Paul Diemer

***Paul*** was a castaway on Essential Survivor: Brazil. He later competed on Essential Survivor: All-Stars.

## Brazil

From someone who was almost INV for a portion of the game, to being the complete underdog to win during the endgame. Paul Diemer really had the odds stacked up against him for a good portion of this game, so making it to Day 38 was no easy task for him.

During the pre-game phase of the game, Paul knew a good amount of people in his tribe. So he put those relations to work and strengthened them. By now, he wasn’t on anyone’s immediate bad side and was in the majority alliance. Although, because of this Paul felt a false sense of power, which wouldn’t be exploited in the future. But this false sense of power came up again, when Dany was voted out with Paul thinking he created the whole plan, when in my eyes it seemed like a group effort. Regardless, between this and winning the next Immunity Challenge for the Joint TC. Paul was sitting pretty in the game with no fear.

But come merge, things didn’t go as well for Paul as they did in the pre-merge. As he was down to Tribal numbers he gunned hard for Individual Immunity but came up just short. So as he scrambled to find a way to stay, he learned that Adam went up to Payton, attempting to flip from the OG Samba tribe. Payton and Paul called B.S so they targeted Adam for the merged vote. Well unfortunately, their plans got foiled when Milo told Kim about the plan, urging Kim to play her idol for Adam. But what shocked everyone was when Payton played his Legacy Advantage for Paul, due to some unintentional sacrifice from Evan.

As the merge continued, things away looked up for Paul, then went south immediately. Evidence for that would be Jerry got DQed, evening the numbers out, but then Dimitri flipped sides, allowing Lucifer and Milo to be taken out in quick succession. But at the Final 6, right when it looked like Paul’s time was up, he won immunity. And unlike the straightforward Dimitri vote, he helped convince Brandon to flip on Adam at the upcoming Tribal Council. Now we’re at the Final Five, where despite that out-of-the-ordinary flip, Paul was still enemy number one… until he won immunity again that is. By now, Dimitri was idoled out by Brandon, 3-2. But at the Final Four, Paul’s luck ran out as he lost the photo-finish Final Immunity Challenge to Brandon. Allowing for Brandon, Jess and Rebecca to make Paul the Final Juror, 3-1.

## All-Stars

In an All Star season, it’s clear that everyone right off the bat is gonna have a will to win. But something about Paul was different. Paul was constantly talking about his future in the game, he was also one of the people thinking ahead in the merge by a few votes. But nonetheless, his All-Star performance landed him in 5th.

On the Andaman tribe, Paul clicked up with his Brazil castmates Adam, Kim and Payton, creating a solid four right off the bat. Paul’s gameplan this early in the game was to be with the control, but not be in control so lessen his threat level. And while it did work, this resulted in many of his tribe mates trusting him less compared to his Brazil allies. As time went on Paul began to start having a rocky relationship with Enrique. As he flipped on him at the Theo, they agreed to come and work together the following vote. Only for it to just make them even more annoyed together. But none of what I just said was the highlight of the preswap for Paul.

It was firemaking. Heading into the swap, he did enjoy his tribe a lot, but they were now wary of Paul, due to Logic spreading information about firemaking tasks that give out advantages. And while Paul made fire a lot, he didn't have an advantage. Already forming a crack there. Regardless, Paul’s edit wasn’t too visible during the swap. He stayed in the majority but that's about it. Onto the merge and Paul was starting to get his head back into the game. Trying to take charge, he guided his alliance to voting out Zach as he was the less risky option compared to Jacob and Josiah but that plan was foiled when Gabe flipped and stole Kim’s vote. This occurrence immediately got Paul to think about flipping.

Recognizing his position in the minority, it was clear to Paul that it was gonna turn into Kill or Be Killed in a matter of moments. So to avoid being killed, he took a huge gamble and pitched a Tyler vote out to the majority. And while they liked his offer, Tyler ended up being their decoy vote while they piled all 6 votes onto Enrique. So when Josiah used his Vote Reveal, Paul wasn’t in the best light as he publicly flipped on his squad. But, he did make it up to them on the next vote when he helped convince Jayden to flip, orchestrating a plan for Jayden to tell the other side that Kamen is the vote, while Paul and his alliance vote out Josiah. Well it worked, and now they were in the majority for the first time this merge!... and the last time.

At the Final 10, Paul, while doing damage control with the other side, expected a clean 6-4 Jacob vote. But behind his back, allies Brandon and Jayden flipped to take out Kim. Officially disbanding that main alliance. On the next vote, all gloves were off and it was time to make big moves. Paul immediately started gunning for Tyler. This time with an actual alliance behind which was everyone but the winners + Ben. But during that Tribal, Paul realized there was someone leaking the plan the whole time, accepting defeat. But during the revote (he was on the chopping block) Jacob told him that he was just executing a plan to boot Tyler, which he did almost flawlessly, saving Paul 4-3.

From this point on, Paul’s paranoia shot up at every tribal. At 8, Paul focused on planting seeds about Jacob. But he also planted seeds that made himself seem like a goat to people like Zach and Kamen in hopes they’d take him to the end. Regardless, this was an easy Brandon vote as he was the last winner, and even then, Paul was convinced that he’d be a goner. But thankfully, Paul won immunity at 7, calming his nerves down by a ton. His game plan here was to take out Jacob. But Jacob had put out a lie that he had an idol beforehand, making people very reluctant to vote for him. So at Tribal, while Jaocb used his idol, the majority of votes were on Paul’s right-hand man Jayden.

Coming into the Finale Episode, Paul’s paranoia struck again. But this time it wasn’t as bad as he took a break from the game due to mental health problems. When he came back, although he was convinced that he was going to be out, he heard a majority of people say Gabe. So despite him in fear of Gabe having something, he voted him out with everyone else in a 3-2-1 vote. At the Final Five, Jacob won once again, another Immunity. And Paul’s drive to win became higher than ever as he was pulling out all the stops to create a split 2-2-1 vote, where he’d be able to vote in the revote and boot Zach. But unfortunately, behind his back everyone agreed to take out Paul, landing the last Andaman in 5th Place.