The Cataclysm: Mayan Warfare

**The Cataclysm: Mayan Warfare** is the 34th season of the fictional reality competition series *The Cataclysm*. Taking place in the Tikal National Park in Guatemala, nine men and nine women 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.

## Format

* **Exemption Challenge:**The Cataclysm's immunity challenge. The winners of this challenge are exempt from elimination.
* **Commander:** The Commander gets to nominate players to face the voting ballot.
* **Final Challenge:**The finalists are determined in a Final Challenge, where the remaining contestants compete in a multi-level final competition that determines who advances to the end. In this season, the remaining four contestants compete to earn one of two final spots and the losers become the final members of the jury.
* **Ballot:**The Cataclysm's elimination round. Those nominated to face the ballot risk being eliminated.
* **Medallions:**In addition to the **Resurrection Medallion**, the other medallions available to use are: the **Fire Medallion**, which allows the holder to instantly nominate a player for the ballot, and the **Chaos Medallion**, which allows the holder to erase the ballot nominations and leave all the players up for elimination, excluding the holder of the chaos medallion and the exemption challenge winner.

## New Twists/Changes

* **Commander Challenge:** New to this season, the first challenge of Mayan Warfare is the Commander Challenge. The winner of this challenge instantly nominates a player to face the Mayan Duel.
* **Exemption Challenge:** The Exemption Challenge during Mayan Warfare excludes the Commander and their nominee and is where the other contestants compete to earn exemption from the voting ballot.
* **Voting Ballot during Mayan Warfare:** The remaining contestants all face the voting ballot and the person who collects the most votes competes in the Mayan Duel.
* **Mayan Duel:** In Mayan Warfare, the Mayan Duel is the elimination round. The Commander's nominee and the person who receives the most votes in the ballot face each other with the loser being eliminated.
* **Medallions:** Medallions do not come into play until the Solo Stage this season.

## Episode Progress

Legend
 Runner-Up
 SAFE
 LOW
 BTM
 DUEL
 ELIM

## Notes

* On Episode 8, Manuel played the **Resurrection Medallion**, thus removing his name from the voting ballot. Also, Joshua and Madeleine competed in a tiebreaker duel in the voting ballot, which Joshua lost and was eliminated.
* On Episode 12, Archie played the **Resurrection Medallion**, thus removing his name from the voting ballot.
* On Episode 14, Carolina and Madeleine competed in a tiebreaker duel in the voting ballot, which Carolina lost and was eliminated.

## Season Summary

The 18 new contestants arrive at the camp site where they learned of the Mayan Warfare twist. They also competed in the first Commander Challenge immediately after learning the rules, which was won by Madeleine. She decided to nominate a player who didn't perform well in the challenge as she believed they would have less chance of winning the duel. As a result, she nominated Haniko. Dana and Manuel won the first Exemption Challenge sparing themselves from the voting ballot. For the remaining contestants, the majority decide that targeting weaker players who are unlikely to retaliate is the best choice and Bella was nominated for the duel. In the first Mayan Duel, Bella defeated Haniko thus eliminating her. Manuel becoming Commander next led to Bella facing the Duel for the second round in a row. With Fabian, Josephine, and Santino exempt, Latrell and Paisley each approach Carolina and Giulia about targeting a vulnerable strong contestant to prevent either from getting nominated. They collect the votes to nominate Joshua. Josephine winning the next Commander led to Fabian getting nominated as he started to rub contestants the wrong way with his behaviour. The other contestants use this as a way to target Manuel, who has won challenges both rounds.

Santino became the next Commander and with his ally Sean, they decided to target the friendship of Lydia and Madeleine. The remaining voters decided to follow suit and both girls were nominated for the duel, which Lydia lost and was eliminated. Madeleine subsequently aligned with the next Commander Manuel, deciding to target the alliance of Santino and Sean. Sean was nominated in the ballot and ended up losing in the following Mayan Duel. Koby won the next Commander Challenge and decided to target Manuel, believing he'd be a threat in the Solo Stage. The alliance of Latrell and Paisley made a deal with Santino to help him stay out of the Duel by shifting the votes to Josephine by convincing others that she'd send Manuel home. The plan was successful and in the Mayan Duel, Manuel sent Josephine home. Archie won the last Commander Challenge, and with this win he formed an alliance with his friend Francis and outsiders Carolina, Giulia, and Joshua. He nominated Santino for the Mayan Duel. In an effort to get rid of a threat before the Solo Stage, the majority of voters nominated Manuel for the Duel. In the last Mayan Duel, Santino lost and was eliminated.

The remaining 11 contestants learned that they had made the Solo Stage, had reached Jury, and would now play under classic game rules. They were also informed that Medallions were now hidden and playable in game. Dana won the first Exemption Challenge as Commander and nominated Joshua, Madeleine, and Manuel with the latter as target. Manuel managed to find and play a Medallion to save himself, leading to Joshua and Madeleine tying in the voting ballot. Madeleine defeated Joshua in the tiebreaker duel, thus eliminating Joshua. Francis became Commander next and nominated Dana, Madeleine, and Manuel. Without any sort of protection, Manuel was voted out of the game.

Francis being Commander for the second time in a row led to Dana and Madeleine being nominated again with Latrell being in danger for the first time. In order to save him, Latrell and Paisley worked with Madeleine and Koby to secure the votes to eliminated Dana. To prevent a tie, Koby helped by convincing Carolina to vote for Madeleine. Ultimately, Dana was blindsided and was voted out of the game. Koby then won the following Exemption Challenge and targeted the alliance of Archie and Francis. Francis was then voted out. Latrell won his first challenge of the season and became Commander next. Nominating his remaining rivals: Archie, Carolina, and Giulia was intended to get Archie out, however Archie playing a Medallion saved him and ensured Giulia was next to leave. Madeleine won the next Exemption Challenge and spared Latrell and Paisley from the voting ballot. Seeing an opportunity to blindside a major threat before Final Challenge, Paisley voted with Archie and Carolina to eliminate Koby. Latrell became the last Commander and nominated Archie, Carolina, and Madeleine. Latrell wanted to use the opportunity to eliminate Madeleine as he saw her as a threat. When Paisley expressed doubt, Latrell believed that Paisley had turned on him and was planning to reach the final two with Madeleine. Madeleine and Paisley decided to vote Carolina knowing the votes would tie and that she would be easier to beat in a duel than Archie. The plan succeeded and Carolina was eliminated.

Archie, Latrell, Madeleine, and Paisley reached the Final Challenge where they had to compete to earn a spot in the final two. Knowing that Latrell had figured her out, Paisley formed a solid deal with Madeleine to work together throughout. Archie was eliminated in Part 2 of the multi-stage challenge and was eliminated. In the last part of the Final Challenge, Latrell was eliminated and became the final member of the jury. Madeleine and Paisley became the final two and plead their case to the jury of nine as to why they deserved to win. Madeleine gave a passionate speech about "having her back against the wall the entire game" and never giving up in the season. Paisley gave an honest speech about "being the exact opposite of Madeleine" and that with her alliance with Latrell, was able to play a very under the radar strategy early on and became a power player as the game progressed with her control over votes and forming alliances. While the jury praised them both for their styles of gameplay, Paisley received a bit of flak from her allies in Latrell and Koby. Koby in particular was upset about "being used" by her and Latrell felt "betrayed by her when she didn't need to do it." Latrell also openly questioned if Paisley would have played the same game if she hadn't been aligned with him throughout, which Paisley answered yes to. Paisley however had Dana and Francis come to her aid, who both believed "she did what we all wanted to and got us to take out each other." Dana also said there was a reason she was never nominated or targeted. Ultimately, Paisley George won in a 6-3 vote.