Survivor Winter Park: Sexy Host Extravaganza

## Sexy Host Extravaganza

***Sexy Host Extravaganza*** is the second tiny season of *Survivor Winter Park*.

Similar to *Jeremy Edition*, *Sexy Host Extravaganza* wasn't taken seriously by any of the players, mostly as a way to pass the time for the day. This lead to many random blindsides and betrayals, mostly between the Class of 2022 group of guys. Ava Thigpen's calm demeanor won her the game over Rachel Thigpen's manic behavior and poor jury management in a 4-2 vote.

## Production

For winter break, the Thigpen family had a three screen free days from December 21 to December 23, 2021. In order to better pass the time, Jacob Thigpen and Thorin Groth posed the idea of having a second official tiny season on one of those days, allowing Susan Mallen to host the season for both of them, plus Cole Groth to play. Every Thigpen sibling would have at least one friend in the game to allow them to not be entirely left without allies in the game.

Originally, the season was meant to be eleven players instead of the eight that actually played. Ethan Scharf joined the cast on the day of the season being played despite it being his birthday, while losing Bella Anderson's boyfriend, Jeremy Thigpen's friend, and two of Rachel Thigpen's friends.

There was a twist planned around Christmas called "Naughty or Nice", in which the players would vote for someone to receive an advantage in Round 2 and a disadvantage in Round 3. Susie, however, forgot to do the "Nice" part of the twist in Round 2 and decided to cancel the "Naughty" part, although they did end up voting for Thorin to receive the punishment, which was never given out.

## Twists/Advantages

### **Twist**

* This season featured no twists, as the only twist was cancelled.

### **Advantage**

* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden in a closet. The last time it could be used was when there were five players remaining.

## Season Summary

*Sexy Host Extravaganza* began with multiple sides forming; Ava Thigpen and Bella Anderson as best friends; Cole Groth, Ethan Scharf, Jacob Thigpen, and Thorin Groth as a friend group; and Jeremy Thigpen and Rachel Thigpen, siblings and rivals who fell in the middle of the game. With Ava and Bella as the original targets, Jeremy and Thorin acted as alliance members for the two to not result in their paranoia. Ava winning immunity would bring Rachel into the side of the guys friend group to further secure the defeat of Bella. Although he was informed of the actual plan, Jeremy decided to vote alongside Ava and Bella to eliminate Rachel who the three found annoying, but it would be Bella who was eliminated in a 5-3 vote.

Bella's elimination would've led to an easy elimination against Ava, which was furthered by Ethan winning immunity for the round. The majority alliance would begin to lead a charge against Ava, but the inner guys alliance would step back to assess if they would rather eliminate Jeremy or Rachel, with Cole, Ethan, and Thorin additionally discussing a blindside against Jacob. Cole would take the charge against Jeremy, convincing him of the plan being Ava alongside voting with him. Everybody else (minus Ava, who was told by Thorin to vote Jacob for the sole purpose of spreading the vote out a little more) would target Jeremy for his likelihood to flip on the others down the line, on top of him already having a win. He would be voted out in a 4-2-1 vote, running out of the room before the final vote could be read.

The decision to spare Ava from the previous round would come back to haunt the majority, as she would go on to win immunity. At this point, the guys began replacing Jacob with Rachel, understanding him as the better player and finding a blindside against him to be funnier than a blindside against Rachel. Thorin began growing more of a target on his back from the jury due to lying to both of the previous jurors, pressuring the players to vote him out which would start to turn the tides against him. Cole refused to allow Thorin to be voted out at this point, convincing Jacob that they would be blindsiding Ethan. It would be Jacob, however, blindsided in a unanimous 5-1 vote, seeing Thorin as the reason for his elimination.

Mounting jury pressure on Thorin would result in him finally becoming a target of the tribe. Ava had hidden her idol with Bella, creating controversy between her and Thorin, who believed it was outside the rules to hide the idol with another player. The target on Ava's back was dissipated, flipping to both Rachel and Thorin. The two would fall into a tie vote, both players then attempting to convince the others of the deceptive nature of their opposition. Thorin would ultimately lose the fight, being eliminated in a 2-1 vote.

Following Thorin's elimination, the Final 4 challenge had to be replayed multiple times, with both Ava and Ethan doing well in every round, ultimately resulting in Ethan as the winner. Ava and Rachel worked together to finish off the Groth twins, needing to pull in Ethan on their side, while Cole pulled for Ethan to stay with him. Although he pushed for Ava, Cole would be voted out in a 3-1 vote after Ethan flipped on him.

For the Final 3, Ethan would be in desperate need of winning immunity, but would get defeated by both Ava and Rachel, with Ava ultimately pulling out the win to secure her spot in the Final 2. Knowing how Rachel was received by the jury and how it was Ethan's birthday, Ava took Rachel to the end.

At Final Tribal Council, Rachel was intensely grilled by the members of the jury for her constant disrespect of them, although she would receive credit from the Groth twins (her two biggest opponents) for her control of the game for longer over Ava. Despite Ava not making many game moves, she would be praised for being more likable than Rachel throughout the game. In the end, Rachel's unlikable jury perception would lose her the game in a 4-2 vote, with the Groth twins voting for Rachel to win.

## Trivia

* Susan Mallen was the first female host of any *Survivor Winter Park* franchise, following fifteen male-hosted seasons.