Kalina

Kalina is a contestant on Visionary Survivor: Egypt and Visionary Survivor: All-Stars.

## Egypt Summary

Kalina’s gameplay in Egypt was like a roller coaster but not in the way that roller coasters are typically used for comparison. Throughout her time on Bennu during the pre-merge portion of the game her stature and social status started off well and continue to get gradually better. While other castaways on her tribe seemed to be the glue that held that tribe together, she was more so the figure that everyone fell in line after. It’s rather likely that she would’ve controlled the votes had Bennu actually attended a tribal council.

Kalina’s reputation started to rapidly grow even bigger after the tribes merged due to her open gameplay. After Delta’s elimination, and even a little beforehand, Kalina made it known that her top two targets were Tom and Serena. Knowing that old Sphinx had more numbers than old Griffin in the merge, Kalina’s main goal was to ensure that Bennu would hold onto their number advantage long enough to secure an overwhelming majority. In an ideal world, bennu would stay strong until final six, sweeping the remnants of old Sphinx and Griffin.

However, after successfully eliminating Serena and Tom, the ching ching ching sound started to fade as Kalina’s roller coaster was preparing to finally drop. With only eight castaways left in the game, everyone on old Bennu except Kalina was itching to make a move. When Blair made it known that Dawit had been throwing around minority votes they did just that. With no one in the game really trusting him at that point, Dawit became the third member of the jury, ruining any hopes Kalina might’ve had of a potential all Bennu final six.

With an original Bennu finally out of the picture after 27 days, it was clear that old tribal lines had finally started to fade. With Kalina being the dominant force that she was, many of her former allies were ready to turn on her in order to gain some leverage. However, only one castaway actually went through with it; Tabor. In an effort to begin a finale push that would give him more credit than other former Bennu, Tabor willingly flipped to the minority that was Blair and Nexus, while challenge dominant CK stepped up and targeted Blair in order to keep his allies tight. After Michael decided to use his idol blocker on play to nullify potential protection, it seemed as though Kalina would yet again be saved a common target she shared with another power player. But when CK made the rather idiotic decision to split the vote by throwing one random vote on Nexus, and Nexus used a vote blocker on Kalina to create a majority, Kalina became the fourth member of the jury.

## All-Stars Summary

Having grown a lot as a player since her ORG debut in season three, Kalina came into All-Stars with something to prove.

At the start of the game Kalina quickly connected with fellow Legacy tribemates Jacob and Rey, the three would become an unstoppable trio throughout the course of the season. But to start things off, they had options of who to work with between Otter, Rachel, and Schmutz. None of the other three had any idea that they were already a strong trio at the start of the game, which gave them the leverage they needed to take control of the tribe. Fortunately for them, they won the first three pre-swap challenges which meant they never had to decide who to stay loyal to. This proved to be rather useful later on in the season.

At the swap Kalina was placed onto the new Royalty tribe with former Legacy tribemate Otter, Bee, CK, and Sasha. She had some history with CK that made him a little easier to connect with, and she was a fan of Bee from her time in season four which also made her easier to connect with. Since she was already inclined to work with Bee, CK, and Otter, Sasha naturally found herself on the outs. After the new Royalty tribe lost the second challenge, Sasha was eliminated in a 3-1-1 split vote.

Only having to go to one tribal council pre-merge left Kalina with a good amount of options come merge. She had been reunited with all of the original Legacy castaways, and with her connections to Bee and CK she became the bridge that created the majority alliance. At the first tribal council, Dawit was the initial target of the new majority. But their plan quickly became more complex when they realized Dawit would likely buy a Tribal Council Exit Ticket to guarantee his safety, so they altered their plan to split the votes between Dawit and Derek just in case. But when Derek pulled out a legacy advantage at tribal, their plan was shot down as they didn’t have time to prepare for the double advantage play due to a production mishap.

With a bitter taste in their mouths, a few members of the majority alliance made it clear that they had no intentions of working with those in the minority, most notably Kalina. But that soon wore off for Jacob and Rey, who turned around and made a side deal with Dawit that forced CK, Derek, and Rochelle onto the chopping block. After Rochelle saved Derek with her idol, CK and Rochelle were eliminated.

At the final nine Kalina had positioned herself with the trio and, despite being cautious of him, was willing to work with Dawit for a few rounds for the sake of the trio. They first decided to eliminate Kaden after it was brought to their attention that he was targeting Jacob. After a last minute switch that would’ve resulted in Dawit’s elimination had Kaden and Derek not broken a rule, the trio had officially confirmed a new ally in Dawit. As they continued working with Dawit, the trio found themselves in a sticky situation due to the fact that Rachel was very adamant about wanting Dawit out. This lead to them leaving her in the dark as they eliminated Otter, but fortunately they were able to do damage control and blindside Dawit with Rachel’s help at the final seven.

After Dawit’s elimination, the core of the Legacy alliance had a straight shot to the final four after eliminating Derek and Schmutz thanks to a clutch immunity win from Rachel at the final five. By the final four Rachel had long accepted her fate as the fourth placer of the season, but Kalina was ready to flip the script. Thinking that she wouldn’t have much chance of beating Rey in the final tribal council, Kalina took the risk of flipping to Rachel’s side and tried convincing Jacob to join her. When Jacob didn’t flip, the votes tied. Fortunately for Kalina, the risk paid off as Rey was eliminated by wheel. Now that Rey was gone, Kalina had positioned herself perfectly in the F3 since she had just saved Rachel, and Jacob was her biggest ally the entire game alongside Rey. So no matter who won the final immunity, Kalina felt confident she would reach the final tribal council. She was right, after Rachel won immunity she voted out Jacob and Kalina became the second finalist.

The final tribal council was the toughest challenge Kalina had faced all season. A handful of jurors really felt like Kalina’s social game was handed to her, and that she didn’t have to work as hard for her positioning compared to others in the season. As a result, her final tribal council became more of her defending her game rather than flaunting it. Ultimately she lost the final tribal council to Rachel in a 6-3 vote.

## Return Interviews

**Clearly you did something right last time you played otherwise you wouldn’t have been invited back. So this season, are you looking to play more of the same way or change up your play style?**
Well from season 3, it was my first time playing but after playing a couple of more orgs. My play style has evolved from the last time I played in Visionary. I'm going to be more careful with socializing and understand in which direction the votes will go.
**What did you learn from your last season that will help you do better this time around?**
I've learned to not throw anyone's name out so early into the merge. It would've been better to socialize with those who I haven't spoken to than to get some blood on my hands. With my actions that early, it caused my elimination as I was perceived as a threat and I got eliminated by a split in the votes. Now with going into all stars, I'm going to play differently.
**With 18 high caliber players returning, who are you expecting to see return? Who are you most and least excited to see again?**
I'm expecting to see a few if not all winners. Also, those who made an impact in their seasons like Rochelle, Rey, Kiibo and Otter. Maybe CK as well. It would be exciting to see them on the season but scared at the same time as everyone would barely make any moves and be careful. Other than that I'm excited to see anyone in all stars.
**How confident are you this time around? Do you think you have what it takes to beat the best of the best?**
I feel pretty confident with going into the season. I do think I'll be able to defeat some of the strong players and be aware of what they're capable of doing.
**What are you looking forward to most this season? What are you looking to accomplish this time around?**