Survivor Winter Park: Dynamic Duos

## Cast

***Dynamic Duos*** is the seventeenth main season of *Survivor Winter Park* and the fifth season in the third era.

Akin to a spin-off season, *Dynamic Duos* bridged the gap between two different all-star seasons as a more old-school season with a diverse cast primarily made up of legacy players. The dominance of the Vaka tribe allowed its players to take bigger risks in the post-merge phase of the game, resulting in a series of flips back-to-back. William Dietz's composed personality and senior status granted him the title of Sole Survivor over the highly-competitive Peyton Hagerty and the quiet Diego Lindauer in a 5-1-1 vote.

## Production

*Dynamic Duos* was designed as a test season for Samuel Bernbaum, who was the likely candidate to take over the *Survivor Winter Park* franchise after the Class of 2022 (which had all of Cole Groth, George Stedronsky, and Thorin Groth) would graduate later that year. Planning began on April 10, 2022, with "the island" (later transformed into the Exile Island twist seen in the season) being planned to have a new puzzle every round. The advantage would go to your duo partner (a twist akin to the Bloodlines twist in that season), although the duo aspect of the season would quickly be lost with the ever-changing format for the season.

Casting was especially difficult this season, with a focus on newbie players being thrown out the window after a week of struggling with casting. This was due to the crew team consisting of players who had been on crew for long enough that they had run out of new players to contact. The game would've started out with three tribes of six, where one duo would be sent to Exile Island, joining two tribes after a double elimination to open the game. However, as casting continued to struggle, the season was shifted to sixteen players and two tribes at the start.

The placement of the season was undecided for a long time, with *Clash of the Champions* originally being planned after it to allow the winner of this season to participate in that, having both all-star seasons back-to-back. However, the impossibility of scheduling *Clash of the Champions* landed it in May, moving *Dynamic Duos* a season back.

On the first day of the season, two players didn't show up at all or message the group chat about their absence, forcing the format to once again change, this time turning into the same format as *Season 2*. The third day (on June 19, 2022) was then dropped, with the season moving fast enough on its own.

## Twists/Advantages

### **Twists**

* **Tribe Captains:** An opening reward challenge won by Lauren Eisen and Tyler Sibley saw players paired up, competing in a race for items in a three-legged race format. They became tribe captains, where they would draft their tribes.
* **Exile Puzzle:** For every round of the pre-merge, the winning tribe would select a player from the losing tribe to go to Exile Island to solve a puzzle, with that player selecting a player from the winning tribe to join them. Solving the puzzle would grant you a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, with the ability to leave for camp at any time. Unlike *Exile Island*'s version, players were still eligible to be voted out.

### **Advantages**

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at both tribe camps at the start of the game, with a third being added into circulation upon the merge. The last time they could be used was when there were five players remaining.
* **Vote Abstain:** An advantage that allowed the voter to abstain from voting for one round to gain an Extra Vote for another was introduced at some point during the pre-merge (or first round of the merge) phase of the game. The abstain element expired when six players remained and the Extra Vote expired the round after.

## Season Summary

The season began with the introduction of the duo's twist, seeing Lauren Eisen and Tyler Sibley earn tribe captainship for Ka'vuni and Vaka respectively. Tyler's decision to draft the three other returning seasons would prove successful, as, despite losing Lydia Yon in the first round, they would control the pre-merge phase of the game and see themselves into the merge with a majority. Ka'vuni would pick off their outsiders but would quickly find themselves in a bad position come the merge, with Diego Lindauer jumping ship into a new alliance with the two other seniors in the cast, Natalie Watkins and William Dietz]].

Following the dramatic final Tribal Council of day one and the blindside of Keyes Rodriguez, an alliance would form to counteract the seniors between Peyton Hagerty, Tuco Kawamura (both siblings of former players), and Tyler Sibley, resulting in the blindside of Natalie at the Final 7, which would result in the remaining senior guys bringing Peyton in closer. With Liberty Sickles picked off as the last remnant of the Ka'vuni tribe, the Final 5 vote would prove pivotal for Peyton, dictating which two players she sits with at the end of the game. She would stay loyal to her new alliance of the seniors, resulting in Tuco and Tyler being the last two members of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Diego would quickly become flustered by the pressure of facing the jury, forgetting major events of his gameplay while being unable to answer important questions from the jury members. Peyton and Will would present two entirely different sides of a speech: the former would be energetic and frantic with her answers, wanting to be aggressive towards her opponents while propping up her own gameplay, while the latter would give a speech resembling an old-school game, focusing on his connections and laid-back demeanor. In the end, Peyton would lose the respect of the jury to Will's calm presence and likability throughout the game, resulting in him winning the game in a 5-1-1 final vote, with Peyton receiving the majority of the votes for second place over Diego.

## Trivia

* *Dynamic Duos* is the only season to not be hosted by a Groth or Stedronsky.
	+ *Guild of the Girlies* includes Cole Groth as a co-host.
* William Dietz is the only winner to only compete in a single season.
	+ Ethan Taylor played in *Redemption Island* and *Heroes vs. Villains*, Meaghan Schlossmacher played in *Edge of Extinction*, *Guild of the Girlies*, and *All-Stars*, and every other winner played in *Clash of the Champions*.
* *Dynamic Duos* is the last season to feature newbies.
* *Dynamic Duos* is the first season since...
	+ ...*Season 1* to have every Hidden Immunity Idol found and played
	+ ...*Heroes vs. Villains* to feature a gap between days of play
	+ ...*Halloween Spooktacular* to feature multiple tribes and not have a tribe swap
	+ ...*The Forest Enigma* to feature a tribe of all newbies (Ka'vuni)
	+ ...*March Madness* to feature tribes
* Over half the cast (8/14) of *Dynamic Duos* is related to another *Survivor Winter Park* player.
	+ Dario De Notaris is Victoria De Notaris' brother, who played in *Guild of the Girlies*.
	+ Josh Hoeckendorf is Charlie Hoeckendorf's brother, who played in *Lord of the Lads*.
	+ Lauren Eisen is Natalie Watkins' cousin, who played in *Exile Island*.
	+ Leonor Decoster is Justine Decoster's sister, who played in *Halloween Spooktacular*.
	+ Lydia Yon is Lilly Yon's twin sister, both of whom played in *Guild of the Girlies*.
	+ Natalie Watkins is Owen Watkins' brother, who played in *The Forest Enigma*.
	+ Peyton Hagerty is Ryan Hagerty's sister, who played in *Season 2*.
	+ Tuco Kawamura is Pedro Kawamura's brother, who played in *Good vs. Bad vs. Neutral*.

## Future return list

* **2 for *All-Stars*:** Diego Lindauer and Natalie Watkins