Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen is a contestant from Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Cambodia.
Originally from Cagayan, Kass is best known for her aggressive and polarizing strategic gameplay, her steely sarcasm, and her tense exchanges with various contestants. She is also notable for flipping on her majority alliance at the merge and her unpredictability at Tribal Council. Though she was widely disliked, her opportunism carried her deep into the game, and she was voted out at the Final Three only after what was widely deemed a miscalculation by eventual runner-up Woo Hwang.
In Cambodia, she was nicer, played a better social game and found herself on the dominant tribes, only going to Tribal Council once before the merge. At the merge, Kass and her alliance (the "Witches") found themselves in the extreme minority, and Kass was voted out due to her rivalry with fellow Cagayan castaway Tasha Fox and the majority's wariness of the possible re-emergence of her "Chaos Kass" persona.
Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com
Name (Age): Kassandra "Kass" McQuillen (41)
Season: Survivor: Cagayan |
Survivor
Cagayan
Kass was originally placed on Luzon, the Brains tribe, where she immediately formed a bond with David Samson. After the tribe lost the inaugural Immunity Challenge, Kass and David planned on voting out J'Tia Taylor, but Garrett Adelstein hatched a plan to vote out David for targeting him at the First Impressions twist. At Tribal Council, the tribe blindsided David, leaving Kass on the outs.
The following morning, Garrett and Spencer Bledsoe approached Kass about making an alliance in order to ensure a majority should the tribe go to Tribal Council again. Kass agreed, but did not see it as a binding agreement. After Luzon lost the next Immunity Challenge, Garrett conducted an open forum for the tribe to agree to vote J'Tia out for costing them the challenge. Tasha Fox did not approve of this and pushed to have private conversations. She later approached Kass in private and lobbied for her to vote with the women. At Tribal Council, Garrett claimed that it was Kass who had approached him and Spencer for an alliance in order to replace J'Tia and Tasha. This prompted Kass to vote against Garrett, blindsiding him and unknowingly flushing his Hidden Immunity Idol.
Though Luzon had a brief period of respite after winning immunity on Day 8, they found themselves at Tribal Council yet again after losing the Immunity Challenge on Day 11. The vote came down to Spencer, who was needed for challenge strength, and J'Tia, whom Kass and Tasha considered to be more loyal. The two decided to keep Spencer for future challenges, voting J'Tia out.
The next day, a Tribe Switch occurred, sending the three remaining members of Luzon to the new Aparri tribe. They found themselves in a position of power due to fractures amongst the old Solana members. At Aparri's only Tribal Council, Kass joined the rest of the tribe in voting out Alexis Maxwell.
On Day 18, The two tribes then merged into the new Solarrion tribe, with the post-switch Aparri members holding a 6-5 majority over the post-switch Solana members. However, Kass began to conflict with Sarah Lacina, who was torn between voting with her original Brawn tribemates (all of whom were on the opposing Solana Alliance) and the new Aparri Alliance. Kass, feeling shunned by the Aparri Alliance, was approached by Trish Hegarty, who offered to vote out Sarah if Kass joined the Solana Alliance. At Tribal Council, the Aparri Alliance targeted Jefra Bland. Kass, however, decided to join the Solana Alliance in voting out Sarah, making her the first member of the jury, promoting Spencer to angrily say "Kass, zero chance of winning this game".
Now officially allied with Solana, Kass aided in the eliminations of her former teammates. However, she was deliberately excluded in Tony Vlachos' plan to blindside LJ McKanas, along with Trish and Jefra. Despite this, Kass decided to remain allied with him and continued to vote against the old Aparri tribe. But when Tony again turned on the Solana Alliance and blindsided Jefra on Day 30, Kass grew irritated with Tony's constant double-dealing. She got into a confrontation with him the following morning, forcing Tony to reveal that he had found the Hidden Immunity Idol with "special powers", prompting Kass to plot against him.
After winning the following Reward Challenge, Kass and Spencer proposed to Woo Hwang to vote with them and Tasha in splitting the vote against Tony and Trish. Though Woo had agreed to the plan, Kass later changed her mind, believing Tony to be the perfect opponent at the Final Tribal Council due to his mismanagement of the jury. Because of this, Kass and Woo proceeded to rejoin Tony and Trish in voting out Tasha.
The next day, Woo confessed to Tony that he had considered aligning with Spencer and Tasha the previous night, noting that Kass was also in on the plan. Tony later confronted Kass, though he claimed to forgive her and noted that he planned on going to the end with her and Trish. Kass, unsatisfied by this, revealed this to Woo, causing him to doubt his own alliance with Tony. This angered Tony, and led Kass to conspire once again to break up the pair of Tony and Trish. In the midst of her plotting, Kass mentioned that she believed that Trish was a "goat," angering her and leading to a heated confrontation between the two women. At Tribal Council, Kass was spared due to Woo flipping and pulling Tony in with him, causing Trish to become the next member of the jury. After Trish's torch was snuffed and she walked away, Kass gave her the middle finger, shocking the jury (especially Sarah).
The next day, the Final Four were surprised by a visit from their loved ones, including Kass' husband. At the Immunity Challenge, Kass initially fell behind but managed to stage a comeback, winning herself immunity and eliminating Spencer. Realizing that there would be a Final Two, Kass and Woo agreed that voting Tony out was both in their best interests and agreed to take each other to the end. At the Final Immunity Challenge, Woo narrowly beat Kass by half a second to win immunity. Back at camp, both Tony and Kass pleaded with Woo, with Kass stressing her being less than popular with the jury after her move at the merge. At Tribal Council, Woo shocked everyone by voting Kass out, making her the ninth and final member of the jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, Kass questioned Woo for his decision to take Tony instead of her, stating that it would have been the better move to make. Kass cast her vote for Tony, whom she felt was more deserving to win the title of Sole Survivor.
Voting History
| Kass' Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Kass' Votes |
Voted Against Kass |
| 1 | J'Tia | - |
| 2 | Garrett | - |
| 3 | Luzon Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | J'Tia | - |
| 5 | Aparri Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Alexis | - |
| 7 | Sarah | - |
| 8 | Morgan | - |
| 9 | Jeremiah | - |
| 10 | Jeremiah | - |
| 11 | Spencer | - |
| 12 | Tasha | - |
| 13 | Trish | Trish |
| 14 | Spencer | Individual Immunity |
| Ineligible | Woo | |
| Voted Out, Day 38 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Tony | |
Cambodia
Kass was one of the twenty castaways chosen by the public to compete on the Second Chance season, Survivor: Cambodia.
Kass was a part of the Bayon tribe. Bayon won the first two Immunity Challenge's so Kass avoided going to Tribal Council. On Day 7, a tribe swap occurred and Kass along with Keith Nale, Ciera Eastin, and Joe Anglim were switched to the Ta Keo tribe. Ta Keo won the next three Immunity Challenges. Kass along with the along with the rest of the tribe minus Terry Deitz made a final five alliance. However, on Night 13, Terry told the tribe that he was leaving the game due to his son's condition. Kass, along with the others, hugged him and wished him luck. The next day, another tribe swap occurred and Kass along with Ciera remained on Ta Keo. They were joined by former Ta Keo's Abi-Maria Gomes, and Kelly Wiglesworth, Kass's cast mates from Cagayan Woo Hwang and Spencer Bledsoe, the latter whom she had a rival with in Cagayan and former Bayon Andrew Savage. After losing the Immunity Challenge Andrew targeted Spencer for elimination and Kass was happy because she wanted to vote Spencer out. However, Ciera told her and Abi to vote Woo out because he was too closely aligned with Andrew. Despite wanting Spencer out, she realized that Woo was a bigger threat so those 3 along with Spencer blindsided Woo.
On Day 17, the tribes merged with 13 players remaining. Kass attempted to strategize with Tasha Fox, but Tasha lied to her about the Bayon alliance as vengeance for Kass betraying her in Cagayan. Kass caught on to Tasha's deception, and tried to patch things up the next morning. Tasha admitted that she didn't trust Kass, and the two discussed their feud in front of the rest of the tribe. After the Immunity Challenge she and Ciera were targeted for trying to throw people under the bus. Kass was now in the minority alliance which consisted of herself, Ciera, Kelley Wentworth, and Abi. They targeted Tasha and knew that the majority alliance will split the votes so Kass tried to get Spencer on her side so they can get rid of Tasha. At Tribal Council, Kass and Abi voted against Tasha, the majority alliance split their votes between Kass and Ciera, Kelley voted against Kass and Kass was voted out in a vote of 6-4-2-1. She became the first member of the 10 person jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, Kass recalled when Spencer told her in Cagayan that she had "zero chance of winning the game" for betraying her allies, and why she should reward him for playing that same way; Spencer said it wasn't hypocritical as he had matured from his time in Cagayan, and Kass wished him well. Ultimately, she voted for Jeremy Collins who won in a unanimous 10-0-0 vote.
Voting History
| Kass' Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Kass' Votes |
Voted Against Kass |
| 1 | Bayon Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Bayon Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Ta Keo Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Ta Keo Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Ta Keo Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Woo | - |
| 7 | Tasha | Andrew, Keith, Kelley, Kimmi, Stephen, Tasha |
| Voted Out, Day 19 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Jeremy | |
Post-Survivor
- At the Stand Up to Cancer Auction, Kass purchased the puzzle from the Immunity Challenge she won.[2]
Trivia
- Kass is the oldest female member of the Luzon tribe and the oldest woman on Survivor: Cambodia.
- Kass is the highest placing member of the Luzon tribe.
- Kass is also the lowest placing member of the Orkun tribe.
- Kass is the first person in Survivor history to be the ninth member of the jury and vote between a Final Two at the Final Tribal Council.
- Kass is the first person since Erinn Lobdell of Survivor: Tocantins to finish in third place and be a juror.
- In Cagayan, every time Kass received votes at a Tribal Council, she only received a single vote.
- Kass lost 22 lbs. (10 kg) during her time in Survivor: Cagayan[3] and lost 8 lbs. during her time on Survivor: Cambodia.[4]
- Kass revealed on a Survivor Oz interview that she applied for Survivor: The Australian Outback, Survivor: Africa, and Survivor: Marquesas, but was redirected by Mark Burnett Productions to the casting process of CBS show: The Apprentice, where she turned down the offer.[5]
- Kass won the The Ozcars for best new villain in 2014[6] and best Interview in 2015.[7]
- According to a Reddit thread, Kass' favorite season with an original cast is Survivor: Pearl Islands while her favorite with Returning Players is Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.[8] Kass also revealed that her favorite season after Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is Survivor: Philippines.[9]
- Kass claimed that her least favorite season of Survivor was Survivor: Redemption Island because she didn't like the advantage that returning players had over the new players.[10]
- Kass believed that Teresa Cooper, who did not get enough votes to make it to the final cast, would be the winner of Survivor: Cambodia, viewing her as likable and cunning.[11]
- Kass is the first castaway to place 13th and be a member of the jury.
- Kass is the second person, following Lex van den Berghe, to be the last and first jury member in the two seasons she played.
- On both her seasons, Kass was on a green and orange tribe.
- Kass is so far the only returning player from Survivor: Cagayan to not become a finalist on any season they competed in.
References
- ↑ http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/214792/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/204270006433759/photos/a.206912209502872.1073741828.204270006433759/241836562677103/?type=1&theater
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32A7ZTrUgTM
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xooWA2RLimA
- ↑ http://survivoroz.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/kass-mcquillen-interview/
- ↑ http://survivoroz.com/2014/06/11/ozcars-201425-biggest-new-survivor-villains/
- ↑ http://survivoroz.com/2015/06/16/ozcars-2015-top-25-best-survivor-oz-interviews/
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/33ndpm/kass_ama/cqmjkj9
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/33ndpm/kass_ama/cqmjwbd
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/33ndpm/kass_ama/cqmk8u2
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/26/survivor-cambodia-second-chance-cast-video-shane-powers
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