Wednesday Nov. 20, 10:00 p.m. - Five Survivors
Five University of Maryland students gather together behind the Benjamin Building on the College Park campus. These five are the last of a group of 18, who have been competing in the university's version of "Survivor," the popular CBS televison show. From left: (back row) Aaron Nesbitt, a junior math and government and politics major, Sara Glasser, a senior oboe performance and music education major, Yasmeen Scuderi, a senior computer engineering major, (front row) Sean Mahoney, a junior journalism major, and Victor Chupka, a sophomore applied math and operations management/business analytics major.
Sitting next to Yasmeen Scuderi, Victor Chupka listens to the debate, unaware that he is about to be betrayed by Aaron Nesbitt, who had recently become his closest ally. At each tribal council, after a period of debate, the contestants place their votes for who they believe should be eliminated in this round of the competition.
Knowing her vote will most likely break the tie between Sean Mahoney and Victor Chupka, Yasmeen Scuderi struggles to decide who she will vote to eliminate from the competition. Once she writes her decision down, she will place it in the large urn.
Pulling the votes from the urn and reading them before the contestants, Jacqueline Deprey, a senior computer science and operations management/business analytics major, reveals that Victor Chupka has been eliminated from the competition. Although Deprey has only been the host and showrunner of "Survivor Maryland" since the beginning of the semester, this is the thirteenth season to be produced at UMD.
Victor Chupka bows his head during his last tribal council as a contestant. After being eliminated, each former competitor must take his or her place as a member of the "jury," which will decide who wins the entire competition during the final tribal council of the season.
Thursday Nov. 21, 12:30 a.m. - Four Survivors
Immediately after the tribal council, the remaining four contestants walk together down the grass of McKeldin Mall to reach the location of their next challenge. During all the show's events and all their interpersonal interactions, the contestants must be filmed to collect footage for the final product.
Standing on the huge sundial in the middle of McKeldin Mall, Yasmeen Scuderi and Aaron Nesbitt listen as Jacqueline Deprey explains the rules and goals of their next challenge.
Aaron Nesbitt pauses with a lit torch in his hand and a cup full of fountain water on his head. During the challenge, all contestants must hold the lit torch at all times.
Aaron Nesbitt pours water from the cup on his head into a bucket after scooping it from the fountain on McKeldin Mall. Once his bucket is full, he will be able to move onto the next stage of the multipart challenge.
Sean Mahoney closes his eyes as cold water spills down his face and neck in the hurry to fill his bucket from the fountain in front of McKeldin Library.
Having finished the first part of the challenge ahead of the others, Sean Mahoney, with freezing wet fingers, must now gather dominos with chopsticks and line them up on a plank. During the entire process, all contestants must still keep a constant hold on their lit torch. Shortly after finishing this part of the challenge, his torch is blown out by the wind and he must run the length of McKeldin Mall to relight it.
Despite needing to relight his torch in the middle of the race, Sean Mahoney celebrates a victory in his final challenge of the season. The idol he now wears around his neck gives him immunity in the next round of voting and guarantees him a place in the final tribal council.
Sunday Nov. 24, 9:00 p.m. - Four Survivors
The remaining four contestants are left with the difficult choice of who they want to sit next to at the final tribal council. Sara Glasser, facing attacks from others, openly argues that the group should vote to eliminate Aaron Nesbitt.
Having cast their votes, the four wait to find out which of them is being eliminated and which will go on to the final tribal council. Based on their discussion before voting, there is an expected decision between Aaron Nesbitt and Sara Glasser to be sent home. Secretly, however, the two have been conspiring to vote out Yasmeen Scuderi the entire time.
After being blindsided with two votes against her and a failed revote, Yasmeen Scuderi listens as Sara Glasser and Sean Mahoney openly debate which of their fellow contestants to send home.
Despite being given a chance to argue for himself, Aaron Nesbitt, after minutes of deliberation from his competition, is told that he will be the next contestant eliminated from the competition. He will now join the jury.
In a unexpected twist, the final three contestants are informed that only two will be allowed to continue on to the final tribal council. The two competitors without a gaurantee of immunity must now compete in a head-to-head fire building challenge. Using small sticks and slips of paper used as votes throughout the season, each must build a fire tall and resilient enough to burn through a suspended rope.
Taking an early lead in the challenge, Sara Glasser seems to try to will her flame to sever the rope above.
Although she struggled to get her fire going at the beginning of the challenge, Yasmeen Scuderi succeeds in burning through her rope first. She embraces the crying Sara Glasser in consolation for her unexpected elimination.
After wiping the tears from her eyes, Sara Glasser sits and awaits the official proclamation of her elimination. She will now become the final member of the jury.
Sunday Dec. 1, 8:30 p.m. - Two Survivors
Former cast members, students on the film crew, members of the jury and the two remaining contestants gather behind the Benjamin Building for the final tribal council of this season.
Now a member of the nine-person jury, made up of former contestants, Victor Chupka has an opportunity to ask each remaining "survivor" why they deserve his vote over the other. Each jury member is allowed to ask questions of the two, and the process takes multiple hours.
Wearing clown noses as a joke in reference to the number of times they had been made "Boo-Boos the Fool" during the competition, Yasmeen Scuderi and Sean Mahoney listen as the jury members give speeches criticizing the way they played the game.
With the arguments over, Aaron Nesbitt and his fellow jury members place their votes. Although a majority of votes had previously meant elimination, the jury now writes down the name of who they think deserves to win the season.
Sean Mahoney, declared the winner of the competition and "sole survivor" of season 13, expresses his thrill to the cameras. Although they are all relieved to be finished with the time-consuming competition, the competitors will continue to develop the strong bonds of friendship they formed throughout the season.
Comments
Post a Comment