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Survivor: Cambodia (also known as Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance or simply Survivor: Second Chance in later seasons) is the thirty-first season of Survivor.

In a change to previous installments, Survivor fans were given the chance to vote for who would appear on the cast through an online public vote.

The season became highly regarded for its unprecedented degree of strategic gameplay, with long-term allegiances being largely eschewed as each player made the most of their second chance. The season also saw the first elimination by consensus when Kimmi Kappenberg was eliminated on Day 36. After 39 days of high-octane gameplay which also saw one evacuation, Jeremy Collins won the title of Sole Survivor in the series' fourth unanimous jury vote, defeating Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox in a 10-0-0 vote. To date, it has produced five returning players (Ciera Eastin, Jeff Varner, Jeremy Collins, Joe Anglim, and Kelley Wentworth) for subsequent seasons.

Production[]

On May 6, 2015, an announcement was made that for the first time in Survivor history, fans had the ability to vote for and assemble the cast for the next season. Through social media, fans voted for ten men and ten women from a pool of 32 former castaways, each of whom had played only once.[2] Voting ended one hour into the Survivor: Worlds Apart finale, where all of the nominees were present at the Reunion Show with their luggage already prepared for filming.

The final roster of 20 was revealed at the end of the show, and were flown to Cambodia immediately afterward. It should be noted that this season was 32nd to be produced, but the first to be aired, while the 31st season to be produced, Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, was pushed back and slated as the 32nd season to air.

Filming commenced in May 31, a date which also marked the 15th anniversary of the series' debut episode, "The Marooning".

Ponderosa was filmed at Sandy Beach Bungalows, located on the neighboring island, Koh Rong Samloem.[3][4]

The pre-merge contestants were sequestered in Vietnam.[5]

Casting[]

According to Jeff Probst, some of the former players who declined the chance to come back to this season were Greg Buis from Survivor: Borneo, Elisabeth Filarski from Survivor: The Australian Outback, Ian Rosenberger from Survivor: Palau, Shambo Waters from Survivor: Samoa, and Jeff Kent and RC Saint-Amour from Survivor: Philippines.[6][7] Josh Canfield of Survivor: San Juan del Sur confirmed on his Twitter he was approached to return, but he had to decline because his Broadway contract wouldn't allow him to leave.[8] Jaclyn Schultz revealed on her Twitter account that her fiancé Jon Misch (also of San Juan del Sur) missed the call and opportunity to compete in Cambodia.[9]

Second Chance Vote[]

Immediately following the Survivor: Worlds Apart episode "Holding On for Dear Life", a shortlist of 32 candidates, all one-time, non-winner contestants, was posted on CBS.com.[10] Contestants were nominated from across 16 seasons, ranging from the first installment, Survivor: Borneo, to the most recent, Survivor: Worlds Apart. Fans were allowed to vote starting from the end of the said episode until the Worlds Apart finale.

At the time of the launch of the poll, two nominated contestants from Worlds Apart, Mike Holloway and Carolyn Rivera, were still in the game. Jeff Probst explained that if either one of them eventually wins their season and garnered enough votes to return, they would be ineligible to compete for this season, giving their spot to the candidate of their gender who garnered the 11th highest amount of votes.[11] This did end up being the case, with Mike winning Worlds Apart and finishing in the top ten. It is unknown which castaway was in 11th place in the public vote.

Second Chance Vote Results
Gender Cut from the Season Won Season
Men S31v brad bwS31v jim bwS31v max bwS31v shane bwS31v troyzan bw
Brad Culpepper, Jim Rice, Max Dawson, Shane Powers, Troyzan Robertson
S31v mike bw
Mike Holloway
Women S31v carolyn bwS31v mikayla bwS31v natalie bwS31v sabrina bwS31v stephanie bwS31v teresa bw
Carolyn Rivera, Mikayla Wingle, Natalie Tenerelli, Sabrina Thompson, Stephanie Valencia, Teresa Cooper

Twists/Changes[]

  • Returning Players: Twenty former contestants, all of whom have played only once and did not win the game, and whom were determined by public vote, returned for a second chance.
  • Hidden Immunity Idol: The Hidden Immunity Idols for this season will look different from each other, making it more difficult for the players to know if the idols are real or fake. Also, for the first time, the idols will be hidden in challenges, while the clues will be hidden at camp. This is an idea originally proposed by Entertainment Weekly columnist Dalton Ross.[12]
  • Challenges: The challenges for this season also featured the Second Chance theme, as production incorporated past challenges in which the cast has previously participated during their previous seasons, including some that they have lost before.[13]
  • Impromptu First Tribal Council: The tribe that loses the first Immunity Challenge will be immediately sent to Tribal Council after the challenge.
  • Tribe Expansion: For the first time since Survivor: Pearl Islands, a third tribe will be introduced after the start of the game, but before the merge. At the tribe switch, the contestants were split into three tribes instead of the expected two. The Angkor​​ tribe, wearing gold buffs, was introduced on Day 7 of the game.
  • Tribe Switch: On Day 14, a tribe switch occurred, simultaneously dissolving the Angkor tribe and mixing the castaways into two tribes of seven.
  • Early Merge: For the first time, the merged phase of the game commenced with thirteen players left in the game.
  • Vote Steal: Similar to Survivor: Worlds Apart, a player won the right to vote twice at the same Tribal Council, but this time while also preventing another player of their choice to vote.
  • New Jury/Finals Configuration: For the first time in Survivor history, the Final Three faced a 10-person jury.

Castaways[]

Contestant Tribe Affiliation Finish Votes
Against
Original Tribe Expanded Tribe Switched Tribe Merged Tribe
S31 vytas t Vytas Baskauskas
35, Santa Monica, CA
Blood vs. Water
Ta Keo 1st Voted Out
Day 3
6
S31 shirin t Shirin Oskooi
32, San Francisco, CA
Worlds Apart
Ta Keo 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
5
S31 peihgee t Peih-Gee Law
37, San Francisco, CA
China
Ta Keo Angkor 3rd Voted Out
Day 9
4
S31 jeff t Jeff Varner
49, Greensboro, NC
The Australian Outback
Ta Keo Angkor 4th Voted Out
Day 11
4
S31 monica t Monica Padilla
30, Queens, NY
Samoa
Bayon Bayon 5th Voted Out
Day 13
3
S31 terry t Terry Deitz
55, Simsbury, CT
Panama
Ta Keo Ta Keo Evacuated
Day 13
0
S31 woo t Woo Hwang
31, Newport Beach, CA
Cagayan
Ta Keo Angkor Ta Keo 6th Voted Out
Day 16
5
S31 kass t Kass McQuillen
43, Tehachapi, CA
Cagayan
Bayon Ta Keo Ta Keo Orkun 7th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 19
6
S31 andrew t Andrew Savage
51, San Jose, CA
Pearl Islands
Bayon Angkor Ta Keo 8th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 21
4
S31 kelly t Kelly Wiglesworth
37, Greensboro, NC
Borneo
Ta Keo Bayon Ta Keo 9th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 24
8
S31 ciera t Ciera Eastin
26, Salem, OR
Blood vs. Water
Bayon Ta Keo Ta Keo 10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 26
10
S31 stephen t Stephen Fishbach
36, New York City, NY
Tocantins
Bayon Bayon Bayon 11th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 29
9
S31 joe t Joe Anglim
26, Scottsdale, AZ
Worlds Apart
Bayon Ta Keo Bayon 12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 32
8
S31 abimaria t Abi-Maria Gomes
35, Los Angeles, CA
Philippines
Ta Keo Angkor Ta Keo 13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 35
14
S31 kimmi t Kimmi Kappenberg
42, The Woodlands, TX
The Australian Outback
Bayon Bayon Bayon 14th Voted Out
8th Jury Member
Day 36
9
S31 keith t Keith Nale
54, Keithville, LA
San Juan del Sur
Bayon Ta Keo Bayon 15th Voted Out
9th Jury Member
Day 37
4
S31 kelley t Kelley Wentworth
28, Seattle, WA
San Juan del Sur
Ta Keo Ta Keo Bayon 16th Voted Out
10th Jury Member
Day 38
17
S31 spencer t Spencer Bledsoe
22, Chicago, IL
Cagayan
Ta Keo Bayon Ta Keo Runners-Up 11
S31 tasha t Tasha Fox
38, St. Louis, MO
Cagayan
Bayon Angkor Bayon 8
S31 jeremy t Jeremy Collins
37, Foxboro, MA
San Juan del Sur
Bayon Bayon Bayon Sole Survivor 3

Season Summary[]

The 20 former players who were voted onto the season by fans returned to finish off what they started. They were initially divided into two tribes: Bayon and Ta Keo. On Ta Keo, a power struggle quickly formed between the "Beach People" and the "Shelter People", based around different approaches to playing the game, of which the former emerged victorious. Meanwhile, Bayon was led by a strong alliance spearheaded by Jeremy and Andrew.

Throughout the two tribe swaps the original Ta Keo tribe fractured; Ta Keo lost six of their members before the merge while the original Bayon tribe only lost one. However, original Bayon members Kass and Ciera were non-committal to Andrew's initial Bayon alliance, creating their own coalition on the second Ta Keo tribe. On the third Ta Keo tribe, Ciera and Kass' new alliance blindsided Woo because both believed that he would be too closely aligned with Andrew following the merge.

The tribes merged with the original Bayon outnumbering the original Ta Keo, 9-4. Though the Bayon Alliance initially held the majority, the tribe's large size and multitude of intertwining relationships as a result of the tribe swaps caused the players to eschew long-term alliances in favor of creating temporary voting blocs to eliminate common threats.

While the voting bloc strategy prevailed deep into the merge, a stable alliance began to form between Jeremy, Kimmi, Spencer, and Tasha. However, with six players remaining, Kimmi betrayed her alliance to align with outsiders Keith and Kelley. Kimmi was eliminated by consensus after the ensuing deadlock tie. This enabled Jeremy, Spencer, and Tasha to eliminate the remainder of the opposition an make it to the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Jeremy was praised for playing with honor and integrity, and Spencer was commended for making strategic moves, but both he and Spencer were criticized for their moments of arrogance while Tasha was castigated for doing Jeremy's dirty work and was accused for not making significant moves post-merge. Ultimately, the jury of ten unanimously voted for Jeremy to win the title of Sole Survivor, believing he played the best strategic and social game and made it to the end without being targeted until Day 36.

Episode Air Date Challenges Eliminated
(Vote)
Finish Viewers
(in millions)
Ratings/Share
(18-49)
Reward Immunity
1 "Second Chance" September 23, 2015 Ta Keo Vytas
(6-4)
1st Voted Out
Day 3
9.70[14] 2.5/8[14]
Bayon1
2 "Survivor MacGyver" September 30, 2015 Bayon1 Shirin
(5-4)
2nd Voted Out
Day 6
9.42[15] 2.4/9[15]
3 "We Got a Rat" October 7, 2015 None Ta Keo Peih-Gee
(4-2)
3rd Voted Out
Day 9
9.07[16] 2.0/7[16]
Bayon
4 "What's the Beef?" October 14, 2015 Angkor Bayon Jeff
(4-1)
4th Voted Out
Day 11
9.07[17] 2.2/8[17]
Ta Keo Ta Keo
5 "A Snake in the Grass" October 21, 2015 Ta Keo Angkor Monica
(3-2-1)
5th Voted Out
Day 13
9.10[18] 2.1/8[18]
Angkor Ta Keo
6 "Bunking with the Devil" October 28, 2015 Ta Keo Bayon Terry
(no vote)
Evacuated
Day 13
8.48[19] 2.1/7[19]
Woo
(4-3)
6th Voted Out
Day 16
7 "Play to Win" November 4, 2015 None Joe Kass
(6-4-2-1)
7th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 19
8.80[20] 2.0/7[20]
8 "You Call, We'll Haul" November 11, 2015 Ciera, Joe,
Keith,
Kelley,
Kelly,
Kimmi
Joe Andrew
(3-0)2
8th Voted Out
2nd Jury Member
Day 21
9.00[21] 2.1/7[21]
9 "Witches Coven" November 18, 2015 Ciera, Joe,
Spencer,
Stephen,
Tasha
Joe Kelly
(6-3-2)
9th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 24
9.05[22] 2.1/7[22]
10 "Like Selling Your Soul to the Devil" November 25, 2015 Abi-Maria,
Ciera, Joe,
Spencer,
Tasha
Joe Ciera
(3-2-0)2
10th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 26
8.18[23] 1.8/6[23]
11 "My Wheels Are Spinning" Stephen
[Jeremy,
Tasha]
Spencer Stephen
(4-3-2)
11th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 29
12 "Tiny Little Shanks to the Heart" December 2, 2015 Kelley
[Abi-Maria,
Joe, Keith,
Kimmi]
Kelley Joe
(6-1-1)
12th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 32
9.42[24] 2.1/7[24]
Keith
13 "Villains Have More Fun" December 9, 2015 Keith
[Kelley,
Spencer]
Spencer Abi-Maria
(4-2-1)
13th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 35
9.77[25] 2.3/8[25]
14 "Lie, Cheat and Steal" December 16, 2015 None Spencer Kimmi
(0-0;
3-3;
4-0)3,4
14th Voted Out
8th Jury Member
Day 36
9.45[26] 2.2/8[26]
Kelley Keith
(3-2)
15th Voted Out
9th Jury Member
Day 37
Jeremy Kelley
(3-1)
16th Voted Out
10th Jury Member
Day 38
Jury Vote Tasha
Spencer
(10-0-0)
Runners-Up
Jeremy
(10-0-0)
Sole Survivor
15 "Reunion" 6.49[27] 1.7/6[27]
Notes:
^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.
^3 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart occurred.
^4 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune castaways would be forced to draw rocks.

