Jake's Shot in the Dark came up empty, but it didn't matter — the Reba four weren't coming for him, and Kellie Nalbandian got blindsided to the jury instead. That was the early Jake of Survivor 45's Belo crew: never an immunity necklace, never quite running a vote, but somehow always in the room when the Reba machine finally cracked. He was the one who, with Katurah, talked Julie and Dee into blindsiding the overconfident Drew Basile — Drew walked into Tribal so sure of himself that only Austin bothered to vote with him.
Then the Final 5 turned into the best mess of the season. Jake had an idol and a plan with Katurah to take out Dee; Katurah panicked, swung her vote to Julie, and Jake burned the idol covering Katurah — which sent Julie home and accidentally handed Dee her game. He still beat Katurah at the final-four fire to grab the last seat, then sat down to zero jury votes as Dee took it 5-3-0 over him and Austin. Jake played a sneaky-good little game, and the move that should've sealed it backfired into a coronation for the woman he was trying to cut. Finishing third with nothing to show on the jury is harsh for a guy who was in the middle of every real move down the stretch.
