Previously on Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New
On May 3rd, 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic, when people were forced to shut themselves in their own homes to avoid socialization at all costs, Survivor Hamilton came to the rescue. 15 Survivor Hamilton veterans returned, knowing full well how much this game would eat up the excess of free time; while 15 rookies embarked on a journey that would forever change their lives (not literally). Now, over 3 months later, those 30 fresh faces have been harshly cut down one by one, until they are represented only by a grizzled married couple, April and Graham, who will say and do anything to defeat the other.

Over this game’s 3 months, many of our players found themselves more married to Survivor Hamilton than their own spouses, so imagine how April and Graham felt? Though they are notorious for their intense card and board games, doing anything to take eachother (and their friends/family) down, those games don’t usually require such an extended personal commitment. Winning this game, after all they’ve each been through since Day 1, it intensely important to each of them – but as we know there can be only one Sole Survivor Hamilton.

So, just 2 days after April elected to send Jon to the Jury, giving Graham the spot in the Finale at her side, our final two players prepared their speeches and got themselves ready to be grilled by the Jury. Though they ended the game working together, April and Graham had remarkably different experiences in Survivor Hamilton. April had to fight early and often to survive while her allies were picked off one by one. Graham helped his tribe(s) avoid the most Tribal Councils, but he couldn’t foresee his supposed allies losing on purpose to vote out one of his closest allies before sending Graham to Exile Island immediately before the merge for the second game in a row. When Graham was voted back into the game by the folks on Exile Island, he was reconnected with April and the rest is history. But that history would need to be confidently summarized for the Jury if they had any hopes of earning the all-important Jury votes.

Check out the Jury video below (classic technical issues and all!):

 

And now, without further ado, I shall reveal the votes. With a 13-player Jury, the magic number for a win is 7 votes. Remember that April and Graham will WANT to see their names pulled as the Jury is voting for who they think should be named Sole Survivor. The Jury was instructed to take into account the entire game that April and Graham played, as well as how well they sold their journey at the final Tribal Council. Most of the Jury participated in the question period, and once they had what they needed, the Jury cast their votes – which I shall reveal right now. Here are the members of the Jury that will be casting the votes:

The player – April or Graham – that received the most votes will be crowned the winner of Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New, while the 2nd place player should still be proud of an incredibly played game.

Check out the video below for a very candid look at the Survivor Hamilton Finale party we had at my house to celebrate the season and announce the winner:

Ah, good times.

And now I’ll read the votes.

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First Vote:

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Second Vote:

We’re tied, 1-1. 

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Third Vote:

That’s 2 votes for April, and 1 vote for Graham. 

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Fourth Vote:

We’re tied again, 2 votes for April and 2 votes for Graham. 

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Fifth Vote:

That’s 3 votes for April, and 2 votes for Graham. 

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Sixth Vote:

We’re tied again, with 3 votes for April, and 3 votes for Graham. 

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Seventh Vote:

That’s 4 votes for April, and 3 votes for Graham. 

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Eighth Vote:

And we’re tied again, with 4 votes each for April and Graham. 

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Ninth Vote:

April’s back in the lead with 5 votes to Graham’s 4 votes. 

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Tenth Vote:

But we’re quickly tied again with 5 votes for April and 5 votes for Graham. 3 votes left…

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Eleventh Vote:

And April is back in the lead with 6 votes, while Graham has 5. 

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Twelfth Vote:

WE ARE TIED AGAIN. 6 votes for April. 6 votes for Graham.

One.

Vote.

Left.

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Thirteenth Vote: The winner of Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New is…

And so another season of Survivor Hamilton is in the books. Despite what looked like a lost cause in the days before the merge, Graham now follows in the footsteps of such all-star winners as Meg and Kyle, and will be able to look back at these last 3.5 months as WORTH IT. For April, who arguably played the best complete game, it was a really close call that could have gone either way. We will continue to break down what happened in the coming days/weeks as we look back on the season as a whole but I want to say a big congratulations to both Graham and April – and a huge THANK YOU to our finalists, our Jury who chose our winner, and all the other players that gave us so many exciting moments.

Thank you for devoting so much time and energy to this game. You have been such a great group to play this game with, and I’m just so appreciative of the honor to call you friends and family.

Talk soon,

MH