This post contains spoilers for episode 6 of ‘Survivor’s 45th season, which aired on Nov. 1.
Unless it’s the final Tribal Council, a Survivor castaway never wants to see their name written on parchment at the voting ceremony. But it happens to most.
And there’s one player standing among the hundreds of contestants who’ve been booted from the CBS reality competition show as someone who received the most votes at one Tribal Council. And that’s Survivor 45’s Kaleb Gebrewold.
During Survivor 45’s sixth Tribal Council, Kaleb was essentially a dead man walking — or sitting. The 12 other castaways joined together to oust the self-proclaimed social and physical threat. But, thanks to his “Shot in the Dark” — the game-saving advantage introduced to the series in Survivor 41 — Kaleb’s game survived night 13.
Before host Jeff Probst read the votes, Kaleb revealed that he took the one-in-six shot at receiving immunity by sacrificing his vote. Jeff ultimately opened the parchment that read “Safe,” and every vote in the urn with Kaleb’s name was scrapped.
To say it was a fun Tribal Council is an understatement. The move will forever be etched in the Survivor history books as a truly epic moment.
All in all, Kaleb received 11 votes — Austin Li Coon also secretly sacrificed his vote that night to extend the life of his Hidden Immunity Idol. After we heard Jeff say ‘Kaleb does not count” 11 times, a revote took place, and Janani “J. Maya” Krishnan-Jha was eliminated instead. She caught 10 votes.
Kelley Wentworth held the record for years before Kaleb’s historic play
Three-time Survivor castaway and fan-favorite player Kelley Wentworth broke the record long before Kaleb was cast. As the season’s name indicates, Wentworth received another opportunity to win the $1 million when she joined 19 other veterans on Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance in 2015.
She had previously played on season 29’s San Juan del Sur in 2014, but considering she was the fifth voted out, season 31 was when she made a name for herself and evolved from “Kelly” to “Wentworth.” By day 21, Wentworth had become the biggest target of the merged tribe.
Nine of the 12 remaining castaways wrote her name down at the Tribal Council. But, to the shock of everybody (including her allies Ciera Eastin and Abi-Maria Gomes), Wentworth pulled out a Hidden Immunity Idol and used it on herself.
“You know what Jeff?” Wentworth said. “I may be on the bottom, but I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Lo and behold, Wentworth negated nine votes — the most someone had ever received to that point. Regardless, Andrew Savage became the second Jury member instead as the three women wrote his name down. Wentworth lasted until day 38, when she was ultimately voted out in fourth place.
Now, her record sits at third place as J. Maya also received more votes than her.