Season 3: Blood VS Water
Winner: Sabrina
For Season 3, I wanted to try to incorporate a new twist from the original show. There have been 2 seasons of Survivor with theme “Blood Vs Water”, referring to the idiom “Blood is Thicker than Water”. Whereas in real life this refers to family being a tighter bond than friendships or acquaintances, in the game of Survivor this can be translated as pre-existing/out-of-show bonds vs. in-show bonds with strangers. Each player is already aligned in some fashion with another, because of their real-life relationship.
Pre-Game
On the day of the game, one team had to cancel due to a Covid diagnosis, so I decided to sub in a last minute alternate team: Kelsey and Lauren, who were there to document the game. Kelsey and Lauren were friends, but not as close as the other contestants. Each would have the advantage of receiving information about the game/challenges prior to its beginning, which would be incentive both to align with them, and eliminate them.
At the start of the game, each pair introduced themselves and explained their relationship. They then had to select between themselves a player A and a player B to compete in a challenge. Player A’s lined up on one side of the room, while Player B’s lined up across from them, and they played a version of the Newlywed Game, answering questions about how well they knew their partners. The winners, Hugo and Fiona, were then immune from the double elimination round.
These random teams then became the real teams for the first half of the game, and buffs were handed out.
Blood Vs Water Pairings
Madison (Bedford) and Deb (Nostrand) were twins.
Hugo (Bedford) and Fiona (Nostrand) were siblings and roommates.
Julia (Bedford) and James (Nostrand) were cousins.
Sage (Bedford) and Loren (Nostrand) were dating.
Lou (Bedford) and Alex (Nostrand) were dating.
Jess (Bedford) and Sabrina (Nostrand) were best friends and roommates.
Lauren (Bedford) and Kelsey (Nostrand) were friends.
Also of note: Kelsey (Nostrand) was also roommates with Jess and Sabrina.
This was also:
Sabrina’s 3rd time playing.
Madison’s 2nd time playing.
Kelsey’s 2nd time playing.
and James’ 2nd time playing.
Pre-Merge
At Bedford’s first elimination, Lauren offered themself up as a sacrifice, reasoning that they had only joined the game last minute and was not as passionate about competing. The team unanimously voted them out. When it came time for Nostrand’s turn, the team seemed to be taking the same route in deciding who to vote for, but blindsided Deb by voting for her instead. This move seemed motivated by Deb’s connection to Madison, an aggressive player from the previous season who had gunned for Nico early on.
For the first half of the team portion of the game, Bedford continued to lose. After a crushing physical defeat running bags of rice down the block relay-style, Bedford voted out Hugo, who had riskily taken on more responsibility in the challenge. Seemingly spearheaded by Madison, the team went on to vote out Julia as a way of chipping away at James’ game.
Next, Lou, Sage, and Jess blindsided Madison, who was seen as a big threat in the game. He was devestated, and told the rest of his team they were making the biggest mistake of their lives.
The next challenge ended in an extremely close call, and the teams had to go to a tie-breaker challenge, where one member of each team would hold a popsicle stick in their mouth while another attempted to stack 6 dice on top of it. As Loren volunteered for the challenge which he ended up losing, he was the next voted out. His team knew he had found an immunity idol and made him feel safe enough not to play it, only to blindside him. He joined an increasingly scorned jury.
Nostrand’s momentum was hurt, but they continued to assert at eliminations that they would remain true to each other as a team, rather than their allies on the other side. Coining the team nickname “Team A”, they committed to staying tight after the merge. But, after losing another challenge, they voted out Fiona next.
The final three
The Merge
Going into the merge, Nostrand still maintained a numbers advantage. For Nostrand: James, Alex, Sabrina, and Kelsey. For Bedford: Sage, Jess, and Lou. Coming off of two underdog victories, the team of 3 had solidified a bond that seemed tight, but Lou was reuniting with Alex, and Jess was reuniting with Sabrina, murkying the potential alliances.
After the first immuntiy challenge, Kelsey was voted out as a seeming compromise across all teams - she had been added to the game last minute, and it could be argued had less of an investment in it. Tensions rose surrounding the idea of the “Team A Alliance” - particularly, James was argumentative with Alex and questioned their commitment to the alliance, over their alliance with Lou. At the next elimination, Alex and James argued over this point, and it seemed James would be the next to go. This proved to be a rouse to make Sage feel safe enough not to play her immunity idol, and she was voted out in the same deceptive fashion as her boyfriend Loren.
Then remained 2 teams, Lou and Alex; and Sabrina and Jess, as well as lone James. When James was the next to win immunity, Sabrina and Jess revealed that they both held immunity idols and could not be sent home. So, in a heartbreaking elimination, Lou and Alex spoke openly about which of them wanted to continue more. The group eliminated Lou.
After Alex won the final immunity challenge, James pleaded with the group to turn on each other. He argued that the group should try to avoid a “Chad situation”, referring to the winner of Season 1 who played with his heart, not strategy. In the end, though, James proved too big a threat to win, and Sabrina and Jess remained completely loyal to one another, sending him home.
In the Finale, the jury questioned whether Jess had ridden Sabrina’s coattails throughout the game, and commended Sabrina on her aggressive, “mob-like” strategy, as she had called the shots. They also commended Alex on their final immunity win and more friendly approach to playing, as well as the story they told of their personal growth and social blossoming throughout the game. In the end, the votes were split nearly evenly between Sabrina and Alex, but Sabrina claimed victory.
Sabrina is believed to have won because she had played the most flawless game to date. As the only player to have ever played Survivor 3 times, she had perfected her strategy, and knew how to work her jury throughout the game so that she could vote them out while maintaining friendships and the appearance of innocence and loyalty.
Photography by Lauren Holt and Kelsey Podaras