originally aired September 21, 2022 to December 14, 2022
The order in which players were eliminated and the impact they left behind:
- Morriah (Baka) Her ouster basically led to Gabler winning.
- Justine (Vesi) Her ouster helped solidify Jesse & Cody's alliance.
- Nneka (Vesi) Another elimination that helped solidify Jesse & Cody's futures.
- Lindsay (Coco) Basic paranoia did her in.
- Geo (Coco) His ouster solidified Cassidy's gameplay.
- Elie (Baka) Gabler's game really begins here.
- Dwight (Vesi) The gameplay this season was not dominated by master strategists or even anyone who just thought they were, but by players who just kind of made it up as they went along, resulting in a lot of interesting little moments as things happened, one of which was all the scrambling that led to Dwight's ouster.
- Jeanine (Baka) Sometimes a player just comes off as unpleasant in the edit, and that was Jeanine, whom I never found easy to root for. But she was a prime mover that needed eliminating.
- James (Coco) A would-be godfather who just didn't have the numbers on his side.
- Ryan (Coco) Sometimes Survivor casts people who are just easy to root for regardless of their gameplay, and Ryan was one of several this season. Definitely someone it'd be nice to see play again.
- Noelle (Vesi) Noelle was definitely another of those, especially after one of those personal triumph moments in a challenge that felt earned for a change.
- Sami (Baka) Here's a guy who really seemed much older, and wiser, than the young age that kept being repeated to viewers (19), who in the end didn't really have as much wisdom as he seemed, but was still well worth rooting for. Bring him back!
- Cody (Vesi) Just one of those personalities (the kind we really haven't seen since the early seasons) that I always find really easy to like, a wild spirit, but one that also definitely knew how to play the game.
- Karla (Coco) I just never could stand her. Sometimes it's completely the edit's fault. Sometimes it's the personality we see. I didn't see anything to really like. Made allies I didn't like either.
- Jesse (Vesi) That huge move in the 11th hour was destined for an explosive final tribal council that was defused into banter in the reunion, but how could you not like this guy? Good gameplay (except, y'know) and a backstory he didn't try to use for sympathy (at least when it counted).
- Owen (Baka) Tried so, so hard to be a good strategist, but never figured out that he really just needed to buckle down and make a solid alliance or two. It's not just about making the finals. It's never just about making the finals.
- Cassidy (Coco) I didn't much care for her and the mean girls clique until she separated herself from the pack both literally and figuratively by producing a sympathetic backstory for long-time viewers (she used to watch with her sister, who has since passed away).
- Gabler (Baka) I loved this guy from the first episode, which I watched after the Entertainment Weekly recap made such a big deal about a dude named Gabler being so inexplicably important to the edit (I always try to watch live, but sometimes it doesn't work out). Just an interesting dude, and so contrary to what Survivor has been casting for so long, and obviously a mindful player and strategist, even when no one gave him credit (which was literally the whole season). He made for a great tribal council, which I think everyone present was pleased to discover. His much-repeated decision to gift the winnings to veterans started to sound less and less interesting, because he wasn't nearly as interesting at the reunion (I think producers, and Jeff, were blindsided) as he was in the edit. But that left plenty of room to clear the air between players who would have otherwise been pretty upset that night. A rare positive ending for a season.
