Mmm... Let's Make S'mores

This is the finale of Survivor: Gilbert Islands.

Previously On Survivor...
Sixteen Americans from all walks of life came together for the adventure of a lifetime. Split into two tribes, Abaiang and Makin, they were quickly forced to learn how to work together. (A flashback to Harrison fighting with Jordan is shown, followed by a scene of Alexa and Terri going at it) Early on, the red Abaiang tribe suffered due to poor challenge performances (Katherine is shown falling in the first immunity challenge) and poor leadership. (Harrison is shown yelling at Troy and getting easily pissed off trying to get the shelter built) They lost the first two immunity challenges, and booted their two weakest members (Katherine and Jordan are shown with their torches getting snuffed), hoping that Jordan's departure would make Harrison, the tribe's figurehead, less abrasive.

Makin, meanwhile, was much stronger physically, but that quickly came at the price of dysfunction, as none of their loyalties were tested via Tribal Council for the first week of the game. Chad, Erica, and Vincent quickly realized they were in the minority, and did what they could to cause the majority alliance to collapse in on itself. They couldn't do so fast enough to avoid losing a member, however, and Vincent was swiftly eliminated. Despite this, tensions were brewing between Alexa and Terri, and after Abaiang lost immunity and got rid of Harrison for his near bullying of his tribemates, Terri began to target Alexa hardcore. This came after Alexa's ally, Lauren, threw her under the bus to cause chaos on the tribe, a move she quickly learned to regret. Lauren and Terri teamed up, along with Chad, to overthrow the tribe's current power alliance of Alexa and Jerome. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't get the numbers to pull off the blindside, and Lauren was eliminated, followed immediately by Terri.

After Harrison left Abaiang, there were two clear alliances: Adam & Rebecca, and Dottie & Kent, leaving Troy in the middle. He felt personally closer to Adam and Rebecca, having been aligned with them from the beginning, but he thought he could last longer in the game if he aligned himself with Dottie and Kent instead. He struggled to commit to an alliance, however, and this was seen as him playing both sides, causing most of the tribe to lose trust in him going into the merge.

Once the tribes merged 5 to 5, the Makin tribe thought they'd have to try desperately to get somebody to flip. Luckily for them, not long into the merge, Dottie and Kent both decided that they wanted to flip to get rid of Troy, who they saw as a huge liability for playing both sides on their tribe before the merge. Troy and his best friend Adam caught on to the plan, however, and to save himself, Troy allowed Rebecca to create a convoluted split-vote plan where she would vote for Troy, but the Makin alliance would vote for Adam and eliminate him from the game. With the help of Alexa and Jerome, who felt on the outs of their tribe's alliance, the plan was a success and Troy was saved, leaving Dottie and Kent in the minority.

Although Troy's true loyalties lied with Alexa, Jerome, and Rebecca, he disguised this the best he could by joining the core Makin alliance with Chad, Erica, and Luis. Quickly, however, he learned from Erica that the alliance was a lot more dysfunctional that it seemed at first glance. Through aligning with them, however, Troy grew very close to Erica and Luis, and a new trio was formed. Erica's annoyance with Chad only grew as time went on, and Dottie and Kent caught on to this and tried to convince her to blindside him at the next Tribal Council. When Troy learned of the plan, he advocated hard for Alexa and Jerome to follow through with it, which caused Jerome to get suspicious of where Troy's true loyalties lie. In the end, Dottie went home as planned and became the first member of the jury.

The pecking order was completely shaken up after Troy revealed to Kent that Alexa, Jerome, and Rebecca are secretly aligned, which caused chaos throughout the tribe. Erica, Luis, and Troy himself, as the new trio, decided to make a move against this secret alliance, and that alliance, feeling betrayed, targeted Troy for being untrustworthy. Chad and Kent were left in the middle, and after a lot of back-and-forth and disagreements on where to go between the two men, they voted Rebecca, one of Alexa's closest friends, out of the game. Chad, however, wanted to flip to Alexa and Jerome's alliance, a desire that only increased as he and Alexa became closer and closer friends. Jerome did whatever he could to split the majority alliance in two, and although he somewhat succeeded in causing tension, the alliance stayed loyal and voted Chad out for being shady and wanting to flip to the other alliance, leaving Alexa and Jerome still on the bottom.

