Previously on Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New
In the closest challenge of the season, all 3 teams struggled to find consistency with only 5 of 12 players getting their answers correct. The worst offender was Kobara, who yet again failed a matchup-based Immunity Challenge, and will now need to vote out one of their 6 players. With the merge around the corner, and lots of history between these players, nobody wanted to go home now!

After Kobara won Sunday’s Reward Challenge, which gave them the opportunity to select Monday’s Immunity Challenge matchups, the win was clearly within their grasp. But somehow, against all odds, a number of factors played into another disappointing loss for the “dominant” team. First off, Kobara decided to sit out Graham and Cowin. So close to the merge you want your best possible team, and though Chelsea has been 2nd overall (to Bryan) all season long, Graham and Cowin have been 3rd and 4th. When you need to win, take it into your own hands.

Secondly, Kyle was slowest on Kobara to respond for his THIRD challenge in a row. For someone who had previously won a Reward Challenge, and had been helping his team answer questions quickly all season long, this downward trend is troubling. Thirdly, Jordan accidentally sent in the wrong number, his fingers moving too quickly to catch the error. Rookie mistake at this point in the game!

An even rookier mistake came from Chelsea, just when Kobara needed her to step up. Not only did Chelsea make a mistake in her original response (Z isn’t the same in a mirror!), but she followed that up with a 2nd message which all season long has meant a disqualification. When you couple these failures with Sharon’s sole victory (great job Sharon!), you’ll find that Kobara simply had a brutal challenge at the worst time.

Now they would need to vote someone out about 3 weeks after they last voted out Elliott. Graham joining Kobara definitely helped Jordan, Cowin and Chelsea – a group that could easily form a 4-player majority. Sharon was a wildcard, but it was most likely that she’d side with her close friend Chelsea – eager to have a close ally heading into the possible merge. That left Kyle, the player who chose Kobara with his Reward Challenge win, as the odd man out.

The Elliott vote had been a contentious one, and before that Jonathan had made an impassioned case against Kyle, his brother Chris, and the “bastards” alliance they were assumed to be part of. Kobara’s string of victories put a pause on that drama, but it was likely to be completely back up to speed today. Add in the fact that there were idols and advantages out there in the game, and nobody was sure who had them, and we have all the ingredients for an excellent – and potentially surprising – vote.

Let’s get to it…

And now I’ll reveal the votes. But before I can do that, I need to tell you if a player decided to use a Hidden Immunity Idol or other advantage today…

…

…

…

Kyle stood up to say that yes he was playing a Hidden Immunity Idol today…

So any votes cast against Kyle will not count. Let’s read the votes!

First Vote:

Does not count!

Second Vote:

Does not count!

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Third Vote:

.

Fourth Vote:

.

Fifth Vote:

That’s 2 votes for Cowin, 1 vote for Sharon, and 1 vote left. 

.

Sixth Vote:

So we’re tied. 2 votes for Cowin, 2 votes for Sharon, and we need a re-vote. 

Cowin and Sharon will not vote. The remaining 4 players (Chelsea, Graham, Jordan, Kyle) will now vote again, and they can ONLY vote for Cowin or Sharon.

After a moment, we are ready to continue. If the vote remains tied after the re-vote, then one of Chelsea, Graham, or Jordan will be leaving us instead. Let’s go!

First Re-Vote:

.

Second Re-Vote:

.

Third Re-Vote:

That’s 2 votes Cowin, 1 vote Sharon, and 1 vote left

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Fourth Re-Vote:

By a re-vote of 3-1, Cowin is the 16th player voted out of Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New.

Well that certainly sucks for Cowin, who goes into every Tribal Council expecting he may go home, but indicated that he felt really betrayed by his alliance this time around. Cowin is one of those players that puts 100% into the game, and that often places a target on a player’s back. The way to combat the target is to get a majority of players to trust you and your game, and ultimately it seems that other players had more trust than he did. Cowin, as always it’s been a pleasure to have you in Survivor Hamilton, and there’s always next time!

For the remaining 14 players in the game. Your next tribal Immunity Challenge will be coming on Thursday. Here’s the PLAYED! with Meg & Mike episode for the Cowin vote.

MH

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