We Can Do Hard Things (S45: Episode 1)

We’ve got FORTY-FIVE members in the league this season...perfect for Season 45! We’d like to give a warm welcome to our league newbies, and a big shout out to all of our rockstar returnees. We are so glad you're here :)

What a bizarre season premiere. A DAY ONE QUITTER?!?! Is Lulu one of the lamest tribes we have ever seen?!?! ...And they took up the majority of the episode, leaving us with very little information to go off of for our draft!! I feel like we're all channeling Kendra when making our draft ranking:

But we ALL "can do hard things"...so let's see how the draft shook out!

Our Season 44 league winner and our two Sia Award winners (Peach, Amelia, and Nolan), all earned the opportunity to select their seed placement within the draft for Season 45. Peach didn't respond to the Tribemasters in time, so her draft selection was left to fate, whereas Amelia selected the #10 seed and Nolan the #12 seed. All other members were entered into a randomized generator to determine their draft placement (including Peach, who lucked out with the #1 seed). Based on the size of the league and the number of castaways remaining after Episode 1, each castaway could be drafted onto a MAXIMUM of 14 peoples’ tribes.

HOW SEASON 45 CONTESTANTS WERE DRAFTED

Our most popular picks were Austin and Katurah who were both fully drafted before the end of round 2 draft picks! Austin most likely was a popular pick because he's almost guaranteed to gain his tribes points after finding the Beware Advantage. Katurah seemed to have a great edit, playing her "I'm not telling anyone I'm actually a lawyer" card very well. Is this a sign that she could be good at keeping secrets?

Closely trailing Austin and Katurah were Sabiyah and Kaleb, who definitely received the most visible edit in Episode 1. Both Sabiyah and Kaleb were strong in the marooning challenge, failed the Sweat vs Savvy challenge, but then did their best with a lame tribe during the immunity challenge. They seem to have already been targeted as a powerful duo, let's hope they are able to manage their treat levels!

Our least popular pick this season (and least popular draft pick of all time!!) was Emily, who did not get drafted until round 5 and was only drafted to 5 tribes. Her bad attitude and odd choice at calling out some of the competition clearly didn't resonate well with our league. She was also ranked last by 16 different league members...ouch!

Brandon was drafted only slightly higher than Emily. His poor performances in all of the challenges and his choice to sweep the ground with Hannah when a shelter needed to be built definitely contributed to his low ranking. He only made it onto 9 tribes and was ranked last by 15 different league members. So if you've been paying attention, 69% of our league ranked either Emily or Brandon at #17...ouch (again)!

After dropping the tribes into ChatGBT, we can confirm that there are no identical tribes! This should be fun! And for the first time ever, every league member has a tribe with five active Survivor castaways. (AKA no one drafted Hannah, who QUIT in episode 1). The league is improving!!! Good job all!

IMPORTANT: Below are your tribes. Of the 5 contestants listed as your "TRIBE," please send us your SOLE SURVIVOR* pick and your MERGE BONUS pick. Your Merge Bonus will only (officially) join your tribe if they are still in the game post-merge and will not collect points for you (if) until they are added to the tribe.

You must submit your Sole Survivor and Merge Bonus before WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4th 8PM EST. If you do not, we will default pick your first drafted contestant as your sole and your last drafted player as your alternate. PLEASE EMAIL your selections to survivorvukelulu@gmail.com.

Your Tribemasters,

Brian & Olivia