During this time, Erica and Kent formed a new alliance, and quickly became close. Erica's previous closest ally was Luis, but she began to see him as a threat and wondered if he should go home soon. More pressing in her mind, however, was the threat posed by Troy, who they felt they couldn't rely on for the end-game. They planned at length with Alexa and Jerome to make the move against Troy, but their plans were forced to change when Troy won immunity the next day. Despite debating if they should just split Alexa and Jerome up once and for all, Erica and Kent decided to go with the next best thing to eliminating Troy himself: eliminating his closest ally and huge end-game threat Luis, the perceived leader of the majority alliance. The next round, Alexa and Jerome did whatever they could to split the majority up yet again, specifically trying to get Troy on their side. They thought they'd struck gold when Erica and Kent got at each other's throats and disagreed on the target, giving Alexa and Jerome an opening to potentially get rid of one of them with Troy's vote. Unfortunately for them, Troy did not see the merit in flipping on his alliance again, and Alexa and Jerome were forced to turn on each other. Kent took Jerome's side and formed a final three deal with him and Troy, which scared Troy significantly. Despite feeling a stronger personal connection to Jerome, Troy made the strategic move of eliminating Jerome from the game over Alexa, leaving Kent shocked and humiliated due to his vote for Alexa.

After a dynamic and unpredictable game, only four castaways remain. Alexa, the young model from Miami, FL. She started her game relatively quiet and bonded with Jerome and Lauren, but she was quickly targeted by Lauren and Terri for being untrustworthy. Despite this, she outlasted both women and made it to the merge, where despite falling into the bottom, she's managed to survive until the final four primarily on her social bonds. Does she have what it takes to survive two more rounds and make it to the Final Tribal Council?"abaikin"

- I've been on the bottom of this tribe for a super long time, but despite that, I'm still here at the final four of this game. I've overcome a lot of adversity in this game, from being targeted multiple times on my old tribe to being betrayed and backstabbed in the merge. I know that the other three think they can get rid of me soon, but people have thought that before and been wrong. I know I have what it takes to outlast the competition, no matter how hard that may be. Erica, the telemarketer from Indianapolis, IN, had a rough start, annoying several of her tribemates and finding herself in the minority very early on. However, she was able to use her position as a swing on the tribe to her advantage, aligning herself closely with Jerome and, most importantly, Luis. She used her sometimes-grating personality to her advantage, not being seen as a threat compared to her allies and not receiving a single vote in the post-merge. However, her poor social game may make it hard for her to receive jury votes, and her usually poor challenge performances may keep her from reaching the end entirely. Can Erica overcome the odds and win the game?"abaikin"

- Based on the way I started this game, I never thought I'd make it this far, but here I am! I've surprised myself a lot out here, both in how much s*** I can take and how far I can go in a game like this. The finish line is in sight, and I'm so excited to see how the rest of the game plays out, even if it's somebody else getting the million dollar prize. (giggles) I want it to be me, though. Kent, the dentist from Seattle, WA, had a quieter start to his game than the other members of the final four, mostly getting along well with his tribemates instead of doing much strategy. Due to the early slaughter of the Abaiang tribe at the merge, Kent lost most of his original alliances and was saved only by the emergence of more immediate threats. He took this chance to ingrain himself successfully into the majority alliance, and through a strong alliance with Erica, has made it all the way to the final four. Will Kent's social gameplay get him the win, or will his paranoia get the best of him?"abaikin"

- It's the final four now, and in my mind, it's game on. There are only two votes left, and to make it to the end, I'm going to take my social and strategic game up to 11 to convince everybody else that I'm the best person to take to the end. I can't let my paranoia get the best of me this close to the finish line. I need to finish this game strong and with a level head. And Troy, the college student from Birmingham, AL. Initially starting off the game with a very strong social game, Troy got on everybody's good side on his tribe and helped vote off those he didn't get along with as well. His game came crashing down, however, when he found himself between two alliances and struggled to choose one over the other, which lost him a lot of trust and caused him to be an early target in the merge. To make it this far, he's made a lot of controversial moves and betrayed a lot of people, but he's recently been trying his best to be a loyal and ethical player. Can Troy shed his reputation as untrustworthy and get respect from the jury, or will his shady gameplay in rounds past get him booted before the final two?"abaikin"

- Survivor is a really hard game, and I felt in over my head at times. Still, despite being the youngest person here, I was able to beat some of the big boys and make it this far, and with an alliance to support me. I've made moves in the past that some people didn't like, but I'm hoping my more loyal approach in the past few rounds will get me respect from the jurors. Either way, everything depends on how I play these last few rounds, as every single vote from now until the end is make or break. Which one of these finalists will outwit, outplay, and outlast all the others and claim the million dollar check? Find out tonight, on a special two-hour finale of Survivor!

Challenges
Immunity Challenge (Day 37): Station by Station Moving along a communal rope to six stations, the contestants must count the number of a specific item (shells, rocks, poles, fish, coconuts, and hermit crabs), return to their solving station at the start, and find the appropriate tile before continuing. Once they've got all six numbers, they must open three separate combination locks with them. If there are any mistakes, they must go back and correct any or all of them. The first castaway to open all three locks and raise their flag wins.

Immunity Challenge (Day 38): Hands on a Hard Idol The final three must hold on to the Immunity Idol while standing on a small log. The person who holds on the longest wins immunity.