Leon Petchers

**Leon Petchers** is a contestant from *Survivor: South Africa*.

Leon managed to strategically power through a big chunk of the game. He managed to also find a hidden immunity idol and use it correctly on himself to eliminate Irene Chen. He also found a reward steal advantage which he never used. On Day 32, he was blindsided in a 4-3 revote after a tie occurred and idol was played.

## Profile

Coming into the game as a pilot, Leon is ready to take on the game of Survivor. He believes he will exceed at the strategic and physical aspects of the game. He wants to win, but one of his goals is to at least make it to the loved ones visit so that his mom can finally visit Fiji.

**If You Could Bring 3 Things With You To The Island What Would They Be:** Weights to lift when I'm bored, my crazy siblings, and a jacuzzi.

**What Past Player Will You Be Most Like:** I'll probably be somewhat similar to Chris Hopkins and Tyler James both strategically and physically, except I don't plan on running into a tree.

**Why Will You Be Sole Survivor:** If I have to starve for 1,000 days just to become the Sole Survivor, I'd do it. I'm extremely competitive. Me losing would be the equivalent to me crashing one of the planes I am flying. It's not gonna happen.

## Survivor

Leon started the game on the Tsonga tribe. Early on, Leon formed many close bonds with a lot of members on his tribe. On Day 3, Tsonga lost immunity. Leon felt like a good person to send home was Aaron Jackson since he lost the challenge for the tribe after bragging about his challenge strength. At tribal, Aaron threw Leon under the bus and stated that Leon would be a future challenge threat. At the vote, Aaron was unanimously sent home. Leon received a vote from Aaron since Aaron felt like Leon was his biggest competition. On Day 6, Tsonga lost immunity again. Leon felt safe since he recently became part of a 6 person majority alliance which consisted of himself, Irene Chen, Didi Conley, Mason Jefferson, Marco Singh, and Lindsay Richards. Leon's alliance discussed who would be the best option to vote out between Kaitlyn Sanktley, Manuel Gutierrez, and Donna Taintella. They felt like Kaitlyn was the best choice to target since she didn't form many relationships with anyone and no one could read her well. At tribal, Leon voted for Kaitlyn and she was voted out in a 6-3 vote. On Day 9, Tsonga won their first immunity challenge. Leon started to think about his best option moving forward since he wasn't sure how much longer the majority alliance would last. On Day 12, Tsonga lost immunity for the third time. Leon, along with most of his alliance, felt like Mason was becoming a little too close with Manuel who was not in the majority alliance. Leon and some of his allies approached Donna and let her know that she should vote with them to get rid of Manuel. At tribal, Manuel tried convincing some people to flip and stated that "big alliances never end well." Leon wasn't sure if Mason would stay loyal to the alliance since he wanted to keep Manuel in. At the vote, Manuel was voted out in a 6-2 vote, with Mason flipping on the alliance. Back at camp, Mason stated that he felt like Manuel was good for challenges and was annoyed with the alliance's decision at tribal.

On Day 13, a tribe swap occurred. Leon was swapped to the Zulu tribe along with Didi. They were joined by former Zulu members Antonio Hernandez, Cody Singalay, and Daniel Jimenez. Leon quickly had a conversation with Didi and they both decided that they needed to stick together even though they were in the minority. They decided to start looking for the Zulu tribe idol together. Leon ended up finding it, and let Didi know. The next day, Zulu won immunity. On Day 17, Zulu won immunity once again. Leon decided to form a connection with the guys on the tribe so he was on good terms with them for when the merge occurred. Leon and Didi started becoming closer each day, which was noticed by Antonio, Cody, and Daniel. Their relationship was looked at as if they were siblings. On Day 19, Zulu won immunity for the third straight time.

