I Really Hate Endings

## I Really Hate Endings (Finale)

And the Sole Survivor is...

**I Really Hate Endings** is the final episode of MintORGs Season 2: Mushroom Kingdom, which saw **Shaun** become the Sole Survivor.

## Story

The players who have reached the Finale consists of Corn Corn and all 4 members of the "jinx-jinx-jinx" alliance - Chelsea, Kelly, Shaun and Xander.

### **Final 5**

Chelsea didn't feel like she deserved to be at the finale, and Jiv's exit speech clearly rattled her to some extent as she believed she is a social player. She is happy that Jiv has been booted though. Chelsea also mentioned that Shaun told her the information for this season and it was that the season has a Final 3 FTC, a clue he received from the auction mystery box. She plans to sit at the end with Shaun and Xander, feeling that although she appreciates and adores Kelly, she would not beat Kelly in a jury vote. Her plan going into the F5 round would be to stick to the "jinx-jinx-jinx" alliance as planned and get rid of Corn Corn.

Corn Corn is the only remaining "non-jinx" member and shares his opinions coming into the finale. He feels nice to have made the finale, but doubts that he would make it past this round due to him being an outsider of the quarter. He assumed that the idol Jiv told him was just to make him vote Xander last round (which was correct). He is unsure of how to reach the end and wants to take it a step at a time.

Kelly has had a rough time at work, but she still shared an abundance of words~ She is very proud of how she played this game thus far and she had always intended to play this way. Shaun was again noted to have told her the information from the locked chest (F3 FTC). She would like to sit with any of the "jinxies" at the end, believing that it will be a fair fight as each of them had different storylines and gameplay. Her gameplay this round would be to make people forget that she is an option to be voted out, thereby escaping elimination.

Shaun is super excited to have made it so far into the game. He had a VC with Chelsea and an idea he thought of - booting Kelly at F5, was discussed. He also mentioned that he stopped Chelsea from giving him her immunity last round, as not only would it have exposed their "closeness" with each other, she would have also been at risk. At this point, he notes that the both of them are ride or dies and he will definitely take her into FTC with him.

Xander felt really wonderful to be able to make it into the Finale and felt like this is redemption from his performance in "Mintvivor". His plan would be to get into FTC with Corn Corn and Chelsea as he feels these are the two people he will be able to beat in the end. He noted that Kelly and Shaun do have to go at some point, but he is unsure if he will be able to flip. Anyways, he hopes to be able to make it to the end in one piece.

Chelsea won the Final 4 immunity and is guaranteed a spot at Final 4.

Chelsea feels that the jury will perceive her terribly. She had a long talk with Xander as he approached her to discuss a possible scenario to flip on either Shaun or Kelly. To which, she stayed true to the alliance and got him to list out all the pros and cons of flipping on either, eventually managed to pursuade him to stay loyal to the alliance and vote Corn Corn, the last remaining "non-jinxie" out. She plans to vote Kelly with Shaun next vote, and expressed her concerns about Xander this vote, stating that he is making her nervous.

Corn Corn felt the impending doom after he lost the challenge as he realised no one was talking game with him. He doubts the jury really cares about him as he made limited moves in the game, to which he admit is his own fault. Before he left, he wished the specs to have a good day and remember, to always stay corny.

Kelly didn't do very well in the challenge, but thinks it could be a possible reason they would underestimate her and bring her into the F4. She is confident that she will make the F4 as she feels there is no reason to split up the motley crew. She notes that Corn Corn will actually be voted out here and it would've been an insult to flip on her alliance at this vote. She feels that the jury will have mixed perceptions about her, either seeing and respecting her gameplay, or thinking that she is nothing but a nice girl. The vote went to her plan as Corn Corn was voted out unanimously. However, with the rest of the jinxies fearing her potential jury threat, will she be able to navigate her way into the FTC?

Shaun thinks that if he makes it into F4, he will be the best positioned player with the second highest threat level, but worries about a potential blindside by Kelly and Xander. As much as he wants to cut Kelly here, he feels like he cant trust Corn Corn and or Xander enough to get them to flip on Kelly and hence stuck with what was originally thought out, to vote out Corn Corn.

Xander initially wanted to save Corn Corn as both corn corn and Chelsea are people he wants to sit beside with in ftc. He could NOT get traction as the only person he intended to approach with the plan, Chelsea decided that it is the best NOT to flip, even convincing Xander so. In the end, he voted out Corn Corn with the rest unanimously.

