The Cataclysm: Kingdom of Tonga

**The Cataclysm: Kingdom of Tonga** is the eighth season of the fictional reality competition series *The Cataclysm*. Nine men and nine women will compete in the ultimate test of strength, endurance, and intelligence in order to be the "last one standing" and claim the $2,000,000 prize.

This season takes place in the Vava'u island group of Tonga.

Contestants Corey Stewart, Erin Montoya, Keven Blackburn, and Romeo Milano all returned to compete on *The Cataclysm: Resurrection*. Blackburn would end up winning the competition. Montoya and Blackburn both returned for *The Ultimate Cataclysm*.

## Format

* **Exemption Challenge:** The Cataclysm's immunity challenge. The winner(s) of this challenge is exempt from elimination and nominates who they wish to face the Ballot. During the faction stage, the winning faction nominates an opposing faction. During the solo stage, the winning individual nominates three other individuals.
* **Ballot:** The Cataclysm's elimination round. Those nominated to face the ballot must risk being eliminated. During the faction stage, the members of the nominated faction casts a ballot for another member of the group, in which case the player with the most votes is eliminated. During the solo stage, the three nominees are the only players eligible for elimination. Every remaining player excluding the Exemption Challenge winner casts a ballot and the nominee that receives the most votes is eliminated.

## New Features / Twists

* **Ballot Ties:** In the event of a tie, contestants, including the Exemption Challenge winner, revote.

## Episode Progress

Legend
 Runner-Up
 SAFE
 LOW
 BTM
 ELIM

## Notes

* On Episode 14, there was a tie between Dawn and Erin at the voting ballot. The contestants had a re-vote, which included Corey.

## Season Summary

18 new contestants arrived on the beach to discover they'd be competing individually in order to form the factions. The three winners got to choose who they wanted on their team, and in the end, Keven won and formed the Hihifo faction, Seth won and formed the Neiafu faction, and Corey won and formed the Hahake faction.

### Faction Stage

On Hihifo, Erin quickly began strategizing and formed bonds with everyone on the faction. Keven and Thomas formed an alliance together, and ended up pulling Erin for extra numbers. Kelley and Romeo became close on the faction and agreed to work together. Unfortunately, Laila struggled to form bonds with others on her team and decided it'd be best for her to lay low.

For both Hahake and Neiafu, the players on these factions got along well with one another. Hahake had no concerns regarding members on the team, although Dawn stood out on Neiafu due to her age. The biggest skeptic regarding Dawn was Jonny and luckily for Dawn, she flourished socially and grew to form strong bonds with the members of her faction.

Over the first two episodes, Theresa and Jonny were both booted from their factions due to their challenge performances. With Neiafu winning the next two exemption challenges, they targeted Hahake because of the prior episode.

With the divide over their voting ballot, Alicia and Malcolm wished to target Aisha, while Aisha and Corey wanted to target Alicia. In an effort to prevent a tie, Samuel formed a deal with the latter pair and voted Alicia and Malcolm out. Hahake was able to retaliate against Neiafu for back-to-back eliminations, and they ended up eliminating Seth thanks to Dawn's formation of a women's alliance.

Hihifo began a streak of their own by winning the next three exemption challenges, where they put Hahake in the ballot once and Neiafu in the ballot twice. Aisha and Corey agreed to stick to their prior alliance and voted out Samuel, while Dawn and Elena survived their ballots by voting out Salima and Eddie.

### Solo Stage

The remaining contestants kicked off the solo stage with Thomas winning the first individual Exemption Challenge. The former Hihifo member held a majority with his former faction and maintained his loyalty by putting Corey, Dawn, and Elena in the ballot. Dawn and Elena attempted to force a target on Corey, but their efforts failed as Elena was eliminated.

Corey won the following challenge and immediately went after who he considered the biggest challenge threats: Keven, Romeo, and Thomas. Deciding that the time was right, the trio of Erin, Keven, and Thomas introduced a plot in order to take out a potential target. The alliance blindsided Romeo, as well as Kelley and Laila, in the ballot. In an effort to establish bonds outside of her alliance, Erin let Dawn win the following Exemption Challenge.

Following Kelley's elimination, Erin won her first individual challenge and worked to Dawn to plan another blindside. While convincing Kevin and Thomas that she planned on disguising their alliance with Keven's nomination, Dawn and Erin managed to secure the votes and have Keven eliminated. Erin won the next challenge and had Thomas eliminated by placing him in the ballot against Aisha and Laila.

The final five was a pivotal point for the season. Aisha and Corey knew that in order to make the final, Erin had to be eliminated next. Dawn also planned on turning as she believed that Erin was unbeatable in the end. In contrast to the others, Laila made a final two deal with Erin thinking that Erin's numerous betrayals would leave her in a world of hurt.

Corey would win the final five Exemption Challenge and keep his ally Aisha out of the ballot. With Erin and Laila targeting Dawn as well as Aisha and Dawn targeting Erin, the votes came to a tie. The contestants were forced to re-vote and with Corey voting as well. The introduction of Corey's vote sent Erin to the jury. Corey would again win exemption and another threat was taken out as Aisha and Laila voted out Dawn.

The final three provided plenty of opportunity as Laila was forced to fight for a spot in the finals, knowing that Aisha and Corey were a guaranteed deal. Ultimately, Laila shocked all and won her first Exemption Challenge of the season. Feeling more confident about facing Aisha, Corey was voted out and became the final member of the jury.

Aisha and Laila faced the jury of seven at the end of the game, and the jury was less than enthusiastic about choosing between them. Aisha explained how she was able to survive the Hahake faction with Corey and playing a strong social game in the individual portion. She claimed that her strong relationships and willingness to listen helped keep her out of trouble. Laila proclaimed to be the "ultimate floater" with how she stayed under the radar and played a clean game. She also pointed out how she faced the ballot five consecutive times and managed to take out major threats in the end.

The jury was displeased with how both finalists presented their games. Aisha was criticized for being invisible in the game and never making an impact all season. Romeo mentioned "having a tough time voting for her since he hardly remembers her". Erin mentioned that although she was a nice woman, she "was not a player in any form". Laila was also criticized for her game with jurors stating that her being the "ultimate floater" was not a good thing. Kelley mentioned being "insulted that Laila would take pride in being a non-factor" and that it was "a slap in the face that she considered being an easy pawn good gameplay". Corey congratulated Laila on winning the last exemption challenge and voting him out, but assured Laila that "it was because others paved the way, that she followed in their footsteps to the end".

The jury votes would fall with Laila receiving the votes of Romeo and Erin, while Aisha received the votes of Kelley, Keven, Thomas, Dawn, and Corey to win the game. With a 5-2- vote, Aisha Jewel became the eight person to win *The Cataclysm*, be the "last one standing", and claim the $2,000,000 prize.