through!”

Jake experiences one of the best moments of his life in Survivor 45. Jake has not done much successfully in the game. After so many missed attempts, Jake wants to make fire in order to reach the end of the game to prove himself. He tells Dee, “If I’m in this game, I need to make fire. I need it so bad…Even beyond the million dollars, even beyond this game, I want to make fire. I just want to do it for me.” Jake wins fire-making and goes speechless, encountering such powerful waves of emotions. Finally, Jake says, “Jeff, that’s one of the best moments of my life right there, burning that rope.”

And that’s a wrap for Survivor 45! Will Survivor 46 top it? It’s definitely a high bar!