'Survivor: Kaoh Rong's Dara tribe votes off former Brains castaway Debbie Wanner

Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty's merged Dara tribe voted Debbie Wanner out during Wednesday night's broadcast on CBS.


Debbie, a 49-year-old chemist from Reading, PA, was blindsided and voted out of her tribe on Night 24 at the game's eighth Tribal Council session once the girls decided to betray her.

Debbie, a former Brains tribe member, became the eighth person voted out of the tribe although 10 castaways have left the game overall -- two of them due to medical evacuations.

"The big surprise to me here was that the girls chose to get rid of a girl," Debbie said following her ouster. "It just boggles my mind and it's only going to make it more difficult for them to now defeat [Scot Pollard], [Kyle Jason] and [Tai Trang]. And it totally stinks that those three wankers made it further than me, but they played a better game."

The Survivor broadcast began on Night 22 with Scot saying the girls had banded together to pull off a good blindside and the former Brawn alliance was done. Scot pointed out it was everyone against himself, Jason and Tai, however, they had two hidden Immunity Idols between them, which could be combined to make a powerful Super Idol.


Although Tai had voted for Jason at the prior Tribal Council, he lied and insisted to his alliance he had voted for Debbie. The three guys then discussed weakening the girls so one of the would crack. They ended up hiding the machete and ax so the girls couldn't eat and fend for themselves. While Scot and Jason enjoyed messing with their minds, Tai felt bad because that's now the way he approaches life.  

On Day 23, the girls and Joe realized Scot's alliance was up to no good because survival items were missing. Debbie said it was uncomfortable to be around them and they certainly weren't being gentlemen or good sports about Nick Maiorano's vote off. Joe guessed it was sabotage, and Julia noted the girls' alliance just needed to be smart and figure out other ways of doing things.

When the girls successfully used a saw to crack open a coconut, Scot got angry and poured water over their fire. Joe called it "a cheap shot" and said Brawn's true colors were coming out. Michele wasn't tolerant of that behavior at all, and she said the girls had no intention of backing down in this power struggle. Instead, they just started another fire.

The Dara tribe then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

The castaways were divided into two teams of four people, and each team was attached to one long rope. They had to work together to unbraid the rope, and once unspooled, unclip themselves from the rope and then race to a pile of sandbags. The players then had to throw one sandbag at a time in attempt to knock blocks completely off of a ledge. The first tribe to clear their ledge of blocks would win Reward in the form of Chinese takeout back at camp.


Jeff explained one player had to sit out of the challenge, but if she or he guessed the winning tribe ahead of time, that person could also enjoy the Reward food. Joe immediately volunteered himself to sit out.

Instead of a schoolyard pick, Jeff allowed the tribe to split themselves into two teams right on the spot. Jason, Scot and Tai were obviously a group and asked if anyone would join them to make the numbers even. Julia opted to join the guys' team, and Cydney pointed out that Julia was way too quick to work with them and the move was suspicious.

Similarly, Aubry figured Julia was trying to get a better position for herself in the game and play both sides. Neither she or Cydney trusted Julia.

Joe guessed the girls would win the Reward Challenge, but he was wrong.

Back at camp, while Jason, Scott, Tai and Julia enjoyed their Chinese food, the guys worked hard to secure Julia's vote with them. Julia assured the guys it was her plan to work with them because if she ousted one of them, she'd be at the bottom of the Cydney, Joe, Aubry, Debbie and Michele alliance.


Julia later told the cameras that taking Scot or Jason to the end would be extremely smart since no one liked them and would vote for them.

Meanwhile, Joe mentioned to the losing five Brawn had probably lured Julia into the dark side. Debbie disagreed, telling the cameras she wasn't concerned at all about Julia flipping. Julia insisted to Debbie's alliance there was no way she'd work with Brawn, and then the BU student asked whom they were going to vote for.

Debbie said they should target Scot, but Cydney wasn't fooled by Julia. Cydney thought it was odd she returned from Reward and immediately wanted to find out what their next move was. Aubry was on the same page and spoke to Cydney about voting Julia out because she was logical, socially smart, and back and forth in the game. Aubry didn't want Julia to ride in the middle straight to the end.

On Night 23, Tai, a compassionate guy, admitted he was upset when Scot poured water over the fire. However, Tai acknowledged it was war between the alliances and his "evil side" came out. Tai poured water over the fire in the middle of the night, and Joe woke up the next morning knowing it was sabotage again.

Aubry immediately pointed the finger at Scot and Jason, telling the cameras she thought they were purposely trying to paint targets on their backs because they probably had hidden Immunity Idols. If that was the case, Aubry noted Julia had to be the next target without a doubt.


Aubry told Debbie about how Scot and Jason were probably just looking for a reaction and they might have a chance to flush all the idols in the game out by voting for Julia. Debbie disagreed, going with her emotions, and said one of the two Brawns needed to go first. Debbie refused to vote for Julia, and Aubry was frustrated beyond belief.

On Day 24, the Dara tribe met Jeff again for an Individual Immunity Challenge.

Each castaway was required to stack a series of blocks on a beam while attempting to avoid trick obstacles that could cause the blocks to come crashing down. If that happened, the player must restack his or her long row of blocks. The winner of the challenge would have a domino-like effect happen with the stacked blocks, ultimately reaching a gong.

Much to Aubry's dismay, Julia won immunity.

Back at camp, Debbie told her entire alliance -- including Julia -- they should split the vote between Tai and Scot because Jason would expect it to be him. Debbie insisted there was no way all three of the guys had an idol. Debbie then said if the vote came down to 3-3-3, they'd revote for Scott. Aubry was scared about Julia hearing the plan.


And she was right to be. Julia ran off and told Scot, Jason and Tai the female alliance's plan. Scot therefore decided they needed to vote for Cydney and the vote would be 4-3-2. But if Julia stuck with the girls, the guys would be forced to play their idols since they had no other option.

Cydney then discussed with Aubry how Debbie shouldn't have revealed their plan in front of Julia. Aubry explained Debbie was ignoring all logic, and so she questioned whether the real target should be Debbie. Aubry felt bad about the suggestion but Debbie wasn't cooperating, and Cydney was fully onboard with the idea. Cydney had Michele with her, so they just needed to work on Joe and Julia.

Joe absolutely declined voting for his loyal ally Debbie, saying he wanted to keep their force strong. Julia was the girls' last hope unfortunately, and Julia promised to Cydney, Aubry and Michele's faces she'd vote Debbie. Aubry hated relying on the girl she wanted to take out to begin with.

As a result, Julia had the power to send Cydney or Debbie home. Julia did see Debbie as a threat, so she had a big decision to make.

At Tribal Council that night, Michele announced that Julia was about to show her loyalty and allegiance to one side.

After Tai admitted to Jeff idols were going to come into play, both Scot and Jason whipped their idols out. Jason revealed both himself and Tai had idols, and they'd play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine their fate in the game. Jason and Scot opted not to explain the Super Idol twist, which would allow them to save a person after the votes had been read.


The rest of the tribe basically thought one of the three guys would be in jeopardy of elimination since there were two idols to play -- but the girls and Joe didn't know which person it was going to be.

Joe looked and Debbie and asked, "Same vote, right?" And Debbie nodded her head. There were a lot of whispers.

Before Jeff read the votes, the host asked if anyone wanted to play a hidden Immunity Idol. Jason decided to hand his idol to Tai, who already had another one to play. Tai decided not to play either idol. It was clear the guys had every intention of playing the Super Idol if necessary.

Jeff then read the votes in the following order: Scot, Cydney, Scot, Cydney, Cydney, Debbie, Debbie, Debbie, and Debbie.

The episode's closing credits showed that Michele, Cydney, Aubry, and Julia for Debbie; Joe and Debbie voted for Scot; and Scot, Jason and Tai voted for Cydney.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski