It’s been a season full of backstabbing and betrayal, but the shockers on "Survivor: Blood vs. Water" will come to an end on Sunday night. Before host Jeff Probst gives away the $1 million prize to the last Survivor standing, it's time to look back at the best moments from season 27 — and there are plenty to choose from.
Rupert goes home first
Fans thought this could be the season that four-time player Rupert Boneham (and his signature tie-dyed shirt) might finally take home a win. However, Rupert’s game was cut shockingly short when, during the first episode, Probst announced that two players would be voted out immediately. After Rupert’s wife, Laura, was chosen to be eliminated, he decided to trade places with her, sending himself to Redemption Island. After losing a duel, he became the first person to leave the game, having never even had the chance to go to the island.
Jeff tells off quitter Colton
The last time sneaky Colton Cumbie played the game in season 24, he was carted off the island claiming he had appendicitis. Although he had vowed during the first episode of “Blood vs. Water” to show everyone a different side of himself, within days he was up to his old scheming ways and was unhappy that his tribe mates seemed more interested in becoming friends than backstabbing. By the third episode, he was in tears and told Jeff he wanted to go home. Probst uncharacteristically chewed out Colton for being a two-time quitter, and even accused him of faking appendicitis during “Survivor: One World.” After Probst said his piece, Colton left the game sobbing.
Candice flips Brad the bird at Redemption Island
Former pro football player Brad Culpepper certainly didn’t have many fans in the game of “Survivor.” After Candice Cody found out that it was Brad who orchestrated the vote against her husband, John, she decided to make her feelings about Brad known. As she and John were brought in to battle each other in a duel, Candice shot Brad the middle finger. It wasn’t the first time Brad had been called out by one of his fellow players. In an earlier episode, an angry Marissa Peterson screamed, “(Expletive) you, Brad Culpepper!” before her first Redemption Island duel.
Brothers Aras and Vytas face off after years of rivalry
As the only set of siblings competing on “Blood vs. Water,” the brothers Baskauskas brought a bit of rivalry to the island. Vytas, a former heroin addict, made no secret of the fact that he badly wanted to beat his golden-boy brother in the game. The brothers finally got to take out their years of aggression during a challenge in which they battled sumo-wrestler-style to knock the other off a platform. Although Vytas attempted to take a cheap shot at his brother, Aras prevailed.
Laura’s mouth gets her voted off
Laura Boneham learned the hard way that silence is golden when it comes to maintaining your alliance’s trust in the game of “Survivor.” Mrs. Boneham made one of the season’s most bone-headed moves when she chose to inform tribe mate Vytas that he would be the next to be voted off, without checking with her allies first. Her blab-fest turned her alliance against her and ended up costing her her spot in the game.
Ciera votes out her mother
It’s never easy to vote out a tribe mate, but it’s even harder when that person is the woman who gave birth to you. Ciera Easton was in tears after helping to vote her own mother, Laura Morett, out of the game. It was a move that Ciera hoped would help cement her place in her alliance, as well as give her points with the jury should she make it to the end of the game. While Laura later admitted she was “having a hard time” with her daughter’s decision, she did not appear to have any ill feelings toward Ciera.
The players resort to pulling rocks for safety
In the most buzzed-about scene of the season, Ciera turned what should have been an open-and-shut tribal council on its head when, after being convinced she was at the bottom of her alliance, flipped sides at the last moment, creating a deadlocked vote between her former allies and outsiders Hayden Moss and Katie Collins. After Tyson Apostle’s unsuccessful — and very loud — attempt to sway Ciera back to his alliance, three Survivors had to resort to pulling rocks out of a bag for safety. After Katie was eliminated, a stunned Probst exclaimed, "There are no words that can top what just happened.”
See if the remaining players managed to top any of that when the season finale of "Survivor: Blood vs. Water" airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS.