Topic: S32: Michele Fitzgerald (Beauty)

[Leafsfan.]

Michele Fitzgerald



Name (Age): Michele Fitzgerald (24)

Tribe Designation: Beauty

Current Residence: Freehold, N.J.

Occupation: Bartender

Personal Claim to Fame: My time at Rock the Earth, where I toured and worked with bands raising money for environmental issues. I was able to travel, listen to amazing music and educate people about important causes.

Inspiration in Life: Harry Potter. His character chose bravery in the face of darkness and adversity. I appreciate anyone who overcomes obstacles without pitying themselves for being dealt a bad hand. Plus, magic.

Hobbies: Travelling, reading and rock climbing.

Pet Peeves: Overpriced alcohol, close talkers and self-important people.

3 Words to Describe You: Quirky, charismatic and adventurous.

If You Could Have 3 Things on the Island What Would They Be and Why? My journal to remind myself of my past and to keep track of my future, a Harry Potter book for a little entertainment, and my sister (does she count?).

SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Parvati. She was able to read people and form alliances that took the spotlight off of her. She took respectable chances, never silenced herself to get further, and dominated in challenges.

Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: The adventure junky in me wants take myself out of my comfort zone, but ultimately, I'm applying to win. It's all about the money, honey! My car shakes at any speed over 50mph so I desperately need to replace that tin can.

Why You Think You’ll “Survive” SURVIVOR: My positivity. I wouldn’t let anything dampen my spirit. Enthusiasm is electric, and that attitude would shape the tone around camp. I may be a Jersey girl, but don't let that fool you. I have no problem roughin' it.

Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I’ve watched every season, so I know what it takes to be successful on this show. Using my charm, I think I can build strong relationships and lead an alliance without being viewed as aggressive. My social awareness will help me understand and use people's strengths, weaknesses and motives to my advantage. I'm not gonna play on the sidelines. I want to make big, badass moves that will get me further in the game, and have fun doing it.

[Ryan]

She is my HP-loving queen <3 SLAY LADY!

[RealityFreakWill]

Survivor: Kaoh Rong - Meet Michele Fitzgerald

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/rGtg5p2tMyU" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/rGtg5p2tMyU</a>

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My fav in terms of looks! 

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Following Episode 1: Michelle's experience as a bartender probably makes her very adept at the social elements. She and the other two women in her tribe are the three youngest members of their tribe and appear to be more naturally bonded than the men, so it would appear that the women of this tribe could dominate in voting. She appears to be the most down-to-earth conduit for interacting and plotting with any of the men.

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Following Episode 2: Michele was not featured much, as the Beauty tribe as a whole appears to be getting along in a refreshing "Kumbaya" style. She had some interesting confessionals to the camera, and like the rest of her tribe appears to have welcomed Tai back into good graces.

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Following Episode 3: This tribe remains the most harmonious, which led to another challenge victory. Michele, Anna, and Julia appear to be a solid three who will control any potential vote.

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Following Episode 4: The women of the Beauty tribe appear to be in the tightest alliance among the remaining 13 castaways. They also seem to be capable of making new alliances following the impending tribal reconfiguration. The loss of Caleb is an emotional blow, yet it should make each of them stronger. They have yet to face tribal council. If they are divided, the audience will finally get to see at least one of them plot and scheme in advance of tribal council. They should make natural connections with most of their new tribemates. None of them could be perceived as a threat or loose cannon. So it is likely that Michele, Anna, and Julia will reach the merge.

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Michele Fitzgerald (new Chan Loh, formerly in "Beauty")
Following Episode 5: Michele was cut off from her former allies Anna and Julia, and she will soon learn that Anna is no longer in the competition and Julia endured a physical toll while isolated on the To Tang beach. She will finally have to go outside of her comfort zone, and her only former "Beauty" tribemate with her, Nick, appears to have a personality that could turn people off to him and, by extension, her. The only good news is that she is on a tribe that should physically and mentally dominate challenges. ...How much did the reconfiguration hurt or help Michele's chances (scale of 1 to 10, 1 hurt very much, 10 helped very much)? 3.

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Following Episode 6: Michele will benefit the most from the upcoming merge. Despite Debbie's words of encouragement indicating how she would work to see a woman win the competition, Michele was clearly last in the pecking order of the new Chan Loh tribe and would have suffered a similar fate as her former ally Anna if she had struggled in the immunity challenge as much as she did in the reward challenge. I liked her verbalizing her thoughts against allowing a man -- her only long-term ally on the tribe Nick – dictating to her what she should do without taking her concerns under consideration. She wants to make a big move. So far, there has been no need, as her and Nick are the only two castaways who have yet to face tribal council.

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Following Episode 7 (the merge): Michele continues to work with Nick while also revealing in private confessionals how she wants to play her own game and make her own moves. Out of the four original Beauties remaining, she seems to like the original Brawn the least, so she could be the first among the ten remaining contestants to vote against tribal lines. Yet she recognized that Debbie's antics make her a wild card that causes her apprehension and that Jason and Scot are so unlikeable that a final pairing with them would almost guarantee a victory in the vote for Sole Survivor. For now, Michele seems safe, since other original Beauties might garner more attention -- Tai for his idol, Julia for her alignment with Tai, Nick for his ability to win challenges.

