Kaori Funai

Kaori Funai is the Final Juror of Survivor REM: Borneo, and a consistent contestant on Survivor: REM. She has 1st casting priority, and thus is guaranteed to appear in every season.

In *Borneo*, Kaori is remembered for her begrudging-turned-lasting friendship with Tsutomu Wada, being a part of the first ever voting alliance, and her dry and cynical sense of humour. She made it to the final three along with Tsutomu and Midori Harada. After she lost the Final Immunity Challenge to Midori on Day 38, she voted her out that night, eliminating her one day before the Final Tribal Council.

## Career

### Borneo

Placed on the orange Tagi tribe, Kaori quickly butted heads with her tribemates by her curmudgeonly personality and forcing her survival methods. Because of this, Kaori received three votes following her tribe's loss at the first Immunity Challenge, but was spared over the perceived weaker Renjiro Hatanaka.

Over the days however, Kaori realized she needed to fit in with the group and began to soften up to her peers. She found herself appreciating the skills and wisdom of Tsutomu Wada, a fellow contestant with wilderness experience. Despite their differences, the two forged a lasting friendship which later turned into a voting alliance. Kaori was still a target when Tagi returned to Tribal Council on Day 9. Fortunately for her, a good majority of the tribe kept her for her work ethic over Ryujirou Yoshioka who was considered prissy.

Though initially averse with the idea of alliances, Kaori accepted being in one when Tsutomu invited her along with Shieri Yasude, and Midori Harada. The four collected its first victim, Ronia Kimura after losing the Day 15 Immunity Challenge.

The tribes merged into the Rattana tribe on Day 20 and Kaori found himself in a position very much like the one she had encountered when she first began the game. This time, however, she had an alliance on her side, and none of the Pagong tribe seemed to be playing the same way. With Mikihiro Yasutake winning the first individual Immunity Challenge, the Tagi Alliance was forced to choose someone other than Pagong's biggest physical threat. Kaori suggested to her alliance that they target Isamu "Shimada", whom they saw as Pagong's leader, and their four votes proved to be enough to vote him out, as every other vote was cast for a unique player. At the next Tribal Council, Hiro was the next to go, and the Tagi Alliance was able to eliminate Pagong's biggest challenge threat.

By Day 26, however, the remaining Pagong members began to realize the need to form an alliance when Yutaka Furutani and Osamu Morioka shared a reward feast and discussed turning the game around and overthrowing the Tagi Alliance. The following day, Kaori proved her smarts by winning a mental Immunity Challenge. At Tribal Council, the minority was not able to get the votes together, with Kishou Yamaoka employing his "draw-straw" voting strategy yet again, leading to Mori being voted out.

Although the Tagi Alliance now firmly held the majority on the Rattana tribe, Midori faltered from the alliance and animosity grew between her and Eri. However, the alliance stayed strong as they booted Komako Noguchi, Yutaka, and Kishou in the next three Tribal Councils.

With just themselves left in the game, Tagi Alliance was finally forced to turn on each other. Midori won another crucial Immunity Challenge, leaving only Kaori, Tsutomu, and Eri vulnerable at Tribal Council. By this point in the game, Kaori and Tsutomu had grown extremely close and had a final two deal with each other. That night, the two both voted against Eri, while Midori and Eri voted against Tsutomu, resulting in a tie. In the tiebreaker, Midori changed her mind and voted against Eri, sending her to the jury.

By Day 38, Kaori was seen as the biggest threat in the game, having garnered more respect for her straightforwardness and blunt, down-to-earth personality than Midori or Tsutomu. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Tsutomu stepped out of the challenge, claiming that he knew that both Kaori and Midori would take him to the Final Tribal Council. This left Kaori to face off against Midori, who had won several of the last few challenges. Kaori fought hard to win, but ultimately removed her hand from the idol during a revolution of positions and lost the challenge. Midori cast the sole vote to eliminate her at that night's Tribal Council, deeming that she was more of a jury threat than Tsutomu was.

At the Final Tribal Council, Kaori expressed her frustration for the mistake that resulted in her loss at the Immunity Challenge the previous day, and kept her word and alliance by voting for Tsutomu, who became the first Sole Survivor in a 4-3 vote.

#### *Voting History*

**^1**  In "The Final Four", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Tsutomu and Eri, forcing a revote. Kaori did not change her vote on the revote.