Austin Li Coon

Austin immediately linked up with Drew Basile to form one of the strongest alliances in the game. After pulling in Julie Alley and Dee Valladares to form the Reba Four, the group dominated both the pre-merge and post-merge and made it to the final seven intact. Once there, Austin and Drew planned to turn on Julie due to her status as a jury threat. However, this plan was foiled once Austin divulged it to his showmance partner Dee, who then told Julie, who played her Hidden Immunity Idol to save herself. Despite losing Drew at the final six, Austin survived the last few votes to make it to Final Three, where he carefully laid out his individual moves. However, this failed to earn him enough votes to be crowned Sole Survivor and he lost to Dee in a close 5-3-0 vote.

Profile[]

Retrieved from EW.com

Age: 26
Hometown: San Jose, CA
Current Residence: Chicago, IL
Occupation: Grad Student
3 Words to Describe You: Ambitious, sweet, clumsy.
Why do you want to be part of Survivor? Because I'm confident I can win it, and $1 million would really help with my six-figure student debt! I also love the game and am a competitor through and through. I want to duke it out with people when everything is on the line, and I want to prove to myself that I have what it takes.
What's one life experience you feel has prepared you for the game? As a kid, I was a shell of my current self. I was shy and quiet, had terrible acne for a dozen years, wore braces from elementary school until high school (head gear included), had mild Tourette's, and was extremely self-conscious. I worked hard for years to build myself up and lived the entire introversion-extroversion spectrum. I feel like that experience made me a much more empathetic person.
Which previous player do you identify with the most? Who do you think you will play most like? I identify most with Owen Knight — long-hair, Asian, love the outdoors, never-say-die attitude. I think I'll play most like Jay and Wendell. Their games revolved around forming genuine connections that led people to keep them in the game, even when they were huge threats. On top of that, I have the intelligence to make big strategic plays as well as the physicality to win clutch immunities. Also, like them both, I too have a crush on Michele.
What will you value in an alliance partner? Laughter is the key to my heart, so if someone is fun to hang with and laughs with me, we're gonna be best buddies.  
Favorite Hobbies: Backpacking somewhere new with my camera, hockey, volleyball…anything really that gets me active outside with friends!
Pet Peeves: Any form of waste — wasted time, money, opportunity, food. Also, banana-flavored candy. But I still eat them. Cuz no wasting.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Making it onto the All-American team at the volleyball Junior Olympics when I was 15. That was my first major personal accomplishment, and it gave me the confidence I needed to start the personal growth journey to get to where I am today.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I own the (heavily contested and very impressive) world record for "the most nuts thrown and caught in a can on the head in one minute." The original record was 37, and I got 93.
Who in your life is your biggest inspiration and why? Aside from my parents, maybe Naruto. That ninja never gives up no matter the obstacle. When I need to dig deep during some of the willpower challenges, I'll be channeling that Naruto energy. I'm going to be Sole Survivor. Believe it!
Why will you be the Sole Survivor? I make the best of every situation and I don't feel sorry for myself. I'm adaptable, creative, and have the tools to pull off an individual immunity run. I work my butt off, and I'll make sure not a second is wasted out on the island.^[1]

Survivor[]

Austin started the game on the Reba tribe. Originally, he had a very close connection with tribemate Drew Basile, leading to them becoming a duo. Austin and Drew aligned with Julie Alley and Dee Valladares to make the Reba Four, which would later become a dominating alliance. On Day 2, Austin discovered the Beware Advantage on the beach. The clue lead him to complete a series of tasks, which he was assisted in by his alliance, leading him to find the idol. Due to the Lulu tribe's challenge struggles, Austin and the Reba tribe never attended Tribal Council prior to the swap.

On Day 8, the tribe swap sent Austin and Drew to Belo with former Lulu member Emily Flippen, and original Belo members Kendra McQuarrie and Brando Meyer. On Belo, Austin and Drew were forced to fight Kendra and Brando over Emily's vote. Austin and Drew worked to develop a relationship with Emily prior to Belo attending tribal council for the first time on Day 11. On the same day, Austin was selected by Reba to attend a journey with Kellie Nalbandian from Lulu and J. Maya from Reba. At the summit, Austin wanted the "Sustenance" in the form of sandwiches; however, J. Maya pushed for the Advantage Amulets, which would have increased power with the more people with an amulet voted out. Kellie decided on the amulets for the group, and Austin reluctantly agreed, pledging to eventually turn the amulet into an idol to get his revenge for the decision. When Austin got back to camp, he informed Emily of his Amulet, which caused her to vote with Austin and Drew at tribal council, causing Brando to go home in a 3-2 vote. At tribal, Austin sacrificed his vote to extend the idol until the merge, but restored his vote with Drew's Goodwill Advantage.