### **Final 4**

Chelsea clutched the final immunity and had a ticket straight to the FTC. She had already decided to side with Shaun and vote Kelly, attempting to pull in Xander as well. Due to this, she seemingly had a fall out with Kelly, one of her closest ally this season as Kelly called her out in dms. She then decided herself to pass on the immunity to Shaun, someone she viewed as her no. 1 in the game as Kelly and Xander would've voted to eliminate Shaun due to her win. She explained that she feels this vote will be a 2-2 tie and that she feels she has a better shot in taking down Kelly than Shaun does as she has done better in challenges. She hopes to take out Kelly herself to be able to claim it her own move at FTC. In the end, her suspicions were right as it did come down to a 2-2 vote, sending her into Fire-making against Kelly.

Kelly immediately went into scramble mode after she lost the challenge. She first approached Shaun with a possible vote on Xander. She aims to split the votes off her so that she will be able to make it to the end. However, this plan wouldn't have worked as Shaun came through and told her that he would have to vote her to have the best shot at winning FTC. She then wanted to see where Chelsea stood but noticed that Chelsea wouldn't be honest and even confirmed her suspicions when she handed the immunity to Shaun. She feels disrespected by Chelsea as not only did she save Chelsea multiple times, Chelsea wouldn't be forefront with her and was "disintegrous" in their conversations. She was very mad and frustrated about the situation, sending some not-so-pleasant texts to Chelsea as well... She puts her hope in Xander to come through and was relieved that he stuck by with her, keeping her alive in the game. However, she now has to face the fire-making challenge against Chelsea, whom she had a fall-out with.

Shaun was gutted that he didn't win the final individual immunity challenge, to which he feels that he might be in danger and might have to go to fire-making. He aims to target Kelly and believed that he has a shot at winning against Xander and Chelsea. He was approached by Kelly and told her the truth about his vote, to which Kelly respects this decision. However, Chelsea in-turn handed him the immunity, sending him straight to FTC. He feels relieved and is hoping that Chelsea will pull through. As much as he loved the friendship between himself and Kelly, he made it known that he puts game first, and feels at peace to have been able to come through with Kelly. He feels that he actually can win this season if Chelsea pulls through the fire-making challenge and hopes that he will be able to sell his case well at FTC.

Xander wants to eliminate either Shaun or Kelly here as he thinks that gives him the best chances at FTC. He had a long VC with Chelsea last night on whether to vote out Shaun or Kelly. However, after Chelsea handed the immunity to Shaun he felt that he can only hope Chelsea would be able to pull through in fire-making... On the bright side, he made FTC! He feels like he has a shot...

#### **Fire-making Challenge**

In the end, Kelly decided to DNS, forfeiting the challenge to make sure Chelsea does not get this "move" under her resume. This means that Chelsea is our final contestant moving into Final Tribal Council!

### **Final Tribal Council**

Each of the finalists gave their speeches and answered the jury questions.

Chelsea was rather neglected by the jury as most have already decided to not vote for her but instead cast a vote for the other two players. Chelsea understands it, but still tries her best in answering questions and doubts of the jury, giving her best effort.

Shaun definitely came in guns blazing as he was able to put forth a strong point in his gameplay, and was relatively unfazed against some of the tougher questions.

Xander came in with a slight edge over Shaun in terms of jury perceptions. However, it was noted by some jurors that Xander's FTC performance didn't live up to his in-game potential, and felt pretty lackluster. Nonetheless he still has a group of people supporting him from behind.

In the end, it came down to a very close race between Shaun and Xander. By a vote of 5-4-0, Shaun is able to edge out Xander for the title of sole survivor, Chelsea settled for the bronze medal.

## Trivia

* This marks the second time a player has sweeped both challenges in the finale, with Chelsea winning both F5 and F4 immunity challenges.
* This marks the first time someone has transferred immunity to another player. Chelsea transferred her necklace to Shaun during the F4 tribal council
* This marks the first fire-making challenge, between Chelsea and Kelly.
* This marks the first fire-making challenge to not be completed, with Kelly who decided to DNS.
* Season 2's final vote is the closest margin of victory to date for a Final 3, at the vote count of 5-4-0.