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Following Episode 8: Michele deserves a little credit for being willing to snuff out the only close male ally she had. Yet, as noted under Nick, it shows that most of the voting strategy seems to be tied to momentary feelings rather than any in-depth endgame strategy. Clearly Michele was rubbed the wrong way by Nick for quite some time but tolerated him until it became apparent that too many others could not tolerate him. The problem for Michele is that the other women have at least one male ally, although Cydney might have lost hers for betraying Jason and Scot, so she will need to form new bonds if she wishes to make moves and impress a jury.

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Michele Fitzgerald (Final Five after Day 32 Tribal Council)
Following Episode 12: Michele has the greatest upward trajectory going for her at this point. While she remained a background player throughout most of the season, her performance in challenges in Episode 11 and in positioning herself as an instrumental member of the core alliance responsible for all the eliminations in the merged tribe portion of the game while also remaining the most likeable member of it -- starting with not overreacting to Scot and Jason's antics in Episode 9 the way most of her tribemates did -- has vaulted her to the status of serious threat to win, which Tai tried to sell in this episode. If she can engineer Aubry's elimination, she becomes the new favorite for title of Sole Survivor, which seemed unlikely just a few episodes ago. The only move on her resume which might give her trouble in front of the jury is why she cast a vote to eliminate Julia when that vote was not necessary. She spoke about loyalty at tribal council, which must have seemed hypocritical to Julia.

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Following Episode 13: Michele displayed her keen insight into interpersonal relationships when she talked frankly with Tai about his hesitancy to create relationships with everyone and how that drew ill will toward him from people like her. Michele's social game was not noticed much during the early stages of this season, since she was insulated within the strong Beauty tribe and even further within the women's alliance in that tribe. She was also benefitted by winding up on the strong Chan Loh tribe after the swap. So she did not have to go to tribal council until the merge into one tribe -- a distinction that only she and Nick shared. In a final two pairing with Tai, she would probably have friends on the jury in former beauty tribemates Julia and Nick and former women's alliance ally Debbie. The question is whether she would receive Aubry, Joe, and Cydney's votes. My initial thought is that she would, since they would respect her over Tai, since Tai sided with proverbial evil-doers Scot and Jason at times during the game. Yet Tai also turned the tables on them in a game-changing manner which might have earned their respect.
 
Likelihood of a final two vs. a final three: With Joe removed from the competition on Day 34 and four castaways entering the season finale episode, it is a near certainty that there will be a final two instead of a final three, since a final three would mean only one tribal council for elimination before the final tribal council to vote for the Sole Survivor, which would be a deviation from the traditional format of the season finale episode. Also, there would be a six-day lapse between the previous tribal council (Day 32, Jason's elimination) and the final tribal council for elimination (Day 38), which seems incongruous and unfair to the jurors who would have only attended six tribal councils leading up to the final tribal council to vote for the Sole Survivor.

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Following Finale: In a season that was light on strategizing and lacked compelling figures -- so much so that, for the first time in recent memory, Jeff Probst did not label it as "the best" or "one of the best" in Survivor history during the reunion show -- perhaps it is fitting that a background player throughout most of the season, who employed the worthy but otherwise unremarkable strategy of simply creating good relationships with everyone, wins the title of Sole Survivor. Michele's responses to the jury were fair enough, and her decision to abandon her closest ally Julia in favor of the alliance led by Aubry in order to eliminate Scot and then Julia was a turning point. She should not have been criticized for never having been forced to strategize in advance of tribal council until after the merge, since her and Nick were fortunate to be on tribes which never lost immunity. At the same time, she should not have been praised for appearing to raise her game late by winning challenges versus a thinned out field. When Probst commented during the reunion show about how the producers had contemplated adding the juror removal twist for seven years but never implemented it until now, it was a clear sign that the producers felt this was a weak season in need of a jolt. Michele played this advantage better than Tai or anyone else played ones they garnered, as she made the correct decision to remove Neal, who had vicious words for her on his way out and probably had the best chance of persuading jurors to vote for Aubry. Despite all the rhetoric from the jurors about demonstrating good gameplay, their votes seemed to more reflect their preconceived notions about their assigned labels of "Brains," "Brawn," and "Beauty" more than anything else. Perhaps the most prophetic words uttered by any castaway all season were by Jason in Episode 7 (the merge): "Beauty always goes with the jocks, always. It's just the way of the world." Michele garnered votes from her former Beauty tribemates Julia and Nick and from the former Brawn tribemates Cydney, Jason, and Scot, while Aubry garnered votes from former Brains tribemates Debbie and Joe. According to the majority opinion of the jury, making appearances trumped making moves, as Michele's outward displays of success was more impressive to potential swing votes -- likely Jason and Scot -- than the behind-the-scenes work of strategizing and building consensus done by Aubry.

[Marionete]

What a curveball. Did not expect her to win at all. I don't even know yet if I'm satisfied/happy with the result.

CBS upped their editing game 10 notches this season! Both for Survivor AND The Amazing Race.

[Ryan]

I'm very satisfied with a Michele win. Social game trumps all because at the end of the day, Survivor is a social experiment and a people-based game.

You can whip out three idols, strategically blindside a former ally, and win ten challenges, but if people aren't OK with losing to you at the end, they can easily vote AGAINST you instead of FOR you. Being nice isn't enough, you need just enough swagger with your kindness/gameplay, and Michele exceeded people's expectations.

So glad this beauty snagged the win, as much as I'd be satisfied with an Aubry win too.