Survivor Winter Park: March Madness

## Cast

***March Madness*** is the thirteenth main season of *Survivor Winter Park* and the first season in the third era.

Following the second all-star season, *March Madness* was plagued with the weakest newbie cast of all-time, leading to the absolute dominance of the select few returning players and almost no power shifts throughout the season. Due to his aggressive manipulation of most jurors and fellow finalist Alex Rodriguez, Adam Holbrook would go on to lose the game in a controversial 5-2 vote.

## Twists/Advantages

### **Twists**

* **Wheel of Fortune:** For every round until the Final 6, the losing tribe (and eventually, everyone in the merge) would spin a wheel with the names of every player. The name of the player they land on corresponds to the player they cannot vote for at that round. If they landed on themselves or an immune player, they could vote for anyone that round.
* **Secret Idol:** 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.
* **Temporary Exile Island:** At the start of the game, due to an uneven number of players, one female was sent to Exile Island, where she would join the losing tribe after Tribal Council. This would occur again at the tribe swap.
* **Tribe Swap:** At the Final 11, the remaining players were shuffled into two tribes of five, with one player being sent to Exile Island.

### **Advantage**

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at both tribe camps (which were together at all times) at the start of the game, with a third being added into circulation after Garrett Walker's elimination at the Final 11 and a fourth upon the merge. The last time they could be used was when there were five players remaining.

## Season Summary

*March Madness* opened with two well-matched tribes, both of which went 2-2 before the swap. The players eliminated during this phase would be all the outsiders of their tribe, often not involved in strategic decisions and generally aloof from the actual gameplay happening in their tribes. The swap would bring nearly all the returning players and the strongest challenge competitor onto the new Yasu tribe, while the Zamba tribe's weakness would prove to be two of the *least* well-matched tribes in series' history. Following the blindside of Garrett Walker with an idol in his pocket, Arthur Pacheco-Navarro (who was saved by the Wheel of Fortune multiple times) would become the final pre-merger of the season.

The returning players would continue to dominate the game into the merge, with a bump in the road from Drew Desabrais' transparent lie to turn players against Ava Thigpen resulting in his elimination. Multiple pairings would form, with Adam Holbrook and Sebastian Wright joining Alex Rodriguez and Marina Rentz to clean out the remainder of Benjamin DeLoach's alliance (consisting of himself, Ava, Isabel Otero, and Olivia Hindle). Olivia and Seb, both weak followers, would fall into Adam's pocket, allowing him to nearly finish off every other player until Alex's last-minute immunity streak forced him to turn against his loyal allies. Fearing his elimination at the hands of Alex at the Final 3, Adam would make one of the most controversial game moves in series' history: threatening to poison the jury if Alex eliminated him at that moment. This threat would work, resulting in Seb becoming the final member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, the jury would be frustrated by Alex's poor answers to their questions, clearly not understanding the game that they played, and their unwillingness to speak negatively towards Adam. However, the jury's pent-up rage towards Adam would be released, constantly lambasting him for his manipulative gameplay and his emotionless final speech, showing a disconnect between what the jury wanted and what he thought they wanted. Marina's searing indictment in relation to his last-minute threat to Alex would be the nail in the coffin for Adam's game; the jury would vote in favor of Alex in a 5-2 vote, citing their kinder personality and dominance in challenges as their reasoning.

## Trivia

* *March Madness* is the last season to feature a Final 2.
* *March Madness* is the first season to feature a player winning after playing multiple times.
* *March Madness* is the first season since *Season 2* to not be hosted by either Groth twin.
	+ Coincidentally, both seasons were the only ones hosted by George Stedronsky.
* Only returning players from this season returned for future seasons.
	+ All three returning players were eliminated in the double digits of their later seasons.
* During the tribe swap, only four players changed tribes: Adam Holbrook and Alex Rodriguez moved to the Yasu tribe while Arthur Pacheco-Navarro and Garrett Walker moved to the Zamba tribe. Coincidentally, the latter two were the only two eliminated during the swap phase, while the former two were the Final 2.

## Future return list

* None for *Lord of the Lads*
* None for *Guild of the Girlies*
* **1 for *Clash of the Champions*:** Alex Rodriguez
* None for *Dynamic Duos*
* **2 for *All-Stars*:** Adam Holbrook and Drew Desabrais
	+ **Total returns:** 3 returns across 5 seasons (an average of 0.600 returns per season).