On Day 20, the tribes merged. Leon seemed to be in a good position, but was seen as a bit of a "mastermind" by some of the other players. Later that day, Leon found a Reward Steal advantage which gave him the opportunity to steal a reward from the winner of a future reward challenge that he lost. On Day 21, a majority of people started to notice a close bromance forming between Julio Rodriguez and Marco. The bromance seemed strange to Leon since he didn't think Marco would get into a bromance with someone else on the swapped Limpopo tribe. Before tribal, Leon decided to go along with the majority and target Julio for his relationship with Marco and for his bossy attitude. At tribal, Julio ended up playing an idol on Marco. Leon, along with many others, started to chuckle at what was happening. Julio was then voted out in an 11-2 vote, becoming the first member of the jury. On Day 22, Leon won reward along with Cody, Didi, Irene, Marco, and Josh Sinclair. Leon didn't feel like throwing out any huge game ideas while on the reward since he only trusted Didi. On Day 24, Leon decided to target Antonio for being a physical threat. Leon felt like Antonio wasn't a huge number for him since Antonio never really approached him on the swapped Zulu tribe. After the immunity challenge that day, Antonio decided to approach Leon and threw out Daniel's name. Antonio mentioned that although he didn't talk much to Leon, it was very obvious that Daniel and Cody had a tight bond and were working together. Leon knew that Antonio had a point, but didn't feel like it was time to take a shot at Daniel. At tribal, Leon voted for Antonio who was sent to the jury in an 8-4 vote. On Day 27, Leon tried winning an individual immunity challenge but lost to Mason. Back at camp, OG Tsonga (Leon, Didi, Mason, Marco, and Lindsay) decided to stick together but excluded Irene since they felt like she was sneaky in the past. Celeste Go and Lisa Mathieson overheard OG Tsonga's plan and let Irene know what was happening. A little bit later, Irene approached Lindsay since the two had an interesting relationship on the swapped Tsonga tribe. Irene and Lindsay starting fighting with each other, which Leon enjoyed. At tribal, Irene told everyone that she was voting with the OG Zulu tribe members (Lisa, Cody, Daniel, Celeste, and Josh) and that the 6 of them would have majority for the vote. Leon felt in his gut that he was going to receive votes and decided to use his idol. After he used his idol, Irene stated that she had one too but left it at camp accidentally. Irene was then idoled out in a 5-0 vote. Leon became the first person on the season to successfully play an idol. On Day 28, Leon won reward again. He was joined on the reward with Celeste, and Marco. Didi also came on the reward since she wasn't picked to participate in the challenge and automatically won reward. At the reward, Leon threw out the idea to Didi, Celeste, and Marco that the 4 of them should form a Final 4. He wasn't sure if Celeste and Marco would follow through with the offer. On Day 30 at the immunity challenge, Lisa started to feel ill. After Didi won the challenge, Lisa asked for medical to check on her back at camp. At camp, Lisa collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion. Leon rushed over to help her. Medical let everyone know that Lisa needed to leave the game and tribal was canceled that night. Lisa ended up recovering and became a member of the jury. On Day 32, Leon asked Didi what she wanted to do at the next vote. Didi let Leon know that she felt like he was making too many deals with other people without checking with her first. The two then got into an argument. After the immunity challenge, Leon knew there was tension between him and Didi. Leon then approached Lindsay and Marco and threw out Daniel's name. He told them that Daniel and Cody finally needed to be separated. Didi let Leon know that she was targeting Marco with Celeste and Mason. Leon let her know that it wasn't smart to take out Marco who was a number for them. At tribal, Marco played an idol on himself and negated 3 votes. The vote tied in a 3-3-0 vote between Leon and Daniel. Leon received 3 votes from Daniel, Cody, and Josh. At the revote, Leon felt safe and believed that Didi, Lindsay, Marco, and Mason would vote for Daniel. He knew that he would most likely receive votes from Cody, Josh, and Celeste. He was then completely blindsided and was voted out in a close 4-3 revote after Didi flipped on him. He believed that their argument messed up their game relationship. He became the 5th member of the jury and finished in 9th place.

At Final Tribal Council, Leon criticized Lindsay and Josh's games. He felt like Lindsay was kind of all over the place for most of the game and that Josh mostly just won challenges and didn't do much else. He complimented Marco's game and stated that Marco created the majority alliance back on the OG Tsonga tribe. He mentioned that Marco managed to use an idol successfully and also made it to the end even after Julio was voted out. In the end, Leon voted for Marco to win the game. Marco finished in 3rd place after losing to Lindsay and Josh in the final vote in a 5-3-2 vote.