'Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X' castaway Michaela Bradshaw voted out of the new Ikabula tribe

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X castaway Michaela Bradshaw was voted out of the game during Wednesday night's Episode 7 broadcast on CBS.


Michaela, a 25-year-old in vacation club sales from Fort Worth, TX, became the seventh castaway voted out of Season 33 of Survivor on Night 20 at the game's seventh Tribal Council session.

The new Ikabula tribe, featuring a mix of Gen Xers and millennials, had to vote one of their own members off after they lost the Immunity Challenge to the opposing Vanua and Takali tribes.

"I'm pretty pissed off. I think it was the dumbest decision. My focus was the end and we're not even at the merge," Michaela said following her ouster.

"Had [Justin "Jay" Starrett] been able to control his paranoia, this group of four would've made it to the end and we would've ran this thing together and somebody would've walked away with a million. But oh well, I'm going to get rich somewhere."


Michaela's "group of four" also consisted of Jay, a 27-year-old real estate agent from Fort Lauderdale, FL; Will Wahl, an 18-year-old high school student from Long Valley, NJ; and Hannah Shapiro, a 24-year-old barista from West Hollywood, CA.

On the outside of the Ikabula tribe were Sunday Burquest, a 45-year-old youth pastor from Ostego, MN, and Bret LaBelle, a 42-year-old police sergeant from Dedham, MA.

The Survivor broadcast began on Night 18 at the new Takali's camp.

The tribe featured Adam Klein, a 25-year-old homeless shelter manager from San Francisco, CA; Jessica Lewis, a 37-year-old assistant district attorney from Voorheesville, NY; Ken McNickle, a 33-year-old model from Denver, CO; and Taylor Stocker, a 24-year-old ski instructor from Post Falls, ID.

After voting out Taylor's love interest, Jessica "Figgy" Figueroa, Adam wanted to talk to Taylor, who was clearly frustrated about losing his showmance partner. Taylor said Figgy was his comfort and brought energy and spirit to the tribe. She was his light.


Adam explained the vote was "a lose-lose situation" for him and he followed through with the plan that seemed the "least bad." Adam admitted he lied to and screwed Taylor over, which he felt bad about, but he later told the cameras he put himself in a position to move forward with Gen Xers.

Taylor didn't really show it, but he was "beyond pissed" at Adam and hoped to get revenge on him at some point down the road.

"I will destroy you," Taylor said of Adam in a confessional.

On Day 19, a genuine alliance formed on the Vanua tribe, which was comprised of Zeke Smith, a 28-year-old asset manager from Brooklyn, NY; Michelle Schubert, a 28-year-old missionary recruiter from Yakima, WA; Chris Hammons, a 38-year-old trial lawyer from Moore, OK; and David Wright, a 42-year-old television writer from Sherman Oaks, CA.

David noted Michelle would absolutely be the next person to go if the tribe had to endure another Tribal Council but he "wouldn't put it past Chris" to pull a fast one on him and take him out. David felt like he had a tighter bond with Zeke than he did with Chris because they were "cut from the same cloth."


David therefore wanted to solidify trust with Zeke by sharing information. David told Zeke about his hidden Immunity Idol and then begged him not to tell anyone else. David said he wanted to go to the end with Zeke, who was delighted to hear all of this news.

Zeke also felt very close to David and, as a result, planned to take care of his life in this game -- at least for the time being.

It then became time for the three tribes to gather together with Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

When welcoming everyone, Jeff announced Figgy was the last person voted out of the game, which sparked a mix of reactions. For one, Michaela had a big, sinister smile on her face, which Jeff called her out on.

Michaela confessed it was time for Figgy to go home because she needed to go for awhile. Jeff seemed taken aback by Michaela's honesty, and Taylor appeared to roll his eyes, trying desperately to keep any negative comments he wanted to make to himself.


For the challenge, each tribe had to work together to unwind and release three balls. After shooting the balls into a basket and pushing them through a rope tunnel, the castaways had to attempt to land all three balls on a perch.

The first two tribes to finish the challenge would win Reward. The first-place tribe would receive its very own personal chef, who would whip them up chicken, garlic shrimp, salad and cheesecake back at camp. The second-place tribe would earn kabobs to cook for themselves.

Since Ikabula had two extra players, the tribe decided to sit out Bret and Sunday.

Vanua ended up winning first place, while Takali claimed second in a close race.

While enjoying Reward, Michelle told the cameras she was nervous about being the only girl left because it probably made her an easy vote.


Meanwhile, at Takali's camp, Jessica acknowledged she liked Taylor because he was unintentionally honest since he wasn't really the brightest kid. Taylor vented to Jessica about how Adam had betrayed him because Adam once promised he would never write his name down or Figgy's.

