'Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty' eliminates Trish Hegarty, determines Final 4

Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty's post-merge Solarrion tribe voted out Trish Hegarty during Wednesday night's penultimate broadcast of the CBS reality series' 28th edition.


Trish, a 48-year-old pilates instructor from Needham, MA, was voted out of her Solarrion tribe at the season's thirteenth Tribal Council session, which marked the seventh time Solarrion had attended Tribal together.

"You know, I might be too nice to play this game although from [Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen]'s perspective, maybe I'm mean and hatred, but it's very stressful to feel like you have to backstab, and I'm very fortunate for what I have. I'm really looking forward to getting back to it. Peanut M&Ms anyone!? I am so freaking hungry," Trish said following her ouster.

Survivor's penultimate broadcast began on Night 33, with Spencer Bledsoe, a 21-year-old student from Chicago, IL, calling Kass, a 41-year-old attorney from Tehachapi, CA, and Yung "Woo" Hwang, a 29-year-old martial arts instructor from Newport Beach, CA, out for promising him a Final 3 deal they reneged on.

Woo shyly told Spencer he had already been in a Final 3 alliance when Spencer approached him with the proposal. Spencer said he wished they had just been straight up with him rather than putting on a little charade.


Kass then admitted to cameras she'd like to take Tony Vlachos, a 39-year-old police officer from Jersey City, NJ, to the end because he was a jerk and had pissed everyone off at some point in the game. She realized Tony had burned many bridges and was obnoxious enough not to receive any jury votes in the end. 

"I'm playing against Tony, who has played all these people like a fiddle, and three foolish players who don't think for themselves. And I'm almost definitely next to go, but if I have any hope in the game, it's the fact that I'm playing with people who understand it so little," Spencer said in a confessional.

On Day 34, Tony and Woo decided Kass would be perfect in their Final 3 because she wouldn't get any votes for rubbing people the wrong way and betraying Spencer's former Brains alliance.

Woo was certain he wanted to take Tony to the end -- for similar reasons Kass came up with -- so he tried to prove his loyalty to Tony by revealing the plan he had made with Kass and Spencer prior to the last Tribal Council. The plan had been to blindside either Tony or Trish depending on how the hidden Immunity Idols played out.

However, Tony was thinking that Woo had been genuine the entire game and was likeable, so he may be a big threat to take to the end. Therefore, Tony started planning another blindside to oust Woo, telling the cameras that keeping him would be stupid.


All of Solarrion's castaways then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

Each player was required to dive into a pit of mud, cover his or her entire body in it, and then race back to the start and scrape all the mud off into bucket. They weren't allowed to carry mud in any way, and the person to fill up his or her bucket the most at the end of 10 minutes would win. 

Tony ended up winning Reward and learned a pizza would be delivered to him at camp. He then got to choose one person to eat pizza with, and he selected Trish because she was apparently wasting away out there.

Back at camp, Kass noted Trish and Tony were clearly attached at the hip, and she didn't like anyone having that much power.

While Tony and Trish were eating, they agreed they needed to vote out Spencer next. Tony admitted to Trish he was carrying a regular idol and the special idol. He lied by saying the power of the special idol is that he gets to play it at Tribal when only four people remain.


However, the Final 5 Tribal truly was the last time he could play any type of idol. Tony believed telling the castaways such a lie would put less of a target on his back at the Final 4.   

"If they do believe my bluff, I'm guaranteed Final 3," Tony told the cameras.

On Day 36, Tony told Kass he wanted to go to the end with her and Trish. Tony explained to her that Woo had ratted her out about how they had been conspiring with Spencer to potentially get himself out or Trish. Tony basically brought it up in secrecy to forgive her and mend things between them. Kass was pissed Woo had gone behind her back and revealed everything.

"It was stupid of Woo to tell [Tony], but it was stupid of Tony to tell me," Kass said in a confessional.  

Kass then confronted Woo about ratting her out and he denied it. Tony didn't know why Kass was investigating the situation because he had told her that in private. Tony was so frustrated and annoyed that Kass couldn't keep quiet. 


Tony called Kass "an insult to the game," yet Kass argued she had talked to Woo as a strategy. Kass told Woo that he needed to know how Tony planned to turn on him and betray him.

Self-described "Chaos Kass," still intending to take Tony to the end, just wanted to further ruin Tony's game by turning everybody against him. Kass explained to Woo that Tony had sworn on his wife and baby girl to take her to the end. Tony never did that for Woo, so that made Woo paranoid, especially since he knew he didn't have a bad reputation with the jury. Therefore, Woo no longer really trusted Tony.

Trish then overheard Kass calling her "a goat," saying that was the only reason Tony was so intent on taking her to the end. Spencer acknowledged there were cracks he could work with but he was still target No. 1 and needed to win Individual Immunity.

All five castaways then met Jeff again for the Individual Immunity Challenge.

For the challenge, each player had to race to untangle a braided rope, releasing a key. They must then use that key to unlock ladder rungs to build a ladder. Afterward, they had to use planks to build a staircase, climb to the top of the stairs, and then complete a Survivor puzzle.


Tony had a commanding lead on everyone, but Spencer finished his puzzle so quickly, he ended up beating Tony. As a result, Spencer gained a one in four shot of winning the game, which was Tony's worst scenario.

Since Spencer won immunity, which he referred to as "nirvana," Tony's alliance had to turn on one another. Trish then confronted Kass about how she had been gunning to get her out. Trish was angry that Kass tried to play both sides and then acted as the victim. Calling Kass an "agitator," Trish told her that she had no shot of winning the game despite Kass' cockiness around camp.

Trish noted everyone saw Kass for who she was -- "a viscous and cruel human being" -- except for her and it was "tragic."

Kass simply said Trish needed to get over it because throwing people under the bus is what the game of Survivor is all about.

Afterward, Woo, Tony and Trish promised one another Final 3. Tony said although he had sworn on his family about taking Kass to the end, he was done with her. The threesome agreed to get rid of Kass at the next vote. Tony then swore on his mom and dead father, wife and kid he'd go through with that move. Woo, however, still didn't trust Tony fully and felt the cop would save Trish before him.

Woo then devised a plan to make a big move and get Tony out. He approached Kass and told her that he had decided to vote out Trish.


Kass was skeptical of Woo's proposal because he had failed to follow through with plans before, but they got Spencer onboard anyway. Spencer told Woo that if they wanted any shot at winning the game, they had to get Tony out at Final 4 and they couldn't do that without getting rid of Trish.

Woo then flipped, making a pact with Kass and Spencer that they would be the Final 3 together. Spencer and Woo shook hands on it.

"I haven't made up my mind at this point. I'm still trying to figure out what option is going to be the best for me, so I got to make a huge decision and time is ticking," Woo said in a confessional.

Tony saw the three people talking, so he pulled Woo aside to make sure they were still good. Tony reminded Woo it would be an injustice to take Kass to the end, and once again, Tony reiterated how he would take Woo to the end 100%.

On Night 36, the castaways arrived for Tribal Council and faced the jury members.

Woo announced the five of them had become three original Brawn versus two original Brains. Kass reminded everyone that Tony had been caught promising two different Final 3 alliances. Tony then revealed the vote was not emotional but rather gameplay. He also took out both of his idols to intimidate everyone, telling everyone he had found the special idol but didn't want to disclose its powers just yet.


Spencer told Jeff he would've liked to vote out the biggest threat in the game, Tony, but the idols complicated things.

Before Jeff revealed the votes, Tony played his hidden immunity idol -- the regular one.

When Jeff revealed the votes, one vote was shown for Kass and three votes were shown for Trish, ousting her from the game. While the last vote wasn't shown to the castaways, Tony and Woo had both sided with Spencer and Kass to vote Trish out. Trish wished everyone good luck on her way out, and Kass repaid her by flipping the middle finger.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski