‘Survivor’ 45: Utah principal Sean Edwards has made a shocking departure
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After making it out of the Lulu Tribe unscathed, Utah principal Sean Edwards threw in the towel on “Survivor” 45 in a move host Jeff Probst described as “basically engineering a quit.”
Season 45’s Lulu Tribe (yellow) has experienced one disaster after another. The tribe’s failure to complete challenges paired with three consecutive weeks in tribal council was unprecedented.
It’s also unusual that Edwards is the second original member of Lulu Tribe to quit during tribal council — meaning two of the four recently eliminated contestants left of their own accord.
The first to quit was Hannah Rose, a 33-year-old therapist from Baltimore, who felt guilty maintaining a coveted spot on the reality series when she lost all desire to stay on the island. Rose was eliminated during the first tribal council.
As the Lulu team’s numbers dwindled, Probst announced at the start of Episode 4 that the tribes would have a makeover. In a random rearrangement, the three remaining members of the Lulu tribe were split up between different teams.
Despite fresh faces and new energy, yet another original Lulu member ended up packing his bags.
Edwards put up a fight. At the start of tribal council, he boasted about his strengths, his loyalty to his newfound tribe and commitment to the game. He was certain he could maintain a position on the show.
“I absolutely did not think it was going to me. I thought it was going to be Sifu the whole time. I had many conversations with Dee, Julie, and J about the vote, and I felt very reassured, very confident that Sifu was going to be the vote that night,” Edwards told Entertainment Weekly.
Then in what felt like an abrupt turn of events, Edwards got emotional and asked his teammates to vote him out.
“I know how bad that all four of you really want this. I don’t want to take your dream away from you because this — it’s not mine and I’m at peace with that,” Edwards told his tribe through sobs. “So respectfully, I would kindly ask that when you vote tonight that you write my name down on the parchment.”
The Reba tribe obeyed Edwards’ wishes and sent him home.
Despite asking his tribe members to “really and truly write (his) name down,” Edwards has since expressed regret over his premature departure.
“I’ll be honest with myself and with everyone else, that there definitely is an intense feeling of regret about my decision. And it’s OK to have regrets,” Edwards told Entertainment Weekly.
“I have no expectation that anyone can understand why I did what I did, because my decision was extremely personal. No one has lived a day in the life of Sean, and so I don’t expect other people to understand it,” he added.
Edwards is still grateful for his coveted opportunity to play on “Survivor” and expressed positive feelings about his time on the island.
“I cannot express with enough gratitude, my entire experience through ‘Survivor,’” said Edwards, per Entertainment Weekly. “I just am relishing in that because I got to do this thing that I’ve always wanted to do. And looking back, like I said, I wish I would’ve maybe just had a different mindset about it.”
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The ‘Survivor’ 45 cast
“Survivor” Season 45 premiered on Sept. 27 on CBS. This year’s 18-person cast features competitors from ages 23 to 49, including three lawyers, a therapist and an investment analyst. There are just 14 participants left — Hannah Rose, Brandon Donlon, Sabiyah Broderick and Sean Edwards, all original Lulu tribe members, have been eliminated.
Below is a brief look at the “Survivor” Season 45 cast list, per Entertainment Weekly. The tribes have been rearranged; they are now as follows:
Belo Tribe (blue):
Austin Li Coon, 26, from Chicago, Illinois.
Brandon “Brando” Meyer, 23, from Seattle, Washington.
Drew Basile, 23, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Kendra McQuarrie, 31, from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Emily Flippen, 28, from Laurel, Maryland.
Lulu Tribe (yellow):
Bruce Perreault, 47, from Warwick, Rhode Island.
Jake O’Kane, 26, from Boston, Massachusetts.
Kaleb Gebrewold, 29, from Vancouver, Canada.
Katurah Topps, 35, from Brooklyn, New York.
Kellie Nalbandian, 30, from New York, New York.
Reba Tribe (red):
Dee Valladares, 26, from Miami, Florida.
Janani Krishnan-Jha, 24, from Los Angeles, California.
Julie Alley, 49, from Brentwood, Tennessee.
Nicolas “Sifu” Alsup, 30, from O’Fallon, Illinois.
Eliminated:
Hannah Rose, 33, from Baltimore City, Maryland.
Brandon Donlon, 26, from Sicklerville, New Jersey.
Sabiyah Broderick, 28, from Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Sean Edwards, 35, from Provo-Orem, Utah.
