Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X castaways Chris Hammons and Jessica Lewis were eliminated from the game during Wednesday night's back-to-back episodes on CBS.

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Chris, a 38-year-old trial lawyer from Moore, OK, was voted out of the merged Vinaka tribe during Episode 10 on Night 28 of Survivor's 33rd season.

"I was completely blindsided today. It's disappointing. I wanted to go further in the game, but Jess outplayed me, man," Chris, whose target was Jessica, said in his final words. "I've been going after her for a long time. So I'm just having a hard time processing it, but no regrets. I'm coming home to my boys soon... and my wife, I love you for letting me have the adventure of a lifetime."

In Episode 11, Jessica, a 37-year-old assistant district attorney from Voorheesville, NY, was ousted from the game because the tribe drew rocks at Tribal Council on Night 30 and she just so happened to pick the one unfortunate black rock in the bunch of white rocks which signified safety.

"This truly has been the most incredible experience that I could have ever hoped for. I'm incredibly proud of myself that I made it as far as I have, but if I just switched my vote to [Hannah Shapiro]. I wouldn't be siting here right now; Hannah would be. Oh my God," Jessica vented in her final words, referencing how she just needed to write Hannah's name down in order to prevent the tribe's decision to draw rocks.

The Survivor event began on Night 25 with Adam Klein apologizing to everyone for not previously telling them about his Reward advantage. Taylor Stocker and Justin "Jay" Starrett had dragged his name through the mud, so he wanted Jay out badly.

Meanwhile, Jay was upset Taylor had set him up to be the next target, so in attempt to redeem himself, Jay revealed Taylor's secret food stash to everyone. Jay was also convinced no one knew about his hidden Immunity Idol since he didn't play it when he was on the chopping block with Taylor. 

Chris then told Jay that he was not on the bottom because Jess had once blindsided himself and Bret LaBelle to take out their alliance member Paul Wachter earlier in the game. Chris noted that Jessica was a strong strategic player and assumed he also had Sunday Burquest and Zeke Smith on his side. However, Chris intended to tiptoe around the plan as to not make Jessica feel suspicious and paranoid.

On Day 26, Hannah was flirting with Ken McNickle, and although she didn't think he'd like her, she saw a little potential there for a relationship. Ken then talked some strategy with Will Wahl, who was done working with Jay and called Zeke his "life raft."

Will told Zeke that Jay has an idol in order to solidify their bond. At this point in the game, Zeke was also tight with Hannah. Will found it necessary to build trust and asked Zeke not to say anything about the idol.

However, Zeke blabbed the news to David Wright, who then told Chris. Zeke warned Hannah that Jay has an idol and then David told Ken. Word traveled extremely fast in this tribe, and Zeke felt he was powerful in the game because the information lessened the significance of Jay's idol.

Zeke and his alliance planned to flush Jay's idol by making him think he's the next one to go. However, it was Chris' motive all along to take out Jessica instead, and Zeke appeared onboard with that.

"The opening shots have been fired and the war is about to get bloody," Zeke told the cameras.

Later that day, the Vinaka tribe met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge. For the challenge, the castaways were divided into two teams of five and had to swim out to a raft, stand on it and work together to pull themselves to a platform. After climbing up a ladder, the teams were required to retrieve a key, slide down a pole and then race to shore.

Once a team had collected all of its keys, they must unlock a set of blocks and then stack them so there were no repeating colors on any of the four sides. The teams were fighting for Reward in the form of a floating pizza restaurant anchored 50 feet away from camp complete with chicken wings and cold beer.

Before the castaways randomly drew for teams, Dave opted to sit out since one person could not compete. However, the tribe wouldn't let him give up, and all of the support made Dave cry. He was dealing with his fears and anxiety in the game of Survivor and noted he'd never forget the people who helped him through this journey.

One team was comprised of Ken, Jessica, Chris, David and Will. Another team featured Bret, Zeke, Adam, Sunday and Hannah. Jay was the person who was not picked to play.

In the end, Bret's team won. He and Zeke wanted to work together, so they bonded over being "drinking buddies" during the Reward. It also helped they were both close with Chris. As an added bonus, Bret, Zeke, Adam, Sunday and Hannah each received a heartfelt letter from home.

Adam immediately burst into tears, saying there was fear in the back of his mind he would receive bad news about his mother's cancer battle at home. The idea of making his mom proud of him was enough to keep him going in the last two weeks of the game.

