Welcome back to Inside Survivor’s 50 For 50, a semi-regular feature highlighting 50 former castaways who we think should be considered for a spot on Survivor 50. In a snake draft, the Inside Survivor team selected ten players each, with the only rule being they couldn’t have played more than twice.
PROFILE
Name: Cassandra Franklin
Age: 60
Season: Fiji, 2007
Finish: Co-Runner-Up
HIGHLIGHTS
The pre-jury phase of Survivor: Fiji was both the best of times and the worst of times for Cassandra Franklin. On the one hand, she was one of the few players to spend the entire pre-merge on the Moto tribe (the ‘Haves’ of Fiji) and only went to tribal council once as a result. On the other hand, she was on the outs of her original tribe from the beginning, with her and her closest ally, Dreamz Herd, being ostracized from Moto’s core alliance. Despite her social standing, Moto’s winning streak kept her game afloat until opportunity finally struck.
Cassandra’s luck turned around during Fiji’s tribe swap. Not only was she still living in luxury by staying at the Moto camp, but she was finally in the majority by aligning with Earl Cole, Yau-Man Chan, and Michelle Yi. This group would eventually come to be known as The Syndicate, and it was Cassandra’s bonds with Boo Bernis, Stacy Kimball, and Dreamz that would make them the dominant alliance of the season.
While she was solidifying her trust with Earl and Yau-Man, her ally Dreamz had to pivot to the Four Horsemen alliance on Ravu 2.0. Things came to a head at the first full merge tribe vote when Dreamz officially sided with the Syndicate, told them about the Four Horsemen’s plans, and saved Cassandra from potentially being idoled out. From there onward, Cassandra aided her alliance in taking out her former adversaries while simultaneously becoming one of the most solidified players in the game.
Once the Four Horsemen were decimated, Cassandra set her sights on ways she would be one of the season’s finalists. As a committed member of the all-Black alliance, Earl and Dreamz both went on record to say that they trusted Cassandra implicitly. She also helped to engineer the Yau-Man vote at the final six with Boo, Stacy, and Dreamz, which resulted in Stacy becoming the first person ever to be idoled out. Despite this plan not working, Cassandra remained an integral member of the Bula Bula tribe due to her strong social game with the remaining contestants.
In the finale, all eyes were focused on Dreamz and Yau-Man and the outcome of the car deal. This drama may have been the final nail in the coffin for both of their games, but it ensured Cassandra’s place as a finalist. Earl’s strong tribal council performance and the jury’s bitterness towards Cassandra and Dreamz betraying their original tribe left her without any votes for the million-dollar prize. It did, however, leave her $100,000 richer, a member of one of the most successful alliances never shown on TV, and a place on this 50 for 50 list.
WHY SHE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED
Zero-vote finalists often get the short end of the stick in the Survivor canon. They are often underappreciated and underestimated, and the games that got them to the end are undervalued by players and fans alike. Cassandra Franklin may be the shining example of this, but I am here to argue that her placement in the game (and on this list) was no accident. Despite what her rivals on the season may want you to believe, Cassandra was nothing if not a strategic and social powerhouse to all the people that mattered.
My most recent rewatch of Fiji was eye-opening to Cassandra’s strengths. For a recruit, she proved to be more than capable at making cutthroat decisions that benefitted her, and her alone. I’d go as far as to say that Cassandra was a player ahead of her time. While some players are bound to tribe loyalty and integrity even to their own detriment, Cassandra was more than willing to switch to the Syndicate when it was made clear that there was nothing for her on OG Moto. She was able to maintain trust with her greatest allies, Dreamz and Earl, despite them not always being on the same page. When you look at the makeup of the Syndicate alliance, there is no arguing that both Cassandra and Earl are the core of it. Without both of them present, the supermajority falls apart easily.
As a member of this all-Black alliance, Cassandra was part of a group striving for something arguably greater than a million dollars. They were giving themselves, and by proxy, future Black Survivor contestants, a fighting chance in a game not made with their success in mind. This is a lot to ask of any Survivor player, especially a group playing the game in 2007. Yet again, Cassandra never lost sight of what needed to be done to get her to the end above all else. She was there to play a game, and what a game she played.
Cassandra’s time on Survivor was life-changing for me and so many other fans of color grateful for the representation she brought to the show. However, to limit Cassandra to her placement is a disservice to her time playing the game. To say she got there by accident or luck is even worse and also just plain incorrect. A strategic mind, a social force, the winner of Touchy Subjects with a perfect score, and the co-runner-up on a season of firsts, Cassandra more than deserves a second chance to play the world’s greatest game.
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