At the start of the individual portion of the game, Austin and Drew reunited with Dee and Julie. Austin wanted to target J. Maya because of her decision at the journey. However, the original Belo members, especially Kendra and Bruce Perreault, wanted to target Kaleb Gebrewold due to his social prowess and lack of members from his original Lulu tribe remaining. At the Earn the Merge challenge, Austin was on the winning Blue Team, and got to enjoy the merge feast. At Tribal Council that night, Austin again sacrificed his vote, knowing that everyone was voting against Kaleb. However, Kaleb's Shot in the Dark was successful, causing him to have safety at Tribal Council. On the revote, Austin got his wish and J was voted out 10-1.

At the merge, the castaways were split into two groups, and Austin was in the red group with Dee, Jake O'Kane, Katurah Topps, Julie, and Kaleb. Dee won immunity in their group and outlasted Kellie on the blue group to win reward for their group and securing whoever was voted out a spot on the jury. Dee wanted to target Kaleb because of how he had targeted the women of Reba at the previous tribal council. However, Jake wanted himself, Kaleb, and Katurah to vote for Julie in order to force a tie to save Kaleb. Part of Jake's plan was forcing Austin to vote Julie on the revote to take advantage of Austin's fear in the game. However, Katurah flipped her vote to Kaleb, sending Kaleb home in a 4-2 vote.

When the two groups came together again. the Austin and the rest of the red group learned that the blue group had voted out original Reba member Sifu Alsup, giving the women on the tribe the numbers over the men, leading to a short-lived women's alliance being created. Ahead of the auction, Austin found the second-most money on the tribe. A new twist was introduced at the Auction, stating that the auction would end without warning, and that whoever had the least money at the end of the auction would lose their vote. Since Bruce started out with the least money, the other castaways hoped that Bruce would lose his vote, seeing as he had become a tribe target. He ended up losing his vote, but won the immunity challenge, leading to Drew wanting the rest of the Reba Four and Emily to blindside Kellie, whom Bruce was calling his number one. At tribal council, Jake played his Shot in the Dark, thinking he was the target. His play was unsuccessful, but Kellie ended up being voted out in a 5-3 vote, with Kellie, Kendra, and Katurah voting for Jake. With Kellie's vote-out, Austin's amulet became a full idol.

The original Belo tribe realized that the Reba Four were voting out original Belo members with no pushback or consequences. This led Kendra to shift her target onto Dee, knowing that Bruce had an idol which he would play if he did not win immunity. During the Immunity Challenge, the tribe was divided into teams of 3, with Austin being on a team with Katurah and Emily. A twist in the challenge forced whichever team came last in the challenge to go on a journey to get their vote at that evening's tribal council after they lost their vote for losing the challenge. On the journey, Austin regained his vote, while Katurah and Emily lost their vote for tribal council. This gave the Reba Four the majority over the three others with votes. Austin concealed his success on the journey from the rest of the tribe members. Dee wanted to vote out Kendra, knowing she was targeting her, but Drew was more inclined to go with the safer option in Jake. At tribal council, the Reba Four decided on Dee's plan, and Kendra was voted out 6-1.

The next day, the tribes had a chance to play for a reward, which Emily won and decided to take all the women of the tribe along with her. Earlier in the day, Bruce had come up with a lie that his idol left with Kellie because they were afraid of the Knowledge is Power advantage, and he told Jake his lie, knowing that Jake would tell Reba. While the women were on the reward, Katurah told the rest of them that Bruce had created that lie. Meanwhile, back at camp, Jake told Drew that the idol left with Kellie, making Austin and Drew believe that Bruce really didn't have an idol until Emily came back the next morning and told them that it was a lie. In the immunity challenge, Austin was able to beat out Bruce to win his first immunity challenge and end Bruce's run. The rest of the tribe knew that Bruce would probably play his idol, so the Reba Four wanted to spit votes between him and Jake. Bruce knew how Reba was splitting votes and with the false information from Emily that Julie wasn't with him, he wanted to target Julie, and thought he had the numbers in Katurah, Jake, and Emily to do so. In the end, Jake was mad that Bruce lied about his idol, and Katurah had been obviously targeting Bruce the entire game, and they sided with Reba. Bruce, confident he had the numbers to vote out Julie, didn't play his idol, and Bruce was voted out 4-3-1.

After Tribal Council, Emily instantly took credit for Bruce not playing his idol, which put a target on her back. However, Drew, Emily, and Katurah were more interested in targeting Julie, and Austin, as Drew's number one ally, learned about the plan. The only hiccup in the plan was that Austin had given Julie the Beware Idol prior to the challenge where the tribe was divided into groups of three, in case Julie had to go to tribal in her group, which consisted of Bruce and Kendra. After the challenge, Julie hung onto the idol. Because of Julie's idol, the group chose to keep it as a blindside and not inform Dee or Julie about the plan. The blindside was foiled when Austin told Dee the plan, not wanting to keep secrets from her, as the two of them were growing closer and starting to form a "showmance". Dee told Julie about the plan and how she should vote for Emily. At Tribal Council, Julie followed Dee's suggestion and sent Emily home in 1-0 vote, negating 6 votes with Austin's idol.

At the final six, Drew was adamant on targeting Julie, and Austin was intent on going with Drew to the end. As this was the last point that Austin could play his Amulet Advantage, he was certain he would play it at that night's Tribal Council. After winning the Reward Challenge, he took Dee and Katurah, where Katurah began to notice the closeness of the budding showmance. Dee and Austin had a showdown in the Immunity Challenge, which ended in Dee winning. By that point, Julie felt as if the only person that she could trust was Dee. Jake came up with a plan to blindside Drew, which involved Katurah and Julie, and he did not want to get Dee involved, thinking she would tell Austin the same way that Austin told Dee about the Julie blindside. However, Katurah told Dee anyways, and she was in on the plan, but was conflicted about whether or not to tell Austin. In the end, Dee didn't tell Austin, and he was blindsided as Drew was sent home in a 4-2 vote, with Austin's amulet not negating any votes.

When the tribe returned to camp, Austin almost immediately forgave Dee for her betrayal, knowing that he had to trust her, now that Drew, his closest ally besides Dee, was gone. Katurah, especially was angry that the rest of the tribe had let Dee and Austin get this far together, and was looking at targeting one of them, most likely Dee, next. Jake won a slight advantage in the final five immunity challenge, but he squandered away his lead to Austin, and then was missing a piece in the final puzzle, allowing Austin to win his second immunity challenge. This led Katurah to want to target Dee, and she persuaded Jake into doing so. After Austin picked Jake for the reward after the immunity challenge, he revealed to him that he had found the merge idol while him, Dee, and Katurah were on the reward. Austin revealed this information to Dee, who revealed it to Julie, and Jake's idol was no longer a secret. This also led Dee to want to target Katurah, but Austin felt as if he could get the votes against Julie. Jake and Katurah were planning on getting Dee out, until Jake told Katurah about his idol, which caused her to lose trust in him, and think that she might be targeted. At tribal council, she again slipped on Jake, sending Julie home in a 2-1-0 vote, where Jake negated Dee's vote against Katurah with his idol.

At the final four, Jake and Katurah informed Austin and Dee of their plan to vote Dee out, and Jake told them how Katurah flipped on him. Austin and Dee viewed Katurah as a jury threat and wanted to eliminate her at the fire-making challenge. When Dee won the Final Immunity Challenge, it seemed clear that she was going to take Austin to Final Tribal Council; however, after watching Jake make fire at camp, he lost confidence that Jake could beat Katurah in fire-making and asked Dee to put him in instead. Dee did not like the idea of putting him in, as she thought that with that move on his resume, he may be able to beat her at Final Tribal Council. This led her to save Austin and put Jake and Katurah into fire-making, where Jake defeated Katurah, accomplishing the goal of eliminating Katurah.

At Final Tribal Council, Austin earned respect from the jury for playing a strategic game with the Reba Four, especially near the beginning, before Emily was voted off and Julie's idol play. He earned respect, but not enough to overcome Dee revealing the secrets she kept from Austin throughout the game. Because of the newfound information, the majority of the jury voted for Dee, as she won in a 5-3-0 vote after Austin got votes from Drew, Bruce, and Kendra.

Post-Survivor[]

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Trivia[]

• Austin was originally an alternate for Survivor 45.^[2][3]
• Austin is the highest-placing man on Survivor 45.
• Austin is the first runner-up since Natalie Anderson in Winners at War to receive multiple jury votes.

References[]

Survivor 45 Castaways
Austin Reba	Brando Belo	Brandon Lulu	Bruce Belo	Dee Reba	Drew Reba	Emily Lulu	Hannah Lulu	J. Maya Reba
Jake Belo	Julie Reba	Kaleb Lulu	Katurah Belo	Kellie Belo	Kendra Belo	Sabiyah Lulu	Sean Lulu	Sifu Reba