Survivor 45 Finale Recap: Who Outwitted, Outplayed and Outlasted Their Way to the $1 Million Check?
Five players, three hours, one… Survivor!
Following Drew’s exit last week, three Rebas stood strong in the Season 45 finale Wednesday, leaving Katurah hungry to axe Dee and Jake desperate to make his mark on the game. Were the outliers lucky enough to topple the Rebas once and for all, or did the season’s majority alliance run 45 straight to the bank? There’s no time to waste, so let’s get to recapping!
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While Dee apologizes to Austin for her role in the Drew vote, Katurah’s annoyed that they let such a solid pair get this far. And she should be! Only three of them will make it the final Tribal Council, so having such an obvious duo around — and a showmance! — at this stage of the game can be deadly.
The next morning, the tribe finds a locked box on the beach. They must race around their new island to count coconuts, crabs and bamboo pieces in order to figure out the combination. Jake’s slow and steady approach wins him an advantage which will give him a leg up in the next immunity challenge.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE NO. 1 | For the episode’s first feat, players must crawl under an obstacle, dig up a machete, get some sand bags and toss ’em into three baskets. Then, using numbers that are revealed, solve a combination lock, retrieve some keys, climb a tower, unlock a puzzle and finish it. (PHEW. That was a lot just to type!) They’re also playing for a reward: A steak dinner!
Jake’s advantage: Two of his sandbags will already be in their baskets. Unfortunately for him, he forgets to grab the keys after sinking his sole sandbag! He races up the tower only to climb back down once he realizes his error, giving Austin the opportunity to take the lead. While Jake does catch up, it’s not enough to prevent Austin from winning the coveted necklace. As a sign of good sportsmanship (and, yes, strategy), Austin takes Jake on his reward.
CAMP | Katurah asks Julie to help her boot Dee, but Mama J still can’t get her mind off of Jake. So the two women pitch a Jake plan to Dee who’s down, but nothing in Survivor is ever that easy… particularly because we know he has an idol. Austin knows this too because Jake tells him while chewing on some tasty Sanctuary steak.
When the guys return, a game of telephone ensues. Austin tells Dee, and Dee tells Julie, while Jake tells Katurah (so many loose lips in this new era)! Katurah then pitches Jake on her plan to vote Dee out, which piques his interest. Meanwhile, Austin doesn’t know wtf to do, since he’s still struggling with separating personal from game, even after 20-something days.
TRIBAL COUNCIL NO. 1 | The players are feeling the heat as Jeff grills them about threat levels, jury management and relationships. When it’s time to vote, Julie votes for Jake, Dee writes Katurah and Jake writes Dee. Katurah, whose vote we do not see, announces that she’s changing her vote. Jake then plays his idol for Katurah (is your head spinning yet?), but Julie is the one to leave the game with two votes to her name.
Back at camp, Jake’s pissed that Katurah changed her vote (especially since she made him swear on it) but hey, that’s what happens when there’s no trust between players! But man, what a blunder on Katurah’s part. Yes, she’s made the Final 4, but she totally botched her goal of splitting up a powerful duo. Dee would’ve been donezo had she just… stuck to the plan! (R.I.P., Keith Nale.)
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE NO. 2 | Players must place bowls on a contraption with a long fork, while maneuvering through a wobbly ropes course that’s attached to the platform. It’s all comes down to Jake and Dee, but after Jake loses a huge stack, he breaks his entire contraption, thereby disqualifying himself from the challenge. Dee finishes her stack to secure the necklace around her neck.
FIRE-MAKING | It’s all up to Dee now! Who’ll be facing off in the fire-making challenge and who will she bring with her to the end? Jake asks (begs?) her to put him into fire because the fact that he has no big moves to his name is tearing him apart inside. (Poor guy.) Dee then tells Katurah to get practicing because she’s taking Austin with her to the end — which is smart. Why give him another chance to dazzle the jury so close to the end?
At Tribal, she makes it official, telling Jeff that she wants to bring Austin to the Final 3. Jake finally gets his big moment when he defeats Katurah in the challenge, making her the last member of the Survivor 45 jury. (Yep, I still loathe the fire-making challenge. Just want to put that on record. Again.)
FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL | Gone are the days of rats and snakes, bitter or crying juries, and personal attacks. Final Tribal Council has gotten a little kumbaya these days, if you ask me, for better or worse. (I’d lean toward “worse,” but maybe I’m just a big jerk.) Questions from the jury involve grabbing the game by the horns, facing one’s fears and the sadness players felt when voting off their closest friends. The jury is all smiles and laughs, which is nice and all, but where are the fireworks? Where are the demands for players to remove their dentures? (Brenda, you’re still a savage!)
Drew asks Austin and Dee to explain their roles in the Reba 4, which is really just a softball pitch for his friends to talk about how amazing their games were. Kaleb asks Jake what he did to survive, despite playing from the bottom the entire post-merge. When Emily asks Dee what decisions she made using her brain alone, Dee dances around it, stating that her brain and heart are connected, and that her relationships were the foundation of her strategy. She does gain a few brownie points when she tells everyone about leaving Austin out of the Drew vote, and that’s the moment where Dee starts to run away with it.
And then comes the real bombshell: Dee’s reveal to Austin and the jury that she did tell Julie about the plan to vote her out and that’s what led to Julie’s idol play and Emily’s exit. This big reveal not only makes her look dominant and loyal to Julie, but more importantly, it makes Austin look pretty clueless. (Bit of a mic drop moment, right?)
It’s finally the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Julie and Emily vote for Dee, while Kendra and Drew vote Austin. That’s all we see before Jeff collects the voting urn. When the results are tallied, Dee wins the game by a vote of 5-3.
Be sure to read our interviews with Dee and Austin, then tell us: Did the right player win and did Season 45 go full tilt boogie? Hit the comments below!
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