Taylor then swore allegiance to Jessica and Ken, saying he'd never vote for them. Jessica thought Taylor didn't know what he was doing, but at the same time, she thought his promise might be more reliable than such a statement from someone like Adam, who was very strategic and intelligent.

On Day 20 at Ikabula's camp, Michaela told the cameras how she was the strongest girl on her tribe, and although she's intense, that's what makes them winners. There were four millennials and two Gen Xers on this tribe, so the millennials agreed Sunday or Bret would be next to go.

Hannah explained that Sunday was "sweet" and she was "suspicious" of Bret because he was telling the whole tribe he's a funeral director, which was hard to believe. Hannah doubted Bret's occupation because, being from Boston, MA, herself, she said Bret walked and talked like a Boston cop.

Bret hated lying to his tribe, but he said in a confessional it was necessary because police officers typically don't do very well on Survivor.

Hannah voiced her concerns to the rest of the millennials, and everyone agreed with her. Hannah wanted her original tribemates to be "sketched out" by Bret so that the Gen Xers would remain their first targets. Based on his own observations, Jay noted that Bret was "too funny and lively" to be a funeral director.


The three tribes then met Jeff again for the season's next Immunity Challenge.

Jeff instructed each tribe to race to throw coconuts into a net. Once the net was heavy enough, a flag would drop, revealing a set of numbers. Those numbers would be used in a combination to release a key, which ultimately unlocked a slingshot. The tribes then had to fire sandbags from their slingshots in attempt to knock down numerous targets.

The first two tribes to knock down all of their targets would win immunity. Ikabula decided to sit out Hannah and Will on this one.

During the challenge, Michelle had trouble figuring out the combination since there were six possibilities. When Jay asked her two switch, however, she refused and wanted to get the job done herself. Zeke worried she was having a meltdown and she wasted a lot of time.

In the end, Takali won first place thanks to Ken nailing the last target, while Vanua claimed second place thanks to Chris knocking down the final target.

Since Ikabula lost, Jay said in a confessional they needed to decide whether Bret or Sunday was going home. He thought Bret was the better option since he was probably lying and couldn't be trusted.


Once the Ikabula castaways returned to camp, Michaela sat her alliance of millennials down in the sand and revealed her whole gameplan of alliances and votes seemingly through to the end of the game. She used rocks and seashells to represent players, saying the millennials would always have the numbers.

Michaela told Jay, Will and Hannah that they should be a Final 4 alliance. The group then agreed to split their votes 2-2 for Bret and Sunday in case one of them had a hidden Immunity Idol to play. The girls were going to vote for Bret and the boys were going to vote for Sunday, and on a re-vote, Bret would be the guy going home. 

It was in this conversation, however, that Jay realized how smart and dangerous Michaela was. Jay figured it would be a problem to enter the merge with Michaela, who was also a beast in Immunity Challenges.

Michaela went on and on about maintaining trust, saying it would be great for them to go to Tribal Council to prove who's loyal.

Jay talked to Will about targeting Michaela instead, and he was onboard. Will said Michaela was thinking way too far ahead in the game and everything she said was thought out "methodically."

The guys didn't want to get rid of Michaela because she had such a positive vibe at camp and was trustworthy, so they had to determine what was best for their games. Also, Michaela knew about Jay's hidden Immunity Idol.


Jay said Bret and Sunday would vote Michaela with them but maybe it would be smart to hide the plan from Hannah since she'd probably "freak out."

At Tribal Council that night, Michaela said all six members on the tribe were pretty trustworthy and genuinely liked each other. Michaela admitted the whole tribe would've taken over the game come the merge had they not been forced to go to Tribal Council.

Sunday and Bret were well aware they were on the outs even though the millennials did a good job of persuading them otherwise.

Bret said he was being genuine with his tribe. In terms of the way the tribe was playing the game, Will explained there were real alliances and not just voting blocks because with the latter, you'd end up with a dangerous Tony Vlachos type of game.

Everyone agreed that the next person going home would make the tribe stronger going forward.

Jeff then revealed the votes in the following order: Bret, Bret, Michaela, Michaela, Michaela, and Michaela.


Michaela yelled, "What?!" She then turned to Jay and asked, "Did you do that?!"

"Yeah. I did it," Jay said. "Sorry."

"I did not do that," Hannah insisted. 

"Jay. Damn Jay, you just f-cked up," Michaela said.

Hannah had no idea what just happened. 

"You're going to feel like an asshole," Michaela told Jay. "F-cked up something good, bro."


Jeff pointed out that the person preaching trust the most was the one blindsided.

The episode's closing credits later revealed that both Hannah and Michaela voted for Bret, while everyone else voted to oust Michaela from Survivor.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski