After a satisfying season of strategic forward play, brutal blinds and effectively used advantages, a winner was crowned on Survivor 47.
Warning: Spoilers below for the finale of Survivor 47.
Rachel Lamont beat Sam Phalen and Sue Smee by a 7-1-0 vote after the three finalists presented their cases to the jury during the December 18 episode on Wednesday. The trio made it to the final three after Rachel, 34, won the final immunity challenge of the season and chose Sam, 24, and Tiny Chiricillo to face each other in the fire lighting challenge. Sam emerged victorious and made it into the final three with Rachel and Sue, 59, making Tiny, 24, the final member of the judging panel.
While explaining to her survived trip to the jury, Rachel highlighted her adaptability, competitive prowess and journey from “underdog to big dog.” The jury awarded her gameplay with the title of “sole survivor” and the prize of 1 million dollars.
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Rachel will go down in history as the winner of what many fans call the best survived season of the new era of the CBS show, which began with season 41 in 2021. Very little survived 47 players navigated the game with blind loyalty to their original tribe members or allies, instead choosing to remain adaptable as the playing field changed dramatically from week to week.
Rachel Lamont
CBS“I think the fluid nature of survived is here to stay,” host and executive producer Jeff Probst said Parade on Tuesday, Dec. 17, calling the excitement over Season 47 a “direct reflection” of the casting decisions.
“Today’s player wants to win. And to win, you have to play to win,” Probst, 63, explained. “Playing to win means taking risks that can end your game. This is the conundrum you face. But taking a cautious approach and simply hoping you don’t get kicked out will never win the respect of the jury. So this is a no win proposition. To win, every other player must lose, including your closest ally.
The highly competitive gameplay of the season meant that several members of the jury — which consisted of Sierra Wright, Sol I, Gabe Ortiz, Kyle Ostwald, Caroline Vidmar, Andy Rueda, Genevieve Mushaluk and Teeny — would have had strong cases to win had they made it to the final three. While the players were open to Genevieve, 33, as the player to beat before being eliminated last week, several judges were impressed with Andy, 31, and Caroline, 28, after learning more about their Ponderosa games.
“When (Caroline) came back to Ponderosa, she explained her game to me and I was blown away. Her level of detail, strategic acumen and self-awareness were all things I didn’t see (during the game) and that was intentional,” Sol, 43, said. Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday. “I call her the Silencer because she sneaked through the game being part of a lot of moves but no one knew it. She could have won for sure.”
Andy echoed the sentiment, recounting EW that he and Caroline spent hours discussing their games after they reunited at the Ponderosa.
“She’s so intelligent and played a game perfectly designed for the new era, but in a way that was also innovative and true to her strengths. She had this idea of actively building shields in front of her, subtly setting up conditions for them to get credit for moves, knowing it would get them knocked down,” Andy said of Caroline. “So when you see her genuinely brainstorming with someone or cheering them on, that’s both her real self and her strategy, and I’m obsessed with that. Her final speech at Tribal Council would save the planet.
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Meanwhile, Gabe praised Andy for coming up with Operation Italy, a scheme involving a fake immunity idol that saved Genevieve from elimination and drove Caroline senseless.
“The information we got from him was shocking. His personality, his game, everything about him changed when we got to the Ponderosa,” Gabe, 26, said.
Andy even impressed Rachel when he laid out his game for her during the Dec. 11 episode while trying to win over the judges’ votes. However, the move backfired as Andy was unaware at the time that Rachel had a hidden immunity idol. Instead of selling out to a player doomed to be dumped, Andy emphasized his level of threat to the person with all the power, inadvertently convincing her to target him instead of Sam.
Rachel then blindsided everyone but her ally Sue with her hidden immunity idol, advancing to the final five while Andy was eliminated. She went on to win immunity in the next challenge, allowing her to target her biggest competitor, Genevieve, as she sailed into the final four.
