Survivor Winter Park: Guild of the Girlies

## Cast

***Guild of the Girlies*** is the fifteenth main season of *Survivor Winter Park* and the third season in the third era.

As the second season of a two-part experiment, the all-female cast in *Guild of the Girlies* was largely driven by a major pre-game alliance that dictated the first half of the game, broken open by the elimination of alliance leader Zoey Thomas. Eventually, the odd-ball alliance of Jazlyn Dailey, Kristen Paul, and Victoria De Notaris, all from different sections of the game, would make up the Final 3. In a close 6-5-0 final vote, Jaz's social game would edge out Kristen's strategic game, with Victoria getting shut out for her lack of dominance in either.

## Production

*Guild of the Girlies* was conceived at the same time as *Lord of the Lads* with the hope that the third era of *Survivor Winter Park* would be more experimental than ever before. Two former female players were both selected to be the co-hosts of the season: Grace Peters and Nika Forouzannia. As the season was meant to be an exact replica of *Lord of the Lads*, no planning was made on the part of the hosts, staying under the control of Cole and Thorin Groth. With a little over a week left before the start of the season, Grace Peters dropped out of her position.

Casting proved to be more difficult for this season than the previous due to the lack of interest of the new female seniors (Class of 2022) in competing in the season. Despite their best efforts, casting dipped back into a primarily returnee pool, resulting in a majority of the cast being returning players (the only mixed season to have such a distinction).

## Twists/Advantages

### **Twists**

* **Guild of the Girlies:** After every immunity round, the winner would be granted the ability to force all their tribe members to follow some task of their (in actuality, Nika's, given by Cole) choosing throughout the round.
* **Instant Merge:** Instead of starting with tribes, the fourteen players immediately began the game at the merge, with every player being a jury member.
* **Secret Idol:** Continuing from *March Madness* and *Lord of the Lads*, players were given the opportunity to play idols at the voting booth, instead of in public. However, they could only play the idol against another player instead of themselves.
* **Blitz Round:** Starting at the Final 12, a Blitz Round began. The events following that immunity challenge until the Tribal Council at the Final 11 were all taken at a quickened pace.

### **Advantage**

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** The Hidden Immunity Idol returned with a shot clock: there would be three different idols hidden at three different points, expiring at the end of every point. The first was Final 14 to Final 12, the second was Final 11 to Final 9, and the third was Final 8 to Final 6, the last round it could be played.

## Season Summary

The all-female season began with the immediate formation of a power alliance from outside the game, led by Zoey Thomas and consisting of Jazlyn Dailey, Kameron Tinsley, Mya Khatri, and Van Nguyen. With their power, they would eliminate four-time player Cecelia Gutman at the first Tribal Council, leading to a string of outsiders being eliminated while the pressure to eliminate Zoey mounted among the players. It would be near the half-way mark that the game would completely flip on its head, with the elimination of Zoey to end the first day.

A new outsider trio of Carly Brooks, Kristen Paul, and Victoria De Notaris (aided by Caroline Dentel) would form from the rumbles of the previous round, navigating the constant infighting of the former majority alliance as they would fall one after another, leaving only Jaz left through two key immunity wins at the end game, resulting in her taking Carly's spot at the Final Tribal Council.

At the Final Tribal Council, the pressure would get to Victoria's head, resulting in her faltering during her final speech and her being shut out of any jury votes. It would be a tight race between Jaz and Kristen: the former would receive a majority of credit for her social game and her ability to navigate through a crumbling alliance but was discredited for her often lackluster gameplay, while the latter was praised for surviving beyond even the second elimination following the blindside of Cece to start the season but was criticized for some of her lacking social connections. Many jury members would cast surprising votes for the player they weren't closer to in the game, but it would be Jaz who would come out on top in an incredibly narrow 6-5-0 final vote.

## Trivia

* *Guild of the Girlies* is the third season with an all-female Final Tribal Council, following *Edge of Extinction* and *Halloween Spooktacular*. It would be followed by *Clash of the Champions*.
* Victoria De Notaris is the only non-returning player in this season to later play in *All-Stars*.
* The number of players returning this season matches the number of players returning for this season (9).
* *Guild of the Girlies* ties the record with *Season 2* and *Worlds Collide* for most players returning in a single season, with 7 in *All-Stars*.

## Future return list

* **1 for *Clash of the Champions*:** Jazlyn Dailey
* **1 for *Dynamic Duos*:** Lydia Yon
* **7 for *All-Stars*:** Caroline Dentel, Cecelia Gutman, Kaley Kolb, Kristen Paul, Meaghan Schlossmacher, Victoria De Notaris, and Zoey Thomas
	+ **Total returns:** 9 returns across 3 seasons (an average of 3.000 returns per season).