While half the tribe was enjoying Reward, Dave confided in Ken that Bret, Chris and Sunday were too strong and they needed to make a big move by breaking up that threesome. Dave's target was Chris, and Ken seemed to agree that was the best decision to make. Dave thought Hannah, Zeke and Adam would vote with them.

Although Dave acknowledged Zeke was playing the best game at this point in the season, it would also be in Zeke's best interest to take out Chris now. Jessica previously had issues with Chris, so she had no problem targeting him. 

On Day 28, the Vinaka tribe met Jeff for an Individual Immunity Challenge.

The castaways were instructed to stand on a narrow beam while balancing a statue with a long pole. At regular intervals, they had to move farther away from the statue, making it more difficult to balance. If a person fell off the beam or dropped his or her statue, he or she would be out. Jeff revealed the next person out of the game would be the tenth person voted out and the third jury member.

Hannah and Ken were the first two castaways to drop out of the challenge. The last two players standing were Zeke and David, and in the end, David won.

Jay thought he was in big trouble since he didn't win, and because no one was talking to him back at camp afterwards, he assumed he was next to go. But Chris told Sunday, Zeke and Bret to vote for Jessica.

David wanted his alliance -- which he thought included Zeke, Will and Hannah -- to vote out Chris. Zeke told David that Chris was targeting Jessica, and so it was clear the Gen Xers were split down the middle.

Adam, Ken, Dave and Jessica were 100% solid and hoped Zeke was on their side. Jessica cried about needing to trust a lot of people, and Zeke had a big decision to make as a swing vote with his fellow millennials for David or Chris.

At Tribal Council that night, Jay announced he was on the outs, and Dave pointed out there were voting blocks and an inevitable blindside. Adam, Jessica and Jay thought a past action could get them voted out of the game, and Chris announced that in Jessica's case, it was the Paul blindside, but he claimed to be over it.

Jeff then revealed the votes after no one played a hidden Immunity Idol in the following order: Chris, Jessica, Chris, Jessica, Chris, Jessica, Chris, Jessica, Chris, and Chris.

The episode's closing credits showed that Jessica, David, Will, Ken, Zeke, Adam and Hannah voted for Chris, while Jay, Sunday, Bret, and Chris voted to oust Jessica.

On Night 28, Jay admitted he had taken "a million dollar gamble" by not playing his idol at the previous Tribal Council and it paid off. Jay apologized to Jessica for writing her name down, but she totally understood and felt good about her alliance.

Bret told Zeke the move simply needed to be made because, as much as he liked Chris, he could've won the whole game. Zeke apologized to Bret and said in his mind, he and Sunday were not at the bottom. Zeke explained that Chris was in "a power position" and that's why he needed to go. Zeke considered going after David soon.

On Day 29, Dave apologized to Bret and Sunday for flipping but said it was just for that one vote. Dave said Jay needed to go next, but Zeke was winning the game, so he needed to go in three votes -- after Jay and then Will. David told Bret and Sunday that Zeke was going to win, but Bret didn't trust David and therefore insisted he needed to be the one to go.

Bret warned Zeke about Dave's plan, and then Zeke revealed Dave has a hidden Immunity Idol, which wasn't a surprise at all. Dave could tell that Zeke was having the same thoughts and just hoped people would view Zeke as the bigger threat out of the two of them. Likewise, Zeke was certain David was the bigger threat to win, and it just came down to a "scramble for troops."

Zeke then told Hannah and Adam about David's idol. Hannah argued that Will and Jay were a more dangerous couple, but Zeke reminded them that neither guy was going after him right now. Hannah was confused and conflicted because she really wanted to work with David despite making moves with Zeke for a month now. Hannah had a tough choice to make about whom she wanted to be loyal to.  

The Vinaka tribe then gathered for the season's next Reward Challenge. The tribe was divided into three teams of three. One at a time, a castaway needed to slither through the sand with his or her arms tied up and feet tied together. After making their way through a series of obstacles, each team had to work together to solve a snake puzzle.

The first team to finish the challenge would win a helicopter ride, a tour of the island, and then a picnic complete with fried chicken, mac and cheese, wine, beer, soft drinks and pie. In a special twist, one person didn't have to compete but could still enjoy the Reward. That lucky person turned out to be David, who had drawn the correct rock at random.

The teams turned out to be Hannah, Jessica and Adam; Will, Ken and Jay; and finally Sunday, Zeke and Bret.

Although Ken's team had a huge head start on the puzzle, Bret, Zeke and Sunday ended up winning the challenge in a massive comeback. Adam was tempted to steal the Reward since he had that advantage still in play, but he decided not to.

During Reward, Bret and Zeke continued to bond, and this time, it was over Bret's admission he is gay. Zeke was thrilled they had a "rainbow connection" and discussed taking David out next.

But Hannah had made up her mind, and she wanted to go after Zeke since he's occasionally condescending and flip flopped. Hannah therefore told David about the fact Zeke spilled his guts and told everyone about the idol. David promised Hannah that, if necessary, he'd share his idol with her.

On Day 30, Jeff explained the rules of the season's next Individual Immunity Challenge.

Each castaway was required to stand behind a cage door and maneuver a handle through a maze. Once the handle was free, that person could unlock his or her door and then complete a sliding puzzle. Jay started the puzzle way before everyone else and finished the challenge before another castaway could even manage to exit the cage. Jeff described Jay's victory as a "blowout win."

Back at camp, David told Jessica they needed to vote Zeke out, especially because Zeke had blabbed about the hidden Immunity Idol. Ken was onboard because he wanted to "go out swinging" with David in the game. To make sure he still had Hannah, Zeke asked her about whether David was the most threatening person left in the game.

Hannah wouldn't agree, nor did she give Zeke any indication she was definitely working with him. It became clear to Zeke that Hannah did not have his best interests at heart. Since David had an idol and would probably play it -- which would ultimately send Zeke home if he received the other votes -- Zeke switched his alliance's vote to Hannah.

Will didn't trust Hannah either, and then Zeke told Bret and Sunday to vote for Hannah as well. Adding Jay into the mix, Zeke had five votes against Hannah, so in the worst scenario possible, it would be a tie vote.

Hannah told Adam to vote for Zeke, so they also had five votes. Hannah told David that Zeke no longer trusted her and she might need his idol to save her.

At Tribal Council that night, there were many whispers and clear confusion amongst the tribe. Bret lashed out at David and Ken, and right after everyone cast their votes, David decided to play his idol for Ken at Adam's request. Adam thought Ken needed the idol because he could hear his name being tossed around.

However, Adam and David made the wrong move in playing the idol for Ken instead of Hannah. Jeff read the votes in the following order: Zeke, Hannah, Zeke, Hannah, Zeke, Hannah, Zeke, Hannah, Zeke and Hannah.

Because the vote was a tie, there would be a re-vote in which Hannah and Zeke could not vote -- and everyone else could only vote for one person out of the two. Before Jessica got up to cast her vote again, Zeke pointed out he'd be willing to realign with her going forward. But Hannah then begged Jessica not to write her name down.

Jessica was obviously overwhelmed and said, "Oh my God," before getting up to vote. Jessica did not want Tribal Council to come down to drawing rocks at random.

In the re-vote, four castaways voted for Hannah and four people also voted for Zeke. (The episode's closing credits later showed that David, Adam, Ken and Jessica voted Zeke, while Jay, Will, Sunday and Bret voted for Hannah).

Jeff then explained that if the eight castaways could unanimously agree to vote out Hannah or Zeke, that person would be voted out.

If the tribe couldn't decide on one person, Hannah and Zeke would become immune and then everyone else -- minus Ken, who had an idol played for him, and Jay, who had won Individual Immunity -- must draw a rock. The white rocks meant safety, while the one black rock would send that person home.

Will declared no one was willing to go home for Hannah or Zeke, but the tribe struggled to agree on one person. David tried to convince the tribe that Zeke was the biggest threat left in the game, but Zeke's allies had his back. It was clear a decision could not be reached.

The castaways therefore drew rocks and Jessica was shocked to learn she had picked the single black rock. She immediately began crying, and even Adam looked at her with tears in his eyes. Ken was horrified to lose his closest ally, and Jessica simply hung her head in shame.

Jeff noted it was "more appropriate to say 'the game has spoken' rather than 'the tribe has spoken.'"

"We drew rocks and now I'm out of the game," Jessica said following her ouster. "I found the legacy advantage, but since I'm not in the game anymore, I have to will this to somebody, so I am leaving this legacy advantage to Ken. And I hope that he is here on Day 36 so he can take advantage of whatever is contained within this envelope."




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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