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The Tribes
Ratu
- Dual Wielding: Ratu's tribe emblem is two swords crossed at the blades.
- Dwindling Party: Initially, Ratu did not lose their original members that fast, only losing Maddy at Tribal Council and Matthew due a withdrawal. But with a shift in power at the merge, both Brandon and Kane were voted out back to back, leaving Jamie and Lauren as the only remaining members left by the final 8. After Jamie was voted out in the final 6, Lauren becomes the only member of Ratu left.
- Took a Level in Badass: After voting out Maddy, Ratu went on a strong Immunity Challenge run and never went to Tribal Council in the tribe phase ever again. Unfortunately, when the merge came...
- Total Party Kill: With Lauren's elimination at the Final Five and Carson's elimination at the Final Four, both iterations of the tribe was obliterated with none of them making Final Three.
Soka
- Dwindling Party: At the beginning of the merge, Soka only lost Claire in their sole Tribal Council, and latter offed Josh, bringing them to four. But slowly and surely, they would lose more members until Heidi remained the only one left.
- Emerald Power: Aside from one Immunity Challenge loss, Soka proved to be the dominant tribe of the three that competed.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: In the tribal phase, Soka was one of the dominant tribes of the trio, winning all but one challenge and losing only Claire. Merge phase, Soka would slowly but eventually lose members one by one until Heidi was the only one left.
- Noble Bird of Prey: Soka’s tribe emblem is one as it is a double headed eagle, which has been used in history to describe heraldry and empires.
- Team Spirit: One aspect that led to Soka's constant victories was the harmony between the tribe. Hell, they had group meditation sessions in the mornings to strengthen their bonds and keep their heads clear before the challenges. It also seems to reflect on how they cast their votes as they sent Claire home for being lazy at challenges and sent Josh home during the merge for attempting to compromise the tribe through his poor lying for his own benefit.
Tika
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite the bickering the remaining three get into, especially between Yam Yam and Carolyn, they really do care about each other and will do anything to protect each other.
- Beneath Suspicion: At the merge, Soka and Ratu are so focused on getting each other out that they completely neglect the idea of simply voting out the three remaining Tika members off the bat. Thankfully, Tika uses this to their advantage by gaining the trust of both sides and voting in specific ways to make is seem they are tight with the others.
- Born Unlucky: Tika seemed to have a rough time trying to gel as a tribe with even worse luck in challenges. But it seems that their luck finally came around at the merge.
- Cast Full of Gay: By the end of Tika's run, it became this, with the remaining members on tribe being gay (Josh and Yam Yam) and pansexual (Carolyn).
- Castles: Tika's tribe emblem are castle towers.
- Dwindling Party: The first of the three tribes to go down to three members due to losing Bruce from a head injury and voting out Helen and Sarah at Tribal Council.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Tika went from a weak tribe in the tribal phase to running the show in the merge and having the majority by the Final Six.
- Purple Is Powerful: Maybe not in the pre-merge, but definitely in the merge where they take control and make top four.
- Power Trio: The last three members, Carson, Yam Yam, and Carolyn, have this dynamic, and their friendship and Undying Loyalty to each other is what allows them to run the merge despite going in with the smallest tribe.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The members of Tika that make the merge have much higher confessional averages than the other contestants, albeit this is somewhat justified due to their large losing streak in the pre-merge and their dominance of the game in the post-merge.
- Took a Level in Badass: The tribe lost multiple challenges as well as having one tribe member get evacuated. Then, when the merge came, The three remaining members of Tika proceeded to control several of the votes and made the final four, with one of their members winning.
The Sole Survivor
Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho
Tribe: Tika -> Tika
Age: 36
From: Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Current Residence: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Occupation: Salon Owner
- Acrofatic: He's one of the bigger contestants, but does quite well in challenges. He even won an immunity in the Last Gasp challenge.
- Big Fun: He's very hilarious and likeable. Heidi even admits time and time again she would prefer to keep him around even though he's a threat because of how much she likes him.
- Camp Gay: A somewhat effeminate but also very cunning gay man who connects with everyone. Like Matthew, he also has a husband at home. The fact that he wears colorful clothing and owns a hair salon also gives off camp vibes from him.
- Didn't Think This Through: This is what he had to say at camp after leaving Carolyn out of the plan to take out Frannie and Carolyn blowing up at them when she found out afterwards. It's justified because Carolyn found a new ally in Frannie and blindsiding the latter would also mean blindsiding the former.
- Honor Before Reason : Twice at the final 6 he is given the option to vote out Carolyn, and while he seriously considers it due to Carolyn perceived threat level, he decides to stay loyal to his Tika alliance and vote out Jaime instead. Then at the Final 4 he helps Carson practice his fire so he could at least fight his spot at the final 3, this may be considered a dumb move considering Carson could had potentially beat him at the final 3 but his friendship with Carson is strong and he does want Carson to be able to fight for his spot at the final 3.
- It's Personal: How he described his plan in voting out Kane, and with regards to getting out Brandon, Matt, and Josh. They all voted for him in previous Tribal Councils, so Yam Yam is determined to see that they are voted out in retribution.
- Jaw Drop: Yam Yam had to keep his mouth on when Carolyn betrayed him and voted out Sarah with Josh.
- Moral Myopia: While it's understandable that he wants to win, Yam Yam takes Josh wanting to take him out as a personal offense, even though he had no problem when he was calling the shots and deciding who gets voted out.
- Nice Guy: Very friendly and approachable and the most devastated by the evacuation of Bruce.
- Oh, Crap!: When he realizes Carolyn flipped on him to vote with Josh. He does recover and fortunately for him, he appears to be on top again.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Yamil, but everyone calls him Yam Yam.
- The Social Expert: He's very charismatic and easy to get along with. The way he spoke with the jury in the Final Tribal Council and how he owned some of the strategies he made helped sway them to vote for him.
- Sole Survivor: The forty fourth Sole Survivor of the show, and the first one to originate from Puerto Rico.
- Team Dad: Jokingly admits that he is Carson's father with Carolyn being his mother. The Three have a mother, father, son dynamic.
The Runners-Up
Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt
Tribe: Soka -> Soka
Age: 43
From: Ponce, Puerto Rico
Current Residence: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation: Engineering Manager
Eliminated: Lost in Final Tribal Council Vote 7-1-0 (received one vote), Day 26
- Advantage Ball:
- The first advantage Heidi found was a "Control a Vote", which allowed her to force someone to vote someone else on her behalf. She used this on Lauren in an attempt to save Matt, but it failed.
- Later, she managed to find the rehidden Soka idol after Danny used it in a previous Tribal Council. She ends up wasting it at the final six Tribal Council to protect herself, but ended up not getting a single vote.
- All for Nothing: Heidi decided to give up immunity and face Carson in the fire making challenge, hoping to take out one of the biggest threats in the game and gain some brownie points from the jury. Although Heidi did succeed in getting Carson eliminated, she failed to earn the jury's respect and only received Danny's vote to win.
- Hero Killer: Took mighty Guile Hero Carson out of the challenge at firemaking thinking she made a good move... only for her to lose in a landslide to Yam Yam.
- Last of Her Kind: After Danny's elimination at the Final Seven, Heidi became the only remaining Soka member left in the game.
- The Millstone: She's this strategically for Soka. She often tells the wrong people about Danny's plans, or misuses her advantages, or targets her own allies when her alliance needs to stick together. As a result of her strategic incompetence, Soka utterly falls apart at the merge.
- Out of Focus: Heidi is not given too much focus like everyone else.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Eventually, Heidi realized that her game would be heavily overshadowed by the Tika 3 and tried to make some ground by taking Carson out in the fire making challenge. It didn't work.
- Spanner in the Works: The others note that Heidi tends to panic and blab to the wrong person about votes, resulting with several easy votes becoming much more chaotic.
Carolyn Wiger
Tribe: Tika -> Tika
Age: 35
From: North St. Paul, Minnesota
Current Residence: Hugo, Minnesota
Occupation: Drug Counselor
Eliminated: Lost in Final Tribal Council Vote 7-1-0 (received no votes), Day 26
- Advantage Ball: She obtained the Immunity Idol by finding the key which unlocked the Tika tribe’s Birdcage.
- Batman Gambit: Realizing that Danny was plotting to vote out Carson to stop the Tika Three after testing some waters with him, Carolyn quickly informed Yam Yam and Carson, and the three set about trying to convince Lauren and Jaime to split votes between the remaining Soka. And to be sure that the plan didn't backfire, she also played an idol on Carson. While the idol wasn't needed in the end, her quick thinking allowed the Tika Three to survive the vote with a majority in the Final Six.
- Beneath Suspicion: While her own worries won't let her see it, due to her wild behavior, she is the only person on her tribe that no one else suspects of having the idol, in spite of her being the actual culprit.
- Beware the Silly Ones: She may be very quirky, but she is also someone dangerous to have as an enemy when she feels in danger. Sarah, Josh, and Danny learned that the hard way.
- Big Damn Heroes: Danny has prepared a blindside of Carson that neither he nor Yam Yam are aware of. Everyone is on board for the boat. Yam Yam has won immunity. Just as it seems Carson is doomed, Carolyn deduces that Carson is the target, effortlessly swings Lauren and Jaime to target Danny, and protects Carson with her idol for good measure, ending Danny's plan with one fell swoop.
- Book Ends: Her first and last confessionals involve her conversing with a producer. She even lampshades it.Carolyn (in Day 26): Remember in Day 1 when you interviewed me?
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's extremely quirky, but she manages to find an idol and use the resulting paranoia to her advantage, all the while flying under the radar due to said wild behavior.
- The Cassandra: At the merge, she is the only person who knows for a fact Josh doesn't have an idol, but no one believes her, leading to her screaming in the confessional.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Carolyn is a bit of a space cadet, being rather wild to the point where her son had to tell her to not be too weird when she left to play.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She suffered from an alcohol addiction in the past and implied that she hated her life during the time.
- Didn't Think This Through: Twice. Shortly after she obtained the immunity idol, she almost forgot about putting the bag back so know would one notice; however, when she does she doesn’t close the bag, thus revealing to the other members of her tribe that the idol had been taken.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: After being put up several times as a decoy vote and basically be told what to do every vote, Carolyn swiftly gets pissed off and teams up with newcomer Josh to blindside Sarah.
- Enraged by Idiocy: One of her biggest traits is to rant in confessional when her tribemates are being stupid.
- Hidden Depths: As eccentric as she is, Carolyn is a great listener and is the Team Mom of both Tika and the merged tribe, with everyone talking about how easy she is to approach and feel welcomed by.
- I Am What I Am: Much of her story in the game is about embracing her authentic, kooky self in the present after what she went through in the past and blending that with her gameplay as both an emotional and strategic player.
- Like a Son to Me: How she feels about Carson and Carson conversely feels like she's a cool badass mom figure. She ended up saving him in the final seven because of this.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She was left out by Yam Yam and Carson during the plan to take out Frannie because of her newly formed bond after the Sanctuary. She blows up at them once Tribal Council was over when she found out about the plan.
- Only Sane Woman: Yes, really. As eccentric as she can be, she's one of the only players in the game who doesn't over-think her way around idols and advantages, and as such is usually one of the more perceptive castaways because of it.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: She is proven to be an authentic player with a combination of great reads with strategic and emotional gameplay. However, Yam Yam swayed the jury a lot more in Final Tribal Council and allowed all of them but Danny to vote for him to win over her and Heidi (whom Danny voted for)
- Spanner in the Works: Carolyn's clumsy attempt at putting the idol bag back into the birdcage lead Carson to suspect Helen as the one who found the idol, due to wrongfully assuming her body language, and causing him to flip on the majority and vote the latter out.
- Team Mom: Of Tika. Also jokingly admits, she and Yam Yam bicker Like an Old Married Couple and she is Carson's mom.
- Unknown Rival: To Danny, who unintentionally pissed her off at the Sanctuary when he and Brandon kept excluding her to form their own plans. She eventually gets him out after he spent the merge underestimating her.
Jury
Carson Garrett
Tribe: Tika -> Ratu
Age: 20
From: Rome, Georgia
Current Residence: Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation: NASA Engineering Student
Eliminated: Lost Fire Making to Heidi, Day 25
- Beware the Nice Ones: While he may appear to be a clever, kind young man, he's also helped pull off several blindsides while being one of the few remaining castaways to never have been voted for.
- Break the Cutie: Being that he genuinely loved Carolyn and Yam Yam as mother/father figures, he breaks down when he can't make fire.
- Cerebus Call-Back: In Day 1, Carson's inability to make fire was treated as light humor by the rest of the tribe. In Day 25, that same inability is treated more seriously as Carson could be, and did, face off against someone in the fire making challenge.
- Chekhov's Skill: At the of the reason, Carson mentions that he practiced some Survivor puzzles at home via making replicates with a 3D printer. Come the merge episode and he clenches the win for his team (earning them buffs and immunity) because it was one of the puzzles that he practiced.
- Commonality Connection: After he swapped to Ratu, he bonded with Kane over being the nerds of their tribe, talking about Pokémon, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings.
- Crazy-Prepared: With a 3-D printer he owned, he was able to replicate various challenge puzzles that Survivor has used over the years. He even went as far as to practice the Last Gasp challenge in his bathtub.
- Fatal Flaw: Insecurity. He admits to being insecure in the finale, and if you look back on his gameplay, it can singlehandedly be rooted as the cause of his failures. Despite proving his intelligence, he clearly cared more about looking smart than being smart. Rather than go for the obvious theory that Carolyn took the idol, he instead tries to read people's body language and assumes his closest ally took it and votes her out. Despite fully acknowledging the fact that he stinks at fire, he doesn't work on that and instead tries to show off other facets of his game, such as making challenges at home to practice.
- Foreshadowing: Over the course of the series, there are multiple shots of Carson with fire, either him standing near the fire pit or close-ups of the fire being reflected in his glasses, foreshadowing his eventual fate in the game.
- Geek Physique: Of the skinny variety. He was even compared to Tom Holland.
- Delicate and Sickly: Gets incredibly sick following the Matt vote in the bushes, due to his weak constitution and is immediately worried about being "dead weight" for whoever picked him for the immunity challenge. This leads to everyone offering to pair up with him and in the end settling with his fellow Tika member, Carolyn.
- The Leader: Of the Tika trio, Carson was the one to come up with the primary strategy of playing the middle in Soka and Ratu's war to secure power for themselves, and both Yam Yam and Carolyn regularly look to him to confirm the plan for the vote.
- Pet the Dog: The first to notice Bruce isn't doing well and quickly calls medical over. His genuine relationship with Yam Yam and Carolyn counts too.
- So Proud of You: Says as such to Carolyn when she admits she had the Tika idol all along, since it shows she really was playing the game as well with how she managed to keep it a secret all this time.
- Tag Along Kid: Due to being the youngest of both the Tika tribe and overall. He also serves this purpose to the pair of Yam Yam and Carolyn.
- The Smart Guy: Fulfills this role on Tika until the swap where Carolyn takes over.
Lauren Harpe
Tribe: Ratu -> Ratu
Age: 31
From: Port Arthur, Texas
Current Residence: Mont Belvieu, Texas
Occupation: Elementary School Teacher
Eliminated: 3-1-1, Day 24
- Advantage Ball: Played Straight; On her journey with Sarah and Matt, she received the “Bank Your Vote” advantage that allows her to secretly not vote at one Tribal Council and keep the voting parchment to use as an extra vote at a future Tribal Council. She gave it to Jamie on the off chance someone had a Knowledge is Power Advantage, but it went to waste when the former used it to vote for Heidi twice and failed to get her out.
- The Generic Girl: Lauren does not have an outstanding personality like most of her tribemates. She's a competent player with an easygoing personality, making it easy for her to fall into the background.
- Irony: During the episode 8 immunity challenge, Lauren is worried that no one will want her and expects to be the weaker member of the duo. She ends up winning.
- Last of Her Kind: After Jamie's elimination at final six, Lauren is the only remaining Ratu member left.
- Master of None: Lauren is skilled in all three of the necessities of the game. She's a capable physical player, has decent strategic acumen, and is generally well-liked by her tribemates. However, she excels at none of these skills, causing her to be easily overshadowed by the other players who specialize in one or the others.
- The Smurfette Principle: After Maddy was voted out and Jamie was switched over to Soka, she became the only woman left on the Ratu tribe. It's subverted by the merge when she reunites with Jamie and they outlast all the male members of Ratu.
- Those Two Girls: She's in a tight alliance of two with Jaime, and the two are consistently shown to vote and strategize together as a unit.
Jaime Lynn Ruiz
Tribe: Ratu -> Soka
Age: 35
From: Mesa, Arizona
Current Residence: Mesa, Arizona
Occupation: Yogi
Eliminated: 4-2, Day 23
- Cassandra Truth: The day after Kane's voted out with her fake idol, she reveals what became of it to the tribe. No one believes her. She repeats the truth at the next Tribal Council, and the tribe looks at Kane for proof, who couldn't say anything due to the jury not being allowed to speak.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Probably even more so than Carolyn and that's saying something. She foolishly believes her fake idol is real, gets paranoid for no reason, and is generally a bit nuts.
- The Ditz: She comes across as quite a bit dim due to her constant poor takes.
- Dramatic Irony: She constantly brags about the idol she got from Matthew in confessionals, totally unaware that Matthew has the real idol and he was the one who planted the fake. It was even given an editing joke in Episode 9.Jamie (in a confessional): Can you believe I still I have my idol! I'm so happy I still have my idol! How do I still have my idol? Oh My God!("One Fake Idol" then appears on her chyron)
- Entertainingly Wrong: One of her defining traits is her total misread of the game. She thought she had an idol. She didn't. She thought being honest about losing it would protect her game. No one believed her. She believes the game is being played without alliances and instead with temporary voting blocs. Tika is running the game because they're a strong alliance.
- Fun with Subtitles: As described under Dramatic Irony, the editors love joking about Jamie actually having a fake idol in confessionals while she believes it's the real thing. It happens again when she discusses about her idol being gone along with Kane and "One Fake Idol" disappears on her chyron as she says so.
- The Heart: She's this for Ratu and the merge tribe, encouraging them to bond with meditation sessions and group activities.
- Improperly Paranoid: In the season premiere, she got paranoid that the tribe was secretly targeting hernote , leading to her sacrificing her vote for the Shot In The Dark. Ironically, she ended up safe, resulting in her becoming the first successful Shot In The Dark user (contrasting Matthew, who also used his Shot In the Dark and was not safe, but also survived the vote).
- Jaw Drop: She does this at the Reunion when Jeff tells her that her "idol" was fake all along.
- Those Two Girls: She's in a tight alliance of two with Lauren, and the two are constantly shown voting and strategizing together.
Danny Massa
Tribe: Soka -> Soka
Age: 32
From: Bronx, New York
Current Residence: Bronx, New York
Occupation: NYC Firefighter
Eliminated: 3-2-0 (Idol cancelled two votes against Carson), Day 21
- Advantage Ball: He secretly obtained his tribe’s Immunity Idol by finding the key and unlocking The Birdcage.
- Always Second Best: Despite his physical abilities, he finished second or third in every individual challenge post-merge, to the likes of Brandon, Lauren, Yam Yam, Carson, and especially Frannie.
- Audience Surrogate: He serves as this to fans who want more aggressive gameplay after the players from Survivor 41 and especially Survivor 42 just sat around joking instead of focusing on playing.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Danny was convinced that he was a genius player running the game, especially by buying into the theory of individual players voting together in blocs, which caused him to target members of his own tribe. Unfortunately for him, he failed to realize that this was a tribal loyalty season, and was taken out the moment he decided to target the dominant alliance, showing just how little power he actually had.
- Dumb Muscle: Not strategy-wise (see Smarter Than They Look below), but challenge-wise when it comes to puzzles. Shown in the Immunity Challenge in Episode 10 where he had a huge lead at the start, but completely blew it at the puzzle section, allowing the puzzle-savvy Carson to steal the Immunity win from him.
- Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. Danny believed himself to be a masterful strategic player who only needed one consistent ally to get his way. This allowed the Tika trio to effortlessly manipulate him and give him the illusion of power while tricking him into dismantling his own tribe. Once Danny decides to finally target Tika, he's cut out his own legs from under himself so effectively that only Heidi votes with him and he gets sent home.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Believed that Heidi was his number one ally and thought Yam Yam was lying when he said she was the one who voted him, when in actuality she was the one who voted him and preferred Frannie over him.
- Innocently Insensitive: At the Sanctuary, he unknowingly excluded Carolyn from his conversations with Brandon, and it ticked her off so much that she refused to align with them when they left afterwards. This ended up backfiring in the long run, as Carolyn ended up rallied up the votes and getting him eliminated as the fifth jury member.
- The Leader: Of the Soka Alliance.
- Puppet King: For Tika. The trio were more than content to allow Danny to think he was running the game, but once he targets one of them, they all rally against him, and even get the remaining Ratu members to vote for Heidi.
- Smarter Than They Look: While Danny might look tough, he actually managed to pull off a sneaky move by rehiding the fake idol at Soka in the birdcage, while discarding the fake idol note, and leaving someone to find the key without realizing they were duped.
- Toilet Humor: During a tense immunity showdown with Lauren, he gets everyone's attention and then farts really loudly. This naturally breaks all the tension.
- Underestimating Badassery: Regarding Carolyn, as he was so focused on Yam Yam and Carson, but she was the one who ended up getting the remaining Tikas to vote him out and even played an idol to make sure he was taken out.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Were this a season like Cambodia, Danny assuming everyone was voting in blocs would have most likely brought him to the finals. However, this was actually a season with a heavy focus on tribal loyalty and the second he tried targeting the dominant alliance, he was gone.
Frannie Marin
Tribe: Soka -> Soka
Age: 23
From: St. Paul, Minnesota
Current Residence: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Occupation: Research Coordinator
Eliminated: 5-2-1, Day 19
- Action Girl: Frannie is one of the best challenge performers of the season, winning the majority of individual challenges she participated in.
- Always Someone Better: Danny sees her as this in Individual Immunity challenges, as she won more Immunities than he ever could have.
- The Cassandra: She's the only person who realized how big of a threat the Tika 3 would end up being, only to get ignored.
- Decoy Protagonist: Frannie was a focal point of the season, and with a surprising turn as the season's resident Action Girl seemed poised to make it far. However, the other players took note of the fact that she was a genuine triple threat and voted her out as soon as she was vulnerable.
- Everyone Can See It: It's clear she and Matt are a showmannce from Day one, do to cuddling together, constantly talking sweetly to each other and regularly hugging. Of course, she tries to hide it so Matt won't be a target, but it goes about as well as you'd think.
- Graceful Loser: She's fine with losing because, as she puts it, being on the Jury is pretty much a front row seat to her favorite show of all time.
- Hidden Depths: In spite of how happy-go lucky seemed to be, when she and Matt lose the episode immunity challenge through no real fault of her own (they were simply too slow) she's seen beating herself up and crying, hinting that her self esteem might be lower than at first glance.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Constantly talks about how while Matt is someone she'd date outside of the game and that they are not in a relationship. Of course... this goes about as well as you think with the rest of the tribe.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her winning immunity for her team at the first merge challenge pretty much sealed that Matt, her closest ally/Love Interest, was getting the boot.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Her challenge prowess was noticed by the other players, and they conspired to vote her out because they felt she was too dangerous to keep in the game.
Kane Fritzler
Tribe: Ratu -> Ratu
Age: 25
From: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
Current Residence: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Occupation: Law Student
Eliminated: 5-3-1-1 (Jaime used an extra vote)
- Commonality Connection: Once Carson was swapped to Ratu, Kane was ecstatic to connect with him due to having another nerd in the tribe.
- Endearingly Dorky: A quiet nerdy young man who genuinely loves Dungeons and Dragons, and has a very sweet reaction to the sword tribal idol, feeling like an Ascended Fan.
- Irony: Like with Sarah below, Kane bemoaned how he was eliminated with Jamie's idol, unaware that it was a fake Matthew created days ago.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He sits out of a challenge in order to get rice for the tribe. He's voted out that night.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Calls the others bitches after he's voted out due to having sat out the challenge to get them rice.
Brandon Cottom
Tribe: Ratu -> Ratu
Age: 30
From: Newtown, Pennsylvania
Current Residence: Newtown, Pennsylvania
Occupation: Security Specialist
Eliminated: 4-0 (Idol cancelled six votes against Frannie), Day 15
- Book Ends: His first Tribal Council has him saved by a successful idol play. His last Tribal Council has him eliminated by a successful idol play.
- Irony: Gets past his first Tribal Council due to an idol play. He is eliminated by an idol play.
- Innocently Insensitive: At the Sanctuary, he unknowingly excluded Carolyn from his conversations with Danny, and it ticked her off so much that she refused to align with them when they left afterwards.
- Know When to Fold Them: Once Brandon realized that keeping his idol would paint a target on his back, he decided to play it at Ratu's first Tribal Council. It's a good thing though as he managed to survive over Maddy.
- The Leader: Of the Ratu alliance. His decision to go to war with Soka is ultimately followed by Lauren and Jaime, and they stick to that strategy even after he's voted out early.
Matt Blankinship
Tribe: Soka -> Soka
Age: 27
From: Albany, California
Current Residence: San Francisco, California
Occupation: Security Software Engineer
Eliminated: 3-2 (Carolyn, Carson, Danny, Frannie, Heidi, and Kane formed a temporary jury and did not vote, Heidi used her advantage to force Lauren to vote for Yam Yam), Day 14
- Advantage Ball: Inverted; On his journey with Sarah and Lauren, he lost his vote for his next two Tribal Councils. Also Inverted that he finds what he believes to be an idol when it really is a fake idol made by Danny who found the real idol.
- Butt-Monkey: Episode 4 has him fall victim to bombastic Danny's fake idol. Not only does everyone know about it due to some Loose Lips, but Danny is sitting relaxed laughing his ass off, who has the real idol.
- Dramatic Irony: He went to two tribals without a vote but never a target. The very tribal where he finally gets his vote back, he's eliminated.
- Everyone Can See It: To be precise, everyone can see Matt and Frannie are a couple. She was the first to comfort him after the breakup with his ex, and they are constantly shown hugging and spending time together.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Matthew Grinstead-Mayle.
- So Proud of You: In his final words, he tells Frannie he's so proud of her and not to blame herself for his elimination.
Pre-Jury
Josh Wilder
Tribe: Soka -> Tika
Age: 34
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Current Residence: Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation: Surgical Podiatrist
Eliminated: 7-3-1 (Matt lost his vote on the journey for this tribal), Day 13
- Bad Liar:
- Josh tried to downplay his podiatrist occupation with Tika by claiming he was a physical trainer after failing to enter medical school. No one is fooled by it as they poke many holes in his story.
- He also created a fake idol, using beads from Tree Mail that Yam Yam and Carolyn immediately deduced as being fake, despite Josh's denials.
- Commonality Connection: Tries to bond with Yam Yam over the two both being mild-manned gay men. It goes about as well as you'd expect, which is... not well at all.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Josh is set up as the villain of the season for most of the pre-merge, gaining the ire and mistrust of every tribe he winds up on. After trying to use a fake idol to strong arm everyone else into voting out Yam Yam, the group doesn't fall for it and votes him out.
- Epic Fail: His fake idol attempt is laughably bad as the beads are easily identifiable as being from Tree Mail, the note is the same one he showed to Carolyn two days prior and it falls apart as soon as Yam Yam handles it.
- Fatal Flaw: His poor deception skills and lack of self control are what ultimately cause his downfall in the game and ultimately a spot in the merged tribe. He chooses to impulsively spread his lie to other tribe members during the transition period of merging to scare them into voting out Yam-Yam. However he forgets that Carolyn saw him play an idol, allowing her to to convince the majority of players to cast doubt on Josh and send him packing.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Josh is given a great deal of sympathy, despite being a villain for most of his screentime. His complete incompetence as a liar and inability to get a single scheme off the ground except brute forcing another player out with the idol contributes to this.
- Irony: Josh was not too happy that he moved from Soka to Tika as he thought he was in a good position with the tribe, unaware that everyone wanted him gone next if they lost Immunity again.
- Straight Gay: Shares his coming out story with Yam Yam about his coming out story to his parents. And just like Yam Yam, he's very relaxed and methodical. Unfortunately for him, Yam Yam has his sights set on voting him and Carolyn out.
Matthew Grinstead-Mayle
Tribe: Ratu -> Ratu
Age: 43
From: Pickerington, Ohio
Current Residence: Columbus, Ohio
Occupation: Barbershop Owner
Eliminated: Quit due to injury, Day 11
- Celebrity Resemblance: Looks a bit like Infomercial giant Billy Mays.
- Choosing Neutrality: After Ratu's first Tribal Council, he lies that he was on "survival mode" for using his Shot In The Dark. In reality, he deliberately used the Shot In The Dark to not vote and have no one know who he is truly aligned with.
- Crazy-Prepared: He built a replica of the vertical snake maze at home, and practiced on it.
- Determinator: Despite dislocating his shoulder early in the game, Matthew tried to keep on going and participated in challenges that would exasperate it. Unfortunately, this led to his decision to leave the game.
- Family Man: Clearly misses his family only three days in but refuses to give up.
- Handicapped Badass: In spite of his dislocated shoulder, Matthew proves himself to be an extremely strong challenge performer.
- Heroic RRoD: His eagerness to participate in challenges despite his injury in Day 2 caused it to worsen as the game progressed, which led to him sitting out of the Immunity Challenge in Day 11, and eventually him quitting the game that same day.
- Manly Gay: Very strong physically and has a husband and son at home.
- Non-Gameplay Elimination: He quit at Day 11 due to his worsening shoulder injury that he sustained at Day 2.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Matt Blankinship.
Sarah Wade
Tribe: Tika -> Tika
Age: 27
From: Rochester, Minnesota
Current Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Occupation: Management Consultant
Eliminated: 2-0 (Idol cancelled two votes against Josh), Day 9
- Advantage Ball: Double Subverted; On her journey with Matt and Lauren, she lost her vote at the next tribal council, but gained the “Inheritance Advantage”, which allows her to secretly inherit ALL advantages and idols played at one Tribal Council. However, she never used it as she was eliminated.
- Butt-Monkey: Nothing went right Sarah at all. She lost her vote in an attempt to gain an advantage, was placed in the bottom after Carson flipped and helped Yam Yam and Carolyn blindside Helen, she found a fake Idol, and was betrayed by Carolyn when the latter joined new tribemate Josh to vote her out.
- Irony: In her final words, Sarah bemoaned being one of the many people that was voted out with an idol in her pocket, unaware that what she had was a fake.
Claire Rafson
Tribe: Soka
Age: 25
From: Highland Park, Illinois
Current Residence: Brooklyn, New York
Occupation: Tech Investor
Eliminated: 4-0 (Matt lost his vote on the journey for this tribal and one more future Tribal and Claire played her Shot in the Dark which failed), Day 7
- Ascended Fan: Like many players this season.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She showed a lot of potential in the strategic and social aspects of the game, as she was fully aware of the ongoings in her camp. She was also in good enough shape to be a potential asset to her tribe. However, she does not apply any of these skills to gain any social capital within her tribe, leading to her inevitable elimination once her back is against the wall.
- Do Not Go Gentle: In one last effort to protect herself, she used her Shot In The Dark at Tribal Council. It failed.
- Lazy Bum: Did not compete in a single tribal challenge. It's why she was sent home.
- The Load: Why she was voted out, having sat on the Sandra bench for every single Immunity challenge whereas Matt, the original target, contributed in challenges despite having an injury (not to mention a fake idol).
Helen Li
Tribe: Tika
Age: 29
From: Wayland, Massachusetts
Current Residence: San Francisco, California
Occupation: Project Manager
Eliminated: 3-1 (Sarah lost her vote on her Journey), Day 5
- Awesomeness by Analysis: When Helen and Carson had to do the Savvy challenge, she managed to figure out the trick to the puzzle by looking at the epicenter of the sphere, allowing them to count the rings with ease.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Helen was blindside by Carson after the latter turned his back on her due to a misbelief she had the hidden immunity idol.
Maddy Pomilla
Tribe: Ratu
Age: 28
From: Huntingtown, Maryland
Current Residence: Brooklyn, New York
Occupation: Charity Projects Manager
Eliminated: 1-0 (Idol cancelled two votes against Brandon), Day 3
- Decided by One Vote: She was voted out by Brandon's sole vote as everyone else sacrificed their votes, and she and Kane's votes were negated by the former's idol.
- Dramatic Irony: Maddy tried to push Ratu into voting out Brandon due to the fact he had the idol, but not only does she get eliminated thanks to the latter's idol, but nearly half of the tribe (minus Kane who did vote with her) did not vote as they sacrificed their votes for the Shot In The Dark (Jamie and Matthew) or used an advantage to bank it (Lauren).
Bruce Perreault
Tribe: Tika
Age: 46
From: West Warwick, Rhode Island
Current Residence: West Warwick, Rhode Island
Occupation: Insurance Agent
Eliminated: Medically evacuated, Day 1
- Game-Breaking Injury: At the beginning of the first challenge, he injured his head causing it to bleed. About 12 hours later, he was medically removed from the game after said injury became a concussion.
- History Repeats: This is the second time a Bruce was medically evacuated from the game.
- Non-Gameplay Elimination: Bruce hits his head during the first challenge. While he initially seems fine, during the first night his condition is bad enough that the medical team decides to medically evacuate him. It's the most unfortunate example on Survivor, as unlike Kourtney Moon, Pat Cusack, and Jackson Fox, who at least got to spend a couple of days in the game, Bruce was evacuated on the very first day.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After his early evacuation in Day 1, Jeff Probst presented him the opportunity to play again, which he accepted and led to his return in Survivor 45.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Due to his injury and leaving so early in the game, we hardly know much about Bruce aside from some comments his tribemates made after his evacuation.
