Survivor season 35: Why was Cole Medders voted out in 10th place?

Between his allegiance to the Healers, his dominance as a challenge threat and his hangry ways, Cole Medders was overdue to exit Survivor season 35.

In any episode between the third and eighth of Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, it would be perfectly acceptable and, quite frankly, expected to see Cole Medders voted out. His character arc started him out as a loveable hunk but quickly built itself into selfish secret-teller who thought of his best interests first. Still, with Joe drawing attention post-merge, why was Cole Medders voted out in 10th place?

There are a couple of factors into why he was voted out now over Joe and Mike, but primarily, it comes down to his challenge strength. With the Heroes and Hustlers teaming up against the Healers at the merge, it’s been a reverse Pagonging by the two pre-merge tribes of lower prominence. With Jessica and Desi going out before him, Cole stood as the strongest player among them.

In all honesty, Cole was the target of the post-merge majority since the first Tribal Council with all 12 players together. Instead of going after him directly, the fear of the majority was that Joe was going to play an Idol on him due to his strength. At the same time, Joe could have used his Idol on himself (which ultimately came true), so Option C, Jessica, became the blindside target.

Live Feed

Betsided

For key majority alliance members like Ben and Lauren, Cole’s selfish eating habits were a major determinant of his ultimate demise. Not only was he unwilling to eat less to the point of calling out others as lesser than him, but he was still overeating compared to others in a post-merge, one-tribe scenario where you have to blend in. As soon as that Idol was flushed, Cole was next out the door.

Not so fast, though! The reason he was targetted in the first place was that he was a challenge threat, and winning the second Individual Immunity Challenge secured himself another week of televised Survivor play, as he was the last player to hold his statue up on a 10-foot pole. You could tell how much everyone in the majority wanted Cole to lose that challenge, even though it was a simple process of elimination for the other Healers.

However, as Cole found himself secure for a vote, Joe actively annoyed the majority. Survivor season 35 episode 9, “Fear of the Unknown,” saw the editors try to make us buy into the idea that Joe was going home really hard. As he went on the episode’s reward, he was basically digging around every opportunity to secure another in-game advantage, such as an Idol clue in a cake or under a bean bag chair.

Related Story: Survivor: Ranking all 34 seasons

Before the Immunity Challenge, without an Idol, Joe really had no other choice but to go the “annoy everyone so they keep me in the game another round” strategy that many great Survivor heels have pulled off in the past. He called Ashley a goat, he argued with Chrissy; he did everything he could to make an ass out of himself, and the strategy actually paid off.

Once Lauren beasted out her Immunity win, Ben dictated to the majority that the votes would be split between Cole and Mike. Even though Ashley hinted at not wanting to be told what to do and Chrissy coming to Ben to want to get rid of Joe, Ben said what Joe wanted; Joe was so much of a pain that it was worth keeping him around to strengthen his own game.

As such, Cole became part of the ongoing Survivor season 35 story; his elimination served a smaller part of a larger story. In an episode that could have seen Cole come to terms with his greed and self-preservation to close out his early character arc, instead, his elimination will likely serve as a catalyst for a bigger move by Ashley and Lauren later in the game.

Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 34 Sole Survivors By Season

Cole Medders came into the game quietly, and he left it quietly, as well. No matter how much he tried to shrink his target, the fact that he came close to winning the first three Individual Immunity Challenges on his own proved to be his own demise.