LOYALTIES AND STRONG ALLIANCES ARE QUESTIONED WHEN THE FINAL FOUR FACE THE FACT THAT ONLY ONE WILL BE AWARDED THE MILLION DOLLAR PRIZE AND THE TITLE OF SOLE SURVIVOR, ON A SPECIAL TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE, FOLLOWED BY A ONE-HOUR LIVE REUNION SHOW OF “SURVIVOR TOCANTINS — THE BRAZILIAN HIGHLANDS,” SUNDAY, MAY 17

“I Trust You But I Trust Me More” – After one shocking vote, a seed of doubt is planted by a carefully constructed lie that, after the second vote, leaves the final two turning on each other at the final Tribal Council, on a special two-hour season finale followed by a one-hour live reunion show of SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS – THE BRAZILIAN HIGHLANDS, Sunday, May 17 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

On the last episode Coach was shocked by the turn of events at the last Tribal Council, especially after he was told that Debbie voted for him. Coach told J.T. and Stephen that he did not want to go to Exile Island because of his asthma and other alleged ailments, but J.T. and Stephen believed that Coach was scared to go to Exile Island and looked forward to sending him there.

Reward Challenge was with their feet shackled together, the castaways would have to race through a maze and then build a long wooden pole by tying together short wooden sticks. The pole would be used to hook a sandbag which they castaways would swing to knock over three targets. When all three targets are knocked over, a flag would be raised and the castaway would win. The reward was an overnight trip to the Governor’s Retreat where the castaway would have a bed to sleep in, take a shower, and have a eat a traditional Brazilian churrasco.

The Reward Challenge was won by J.T. by a wide margin. He selected Stephen to go with him on the trip, and Coach to go to Exile Island. After he was selected to go to Exile Island, Coach, ignoring his prior pleading with J.T. and Stephen to be spared, said that he welcomed the opportunity to test himself and would take the “monastic approach” on Exile by spending the time solely meditating without food or water. This did not sit well with Erinn, who suspected that Coach was seeking an excuse for his inability to light a fire and prepare his meals. She called him out for trying to take the “martyr approach” and use his time at Exile Island as an excuse for not winning the next Immunity Challenge.

While Stephen and J.T. enjoyed their reward, Erinn admitted to Taj that she felt a little guilty about what she said to Coach after the Reward Challenge, and was worried that what she said could cause J.T. and Stephen to vote her out before Coach. Taj reassured her that this was not the case, that their alliance was still strong. Coach did exactly what he said he would do on Exile Island (except that contrary to his claim, he drank water during his “exile”) and was apparently mentally refocused on the game, although he returned walking slowly and using a cane (which Taj and Erinn suspected was not for medical reasons but because Coach was grandstanding and seeking sympathy).

While on their reward, J.T. and Stephen bathed for the first time in weeks and talked about voting Erinn out before Coach because of what she said to Coach.

Immunity Challenge was the castaways would brace themselves with their arms between two walls while standing barefoot an two foot pegs. Every 15 minutes, the castaways would move down to smaller foot pegs. When the castaways reached the third set of foot pegs, they would try to remain on them as long as they could. The last castaway to remain on their pegs would win.

The Immunity Challenge was won by J.T. when he outlasted Coach, who collapsed from the challenge due, allegedly, to back spasms. Coach declined having the Survivor Medical Team look at him as he said he feared that he would be pulled from the game for medical reasons. Erinn and Taj were suspicious that Coach was playing up the sympathy card and that he did not want a medical exam because he knew that it would reveal that he was unharmed, particularly since he was observed walking normally back at camp. J.T. and Stephen told Coach that their alliance was good and that Erinn was going to be voted out, but Stephen was not sure who he would vote for.

At Tribal Council, the confrontation between Coach and Erinn at the Reward Challenge was discussed again. Just before the vote, Coach recited a poem, much to the jury members’ amusement. Stephen cast the deciding vote against Coach and he was voted out 3-2. J.T. thus benefits from the elimination of Coach (via his partner Stephen’s vote, which he did not oppose) while at the same time not going back on his personal promise to Coach not to vote for his elimination.

Voted out: CAROLINA EASTWOOD (1st Voted Out), CANDACE SMITH (2nd Voted Out), JERRY SIMS (3rd Voted Out), SANDY BURGIN (4th Voted Out), SPENCER DUHM (5th Voted Out), SYDNEY (6th Voted Out) JOE DOWDLE (7th Out, Removed Due to Injury), BRENDAN SYNNOTT (8th Voted Out), TYSON APOSTOL (9th Voted Out), SIERRA REED (10th Voted Out), DEBRA “Debbie” BEEBE (11th Voted Out), BENJAMIN “Coach” WADE (12th voted out)

Remaining:

JALAPAO TRIBE

STEPHEN FISHBACH, TAJ JOHNSON-GEORGE, JAMES “JT” THOMAS JR.

TIMBIRA TRIBE

ERINN LOBDELL

SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS – THE BRAZILIAN HIGHLANDS is hosted by Emmy Award-winning host Jeff Probst and produced by SEG, Inc. Mark Burnett is executive producer and David Burris and Leisa Francis are co-executive producers.

Source: CBS Press Release