Cassandra Franklin is a contestant from Survivor: Fiji.
Little was shown of Cassandra at the beginning of the season but after the tribe switch, she formed a bond with Earl Cole and joined his and Yau-Man Chan's Syndicate Alliance. At the merge, her previous bond as alliance outsiders with Dreamz Herd from the original Moto tribe played a major part in the destruction of the rival Four Horsemen alliance. Cassandra eventually made it to the Final Tribal Council with Dreamz and Earl, forming the first ever African-American Final Three. She was ignored by the jurors for her perceived strategy of coattail-riding, joining Dreamz in losing unanimously against Earl.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Cassandra Franklin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She currently manages the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has been employed by the university for 23 years.
Franklin participates in events to raise funds and awareness for Minority Women and Children with AIDS and Breast Cancer Research. Additionally, she is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Southeast Communities Prevention and Intervention Program.
Franklin's hobbies include skiing, traveling and shopping. She describes herself as fun, warm and giving. She is very proud of her family, including her mother, Varie, who is retired and living in Los Angeles with Franklin's stepfather, Coleman. Her sister, Debra, resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Dr. Robert A. Williams, the pastor of the McCoy Memorial Baptist Church.
Franklin has been married for two years to her husband, Clif. Her birth date is April 19, 1964.[1]
Survivor[]
Cassandra was on the Moto tribe which dominated in challenges. Despite the tribe's long winning streak, Cassandra found herself on the outs of the tribe, along with Dreamz Herd, who she formed a long-lasting alliance with. Dreamz said that he and Cassandra planned to turn on Moto and join the Ravu members at the merge. This led to her fellow tribe member Alex attempting to persuade his alliance to be nicer to her and Dreamz, but they did not appear interested. Luckily, the one time Moto went to Tribal Council, Cassandra voted for Lisi Linares, received a vote from her ally Liliana Gomez, and Liliana was voted out. She, along with Boo Bernis and Stacy Kimball, remained on Moto after the Tribe Switch. Moto won the remaining challenges with the exception of one Reward Challenge before the merge. During the post-swap Moto, Cassandra was recruited into Earl's Syndicate Alliance due to her status as an outsider on the original Moto.
After the merge, her close ally Dreamz Herd flipped to her alliance, and she aided her alliance in eliminating the members of the rival Four Horsemen alliance. Specifically, on Day 30, she encouraged her alliance to split their votes between Alex Angarita and Mookie Lee in which Mookie was eliminated despite being the secondary target. Once she and her allies were the only ones left, they were forced to turn on each other. She tried to help Dreamz vote out Yau-Man Chan, but their first two attempts were thwarted by Yau-Man playing his Hidden Immunity Idol at the final six, and winning immunity at the final 5. On night 38, Cassandra, Dreamz and Earl Cole successfully voted out Yau-Man after Dreamz won immunity and reneged on his infamous Car Deal. With this, the trio became the only all-black Final 3 to date.
At the Final Tribal Council, Cassandra was critiqued from two jurors. Alex criticized her for using Stacy Kimball and disposing her when she no longer needed her. When Cassandra tried to defend herself, Alex yelled at her and told her to stop talking, and Lisi called her shoes the ugliest shoes ever and accused her of being greedy. In the end, Cassandra failed to win any jury votes and became the co-runner up of the season along with Dreamz, losing to Earl in a unanimous 9-0-0 vote.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moto | Chariots of Mire | Reward/Immunity | No | Won |
| 2 | Supply Ships | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 3 | Slip, Slide & Score | Reward | No | Won | |
| U Pick, I Chews | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
| 4 | By the Numbers | Reward | Yes | Won | |
| Crab Pots | Immunity | No | Won1 | ||
| 5 | Kung Fu Cannibals | Reward | No | Won | |
| Concentration | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 6 | Crosswalk | Immunity | No | Won | |
| 7 | Hot La Cross Buns | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Blind Rage | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 8 | So You Think You Can Meke? | Reward | No | Won | |
| Warrior's Choice | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 22 | |||||
| 9 | Bula Bula | River Rats | Reward/Immunity | Won | |
| 10 | Get Smashed Q&A | Reward | Won | ||
| Chimney Sweep | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 11 | Slosh Pit | Reward | Lost | ||
| Torched | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 12 | Hungry for Love | Reward | Lost | ||
| Twisted | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 13 | Keep On Truckin | Reward | Lost | ||
| Grapple Perch | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 14 | Fiji Braille Maze | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Hanging by a Thread | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Co-Runner-Up, Day 39 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 After winning the Immunity Challenge, Moto was forced to decide whether to keep their immunity at the expense of giving up their luxurious camp to Ravu. Moto decided to forfeit their immunity to Ravu and go to Tribal Council.
| |||||
| Episode | Cassandra's Votes |
Voted Against Cassandra |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Lisi | Liliana |
| 5 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 7 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 8 | Moto Tribe Immune | |
| 9 | Immune | |
| 10 | Edgardo | Alex, Edgardo, Mookie |
| 11 | Mookie | - |
| 12 | Alex | - |
| 13 | - | |
| 14 | Boo | - |
| Yau-Man | Yau-Man | |
| Jury Votes for Cassandra |
- | |
| Co-Runner-Up, Day 39 | ||
^1 In "I Wanna See If I Can Make a Deal", Yau-Man used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Cassandra's vote against him.
Post-Survivor[]
- On January 9, 2010, Cassandra attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
- On June 8, 2014, Cassandra attended the wedding of Rita Verreos.[2]
Trivia[]
- Cassandra was the oldest woman on the original Moto tribe and of Bula Bula, and was the oldest African-American contestant on Fiji.
- Cassandra is the second of five African-American women to reach the Final Tribal Council of Survivor after Vecepia Towery. They were followed by Sabrina Thompson, Tasha Fox, Laurel Johnson and Maryanne Oketch.
- Cassandra and Dreamz Herd are the first of six pairs to tie for the runner-up spot at the Final Tribal Council. The others are Lisa Whelchel and Michael Skupin from Philippines, Sherri Biethman and Dawn Meehan from Caramoan, Carolyn Rivera and Will Sims II from Worlds Apart, Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox from Cambodia, and Hannah Shapiro and Ken McNickle from Millennials vs. Gen X.
- By virtue of being both runners-up, both Cassandra and Dreamz were awarded $100,000.
References[]
| Survivor: Fiji Castaways | ||||||||||||||||||||
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