The Survivor 44 final 5 speak!

Dalton Ross
·6 min read
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The Survivor 44 final 5 speak!
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And then there were five. Lauren Harpe, Carson Garrett, Carolyn Wiger, Yam Yam Arocho, and Heidi Lageres-Greenblatt made it all the way to the Survivor 44 finale night. And all that separates each of them from a million dollars are two challenges, one fire-making competition, and eight jurors drunk on power as they decide on whom the coveted title of Sole Survivor shall be bestowed.

Two members of the final five will become members of the jury themselves. Two others will become runners-up during the final Tribal Council. And one shall have their name engraved into immortality next to legends of the game like Cochran and Fabio. All shall be revealed on tonight's three-hour finale and after-show airing on CBS.

But before all that happens, we had a few questions for the final five ourselves and asked Lauren, Carson, Carolyn, Yam Yam, and Heidi to send their answers back on parchment. Very big parchment.

Carolyn Wiger, Lauren Harpe, Yam Yam Arocho, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, and Carson Garrett on 'Survivor 44'
Carolyn Wiger, Lauren Harpe, Yam Yam Arocho, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, and Carson Garrett on 'Survivor 44'

CBS Carolyn Wiger, Lauren Harpe, Yam Yam Arocho, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, and Carson Garrett on 'Survivor 44'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your favorite non-game-related interaction you had with someone out there over your first 23 days?

LAUREN HARPE: My favorite non-game-related activities were my meditation sessions on the island with Jaime and talking about praise and worship with Carson. Jaime's positivity was so refreshing and contagious! She shared that her incorporation of yoga and meditation helped her to improve her mental well-being and awareness.

I had never tried yoga before, yet I feel that it really helped me to get focused on what was ahead of us each day. Her sessions helped me to relax during the most stressful times. I also LOVE Maverick City Music… so when I found out that Carson was a fan as well, it really helped to solidify our relationship and made me love him even more!

CARSON GARRETT: Oh, man, I just loved watching the messy dynamic of Carolyn and Danny going at it ALL THE TIME. Carolyn and Danny were polar opposites. It was like mixing hot and cold wind... you make a tornado.

Their rift obviously started with the Sanctuary journey, where I'd argue — at least for them — bad things happen. They had beef from the get-go, so watching them interact was peak comedic relief when we were all on one beach.

CAROLYN WIGER: All anyone wanted to talk about out there was food. I HATED it. It always just made me even more hungry. But ya gotta fit in sometimes, so I'd be like screw it, let's talk about cannolis! So I'm sharing my latest cannoli recipe with Carson and I hear Danny yell, "No, that's not a cannoli!"

Anyway, that just annoyed me because I was trying to sound cool talking about recipes and cannolis, but clearly had no idea what a cannoli was.

YAM YAM AROCHO: First of all, my mom wants everyone to know she is very hot!

But back to the question... Being at Tika for the first half of the game was such a joy! That first day we took the boat out (sooo heavy, we never took it out again!) was so special. Carolyn and I insisted on taking it out on a joy ride… Carson and Helen joined in. Carolyn jumped into the water with my Tevas and didn't stop asking us in her Cher/Goofy voice: "Come on, guys! How grateful are you? I'm so grateful!" It definitely connected with the kind of game and experience I wanted to live out there!

HEIDI LAGARES-GREENBLATT: I have two favorite non-game interactions. With Danny, it took place pre-merge (in our Soka times). We used to watch the sunsets together and talk about our families, friends, and about our stories. Many people never got to see why I had a connection with Danny, but what started as a strategy for me, to use Danny as a shield, ended up as a true personal connection beyond the game.

With Jaime, it was also when she became part of Soka. We had a fish reward that was never shown. That reward challenge gave us an opportunity to bond just the two of us (while everyone else was busy with other camp tasks); we cleaned the fish together, cooked together, made the fish bone broth together and we were able to bond on a personal level. Jaime is a bright energy, and we shared our backgrounds of navigating American life as Latinas (with her parents' background and me as first generation in the States). Jamie and I were never really on the same side of this game, but that night connected us forever beyond the game.

The final 5 of 'Survivor 44'
The final 5 of 'Survivor 44'

CBS The final 5 of 'Survivor 44'

Of the six people already on the jury heading into the finale, who was the biggest threat to win the game and why?

LAUREN: I think the biggest threat of the people on the jury is Frannie. Her smile and laugh alone could get her all of the votes!  She was a physical threat, had great intuition, a great social game, and was very strategic. I love her so much, but I believe that she could have had an upper hand over me. Frannie was such a force!

CARSON: Oh, this is a tough one, but I would go with the true triple threat: Frannie. She was a strategic, social, and challenge beast. Frannie was multifaceted on so many levels; not only could she carry a deeply personal conversation, but she also had a very impressive grasp of the strategic complexities of the game. She became such a rootable threat, I was terrified if I didn't take her out at the time I did, I might not be able to down the line. Her vote-out was certainly a pivotal time in the game for me.

CAROLYN: Felicia.

YAM YAM: As a player, I saw them all as threats! All of them had to go! But it was Jaime and Frannie that scared me the most!

Jaime was thinking nonstop about possibilities to get to the end… NONSTOP! You could see in her face how she was constantly processing ideas and scenarios. And she was well-connected with a lot of people, not only with Ratu because of tribe loyalty, but with other people too. Her energy made her connect with everyone. She was well-loved by all. Such an amazing soul!

The other one would be Frannie. Had she continued to win immunities it would have allowed her to connect with more people. Everyone saw her as the one to beat… such a juicy target! That's why voting her out was what we had to do.

HEIDI: Our cast is so amazing, it is very hard to just select one person. I never underestimated anybody in this game. The people that were seen as big threats were picked off the island very much because of that: They were threats. Brandon, Frannie, Danny — and BTW [by the way], two of them were my shields. I think the most dangerous people on the jury would have been the ones playing similar games to me, the non-flashy people who were playing the game mega hard and smart, but were not seen as threats! I can speculate those people are Matt and Kane.

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