Eagan native Eva Erickson made it all the way to the final three in Wednesday night’s “Survivor 48” finale. But she fell short of winning the $1 million and placed second behind lawyer Kyle Fraser.
The episode opened with a final five of Erickson, her day-one ally Joe Hunter, Fraser, Fraser’s secret ally software engineer Kamilla Karthigesu and physical education coach Mitch Guerra.
Erickson, who is the first openly autistic person to compete on “Survivor,” went into the combined reward and immunity challenge with an advantage in the game she won earlier in the episode. After an intense battle, Erickson came in second to Karthigesu, who spent most of the challenge in last place, but surged at completing the final puzzle.
In addition to immunity, Karthigesu won a reward of a meal including pasta and chocolate cake and could bring one fellow castaway. She chose Erickson, who was thrilled at yet another chance for her to eat.
Given the open relationship between Erickson and Hunter and the secret one between Fraser and Karthigesu, it was no surprise when Guerra was voted out.
The final four then went on to compete in the final immunity challenge, which Fraser won. That left him guaranteed with a spot in the final three and faced with the decision of picking one player he wanted to take along with him, leaving the other two to battle for the final spot in a fire-making challenge.
Fraser and Karthigesu realized that despite their close alliance, neither wanted to take the other to the final three, which meant Karthigesu was going to make fire. He then told Hunter he was choosing him. That left Erickson as the other fire maker.
The two women spent the afternoon practicing fire making. As Erickson repeatedly failed at generating a flame she began getting frustrated and starting crying. Fraser heard Erickson’s wails and told Hunter that he would instead take Erickson if it was going to be traumatic for her to compete in the fire challenge.
As he did the previous time Erickson had a breakdown on the show, Hunter ran over, hugged her hard and calmed her down. He told Erickson he would take her place in the fire-making challenge. Despite her tearful breakdown, Erickson committed herself to going ahead with the challenge.
“Joe is the most amazing human, he’s so selfless,” she said. “ But this has to be me. I have to learn to do this myself.”
Hunter sat down and went through the basics of how to build a fire with Erickson, who eventually got a flame going and then immediately proceeded to try again and spent the rest of the afternoon practicing.
At tribal council, Erickson immediately noticed the fire making station had different types of tinder than the ones she practiced with and she openly stared at it, trying to take in all the new materials. She later told host Jeff Probst that, prior to competing, she practiced making fire in the backyard of her apartment every day.
Once the challenge began, Erickson got off to a quick start and got a flame going. The idea was to build a fire strong enough to burn through a string stretched out about two feet above the base. Erickson methodically built and tended her fire and watched it grow almost to the point of a win.
But it died down and after some panicking, Erickson got back on track and built the fire back to a winning strength. Karthigesu, meanwhile, never even managed to get a flame going.
The final day of “Survivor 48” opened with the final three indulging in a feast. Erickson said competing showed her many things about herself that she never expected. Despite bringing an emotional toll, she said, the show also brought her great friends and great happiness.
“If there is anything I have contributed to season 48, it is heart,” she said.
Erickson had told her fellow contestants she was merely a hockey playing college student. She revealed to the final three that she’s also currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Brown University School of Engineering, which led Hunter to say that Erickson is almost a doctor at this point. (Fraser, who had previously told everyone he was a teacher, came clean and revealed he was a lawyer.)
Erickson was all smiles when she arrived at the final tribal council and held her own in the interrogation from the jury that followed.
When asked what her weakness was in the game, she said she didn’t think of her autism was a weakness, but it caused weaknesses in herself. When discussing voting based on relationships, she said she came into the show not expecting her social game would be so important. She went on to say that her alliance with Hunter is “one of the strongest duos to ever exist in ‘Survivor’ history.”
In her final address to the jury, Erickson said that it was an unprecedented season of “Survivor” and she deserved to be the unprecedented winner.
In the final vote, Erickson picked up nods from substance abuse counselor Mary Zheng and sales expert Star Toomey. Surgeon Cedrek McFadden voted for Hunter, with Fraser picking up the remaining five votes and winning the cash prize.
“Survivor 48” is now streaming on Paramount+.
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