Voting History[]

Original Tribes Expanded Tribes Switched
Tribes
Merged Tribe
Episode 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Voted Out S31 vytas t
Vytas
S31 shirin t
Shirin
S31 peihgee t
Peih-Gee
S31 jeff t
Jeff
S31 monica t
Monica
S31 terry t
Terry
S31 woo t
Woo
S31 kass t
Kass
S31 andrew t
Andrew
S31 kelly t
Kelly
S31 ciera t
Ciera
S31 stephen t
Stephen
S31 joe t
Joe
S31 abimaria t
Abi-Maria
Null Deadlock S31 kimmi t
Kimmi
S31 keith t
Keith
S31 kelley t
Kelley
S31 tasha t
Tasha
S31 spencer t
Spencer
S31 jeremy t
Jeremy
Vote 6-4 5-4 4-2 4-1 3-2-1 No vote1 4-3 6-4-2-1 3-02 6-3-2 3-2-02 4-3-2 6-1-1 4-2-1 0-02,5 3-36 4-07 3-2 3-1 10-0-0
Jeremy Monica Ciera Kelley Kelly Ciera Joe Joe Abi-Maria Kelley Kimmi Kimmi Keith Kelley Jury Vote
Spencer Vytas Shirin Kelly Woo Ciera Kelley Kelly Stephen Stephen Joe Abi-Maria Kelley Kimmi Kimmi Keith Kelley
Tasha Peih-Gee Jeff Kass Kelley Ciera Stephen Abi-Maria Joe Abi-Maria Kelley Kimmi None Keith Kelley
Kelley Vytas Spencer Kass Andrew Kelly Kimmi Stephen Joe Tasha Jeremy Tasha Kimmi Spencer Spencer Jeremy
Keith Kass Kelley Kelley Stephen Stephen Tasha Tasha Jeremy Tasha Kimmi Spencer Jeremy
Kimmi Monica Kass Kelley Ciera Ciera Abi-Maria Joe Abi-Maria Jeremy Tasha Voted Out Jeremy
Abi-Maria Vytas Spencer Peih-Gee Jeff Woo Tasha Andrew Kelly Stephen Stephen Joe Keith Jeremy
Joe Ciera Kelley Kelley Stephen None4 Abi-Maria Jeremy
Stephen Monica Kass Kelley Kelly Ciera Abi-Maria Jeremy
Joe3
Ciera Woo Andrew Andrew Kelly Kimmi Jeremy
Kelly Abi-Maria Shirin Spencer Spencer Ciera Kelley Ciera Jeremy
Andrew Peih-Gee Jeff Spencer Kass Kelley Jeremy
Kass Woo Tasha Jeremy
Woo Abi-Maria Shirin Abi-Maria Jeff Spencer
Terry Abi-Maria Spencer Evacuated
Monica Kelly
Jeff Vytas Shirin Peih-Gee Woo
Peih-Gee Vytas Shirin Abi-Maria
Shirin Vytas Spencer
Vytas Abi-Maria
Notes:
^1 Terry was evacuated from the game due to a family emergency. No vote occurred for his removal.
^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.
^3 This castaway played the Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council.
^4 This castaway's vote was stolen by the Vote Steal.
^5 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per Survivor rules, a vote restart occurred.
^6 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune castaways would be forced to draw rocks.
^7 By consensus, Kimmi was eliminated.

Trivia[]

  • Cambodia is the most recent season whose title contains the name of a country.
  • Cambodia is the third season with a cast consisting entirely of returning players, following All-Stars and Heroes vs. Villains. Unlike the aforementioned seasons, the theme of Cambodia excludes former Sole Survivors, and unlike Heroes vs. Villains, the theme of Cambodia excludes contestants who have already played more than once.
    • This is the first season consisting of entirely returning players to have been won by a man.
    • This is the first season consisting of entirely returning players where everyone competing has had the opportunity to watch everyone else's full season, compared to All-Stars, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains, and Caramoan, where those competing back-to-back had seasons finishing post-production or airing.
  • Cambodia is the only all-returnee season to not have a red or blue tribe.
  • Cambodia is the second season to have contestants with homophonic names, following San Juan del Sur. Kelly Wiglesworth and Kelley Wentworth have homophonic names.
  • The font used for the season logo and buffs is a modified version of the premium font, "Anglo-Angkor".[28]
  • Jeremy, Spencer, Tasha, Kelley, Kimmi, and Joe all placed higher this season than in their original.
  • Cambodia is the second season, following Caramoan, to have banned a contestant from attending the Reunion Show. Vytas was banned for having returned home early and potentially spoiling the season.[29]
  • Cambodia is the first season to feature a jury with 10 jurors. This would be the biggest jury until Ghost Island, which had 11 jurors.
    • This is the first season to start the jury stage at the final 13. This record would be broken in Island of the Idols, which started the jury stage at the final 14. (Edge of Extinction had jurors finishing below 13th place, but the jury stage did not technically start until the final 13 Tribal Council.)
    • Jeremy Collins is the first contestant to receive 10 jury votes in a single season. This record would be broken in Winners at War, in which Tony received 12 jury votes.
  • Cambodia is the second season, after All-Stars, to have three pre-merge tribes without having a black merged tribe.
  • Cambodia holds the record for most votes negated by Hidden Immunity Idols, with 20.
  • The final five of this season is composed entirely of members of the original Hunahpu and Luzon tribes. By extension, all five contestants were from either Cagayan or San Juan del Sur.

