Emily Flippen seems to have changed the most out of all the Survivor 45 players during the season. Emily came out of the gate swinging, attacking returning player Bruce Perreault needlessly just minutes into the game and then alienating herself from the rest of the tribe with her lack of team spirit attitude. Emily had applied to the show the morning after the Survivor 43 finale because she was furious about Mike Gabler’s victory.
However, Emily was able to pivot her social game and mindset to put herself in a potentially powerful position for the finale after a Hannah Rose left on day three, saving her from imminent elimination. But when Austin Li Coon told Dee Valladares that they were blindsiding Julie Alley, all that hard work was undone. After Dee informed Julie, who acted as her idol, Emily was removed with only one vote against her.
But as an exclusive deleted clip from this week’s episode demonstrates, Emily’s changes in the game extended beyond her romantic connections. Her greatest relationship outside of the game might also be significantly impacted by her experiences on the island.
The sequence, which you can watch above, opens with the tribe gathered around the campfire for a rice supper. Jake O’Kane remarks, “I know Survivor is like a fast-paced game.” However, it’s good because it sort of allows you to concentrate on things like: What do I want to change about my life? Drew Basile then concurs, saying, “Most of us have had significant life reassessments.”
And Emily unexpectedly steps in at that point. She tells the gathering, “You have nothing else to do out here except think about family and home and what’s important.” And it appears that in the process of reflecting, Emily has started to second-guess a firm stance she has often explained to her long-term partner.
She says, “I never imagined I would get married.” “And I basically told Erik, ‘Don’t plan on it,’ about our entire relationship.” And ever since I’ve been here, it seems like I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Simply said, these things are more significant than I am. I’m giving it some second thought.
As she walks down the aisle, Emily Flippen? Like the aliens who constructed the pyramids, what was before unthinkable is now achievable. However, considering that there is a lot of downtime on Survivor even with the more streamlined play of a shorter 26-day season, maybe that is not so shocking after all. This always prompts a great deal of silent reflection.
She says in an interview that “it’s easy to be emotional out here because you have conversations with people out here that it would take you months or years to have in real life.” “And all I’m doing is talking about Erik, just taking that time to think.”
After that, we see footage of the player and her boyfriend of ten years, maybe from Emily’s audition tapes. In it, the contender tells her boyfriend, “Erik, you’re going to be moving into the house that we just bought—presumably while I’m on a beach out in Fiji.”
Is the self-described pessimist on Survivor 45 really a hopeless romantic at heart? It appears to be so! She addresses the camera, saying, “All I think about is what a life together looks like.” “And I’m just really—I know it sounds ridiculous— I’m incredibly fortunate. I feel incredibly fortunate to be where I am. That was, of course, stated prior to her being voted out, but I think the idea is still valid.
Check out the video above to see the complete rare deleted scene, and don’t forget to read our comprehensive Survivor 45 episode 11 summary.
