'Survivor: Kaôh Rōng' is over, so who nabbed that $1 million prize?
After 39 grueling days, Michele Fitzgerald emerged from the gauntlet as the winner of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng.
The show's 32nd season revived the starting tribal lines from Survivor: Cagayan, organizing groups of contestants around one of three producer-defined traits: Brains, Beauty and Brawn. Fitzgerald started her journey as a member of the Beauty tribe, playing a smart, quiet game of aligning herself with the right people.
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Fitzgerald wasn't a driving force behind any of the season's big moves, but she also never resorted to wielding her beauty as a weapon. She simply stuck with her people, and proved herself to be a loyal, capable teammate who could contribute both at camp and during challenges.
Survivor: Kaôh Rōng turned out to be a historic moment for the series, with more medical evacuations knocking players out of the game than any previous season. It also had Mark, the chicken, whose storyline in the end brought Sia to the finale.
There's always been that grim moment in past seasons when a tribe's live chicken – often obtained during the game's introductory challenge – is slaughtered and eaten, because protein is both important and hard to come by on Survivor.
Kaôh Rōng diverged from that tradition thanks to Tai Trang. His peace-loving ways and respect for all living things earned the Beauty tribe's seemingly doomed chicken both a stay of execution, and a proper name. Mark's been a presence throughout the season, and – amazingly – only an occasional target for bloody elimination.
Sia stormed the stage during the finale to offer Trang $50,000 to donate to the animal charity of his choosing.
As for the medical evacuations, Caleb Reynolds was the first to fall, on the ninth day of the competition, when searing temperatures during a reward challenge knocked him out with severe heat stroke. Gillon almost suffered a similar fate during the same challenge, but Survivor's medical crew was able to address it on-site.
Neal Gottlieb – who started the game with the Brains crew – fell out 10 days later on day 19, when the medical team discovered a cut on his knee had developed into a staph infection. Cuts and scrapes are common enough on Survivor, but there was fear of the infection leading to longterm damage if it wasn't properly addressed at an off-site medical facility.
The final evacuation didn't occur until weeks later, when Joseph “Joe” Del Campo found himself constipated and unable to urinate after indulging too heavily in the food portion of a reward challenge. He was pulled on day 34, over fears that the blockage would lead to his bladder bursting. Joe's late-game exit eliminated Aubry Bracco's staunchest ally – and surest ticket to the final Tribal Council – at the moment she needed him most.
About the finalists
Aubry Bracco, 30
A Massachusetts native and social media marketer in her daily life, the initially quiet Bracco won over many a Survivor fan with her fierce play and sharp social game. Rock-solid alliances were her strongest asset, as was a proven ability to bend with unexpected changes as key allies Gottlieb and Del Campo were evacuated.
Bracco dominated in more than just the social game, however. She brought a competitive spirit and innate toughness to every single challenge, helping her teammates – and later, herself – in clutch moments. Throughout the season, few Kaôh Rōng contestants lived up to the Survivor ethos of “outwit, outplay, outlast” more than Bracco did.
Cydney Gillon, 23
A Georgia native and professional bodybuilder, Gillon built her game around dominant physical play and adapting to shifting alliances. She was rarely targeted in votes, despite having a fiery – and sometimes downright caustic – personality, and she demonstrated a real nose landing in winning alliances at key moments.
Gillon's biggest move of the game – orchestrating Nick Maiorano's elimination through an all-girls alliance on day 22 – perfectly encapsulates that. Suspicious of Maiorano's efforts to uncover a then-non-existent all-female alliance, Gillon shattered the still-relevant Brains/Beauty/Brawn tribal lines as she enlisted six competitors – all five women left in the game at that point, plus Del Campo – to vote with her.
Michele Fitzgerald, 26
In a Survivor season that was frequently defined by big moves and fluid alliances, Fitzgerald kept relatively quiet. The New Jersey native and in-real-life bartender relied on her skills as an observer and attentive listener to zero in on tribal divisions and avoid ruffling feathers.
If there was any flaw to Fitzgerald's game leading into the final episode, it was her lack of big, game-shaking moves. While she frequently landed on the winning side in the votes that mattered, her road to the final four was more a game of following than leading. Though for a competition like Survivor, where leaders frequently wear the biggest targets, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Tai Trang, 52
A gardener who hails from San Francisco, Trang's quirky demeanor and enduring friendship with Mark the Chicken quickly established him as a fan-favorite personality. He struggled mightily in the social game, however, thanks to a long series of unwise and sometimes bizarre moves.
It was the kind of Survivor play that secures you a spot in the final stretch, but eliminates any chance of winning. Trang pissed too many people off as he turned against existing alliances on more than one occasion, and in less-than-graceful ways.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