References[]

  1. Pitman, Jeff (May 3, 2019). "Survivor 31: Cambodia - Second Chance calendar". True Dork Times. https://www.truedorktimes.com/s40/calendar.htm. Retrieved May 9, 2020. 
  2. http://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/second-chance/
  3. https://www.reddit.com/user/stephenfishbach
  4. https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Hotel_Review-g325573-d3493434-Reviews-Sandy_Beach_Bungalows-Sihanoukville_Sihanoukville_Province.html
  5. https://twitter.com/jeffvarner/status/678252184547540993
  6. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/27/survivor-cambodia-second-chance-jeff-probst-players-could-not-get
  7. https://twitter.com/JeffProbst/status/600772125910298624
  8. https://twitter.com/joshuacanfield/status/596684038766776320
  9. https://twitter.com/JaclynMisch/status/596119340212166657
  10. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/05/jeff-probst-survivor-fan-voted-second-chance-season-31
  11. Ross, Dalton, http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/05/jeff-probst-survivor-fan-voted-second-chance-season-31
  12. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/24/survivor-cambodia-second-chance-immunity-idols-challenges
  13. http://my.xfinity.com/blogs/tv/2015/08/25/survivor-host-jeff-probst-breaks-down-the-second-chance-twists/
  14. 14.0 14.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/09/24/wednesday-final-ratings-survivor-modern-family-nashville-adjusted-down/471324/
  15. 15.0 15.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/10/01/wednesday-final-ratings-empire-survivor-modern-family-nashville-code-black-adjusted-down/474734/
  16. 16.0 16.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/10/08/wednesday-final-ratings-oct-7-2015/477200/
  17. 17.0 17.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/10/15/wednesday-final-ratings-oct-14-2015/478824/
  18. 18.0 18.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/10/22/wednesday-final-ratings-oct-21-2015/479869/
  19. 19.0 19.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/10/29/wednesday-final-ratings-oct-28-2015/480968/
  20. 20.0 20.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/05/wednesday-final-ratings-nov-4-2015/
  21. 21.0 21.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/12/wednesday-final-ratings-nov-11-2015/
  22. 22.0 22.1 http://www.tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/19/wednesday-final-ratings-nove-18-2015/
  23. 23.0 23.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/26/tv-ratings-wednesday-nov-25-2015/
  24. 24.0 24.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/12/03/wednesday-final-ratings-dec-2-2015/
  25. 25.0 25.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/12/10/tv-ratings-wednesday-dec-9-2015/
  26. 26.0 26.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/12/17/wednesday-final-ratings-dec-16-15/
  27. 27.0 27.1 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/12/17/wednesday-final-ratings-dec-16-15/
  28. https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/parquillian/angloangkor/regular/
  29. http://www.inquisitr.com/2636095/vytas-baskauskas-banned-from-survivor-cambodia-reunion-show-what-happened/

Survivor (U.S.) Seasons
BorneoThe Australian OutbackAfricaMarquesasThailandThe AmazonPearl IslandsAll-StarsVanuatuPalauGuatemalaPanamaCook IslandsFijiChinaMicronesiaGabonTocantinsSamoaHeroes vs. VillainsNicaraguaRedemption IslandSouth PacificOne WorldPhilippinesCaramoanBlood vs. WaterCagayanSan Juan del SurWorlds ApartCambodiaKaôh RōngMillennials vs. Gen XGame ChangersHeroes vs. Healers vs. HustlersGhost IslandDavid vs. GoliathEdge of ExtinctionIsland of the IdolsWinners at WarSurvivor 41Survivor 42Survivor 43Survivor 44Survivor 45Survivor 46Survivor 47
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