Mari Takahashi arrived on Millennials vs. Gen X as one of its highest-profile players — a founding member of Smosh Games with a huge online following, and a former professional ballerina to boot. The Millennial tribe looked like it might run on her energy.
She was also reading the game faster than almost anyone on Vanua, and that became the problem. With a plan in motion to take out Figgy, Mari thought she had the numbers locked. Instead Michelle Schubert quietly flipped the vote, peeling off Hannah, Will, and Michaela while the Triforce — Michelle, Jay, Taylor, and Figgy — held firm. The whole maneuver hid behind Figgy's louder, more obvious showmance drama, and Mari never saw the redirect coming.
She went home second, blindsided in nineteenth on a 7-3 vote, taken out as the strategic threat nobody wanted to play against on day seven. A beloved internet personality whose Survivor run was over far too soon — and one of the cleaner early-merge-era ambushes the show has pulled off.
