Leann Loses
Nov. 25, 2004
Intrigue swirls around Chris, the final male "Survivor."
(CBS) In an eleventh-hour shocker, Wisconsin research assistant Leann Slaby was voted off the island in Thursday's episode of "Survivor: Vanuatu."
The contestants gave thanks for email messages from home, but some of the women decided to abandon the all-women's alliance for Chris, the lone remaining man.
The remaining seven players battled each other for the $1 million prize.
Chris knew the only way he could remain on the island was to win immunity in the blindfolded puzzle challenge, during which the players were paired up with a loved one.
The first to complete the puzzle would win immunity. But Chris' efforts fell short, and Ami won immunity in tribal council.
Chris scrambled among the women hoping to forge a last-minute alliance. Convinced that he'd broken up the women's alliance, and created one for himself, Chris headed into tribal council.
This time, his efforts paid off, and Leann was voted off the island.
"Survivor" pundit Greg Feltes says wily but arrogant Ami needed to soften up a little bit or the jury of her peers would never select her to win a million dollars.
This was the last stand for Chris, the last man in the game. Winning immunity, worming his way into an alliance or going home were his only options, says Feltes.
"Survivor" remains the fourth most-watched show in America. Last week, 20 million viewers watched Ami destroy Chris and Chad's plan to weaken the women's alliance.
Scout had previously told the men she was going to vote for Eliza, whom she detests. But she flipped like a pancake and fell in line with the other women.
"We thought we had it all set," Chad told co-anchor Julie Chen during his morning-after interview on The Early Show. "Chris and I came up with a good game plan to break up the women's alliance, and we thought it was going to work till the very end, and Ami came along and kind of planted a seed of doubt in the women's minds that it would be good to keep one of the guys around or keep both of us around.
"And it was tough," he continued. "I mean, right up to tribal, we were pretty much set on it, and Ami went through and single-handedly dismantled (it)."
Of Ami, Chad said, "I don't know how, but she has this influence on the other women that was… You know, people couldn't say no to her. I don't know what it was. Like I said, she planted a seed of doubt and they thought, 'We got to do this.'"
Unaired insider video and a "Survivor" fantasy league are featured on the official "Survivor" Web site.
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