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Survivor 45 finalists reveal how they want to handle the jury

The entire cast also explains their jury strategy had they made it to the end.

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Published on December 15, 2023 10:15AM EST

Survivor games are won and lost at final Tribal Council. If you can’t articulate why you deserve the million dollars, then you likely won’t get it. If you can’t stroke the egos of the jury while simultaneously taking ownership for putting them there, then you likely won’t get their votes.

Playing to the jury is a complicated recipe featuring equal parts confidence and humility. Overcook or undercook either of those ingredients and your dreams of reality TV glory could be toast. So how do the final five of Survivor 45 — Jake O’Kane, Katurah Topps, Dee Valladares, Austin Li Coon, and Julie Alley — plan to address the jury should they make it to one of those final chairs for Wednesday’s three-hour finale on CBS? We asked them exactly that.

Just days before the game began, we spoke to the entire Survivor 45 cast and asked them their strategy and approach towards handling the jury, and you can see all their responses — even the people that quit! — in the video below.

Of course, while it’s fun to see how folks like Drew Basile and Kellie Nalbandian would have handled the jury, the answers that are most enlightening are from our final five, so here’s what they had to say about their jury strategy.

Jake O'Kane

“Dr. Frankenstein himself couldn't create a better monster for final Tribal Council. Being the background as an attorney, I have training. I might not have done the trial, but I've argued stuff in court. I have performed multiple different characters on stage. There is no better person to hit logos, pathos, and ethos than me. I'm going to be able to hit all those bells harder than anyone else here, and I'm going to be able to finesse that. I have more training in that than anyone else. So knock on wood, I'm getting to final Tribal Council. Knock on a lot of wood! I would 100 percent bet on me to win if I'm in final Tribal.”

Katurah Topps

“That final Tribal Council speech is just stroking these people's egos, right? It’s literally like ‘Keith was a s--- person. I wanted to get him out. He was a s---.’ But I'm going to have to look at Keith and be like, ‘I got you out because you were the biggest threat here. I knew if I didn't get you out, you would win this. I couldn't win sitting beside you.’ I’ll bring up a vulnerable moment that we shared together, and add another vulnerable moment that they haven't heard about that makes them be like, ‘Whoa, you've been living like this?’ And then cherry on top, make sure they see I had a plan from every single step of the game. ‘I had a plan coming into it, I executed it, and that's what got me here.’”

Dee Valladares

“This is obviously my opinion, but when people go on the show, they want to build their résumé so that they can have something to prove to the jury. But if I'm sitting next to two people that really f---ed over a lot of people and were not likable, I'm going to win. I don't care who it is, I'm going to vote for the person that I like the most. I'm not going to vote for someone that I don't like to win a million dollars when there's someone next to them that I like better than them."

“So the way I approach it is, one of my strategies into the game is having alliances with every single person, even the person that I normally wouldn't talk to or maybe just vibe with, I'm going to go into the game having a relationship with every single person and caring about them."

“Did we lose because of X person? Well, I'm going to make sure I sit next to that person and be like, ‘Hey, how are you feeling? I'm here to talk if you want to talk.’ Because people don't forget the way that you make them feel. And I think that sitting down in the final three, I will have my résumé because that is inevitably going to happen throughout the game, but I'm also going to connect with each and every individual in the jury. And I know that they're going to feel it because I'm going to be genuine about it. Yeah, there are going to be times that I'm going to lie in the game, obviously, but they're going to respect the fact that I lied to do this, and if I can keep my negative interactions minimal, I will. So that's my game plan.”

Austin Li Coon

“I'm sure when I'm up there, I'm going to be just so appreciative of being there. I know that everyone nowadays who's playing is a super-fan and [I will] really appreciate them, be very grateful, make them know that I'm grateful to be there, that they all played a great game, that I'm just happy to be a part of this. And just make sure that I don't steal their thunder and make them feel bad about how they played. And just really be appreciative, speak from the heart, and just be as kind as possible while spitting out the facts.”

Julie Alley

“I want to prove I earned it. I wasn't drug there. Even if it looked like I was a wingman, that was purposeful. I mean, that's my gift. My gift is to lay low and play that. But if that's a strategy, so give it props. So I guess I want to be able to call out and be like, ‘No, this is what I did. This is what I did. Hey, you remember that? I was on it. I knew it.’ So I guess it's gameplay."

“And I want to build on the relationships. I want to be like, ‘Come on, you know I was there. You and me. We were there on that and that and that. So yeah, I voted you out, but come on, do you blame me?’ I guess it's that, because that's what I would do. I mean, even if I don't like the person, you got to respect the gameplay. And I have the feeling everybody that's on this show right now respects the game. They've got to love the game. So I'm really hoping we go in and it's who deserves it.”

To see the entire Survivor 45 cast laying out their jury management strategies, check out the video above.

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