Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty castaway Darnell Hamilton was voted off his To Tang tribe during Wednesday night's premiere broadcast on CBS.

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Darnell, a 27-year-old postal worker from Chicago, IL, became the first castaway voted out of Season 32 on Night 3 at the game's first Tribal Council session. The Brawn tribe had to vote one of their members off because they had lost the Immunity Challenge.

"This was very hard being voted out No. 1, but I absolutely enjoyed every moment of it. I mean, it was a life lesson to me. What I learned was just to fight hard. They can vote for you, they can do whatever they want, but I'm not letting nobody bring me down. I encourage anybody who has any dreams or any goals to go out there and do it. Don't let anybody hold you back. I went out No. 1 but I went out there and played hard, and I'm satisfied with that," Darnell said following his ouster.

The Survivor broadcast began with host Jeff Probst explaining Kaoh Rong in Southeast Asia has scorching temperatures and high humidity that could cause dehydration and heat stroke. Jeff said the smallest cut could lead to an infection, and it was sure to be the most grueling 39 days ever played in Survivor history.

The three tribes were already divided by the qualities the castaways most rely on in their daily lives.

In addition to Darnell, the To Tang tribe (Brawn) featured Cydney Gillon, a 23-year-old body builder from Douglasville, GA; Alecia Holden, a 24-year-old real estate agent from Dallas, TX; Kyle Jason, a 31-year-old bounty hunter from Detroit, MI; Jennifer Lanzetti, a 38-year-old contractor from Salt Lake City, UT; and Scot Pollard, a 40-year-old former NBA champion from Carmel, IN.

The "Chan Loh" Tribe (Brains) was comprised of Peter Baggenstos, a 34-year-old ER doctor from Minneapolis, MN; Aubry Bracco, a 29-year-old social media marketer from Cambridge, MA; Joseph "Joe" Del Campo, a 72-year-old former FBI agent from Vero Beach, FL; Neal Gottlieb, a 37-year-old ice cream entrepreneur from Sausalito, CA; Elisabeth "Liz" Markham, a 27-year-old quantitative strategist from Brooklyn, NY; and Debbie Wanner, a 49-year-old chemist from Reading, PA.

The "Gondol" Tribe (Beauty) was made up of Michele Fitzgerald, a 24-year-old bartender from Freehold, NJ; Anna Khait, a 26-year-old pro poker player from Brooklyn, NY; Nick Maiorano, a 30-year-old personal trainer from Redondo Beach, CA; Caleb Reynolds, a 28-year-old Army veteran and former Big Brother contestant from Hopkinsville, KY; Julia Sokolowski, a 19-year-old college student from Boston, MA; and Tai Trang, a 51-year-old gardener from San Francisco, CA.

When all three tribes were out on a big boat in the ocean, Jeff gave everyone two minutes to salvage whatever they could off the main boat -- including chickens, fish traps, pots, etc. Caleb jumped into the ocean for a loose chicken and the scene was chaotic. Tai, a lover of all things in nature, tried to protect all the chickens on the boat.

Afterward, each tribe paddled to their camp, got unpacked, and started to discuss their jobs and who they were.

At Brawn's camp on Day 1, Jason told the cameras people are usually intimidated by him because he looks like a badass and spent six years in the Army, however, he had two daughters at home -- one with autism -- and he knew how to get girly with the best of them.

On the opposite side of the coin, Alecia said her tribe would probably consider her "Malibu Barbie," but she was a lot tougher and more daring and adventurous that they assumed.

Over at Brains' camp, Liz felt right at home on the Brains tribe because they had a different way of solving problems and she saw that as an advantage. Meanwhile, everyone thought Peter looked like President Obama and he joked that a lot of people call him that in his daily life.

Debbie then bragged about her experience building fire without flint and her expert skills at putting together a shelter. Neil wondered what his tribemates thought of him since he runs an ice cream business.

As for the Beauty tribe, the girls thought Caleb was strong and Nick was "tall and dreamy." Michele believed she could read people well since she's a bartender back home, and Caleb wondered why Tai was on the Beauty tribe because he appeared old, frail and even had bushy eyebrows.

Tai thought he had a big advantage in the game because adventure excited him and he once went 11 days without food while sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean. He also explained his love of nature extends to even the trees, as he compared cutting off a branch to someone cutting off a human's arm.

Back at Brawn, Jason was already badly sunburned but had every intention of sticking it out. He had zero faith, however, in "Blondie" -- who was Alecia -- because she didn't do anything to help with the shelter. He automatically viewed her as the person on the bottom of the tribe. Darnell and Cydney also bonded and formed an easy alliance.

Meanwhile, the chickens escaped at Beauty's camp but they saved a couple of them. Tai was also teaching his tribemates how to do valuable things, and Anna appreciated how sweet and knowledgeable Tai was. Although the girls had an all-female alliance going, Anna thought it would be smart to include Tai. The girls also figured Caleb was loyal because he certainly was on his season of Big Brother.

Caleb was looking forward to showing a different side of himself this season. He was in the military right out of high school and served as a prison guard in Baghdad. Caleb guessed he'd be a challenge beast because he lives on a farm back home and is definitely an outdoorsy guy. He believed he was mentally stronger than anyone else in the game. 

Over at the Brains camp on Day 2, Joe, even at age 71, thought he'd do great in the game because, as a former FBI agent, he was intuitive and had no doubt he'd make it through the gauntlet.

Joe and Debbie were definitely the workhorses around camp. They were more concerned with staying alive than strategy in these first couple of days. They wanted camp to be comfortable -- at least for themselves. Liz complained about how much Debbie talked and how highly she spoke of herself all the time.

Meanwhile, Neal stirred up "a four children" alliance, excluding their elders Joe and Debbie whom Peter called "the low-hanging fruit."

At Beauty's camp on Day 2, Tai went off looking for an idol and eventually got caught.

Anna felt comfortable with him at first but lost all trust in him at this point. Tai knew he had made a mistake and just hoped he could bounce back from it. However, all of his tribemates questioned whether Tai had found an idol, so he had an automatic target on his back. The other five castaways therefore made an alliance together.

Around this same time, Aubry on the Brains tribe was already feeling the effects of the harsh elements. The heat was getting to her and she felt wobbly and disoriented working in the sun. Debbie assumed Aubry was dehydrated and had heat exhaustion. It turned out, however, Aubry basically had an anxiety attack and she was too caught up in her own mind.

Over at Brawn, Jennifer revealed a bug had crawled inside her ear. Instead of crawling out, it dug deeper insider into her ear canal and caused bleeding and immense pain. Jennifer worried about permanent damage and couldn't sleep. The tribe worried they'd be a man down going into the first challenge. But after a while, Scot managed to pick the bug out of Jennifer's ear.

On Day 3, all three tribes gathered and met Jeff for the season's first Immunity Challenge.

Jeff explained each tribe was required to swim out to a boat, dive down to retrieve a paddle, and then once they had collected all four paddles, race to shore, where they'd convert their boat into a heavy cart.

Afterward, they had to push it to the top of a platform and then make the decision of whether they'd rather assemble a puzzle or test their dexterity by stacking balls while standing on a wobbly beam. Jeff said both the puzzle and physical task averaged the same amount of time to complete.

Jeff revealed the first tribe to complete the challenge would be safe from the vote but also receive a complete fire-making kit. Included in the kit was a tarp, lighter fluid, dry wood matches, a flint and charcoal. The second-place tribe would earn flint, while the tribe to finish last would receive nothing.

Darnell opted to dive for his team but ended up losing his mask in the water, which made everything more difficult. Jason managed to collect the paddles but the Beauty tribe had already gained a significant lead, with Brawn not far behind them. All three tribes chose to attempt the puzzle.

In the end, the Brains tribe won immunity and Reward. Beauty finished in second place, and Brawn was headed off to Tribal Council.

The vote quickly came down to Darnell and Alecia because of their poor performance in the challenge. Alecia was responsible for solving the puzzle and really struggled with it. Both players knew they were good candidates to go home, so they fought for their place to stay. 

Scot argued Darnell was dead weight on their tribe and it was unacceptable, so he told Alecia she was fine. Alecia didn't think she could trust Scot, so when he asked her if she had found a hidden Immunity Idol, she didn't give him a direct answer.

Alecia's lack of cooperation made Scot frustrated and consider going after her instead. Jason also didn't approve of Alecia's "constant scheming." However, despite Cydney's argument, the tribe determined Darnell needed to go.

At Tribal Council that night, Jason told Jeff that most of the tribe met his expectations, except for "Blondie" and Darnell. Alecia definitely didn't view herself as the weakest link in the tribe, saying Darnell was the key reason they lost the challenge. Alecia even called herself "a mental giant," but Cydney slammed her by saying her act was just for show.

Darnell completely owned his mistake and felt terrible about losing the mask. Alecia also rubbed it in by insisting if she had lost the mask, she would've worked harder to find it and never would have given up. Darnell said, however, he carried more of their boat's weight than Alecia could.

Feeling a little defeated, Darnell started to cry. He was so hurt and upset about letting everybody down, and he noted that he never had it easy in life. Darnell's emotion hit Jennifer on a personal level and she whispered to Jason that she didn't want to vote him out anymore. Jason then admitted to Jeff he might've made the wrong choice.

Scot explained to everyone that Darnell and Alecia were doing what they needed to do considering their backs were against the wall. In other words, it didn't seem like Scot felt sympathy for Darnell.

After votes were cast, Jeff revealed three people had voted for Alecia and three castaways had voted to oust Darnell from Survivor: Kaoh Rong. Cydney, Darnell and Jason had voted for Alecia, while Scot, Alecia and Jennifer voted for Darnell.

Because it was a tie, everyone had to vote again except for the two players who received votes. The voters could only vote for Alecia or Darnell.

In the re-vote, Jeff announced three people had voted for Darnell. Because he didn't show any more votes, it's probably safe to say the entire tribe agreed it was Darnell's time to go. Once Darnell left the game, Jeff threw the Brawn tribe flint for fire.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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