2009 SOTF-TV Seasons

2009 constituted the first real slump in SOTF history. While the pace of 2008 carried through, several of the seasons this year were troubled, falling prey to poor arena choices and quirks of chance bringing promising plotlines to preemptive ends.

Season Nine

Dates: Spring 2009

Winner: Tina Jones (six kills)
Runner Up: Noel Byers (four kills)
Third Place: Mark Gibbs (two kills)

Location: As with many early seasons, Season Nine took place on an island—specifically, Caudell Island, one of the Outer Banks Islands near North Carolina. Caudell Island was largely undeveloped, but sported a lighthouse and a handful of small storage buildings and dwellings, all abandoned for decades.

Notable Participants:

• Tina Jones (winner, six kills): A moon-faced redhead with a small nose, Tina's unimposing stature belied her vicious and tricky nature. She killed Mason Jackson, a friend of hers from school, near the start of the game through treachery, then claimed his gun and went on to become the season's most infamous villain, scoring kills through a combination of violence and deceit.
• Noel Byers (runner-up, four kills): A friend of Mark Gibbs, Noel shared an on-again-off-again partnership with him. While Mark generally hewed to morally steady paths, Noel was a lot more flexible, killing at several points out of convenience. There were moments where it seemed she and Mark might turn on each other, but their care for each other ultimately saw them avoid direct conflict for as long as possible.
• Mark Gibbs (third place, two kills): Mark was Noel Byers' partner for large chunks of the season, though not always particularly happily. While Noel was willing to turn to violence fairly easily, Mark did his best to keep her in check, and helped other students when he found opportunity to do so. Still, when push came to shove, Mark was ready to step up, as he did in Endgame.
• Kevin Wideman (fourth place, one kill): A student with a certain reputation for creepiness around school, Kevin escalated massively on the island, positively reveling in the lack of rules and external punishments. This, however, actually led him to fail to achieve much notable harm; he constantly attempted to hurt others, but most slipped through his clutches. Kevin's perception of himself was quite at odds with reality, and he lied almost compulsively; it was this tendency that, in Endgame, led to the series of events culminating in Tina's victory.
• Blanca Hixon (fifth place, three kills): While she never attained the body count of some of the season's other major players, Blanca was an influential villain with a knack for turning situations in her favor. She engaged in a number of firefights over her time in the game, scattering the season's most notable alliance and keeping everyone else on their toes.
• Craig Mullin (tenth place, no kills): Craig was a class clown at school, with a reputation for stupidity, but being selected for SOTF he showed his true colors as a kind and charismatic leader. He assembled a number of other students into an alliance that, while lacking in clearly-defined goals beyond short-term survival, was a force to be reckoned with in the early-to-mid-game. An encounter with Blanca Hixon scattered Craig's friends, and he himself eventually fell prey to Tina Jones.
• Jesse Mazer (sixteenth place, four kills): Jesse was the most prolific killer of the early stages of the season, but this successful violence came at a cost. Accumulating wounds from a series of inadvisable fights and making enemies almost everywhere he went, by the game's halfway mark he found himself in a situation that was clearly unsustainable. His ultimate fate, however, came at the hands of a student largely unrelated to his past actions.
• Caroline Cassano (twenty-fifth place, no kills): An early victim of Tina Jones', Caroline was also one of the students who came out of an encounter with the eventual winner in fairly decent shape, having only been robbed and minorly injured. Caroline, however, fell into a deep despondency, and her eventual suicide, while inconsequential at the time, had major repercussions down the road.
• Mason Jackson (thirty-first place, no kills): A friend of Tina's from school, Mason was a boy with messy black hair and a bad case of acne. He harbored feelings for Tina, and was perhaps willfully naive in his willingness to trust her when she seemed to reciprocate. Tina tricked him into eating a razorblade and he pulled his own collar to end his suffering; while Tina was not credited for the kill in the announcements, almost all tallies, official and fan-made, list him as her first victim of an eventual six.

Summary: Season Nine saw thirty-four juniors from Teddy Roosevelt High School in Durham, North Carolina, taken to Caudell Island, one of the more remote and unknown of the Outer Banks Islands off the state's coast. While many seasons drew their casts from a wide range of students in a given grade and school, this one drew its entire cast from a second period English class, ensuring that all contestants were at least loosely familiar with each other.

The pace of Season Nine was uncommonly steady, with nine students perishing on the first day, eleven on the second, and a further nine on the third, leading to a five-person Endgame. The first kill of the season came when Jesse Mazer, a wiry member of the baseball team, attacked Ana Rahm. Jesse had been assigned a Nerf gun, but pried an old metal fencepost out of the ground, and it was this that he used to beat Ana to death. In the aftermath, following a brief spell of panic and seeming remorse, Jesse calmed himself and looted her bag, discovering a gladius that he replaced his improvised weapon with. Jesse briefly addressed the cameras, stating that he'd do what he had to in order to survive, even if it meant killing "every single person on this island."

At the base of the lighthouse, Donna Doyle and Benjamin Hassan, a stoner and the teacher's pet respectively, came close to forming an alliance, but it fell through when Donna refused to let Benjamin take custody of her assigned revolver, which he had argued he should wield as he had minor experience with firearms. Donna tried to leave peacefully, but Benjamin, intent on acquiring the gun, charged her, hurling his own weapon (an Easy-Bake Oven) at the girl. This caught Donna off-guard enough that she tripped, and Benjamin pounced on her, knocking her gun flying. The pair grappled on the ground, and Donna slashed Benjamin's face with her fingernails; he, in turn, used his superior size and physical condition to pin her and then slam her head against the ground repeatedly until she fell unconscious. With blood running down his face, an enraged Benjamin stood up and stomped on Donna's throat twice, inflicting an injury that would spell her end before she ever reawakened, then turned to find the revolver.

By this point, however, it was in the hands of Noel Byers, who had watched most of the confrontation unfold from within the lighthouse and had taken advantage of the combatants' distraction to grab the gun for herself. Benjamin told her not to do anything hasty, and Noel replied that he'd done an awful lot of hasty things himself. Benjamin claimed that he'd leave peacefully, and added that the gun probably wasn't even loaded; Noel responded, "Let's find out," and shot him in the chest. As Benjamin rolled around on the ground sobbing and begging to be spared, Noel told him he'd proved himself too dangerous and emptied the revolver's chambers into him, then gathered both students' supplies and moved out.

Having awoken on a crumbling dock, Kevin Wideman, a boy infamous around school for his questionable social skills and penchant for creepy and inappropriate interactions particularly with girls, was at first crippled by panic, thrashing around and screaming. This drew the attention of Yvonne Blodgett, one of the most popular cheerleaders in the school. Yvonne put aside her misgivings towards Kevin and calmed him down, telling him that he wasn't alone and promising that they'd all work together to figure out a way out of the game. Even after mellowing out somewhat, Kevin insisted that they were all likely to die, and when Yvonne became frustrated enough by his cynicism that she admitted that it was certainly a possibility, Kevin immediately propositioned her under the theory that they might as well hook up if they were doomed anyways; a disgusted Yvonne told Kevin off, but became nervous when his mood quickly soured. Backpedaling, Yvonne said she'd need a few minutes to come to terms with everything herself, and ducked out ostensibly to relieve herself; instead, she took off, abandoning Kevin. It took him roughly half an hour to figure out he'd been ditched, at which point he flew into a rage and swore revenge.

Yvonne soon met up with Craig Mullin and Sylvia Welch, who proved much more welcoming. She was at first quite skeptical of teaming up with them, due to Craig's dubious reputation around school coupled with her jarring meeting with Kevin, but the presence of Sylvia, a close friend of hers and fellow member of the cheer squad, convinced her. Far from the always-joking loser he'd seemed in school, Craig proved remarkably quick to adapt to the game, urging his group to share what information they'd gathered already, make a list of those they thought most likely to be trustworthy, and scour the map for defensible locations.

It at first seemed another alliance might be forming when Tina Jones met up with Mason Jackson, a friend of hers, and suggested that they tide out the game together. Tina seemed optimistic to the point of a disconnect from reality, promising Mason they had nothing to worry about and proposing they try to put the game out of mind by having a picnic on a grassy hill. Mason was at first skeptical, but was won over by Tina's charms, particularly her heavy flirtation; he even admitted he'd long harbored a secret crush on her. They began to eat, but Mason paused midway through a loaf of bread and began choking and coughing up blood; unbeknownst to him, Tina had laced the food with her assigned razorblade. Mason stared at her in dismay and betrayal, clawing at his throat, but made no move to attack her, instead eventually tugging on his own collar so hard it detonated; Tina, for her part, shrugged and continued to casually eat. Mason's death was initially referred to as a suicide, but almost all statistics compiled after the fact cited him as the first of Tina's eventual six kills.

The first set of announcements soon played, marking the first day as halfway over, and this stirred further activity. Blanca Hixon, a quiet girl given a shotgun, saw an opportunity to get the drop on Noel, and stalked the girl through the cluttered surroundings of a pair of warehouses, even exchanging inaccurate fire with her from a distance at one point. Blanca finally worked Noel into a corner, and was about to move in to try to seal the deal, when she was pulled up short by another figure stepping out from the warehouse right behind her and pressing a knife to her back. Mark Gibbs, one of Noel's close friends, had been roused by the gunfire and abandoned his hiding place, and upon realizing what was going on intervened. He politely suggested that Blanca find something else to occupy herself before he had to stab her in the kidneys, and she took off, leaving Mark to slowly approach Noel. They talked, Noel admitting to her killing of Benjamin and explaining the circumstances, and while Mark did not approve, he said he was willing to look past it and work with Noel. The two traveled together for the rest of the day.

Jesse followed the duo of David Griffin and Cassie Wong, a romantic couple, into the lighthouse, surreptitiously stalking them up the stairs. He cornered them at the top, demanding their supplies and weapons at gladius-point. The pair turned over their bags, but Jesse stabbed David in the gut anyways, then tried to turn his sword on Cassie. She managed to dart out of reach and pulled her assigned pistol from her back pocket; Jesse immediately tried to retreat, snatching David's bag along the way, but David roused himself and grabbed Jesse, holding the boy as Cassie shot him in the left thigh. Jesse stabbed David again, shaking the boy off, and stumbled towards the stairs. In his haste to escape Cassie, he tripped and tumbled, further injuring himself when he caught himself poorly and broke his pinkie and ring finger. Cassie, forced to decide between pursuing Jesse and comforting David, stuck with her boyfriend, but his injuries were great and he soon passed away, leaving Cassie to resolve to hunt Jesse down. Jesse discovered that David's pack contained a MAC-10 machine pistol, and declared to the cameras that his injuries had been worth it for the advantage he'd secured.

Kevin moved aimlessly through the island, seeking Yvonne, but instead came across one of her friends, Erika Spence. Erika did not greet Kevin warmly, but he insisted to her that he meant her no harm and had important news about Yvonne. When Erika agreed to listen, Kevin claimed that he'd been traveling with Yvonne when they were attacked by Clifford Knapp, the quarterback of the football team. Kevin claimed that Yvonne had sacrificed herself to save him, and that Clifford had brutally murdered her; his description of her death was vivid and left Erika clearly distressed, but unbeknownst to Kevin she was aware of his deception the entire time; Clifford was not actually in the English class taken for the season, and thus Erika knew he was not on the island. She played along for a time, placating Kevin, due to her suspicion that he himself had murdered Yvonne. Kevin soon began to make advances towards Erika, but she rebuffed him gently, citing grief over Yvonne's death.

Yvonne herself warned Craig and Sylvia about Kevin, and the trio also recruited Connie Epps, a quiet girl who'd skipped two grades, into their ranks. Connie revealed that she'd seen Jesse's slaying of Ana, and the group agreed to open fire on Jesse without question if they saw him.

Elsewhere, Tina came across Caroline Cassano, and suggested they take turns keeping watch while getting some rest. Caroline was unsure about this course of action, especially when Tina insisted Caroline sleep first, and refused. Tina smiled, told Caroline she was too smart for her own good, then pulled Mason's pistol and demanded all of Caroline's supplies. Caroline handed her belongings over, and Tina kicked the girl in the face, breaking her nose, but allowed her to flee otherwise uninjured.

As the second day dawned, a number of areas were closed off as Danger Zones. The first casualty of the day was Caroline, who entered a forbidden warehouse. Caroline had spent the whole night in a state of panic and despair following her mugging, and as the beeping of her collar escalated she gave a rambling, nihilistic speech, claiming that she was sure to die and that nobody good could ever escape the island. Sobbing, she screamed that this was the less painful way out, and her collar soon detonated.

Hearing that Yvonne was in fact not dead, Erika confronted Kevin, noting that she knew Clifford wasn't even in the game. Kevin cheerfully admitted that he'd been lying, but claimed that he'd done so to spare her feelings because Yvonne had gone crazy and attacked him. He also noted that her primary objection to his amorous advances no longer applied. Erika, livid at Kevin's actions, played along with him for a spell, but as soon as Kevin had stripped to his underwear, she grabbed his clothes and fled. Kevin tried to chase after her, but was thwarted by the rough ground making barefoot pursuit unpleasant. Erika had not, however, pilfered his shoes, so he reequipped and set out to wander once again.

Cassie, scouring the island for signs of Jesse, stumbled instead upon Blanca. Cassie asked whether Blanca had seen Jesse, and the girl replied in the negative; as Cassie turned to leave, however, Blanca shot her in the back. The shotgun blast tore through Cassie and dropped her to the ground, but the girl recovered enough to stand back up and return fire. Blanca was taken off guard by this, but Cassie's aim was inaccurate; Cassie pursued her assailant through a field for a few minutes, but blood loss got the better of her and she emptied her clip fruitlessly before collapsing. Blanca circled back around and finished the fallen girl with a shot to the head.

Jesse himself was roaming the island in search of prey, having been dislodged from his overnight shelter by the placement of Danger Zones. As he traveled, he spied a pair of students in the distance, Annie Acheson and Gina Casey. Annie and Gina were close friends who mostly kept to themselves in class, but each girl had a kill to her name—unbeknownst to Jesse, a pair of boys had attempted to rob Annie the day before, but the situation had devolved into a brawl after Gina intervened with a claw hammer to the head of one of the assailants. Jesse quietly approached the pair as they picked their way through a small copse of trees. He assumed that neither girl had a gun, as both their killings had been in melee range, so he felt fairly comfortable letting rip with his MAC-10. Jesse did not, however, have any familiarity with the weapon, and immediately blew through his entire clip, only the first rounds going anywhere near his targets. This was enough to fell Annie, but Gina had a .22 caliber rifle taken from the boy she'd killed, and as Jesse fumbled to reload, she returned fire, catching the boy in the side. Jesse beat a hasty retreat, and while Gina gave chase she was unable to keep up. Once convinced that he'd lost her, a pained Jesse tried to bluster for the camera, but it was obvious that his injury had rattled him severely.

Noel and Mark had spent the night catching up and sleeping in shifts. Their rapport was easy and their affection for each other clear. It seemed that their alliance would be a solid one, but it was put to the test as they began to move a couple hours after the announcement. The pair were ransacking a house, when they caught sight of several figures moving outside, casting shadows against the curtains of a wide window. While they struggled to overhear, it seemed the group was discussing the merits of playing. Mark gestured to Noel to follow him, planning to find a hiding place, but Noel instead drew her revolver and fired off all its rounds through the window.

Those outside were a trio of video game fans and overall slackers named Glenn McKenzie, Paul Carter, and Amanda Hartzler, and in fact they had merely been trying to keep their spirits up by talking about the most recent LAN party they'd attended. Paul was struck in the head by Noel's loosely-aimed fire and collapsed; Glenn and Amanda were routed by the unexpected attack and fled. Noel and Mark rushed outside, Noel having reloaded en route. Paul was gurgling on the ground, half-conscious and incoherent, and Noel finished him off with a quick shot.

The whole series of events resulted in a huge argument between Mark and Noel. Mark argued that attacking first, without finding out what was going on or who they were even shooting at, was reprehensible and made them no better than the killers. Noel countered that she'd seen the evils of the game firsthand and that they couldn't afford to trust easily or to leave themselves vulnerable. Mark started to storm off, but after a moment hesitated and Noel chased him down. Neither wanted to split, and they agreed to continue together, but the trust was shaken.

At around this time, Tina was ambushed by Blanca. Blanca attacked from afar, and as such found no luck actually hitting Tina, and was also somewhat surprised when Tina enthusiastically returned fire. The specifics of Mason's death having not been disclosed, Tina was a fairly unknown quantity, but Blanca soon figured out that her foe was not to be trifled with, and the two girls stalked each other along a rocky incline at the island's edge. It had been about ten minutes since either had seen the other when Tina stumbled upon Jennie Putman, who was hiding out among the boulders. Jennie was relieved to see Tina, volunteering that she'd been hiding since seeing a boy named Corey Patel snap and try to swim home on the first day. The only person she'd seen since was Blanca, a known killer. Tina promised Jennie that everything would be okay, pulled the girl into an embrace, and asked for everything she knew about where Blanca had gone. As Jessie finished speaking, Tina pressed the barrel of her pistol to Jennie's temple and executed the girl before she had time to realize the betrayal. Following this, Tina set off in the direction opposite what she'd been told Blanca took, pausing at the waterside to wash Jennie's blood off her face.

Elsewhere and some time later, Craig, Yvonne, Sylvia, and Connie had been forced to reconsider their initial plan to shelter in a warehouse. They instead ventured towards the lighthouse, though were somewhat distressed to discover the corpses of Donna and Benjamin outside. As they were debating what to do, they were greeted by Francis Odde, the baseball pitcher. Francis had killed a girl named Elizabeth Palko on the first day, but claimed it had been in self defense. The group conferred about whether to trust Francis, but the decision was ultimately taken out of their hands. Francis ventured a short distance from the group, and was abruptly torn apart by a burst of machinegun fire. Jesse stepped from behind the lighthouse and poked at his teammate's corpse, and only then realized he was also in the presence of four other students. Craig called out to remember their plan, and the four instant sprung in action, shouting at Jesse, pelting him with rocks, and firing on him with Connie's assigned Glock. Faced with such resistance Jesse fled, but sustained further and more severe injuries, including a bullet to the elbow of his good arm and a minor concussion caused by a well-aimed chunk of stone to the back of the head.

The final death before the announcement was Emmanuel Melendez, who ran afoul of a grieving and irate Gina. While it was unclear whether Emmanuel actually intended any hostilities, his demeanor reminded Gina of the boys who'd robbed Annie on the first day, and she seized on a moment of inattention to shoot Emmanuel.

The announcement, coming with nightfall, brought with it a shifting of the Danger Zones, with the warehouses reopened and some of the outlying wilderness closed off. Another student committed suicide via the Danger Zones, though with notably less interest and impact than Caroline twelve hours before.

By this stage, most students were tired out, especially as many had not slept during the first night. Camps were struck, and quiet reigned, though there were some bursts of action. Erika Spence, since stealing Kevin Wideman's clothes, had been seeking Yvonne to no avail. She had shied away from other groups, but finally was forced into interaction when she came across a resting Tina. Tina greeted Erika cordially but at gunpoint. Erika, nervous but emboldened by her success with Kevin, pretended to believe it when Tina spun a story about having killed Jennie in self defense. Tina agreed to let Erika go, but as the relieved girl back away, Tina shot her anyways. Erika made it nearly a mile before succumbing to blood loss, and Tina was not aware of her kill until the next announcement.

Kevin, for his part, had spent most of the day hiding from others and ranting to himself with increasing vehemence. Soon after dark, he stumbled upon Annie's corpse, and while initially horrified, his fear quickly turned to anger. He kicked Annie's body, shouting at her for scaring him, and then stripped her of her bloody, pale pink sundress, using it to replace his stolen clothes. He made further quips to Annie's body for a time, and leaned in, seemingly planning to kiss her, but balked at the last second and left the area.

Jesse, semi-delirious from blood loss and cracking under the pressure, roamed the warehouses. Several times, he opened fire at imagined threats, quickly running low on ammunition. Finally, as he limped away from the warehouses, he nearly walked into a boy named Randall Malone, who had been avoiding others by lurking at the edge of Danger Zones. Randall, recognizing Jesse as the game's most prolific killer, immediately drew his switchblade, and Jesse was unable to bring his own armament to bear in time. Randall stabbed Jesse a dozen times in the throat and chest, then claimed the other boy's equipment and left him to bleed to death.

The final major occurrence of the night came when, not too long before dawn, Mark was keeping watch while Noel slept. Tension between the pair still hadn't abated, and Mark was again considering leaving Noel. He determined to do so, woke her, but before he could get through his explanation, there was a cry of "Murderer!" and someone started shooting. Amanda and Glenn had learned the identity of Paul's killer, and upon discovering the camp of Noel and Mark decided to take revenge. Mark, having been on watch duty, had the pair's gun, and returned fire; while Amanda's shots had gone wide, Mark's did not. Glenn fled once more, and Mark and Noel made their way to Amanda. Noel kicked the girl's gun away, and Mark demanded an explanation for her attack. Amanda cursed at him and Noel, said that Noel had killed Paul, and then refused to talk further. Noel wanted to finish Amanda off, noting that the girl had a grudge, had tried to kill them, and was obviously in pain. Mark asked Amanda's opinion, and she spit at him. Mark insisted that they couldn't kill the girl in cold blood, and Noel reluctantly acquiesced; Amanda died of her wounds an hour later and Mark was credited as her killer.

The third day started explosively, as Marjorie Turner slept through the announcements, including the designation of the rocky chunk of coast as a Danger Zone, and had her collar detonated.

Craig, Yvonne, Sylvia, and Connie had stayed in the lighthouse overnight, fortifying it and taking watch in shifts. The four had bonded, trading stories and small talk, and Craig had proven capable of putting everyone else at ease. They'd determined to seek their friends, especially Erika and Randall, and then to use their numbers to try to tide the game out. When morning came, the lighthouse was declared a Danger Zone, but Craig had planned for this too, and the group had already decided upon a route to take to the houses.

Unfortunately for them, their path crossed that of Blanca. Where Jesse had blundered into the group unwittingly, Blanca heard their approach first and lay in ambush. Undeterred by the odds, Blanca launched a surprise attack, opening up on the group with her shotgun. Craig was able to quickly organize the others, and they retreated towards cover, but Sylvia took a shot to the arm and panicked. She broke cover, ignoring Craig's calls to come back to safety. Yvonne ran after her friend, but caught a full burst from Blanca's shotgun to the chest and crumpled. Sylvia vanished, and Connie screamed and charged at Blanca, firing at the girl; this convinced Blanca to retreat, but Connie chased after her, leaving Craig to try in vain to staunch Yvonne's bleeding. She slipped away, and he was left alone, his allies scattered.

Elsewhere, Gina encountered Kevin and became immediately hostile as he was wearing her dead friend's clothes. Kevin first claimed that he had traded clothes with Annie following a romantic tryst, which only further incensed Gina, who revealed that she had been with Annie when the girl died. Caught in his lies, Kevin said he had something to show Gina that would explain everything, when she approached cautiously, he threw a handful of sand in her face and ran away. Gina, lacking any other outlet now that Jesse was dead, set off after Kevin, planning to kill him for defiling her friend's corpse.

Mark and Noel were engaged in a heated debate about the occurrences overnight in light of the announcement of Amanda's death. Mark claimed that they'd acted morally, while Noel said they'd left a girl to slowly and painfully die. They were interrupted by Gina's arrival. Gina, irate and unhinged, demanded to know if they'd seen Kevin; instead of replying, Noel casually shot the girl in the face. Mark was appalled, but Noel noted that Gina had two kills to her name, both in ambush situations. Mark countered that Noel now had three kills herself, in similar circumstances, to which Noel casually replied, "Well, if I came up to us out of nowhere, I'd shoot me too."

The evening's announcement brought the remaining eleven students closer together, to the warehouses, lighthouse, and surrounding untamed island. Sylvia, however, had lapsed into delirium as a result of her injuries and was unable to clear the house she'd taken shelter in before the Danger Zone came into effect; she died calling out for Craig and Yvonne.

Craig himself had fallen into a deep despondency over the fragmentation of his alliance. He returned to the lighthouse, climbing all the way to the top only to find the body of David Griffin. Craig came halfway back down the stairs, then just sat on the steps. It was there that he was found by Tina. She immediately started spinning a story about her kills, but Craig sighed, waved his hands, said "Spare me," and then locked eyes with Tina and added, "or don't." Tina giggled nervously and obligingly gunned him down.

The tightening of areas finally drove Shirlene McMillan out of hiding; she'd been laying low since the start of the game but had more or less maintained her composure, occupying her time rereading The Scarlet Letter which the class had been working on prior to their selection and which she had managed to sneak onto the island. The first classmate she interacted with was Kevin Wideman. Kevin had found Jesse's corpse, and was batting at it, mocking Jesse and stating that he was still alive while Jesse was "worm food." While this display and Kevin's garb unsettled Shirlene to some extent, she felt that Kevin had been misjudged in the past and had probably suffered greatly in the game. She came up to him, not drawing her assigned jackknife from her bag. She asked Kevin if Jesse had killed his friends. Kevin replied that he had killed Jesse and was a hero for doing so. Shirlene laughed and pointed out that she wasn't deaf; the announcements had clearly labeled Randall as Jesse's killer. Kevin let out a howl and dived at Shirlene suddenly. He knocked her to the ground, hit her head against it, stunning her, then dug through her bag. Finding her knife, he turned to the half-conscious Shrilene and started screaming at her for laughing at him, punctuating his rant with stabs and slashes. Kevin spent half an hour mangling Shirlene; she was dead by ten minutes in. When he finally finished, he wiped her blood over his face, then seemed to experience a brief moment of clarity, vomiting and weeping to himself for some time.

Mark and Noel had argued further after Gina's killing, but in light of the small number of remaining students agreed to bury the hatchet. Noel promised not to kill anyone without reason, and Mark in turn agreed to be ready to act if reason was evident. They both agreed that Tina, Blanca, and Glenn were fair game no matter what, Tina and Blanca due to their kills and Glenn due to his history with the pair. They also promised that, if they were the last two, they'd decide the survivor through a fair fight, with no deceit and no hard feelings.

Randall and Glenn, both quieter students, crossed paths in one of the warehouses. Glenn was on edge, still smarting from the loss of his friends, and attempted to enlist Randall in his mission. Randall laughed and declined, noting that his killing of Jesse had been born of opportunism, not valiance, and that he'd not made it this long by chasing killers. Glenn snapped, accusing Randall of being just as bad as the players. Randall tried to calm Glenn down, but Glenn pulled his assigned screwdriver from his back pocket and stabbed Randall deeply in the chest in a fit of rage. As Randall sputtered and the blood trickled over his hands, Glenn realized what he'd done and started babbling apologies. Randall pulled the screwdriver out, calmly made his way to his bag, withdrew Jesse's MAC-10, and poured the whole clip into Glenn at point blank range. Glenn collapsed, dead, and Randall tried to reload but slumped over himself, perishing soon afterwards.

Connie had lost Blanca quickly in her pursuit, and had been seeking her allies since. She arrived at the lighthouse soon after Craig's death, sneaking in after Tina's departure. She was shocked to find Craig's corpse, and pondered whether it made more sense to try to hunt down Tina or to try to find and protect Sylvia, who she didn't realize was already dead. Ultimately, she did neither. Blanca had been drawn by the sounds of gunfire, and had taken position beside the door. When Connie stepped outside, Blanca pressed her shotgun into the back of the girl's head. Connie cursed at Blanca, calling her a monster, and tried to draw her own gun and attack; she got it halfway clear of her pocket before Blanca pulled the trigger.

Soon after, Endgame was declared, set in three warehouses and the alleys between them. The contestants were Tina, Blanca, Noel, Mark, and Kevin.

Kevin and Tina encountered each other quickly, and approached each other with some trepidation. While Kevin had returned to a state of semi-calm, the announcement had made clear the over-enthusiasm of his sole kill. Tina sized him up for a time, but when she realized he had no firearms started shooting at him. Kevin ducked into a warehouse littered with old crates and machinery, and Tina went after him.

Noel and Mark arrived soon after Blanca, and followed the girl into an alleyway, noting the sounds of gunfire from a warehouse across the arena. Blanca quickly realized she was being followed, recognized Mark and Noel from their earlier encounter, and engaged her pursuers in a running gunfight. Noel kept up a direct pursuit, but Mark peeled off, heading the opposite way around the building.

Blanca realized she was being flanked and shifted her strategy from retreat to offense, charging at Noel. Noel's ammunition ran dry as Blanca reached her; Blanca leveled her shotgun, but Mark arrived and felled the girl with a handful of snap shots. Noel pinned the girl's shotgun to the ground with her foot. Bleeding and critically wounded, Blanca went for Connie's pistol, but Mark, closer by now, shot her at point blank range before she could bring the weapon to bear. Shaken but both unhurt, Mark and Noel reloaded, took up Blanca's weapons, and set off towards the warehouse that had now fallen silent.

They found Kevin stumbling out of the door, giggling to himself and clutching a bloody knife. Mark demanded to know what had happened to Tina, and Kevin gleefully explained that he'd slit her throat. He started to detailed how he'd molested her corpse, but was silenced when Noel brought up Blanca's shotgun and used it to take the top of his head off.

For a moment, all was quiet. Mark seemed about to protest Noel's treatment of Kevin, but bit back any words he might have. The pair looked at each other, laughed, and then quietly spoke. As the final two, they meant to make good on their promise to settle things equitably. Noel proposed a duel, like in an old movie, and Mark agreed. They stood, Mark with his back to the warehouse, Noel facing it, and moved to shake hands. Mark had only a moment to see Noel's eyes widen before a bullet went through the back of his head, carrying straight through and into Noel's forehead, both friends felled in a single hit (though several other shots went wide).

Tina had, in fact, lost track of Kevin in the warehouse and had stopped firing on the boy to avoid giving away her position. She'd been stalking carefully through the warehouse, thinking she might be ambushed at any moment, unaware that Kevin had lost interest, wandered outside, and once again spun an unfounded lie about his exploits and depravity. Spotting an opportunity to get the drop on Noel and Mark, she'd ended the season with a single bullet.

Legacy:

• Rated as: Average
• While much of Season Nine was well regarded while it was being broadcast, a few elements earned significant animosity from the fandom. Kevin Wideman was widely viewed as depraved and appalling, and his bizarre and aimless dishonesty in the finals ultimately engineered what many fans felt was an undeserved win. Kevin's family changed their last name and moved away from Durham soon after the season's end.
• Tina Jones attempted to embrace her victory and milk it for all she could, though with mixed results. Her family would have nothing to do with her, and public perception of her ranged from immoral to actively sociopathic. She lacked the easy charisma of Kenny Yamana, and fans were quick to point out that the bulk of her deceptions came at the expense of those who were helpless, disinclined to resist her, wise to her schemes but unable to do anything about them, or otherwise not the most difficult of prey. Noel and Mark were the more iconic duo from the season, and Tina expressed her irritation at this multiple times in interviews.
  
  A few months after Tina's victory, in the aftermath of the disastrous Season Ten, Tina admitted a visitor to her New York City apartment. She was found dead the next day, stabbed multiple times in her bedroom. Review of tapes from her building's surveillance cameras quickly led to the identification and arrest of Anthony Cassano, older brother or Caroline Cassano, the girl who killed herself after being robbed by Tina during the season's first night. A knife and bloodstained clothes were found in Anthony's car; he surrendered to police without incident after a warrant was issued.
  
  Anthony's trial was an extremely public media circus that spanned over a year. His defense team attempted to argue that he had been driven by extremely relatable grief, and tried to paint Tina as responsible for Caroline's death. Ultimately, not only did the jury reject Anthony's defense, public opinion also went strongly against him. A large part of this was due to the rather tenuous connection between Tina's actual actions and Caroline's death, but TV's executives were quick to hold Anthony up as a poster child of anti-winner sentiment. Anthony was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole; at his sentencing, Judge Betty Jewett spoke out strongly against vigilante action, harshly condemning Anthony's retributive violence and any other possible vengeance taken against SOTF survivors for actions during the game. While the case doesn't come up too often in conversation a decade later, its effects are arguably still felt; retribution against survivors is vanishingly rare and even TV's staunchest critics tend to condemn the idea, though jokes and speculation regarding the potential for other winners perceived as villainous to meet a fate similar to Tina's crops up from time to time on message boards.
• Posthumously, Tina has been much better received. Her violent end lent her story a certain tragic and karmic quality, making her the winner who didn't get away with it. In that light, her unapologetic violence sits better with audiences, and her striking appearance is fairly iconic. Her fate is rarely mentioned in the context of her season, but hovers unspoken in the background. While Season Nine was viewed as a fairly poor season while Tina was alive, it's now seen as average, flawed certainly, but interesting nonetheless, especially in light of its close proximity to Seasons Ten and Twelve. Following a tenth anniversary remastering, chunks of Season Nine were rebroadcast throughout 2019 and 2020.

Suggested by: MurderWeasel

Season Ten

Dates: 2009

Winner: Gerald O'Neal (Two kills)
Runner Up: Danika Robb
Third Place: Arnold Lawrence

Location: Vacant warehouse in Chicago, Illinois

Notable Participants:

• Gerald O'Neal - M03, winner, two kills
• Danika Robb - F09, runner-up, three kills
• Leroy Patrick - M07, eighth place, seven kills (officially)

Summary:The second season of 2009 was an exercise in austerity. Twenty-two students from Lakeside Central High in Chicago, Illinois were packed into an empty warehouse with their designated weapons placed on the floor before them. Season 10 is known largely as an experimental flop, with one of the bloodiest openings of any season followed by what is widely regarded as the worst standoff in SotF history.

As the game began, two panicked students immediately discovered the warehouse's crude security measures in the form of an electrified inner wall. No further attempts at escape were made, as all but three died in the ensuing bloodbath. Several guns were included in the assigned weapon list, most notably a Thompson submachine gun issued to G05 Nicole Richards. In the opening seconds of the game, Leroy Patrick made a dash for it, taking for his own and immediately going on a shooting spree. Officially, his kill list includes 7 students including Nicole and his own twin brother B08 Lemar Patrick. Unofficially, speculators peg his true kill count at anywhere between 4 and 10. While Leroy was the most notable gun-toting contestant, each of the half-dozen students assigned firearms acted similarly, opening fire almost immediately. The close quarters and lack of cover made it nearly impossible not to hit someone; of the twenty students alive after the opening seconds of the game, all but four would receive gunshot wounds.

Both the eventual winner, Gerald O'Neal, and the runner up, Danika Robb, emerged unscathed from the crossfire, as did G07 Shawnee Jones and B02 Luke Jacobson. Arnold Lawrence was hit in the leg, but survived for a time due to his issued chainsaw. After gruesomely murdering Luke with his weapon, he revved the saw repeatedly to keep the dangerous wounded away from himself. Shawnee, after emptying her weapon, was caught and strangled by Gerald, who was wounded in the foot from the attached bayonet during the scuffle. All other casualties of the initial bloodbath would gradually succumb to their wounds; five hours in, only three students remained alive.

At that point, the first of two standoffs began; Danika, who had ended up in close proximity to Arnold, moved towards him, brandished the ball peen hammer with which she had already finished off two wounded students. Arnold fell back on his tactic of revving the chainsaw defensively whenever she drew close. Eventually the chainsaw sputtered to a halt, and Danika picked up her third kill.

Meanwhile, Gerald searched the area around himself, scavenging for weapons. Despite the long duration of the standoff across the warehouse, he remained generally in the same area, both to avoid stressing his injured foot and to avoid attracting the ire of the other two combatants, who he hoped might finish each other off. Most of the bodies within his reach held only joke weapons or empty guns, leaving a cavalry sabre as his only acquisition from his hunt.

At that point, Danika and Gerald engaged in season 10's infamous standoff. Starting 9 hours into the game, the students would remain at odds until hour 47. With the odds of a straight-out fight very much against her, Danika stubbornly maintained her distance from Gerald, waiting for him to succumb to sleep or blood loss. Any time Gerald attempted to close the distance between them, she would respond by simply walking out of the way. They circled each other in a pattern that took hours to complete, scavenging any bodies they came across. Danika discovered a .45 caliber revolver fairly quickly, but managed to miss all three remaining shots due to her decision to stay at long range. While she eventually added a hatchet and gladius to her arsenal, neither contestant was able to find another loaded gun, and no extra ammunition had been provided.

More important to the eventual result of the season was Gerald's discovery of a bottle of caffeine pills, which he proceeded to consume one by one whenever Danika looked away. With this advantage in hand and a throbbing wound in his foot, Gerald halted his pursuit altogether, deciding instead to play his competitor's own game. For the remaining 14 hours of the standoff they sat watching each other, the only movement being Danika occasionally rising to pace back and forth. At long last, pacing gave way to snoring, and after a total 37 hours of waiting, Gerald shuffled across the floor with bayonet in hand to slice open the sleeping girl's throat.

Legacy:

• Rated as: Abysmal
• Season 10 is best remembered as an example of how not to run a game of SotF. Although the opening bloodbath remains an object of some fascination, the deathmatch decided ultimately by a bottle of caffeine pills is one that remains willfully forgotten to many fans. Still, references to season 10 crop up occasionally in fan slang, with the participants of a particularly anticlimactic standoff said to "pull a 10", or poorly-run seasons said to suffer from "10 syndrome".

Suggested by: Rattlesnake

Season Eleven

Dates: Summer 2009

Winner: Christian Greene (six kills)
Runner Up: Emmeline Dobson (one kill)
Third Place: Kristie Bertran (four kills)

Location: Isla Paraíso, an island resort in the Pacific Ocean, ravaged by a tsunami only weeks beforehand. While the original planned arena for this season was Redwood National Park in Humboldt County, SOTF-TV production found out about the island resort not long after its appearance in the news, and swooped in after disaster relief had only just begun cleanup efforts. Much of the debris and destruction had been preserved for use as scenery, giving the season a unique aesthetic.

Notable Participants:

• Christian Greene (winner, six kills) – A football linebacker and the son of prominent ranchers in the Childress community, Christian teamed up with Matthew Moore at the start of the season and formed a deadly partnership that saw them through most of the game—while Matthew was the more showy, bloodthirsty and pragmatic of the two, it didn't take long for Christian to learn the ropes from Matthew and he quickly became just as dangerous. While their partnership was severed by Matthew's death before Endgame, Christian ended up winning in his honor, and dedicated the season to him.
• Emmeline Dobson (runner-up, one kill) - The daughter of an oil mogul, Emmeline was a spoiled but sweet girl who was desperate to find a way out with her friends, but she ended up being the only one of them to survive for long. After their deaths, she played a stealthy game that saw her through to Endgame. There, she scored a surprise kill on Kristie Bertran, but was no match for Christian and ended up being killed by him to conclude the season.
• Kristie Bertran (third place, four kills) - A shy, reclusive nerd, Kristie survived most of the game through her partnership with Jordan Keyes, a toxic and violent boy who expected Kristie to bow to his every whim in order to survive. Eventually, however, she became fed up with him and managed to kill him during one of his violent outbursts. After this, she decided that she'd had enough of her school and decided to fight her way out of the game, making it all the way to the end. She was killed by Emmeline after having her head smashed into the edge of a pool.
• Jose Garza (fourth place, no kills) - A nice, average boy who teamed up with his girlfriend and another couple throughout the game, Jose slowly found himself entwined in various soap-opera-like happenings throughout the season. First, his girlfriend was forced to kill one of his best friends when said friend attempted to murder them, causing her to attempt suicide in grief. Then, when that was almost worked through, the other girl in the group became convinced that her boyfriend was cheating on her with Jose's girlfriend, killing the both of them before killing herself. Jose ended up in Endgame due to sheer luck and various suicides and unexpected deaths, and was killed by Christian not two minutes after Endgame began.
• Joanne Tilman (fifth place, no kills) - Notable as the last death before Endgame or the first death in it depending on how one counts, Joanne's journey was a unique one, as she spent the vast majority of it in near catatonia, unable to take care of herself and reliant on her friends for help and protection. This would end up leading to the deaths of all her friends as they put themselves on the line to defend her, and when she became the only one left, she was unable to bring herself out of her head to carry on. Her collar was detonated for not entering the Endgame arena.
• Andy Ramirez (sixth place, two kills) - Joanne's best friend and main caretaker for most of the game, Andy took a brutal amount of damage throughout over its course. While Joanne's other friends and protectors ended up dying almost immediately, Andy almost made it to Endgame, but perished just short due to a combination of his injuries and infections.
• Matthew Moore (eighth place, six kills) - The star quarterback of George Campbell's football team, Matthew was a natural performer and took SOTF-TV as an opportunity to become a star, quickly becoming the most popular character of the season. He teamed up with Christian Greene early on in order to have a partner-in-crime, and ended up racking up six kills, making him the most prolific killer of the season at the time. Matthew was widely viewed as the favorite heading into the Final Ten. However, in a case of sheer dumb luck, he was nicked by a ricochet in a firefight with Clark Clarke after they lured the boy into the open. While the pair disposed of Clark, Matthew's jugular had been cut and he bled out, but not before Christian promised to avenge him by winning the season.
• Clark Clarke (ninth place, four kills) - An extremely dangerous player, Clark was well known for using guerilla tactics to ambush his prey, setting traps in order to lure in victims and potential victims and eventually drawing out their deaths for extended periods of time. However, his own tactics were inadvertently used against him by Matthew and Christian, and he was unexpectedly pulled out into the open where he was shot and killed, although not before managing to land a fluke fatal wound on Matthew.
• Nicki Nobles (fifteenth place, two kills) - While she spent most of the game in a group with her boyfriend Jonas Moreno and another couple, Jose and Veronica, Nicki was also the reason for the dissolution of the alliance. While she managed to keep her composure for the good majority of the game, she frequently sacrificed sleep and finally succumbed to the pressure near the end. She experienced a mental break, imagining that Jonas was cheating on her with Jose's girlfriend, Veronica, and killed them both before killing herself.
• Wes Langley (twenty-first place, one kill) – Wes was Emmeline's friend and secret admirer, but was convinced he was forever stuck in the "friend zone." He ended up protecting Emmeline for much of the game, convinced he could make her love him even though she had a boyfriend. Attempting to rescue Emmeline's boyfriend, Dallas, Wes hesitated for a moment, considering leaving Dallas to die so he could be with Emmeline. This split-second saw Wes killed in an ambush by a would-be player, although he managed to take his killer down with him.
• Jordan Keyes (twenty-fifth place, three kills) - A violent, angry, misogynistic boy, Jordan teamed up with Kristie Bertran because he assumed she'd be grateful and let him control her. Whenever she resisted his advances or didn't do exactly as he said, he threw what amounted to tantrums and got violent towards her. While he managed to score several kills at the start of the game, he ended up being killed by Kristie after pushing her too far.
• Elijah Lee (thirty-first place, three kills) - A violent early player who played flashily but dangerously, Elijah was noteworthy for being prolific in the early section of the game before being taken out by Christian as his first kill.

Summary: Forty-six students from George Campbell High School in Childress, Texas were abducted and taken to Isla Paraíso, a Pacific Island resort recently ravaged by a tsunami. The season started out with a bang, as the first two students to wake were Elijah Lee and Blake Page, who, upon regaining consciousness at the resort proper, immediately realized where they were and attempted to kill each other in a hands-on brawl which ended with Blake's death via blunt force trauma from repeated headbutts by Elijah. Other incidents in the opening minutes included Matthew Moore getting the jump on Richard Kurosawa, one of his football teammates, at the golf course and slitting his throat (following it up with a one-liner), and Jordan Keyes chasing two students to the edge of a cliff, where one futilely attempted to fight back and the other jumped to his death in a misguided gambit to escape by Jordan.

While the next few hours were not quite as action-packed, they did see the formation of every notable group of the season. Matthew teamed up with Christian Greene, another football teammate, rather than killing him, stating that he needed a partner in crime; the two became the biggest players of the season. Jordan eventually came across Kristie Bertran and invited her to travel with him for her protection, though this invitation contained major elements of ultimatum as Jordan made no secret of his earlier killing; Kristie agreed due to fear of the island and her classmates. Jose Garza quickly met up with his girlfriend, Veronica Jones, and the two soon came across Jonas Moreno and Nicki Nobles, another couple from school. The two pairs agreed to stick together for survival. Soon, they encountered Emmeline Dobson at the resort beach, fleeing an attacker. The boy turned his aggressions on the interlopers, and Veronica was forced to kill him in self-defense while Emmeline fled. Emmeline herself ended up finding her friend, Wes Langley, and the pair quickly tracked down Emmeline's boyfriend, Dallas Buchanan, and her best friend, Izzy Boneham. These four also agreed to stick together.

Adrian Burke and Andy Ramirez, another allied pair, came across Joanne Tilman. Unable to cope with the reality of the game, Joanne had lapsed into a catatonic state. The two, being close friends of the girl, decided to protect her until she could fend for herself, though this recovery would never come to pass. While they did their best to protect her and care for her, fending off other students who they had even slight inclination to believe dangerous, their short-lived group would soon come to an end at the hands of Elijah Lee. Elijah attacked the group at the lagoon and ended up gutting Adrian with a hacksaw after a short fight, which Andy had used as an opportunity to get Joanne to safety.

Elijah had been one of the most prolific killers of the first day, racking up three kills in short succession, but would see his luck come to an end soon after the second day's first announcement, which detailed his killing of Adrian. After treating his wounds, the boy encountered Matthew Moore and Christian Greene at the destroyed boardwalk. Matthew and Christian had already been together for most of the first day, during which Matthew had also scored three kills. Throughout, he was playing to the camera in an apparently almost effortless way. When queried on this by Christian, Matthew, an avid SOTF-TV fan, explained that he believed that if he became the biggest character of the season with the best kills, the producers would have no choice but to rig things in his favor to make up for the disappointment that was Season Ten. As Matthew was further explaining his thought process, the two were attacked by a hacksaw-wielding Elijah. As the boy grappled with Matthew, Christian quickly drew his own weapon, a six-shot revolver, and emptied the chambers into Elijah while he was distracted. With Matthew's words in his mind, Christian fired off his own one-liner straight after.

Meanwhile, tensions were rising in Emmeline's group. Izzy had begun to believe that Wes and Dallas didn't care about her, only Emmeline. The truth was somewhat more complicated, but she wasn't entirely off the money; in fact, Wes was infatuated with Emmeline while Dallas was taking a more selfish and mercenary stance, viewing the entire group—Emmeline included—as a tool to improve his own chances of making it to Endgame and ultimately surviving. Izzy ended up having a long, tense discussion about her fears with Emmeline while the group was stopped at the golf course. Despite Emmeline trying to persuade Izzy that she and the others would never turn on her, Izzy remained unconvinced, and in fact began to suspect that the three were only dragging her along to sacrifice at an opportune moment. Rather than wait for this to come to pass, she suddenly lunged at Emmeline, trying to strangle her to death. Wes and Dallas had been waiting in a nearby sand trap while the two had "girl talk" and quickly intervened, killing Izzy with a shot to the head. This left Emmeline traumatized and splattered in her friend's blood.

Kristie and Jordan's partnership was no better off. While Jordan had managed to protect Kristie from harm and she in turn had treated the injuries he sustained while killing two other students, he began making advances on her, which Kristie always gently rebuffed. This in turn made Jordan angry and violent. It was during one of these outbursts that Jordan attacked Kristie, and a long chase ensued, culminating back at the cliffs where Jordan had scored his first kill. Jordan almost strangled Kristie to death, but she managed to get one good hit in, bashing Jordan in the side of the head with a rock. He tumbled off of Kristie, and she used this opportunity to push him off the cliffs to his death. Still in a state of aggravation and hysterical at almost dying, Kristie ranted to nobody in particular about how much she hated her class, and declared that she was now on a mission to outlive them all just so she could be rid of them, which, while not eloquently worded, became one of the defining moments of the season.

As the second day of the game wound down, Emmeline's group stopped to rest, and Dallas stepped aside for a bathroom break. While isolated from the group behind a pile of rubble, he was captured as a hostage by Benedict Smith. Benedict marched Dallas back to his group at gunpoint and demanded all the supplies and weapons that Emmeline, Wes, and Dallas had in exchange for their lives. While Emmeline, still not fully recovered from Izzy's death, was quick to give in to Benedict's demands in order to prevent bloodshed, Wes decided to use the opportunity to prove himself. He'd been quietly stewing in jealousy over Emmeline's relationship with Dallas, and now drew his own gun on Dallas and Benedict, turning the situation into a Mexican standoff. The situation was tense, with Benedict facing greater resistance than anticipated and Wes seemingly not properly concerned with the safety of the hostage. During the heated negotiation, Benedict sensed an opening as Wes briefly turned his attention to Emmeline; seizing what he saw as his best chance, Benedict decided to launch a preemptive strike, shooting Wes in the chest, then Dallas in the head. He was rounding on Emmeline when Wes pushed himself back up and fired half a dozen shots at Benedict, one of which caught the boy in the chest and another in the throat. As Benedict fell to the ground, Wes sank back down, soon dying of his own injury. On the sidelines, a stunned and even more heavily traumatized Emmeline was now alone. Still, she refused to give up, and ransacked all the bags that were held by the three dead boys for everything useful she could find.

Compared to everyone else in the game, Jose's group had been almost untouched over the first two days—for the most part, Jonas had kept the three of them as level and sane as they could be with frequent encouragement and unwavering kindness, although Veronica had undergone her own troubles over her kill at the beginning of the game, and Nicki had kept watch for the entirety of both nights, unable to sleep due to stress and fear. These factors reached a sudden breaking point when the group, having rested at the damaged spa, started to plan their third day. Veronica had been contemplating suicide and began to muse out loud about this in an increasingly despairing and distressing fashion. While the others worked on breakfast, she abruptly excused herself, claiming she needed to find a restroom. Jonas, doubting her story, went to check on her and found her trying to psych herself up to put a gun to her head. He managed to talk her out of it, telling her that Jose, Nicki, and himself still needed her and also that she needed to live for herself. Veronica hugged Jonas in thanks, and he held her as she cried, promising her that they'd all do what they could to take care of each other. At this moment, Nicki came into the room and, in a moment of mania induced by her insomnia, decided that Jonas was cheating on her with Veronica—an assumption that, while unreasonable in this situation, did have some basis in Jonas' behavior prior to the game. Before the pair could offer an explanation, or even fully process what was happening, Nicki screamed at the others, leveled the pistol she'd been trusted with as part of watch duty, and gunned them down. She was almost immediately overcome with horror and regret as she stared at the bodies of two of her closest companions, and as Jose ran into the room, drawn by the gunfire, Nicki could offer no explanation and simply shot herself in the head, leaving a grieving and confused Jose in her wake.

As the third day wore on, the game was clearly begging to come to a close. Kristie Bertran had quickly become one of the surprise standouts and a serious contender for the win, as following her experience with Jordan she began playing smart and hard. On the second day, she set a tripwire and lured one of her former bullies into it, turning and pouncing on him when he fell. The next day, she met up with a pair of girls and tricked them into believing her actions to be in self defense; as a result, when the group was confronted by the bully's traveling companion, they went to bat for Kristie, perishing in the attempt as she used their deaths to facilitate her own escape. She was smart, resourceful, and making a name for herself, especially as she tended to explain most of her thoughts and processes to the camera whenever she had the time, treating it as an impromptu diary. This endeared herself to the audience fairly quickly. While not the most prolific killer left, she was easily the one who was the best supplied and least injured, and the odds were considered to be strongly in her favor because of this.

Over the course of the game, Matthew and Christian had become forces to be reckoned with, seen widely as the most dangerous players on the island. By the time the two had reached the Final Ten, Christian had racked up two more kills, while Matthew had doubled his kill count since their encounter with Elijah. This included a major ambush in which three other students attempted to take the two down, but the footballers managed to kill all of their assailants in retaliation, an encounter which fans of the show quickly dubbed "The Alamo." However, their good luck would come to an end in the evening of the third day, as they encountered Clark Clarke, a fellow player who had made his way through the game using guerilla tactics and stealth. While his kills had initially been somewhat messy due to his inexperience and his methods, which centered around setting up traps for fellow students, he'd soon turned to intentionally drawing out his kills, making them as painful as possible. While he had played fairly smart for the good majority of the game, he made a critical misstep when he was lured into the open by what he assumed were abandoned bags. These, in fact, belonged to Christian and Matthew, who had left them as bait. The footballers hadn't quite expected such dangerous prey, however, and a fierce firefight ensued. While Clark lost his life in the exchange, Matthew was nicked in the neck by an unknown bullet in the chaos. Many viewers initially assumed the shot came from Christian himself, but later examination revealed it to be a ricochet fired by Clark that landed in Matthew's jugular. As Matthew lay dying, he managed to make Christian promise to win the game for him, a scene which many in the fandom derided, often with descriptions like "overly bromantic" and "bromo-erotic;" it has been redubbed several times online with overly romantic ballads playing over it.

It was also during the waning moments of the game that Andy Ramirez ended up dying. Having protected a vulnerable Joanne for most of the game from attackers—two of whom he'd killed—and Danger Zones, he himself had sustained a number of severe injuries over several fights, including multiple bullet wounds, three stab wounds, a severed finger and a likely concussion. Despite this massive trauma, he still managed to keep Joanne safe until the Final Six, but near the end of the third night he ended up succumbing to his injuries in the jungle, leaving Joanne alone. A five-student Endgame was announced, but Joanne, having been in a catatonic state for most of the game, was not stirred by this. She seemed unable or unwilling to leave the jungle for the large pool area of the resort designated as the Endgame arena, and her collar was detonated. There are those who are convinced that Joanne had managed to stir before her collar was detonated, but this remains unconfirmed; in any event, she died where she'd been camped with Andy.

The remaining Endgame participants were Christian Greene, Jose Garza, Kristie Bertran, and Emmeline Dobson. Jose had drifted since the destruction of his group, ultimately teaming up with a boy who died shortly before Endgame, choosing to commit suicide rather than face any of the remaining players. Kristie had survived on her own almost entirely since Jordan's death, making a name for herself through her strategic play. Emmeline had been holed up in one of the bungalows near the pool area since her group's demise. Christian had continued scouring the arena after Matthew's death, though without further success in finding prey.

Endgame started violently, as Christian caught up with and gunned down a near-defenseless Jose minutes arriving. Kristie looked set to take out Emmeline, chasing the girl around the entire pool complex while Christian readied himself to take on the remaining two. Emmeline managed to turn the tables on Kristie, shocking the girl by abruptly ceasing her flight and going on the offensive and the two engaged in a brief brawl, which ended with Kristie's head being smashed into the edge of the nearby pool. However, while Emmeline had managed to take down Kristie, she was no match for the experienced Christian, who hunted her across the pool complex. He forced her to retreat time and again, finally cornering her behind a bar. When she looked out to check if the coast was clear, he shot her in the head, and the season ended as Christian posed for the camera one final time.

Legacy:

• Rated as: Very Good
• In terms of public perception, Season Eleven benefited greatly from its placement. Season Nine had been met with a lukewarm reception only beginning to improve following the death of its winner, Season Ten was widely considered an unmitigated disaster, and Season Twelve would be considered disappointing in some respects. By comparison, Season Eleven featured interesting storylines, showy yet long-lived players, and a fairly charismatic winner with ties to a fan favorite. Compared to the other seasons of 2009, it seemed that Season Eleven had something for nearly everyone, even those who did not enjoy the winner. While for several years after it was considered to be a classic season, distance has tamped down on the hype to some extent, and while it still enjoys widespread popularity it is not part of the all-time pantheon.
• Many of the season's big moments have themselves easily to reaction videos, gifs, and memes; while they were certainly fitting in the context of the season, they were also melodramatic enough to exploit devoid of context in an ironic fashion. Prominent examples included mundane sound effects being spliced over deaths, speeches and sad moments being overlaid with outrageously dramatic music being, and, most notably, sound effects from the video game Duck Hunt being added to the final death of the season. While not entirely complimentary, these remixes actually increased the season's profile with audiences who might otherwise have found it less interesting.
• Christian was a fairly popular winner, although he was still somewhat overshadowed by acclaim for his partner, Matthew. A more physical, less manipulative player than had survived the game in some time, Christian managed to procure fame, media appearances, and wealth from his time on the show. He moved to Houston shortly after his return home and spent several years making the rounds across the country, regularly appearing on talk shows, becoming a regular at conventions, and even making night club appearances for paid meet-and-greets, a practice he continued well after his relevance as a winner began to fade. However, after ten years of solid fame and notoriety, Christian suddenly disappeared from the spotlight. After a few weeks, it was discovered that he had moved back to his family ranch in Childress. He still conducts interviews and appears on podcasts and shows, albeit never in person, and has never discussed the reason for his abrupt disappearance. The cause of his withdrawal is heavily speculated upon, with many of the theories centering around an ex-girlfriend, who spilled all sorts of details about their last troubled months together to the press, but this and other theories remain unconfirmed.

Suggested by: Brackie

Season Twelve

Dates: December 2009

Winner: Reece Cutter (three kills)
Runner Up: Andrea Oakley (one kills)
Third Place: Bebe Wilcox (no kills)

Location: A sequestered area of Humboldt County’s Redwood National Park. The location was lauded due to its ethereal nature and beauty, and heavy mist pervaded the area at several points, creating a striking effect.

Notable Participants:

• Reece Cutter (winner) - Reece was a favorite from the beginning thanks to accidental highlighting in promotion shots, but she came into her own during the game, where her drive to save the life of her girlfriend, Bebe, lead her to take extreme measures. She remains a controversial figure, especially due to her fall to villainy by the end of the season.
• Andrea Oakley (runner-up) - A girl so shy it bordered on antisocial, Andrea was largely uninvolved and out of the spotlight during the season. She encountered other students only three times, one of which was endgame. It quickly became clear that Andrea was losing her mind, especially after she killed another student by accident.
• Bebe Wilcox (third place) - After being seriously wounded by Brian Bennett, Bebe underwent a grueling three days of slowly dying while Reece, her girlfriend, attempted to keep her alive. The relationship was more seen from Reece’s view, but it became clear that Bebe was acting as a morality chain to keep Reece from going off the deep end.
• Brian Bennett (fourth place, six kills) - The most successful player for the season, with six kills to his name, Brian was a huge fan of Season Three’s Kenny Yamana, and styled himself after the popular winner. Brian’s attempts at one-liners were often fumbled, however, and he ultimately failed to draw popularity despite his notable body count.
• Ezekiel "Zeke" Washington (fifth place, five kills) - A quiet young man, Zeke was a drifter, falling in with various groups before, with almost superhuman prescience, surviving the collapse of each alliance. He was good-natured, well-liked by fans and fellow competitors, yet was also the instigator of a major multikill, in a move that led many to question his true personality.
• Frank Starr and Morgan Bishop (seventh and eighth place) - Huge fans of the show, best friends Frank and Morgan styled themselves as the second coming of Dusty and Wallace, famous competitors from Season Three. Though they attempted to reach the same tier of heroics that the original Duo achieved, their astounding inability to read a situation, inability to accomplish most tasks, and the boneheaded mistakes that brought about their downfall led to fans referring to them as "The Dopey Deuces."

Summary: Season Twelve, comprising forty seniors from a high school in Salem, Oregon, played out fairly predictably at the start of what would become a three-day game. Players sought to establish themselves early, with Brian Bennett, who had been assigned a shotgun, gunning down Robert Calabrese as soon as the boy approached. Far from cutting the effortless image he aspired to, however, Brian then struggled for several seconds to think of a one-liner before settling on the somewhat nonsensical, "Don’t go blowing me off."

Morgan Bishop and Frank Starr quickly stumbled into each other. The friends agreed to team up for the rest of the game, vowing to emulate their heroes from Season Three, Dusty Mills and Wallace Cardigan. Elsewhere, Andrea Oakley, who had been assigned a roll of string, attempted to hang herself almost immediately upon awakening. The thin twine, however, instantly snapped. Andrea seemed disturbed by this, but made no future suicide attempts.

Having looted a rifle from Robert, Brian set up atop a ledge, planning to snipe whoever he could. He failed a few times, sending his targets scattering for cover, but finally managed to score a hit on Bebe Wilcox, though it took three shots, the first two of which gave his position away. Brian only managed to shoot Bebe in the thigh, and the girl limped towards the cover of a nearby stand of trees, screaming. Brian, scenting blood, leapt from his perch, landing heavily, and gave chase. However, Bebe's scream drew the attention of the nearby Reece Cutter, her girlfriend, who took in the scene immediately and threw her weapon, a single grenade, at Brian. Brian, panicking, kicked the grenade away and fled; the wayward explosive bounced off along the ground and rolled to the feet of Christopher Milk, who had been running to check out the noise. Milk stopped in surprise and failed to realize the danger before he was blown up. The credit for this kill was somewhat controversial; it was officially ascribed to Brian, but a contingent of fans felt Reece should have been credited, as Brian was acting purely defensively.

With Brian driven off, Reece turned her attention to treating the seriously wounded Bebe. With her condition as stable as it could be, the two took shelter in a nearby hollow tree trunk for the rest of the day.

The early dawn hours of the second day revealed a notable oversight: since the forest arena lacked clear boundaries aside from the outermost perimeter, Danger Zones were hard to identify, a problem exacerbated when a thick fog rolled into the woods, making it very difficult for students to retrace their steps when their collars started to beep. Though eight students died on Day One, a whopping six contestants were killed in Danger Zones in the transition from the first to second day. This proved controversial, and even some within the TV camp maintained that they should have exercised some form of leniency, but the official stance was that anything approximating favoritism would have damaged the integrity of the game.

Day Two saw Ezekiel Washington and a wannabe escape group meet up and part ways; minutes later, the group was killed by Brian. Famously, Andrea was watching from the bushes, and the camera caught her almost confused expression with a slow zoom while Brian gleefully shotgunned his victims.

However, Andrea would herself soon progress to killing. She had picked up the habit of talking to herself, and in so doing inadvertently attracted the attention of another student, Ingrid Manson. Ingrid believed Andrea to be potential company, and called out to her. Startled, Andrea fled. Ingrid called out to wait, then gave chase, seemingly hoping to calm Andrea down. Andrea made it a few hundred feet before stumbling and falling; Ingrid ran up to her and offered a hand to pull the girl up, but Andrea pushed her over in a panic, causing her to slip backwards into a ravine concealed by underbrush. Andrea pulled herself back to her feet and stared down into the hole at Ingrid's broken body for a time before walking away.

By Day Three, it was apparent that Bebe’s wound was infected, and her condition was declining. Early in the morning, Reece snuck away from her girlfriend and, locating a sleeping girl with an untouched bag of medical supplies, smashed the sleeper's head with a rock, then brought the pilfered food and medicine for Bebe. Reece made no mention of the murder, avoiding the subject of where she had acquired the supplies; the somewhat delirious Bebe did not question her fortune too closely.

Though twenty people made it to the start of Day Three, a further six of them died by getting turned around in Danger Zones. Zeke narrowly avoided death once more, as wannabe player Bella Winston got into a fight with Zeke's temporary travel companion, Walter Stone. The pair shot each other, with Zeke barely managing to scramble clear and avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Elsewhere, Frank and Morgan came across a pair of boys sneaking up on an unknown target. Frank and Morgan decided to intervene, and attacked the pair, each killing one of them; the second boy to die, however, gurgled out a strangled, "Why?" and seconds later the target of the ambush came into view: Brian Bennett. The look exchanged by Frank and Morgan before they fled Brian's gunfire is one of the season's infamous images.

Season Twelve's final ten was short-lived. Zeke began screaming loudly for no apparent reason, resulting in Frank, Morgan, and three other students rushing to investigate, only for him to reveal his weapon: dynamite. He blew up all five of the other students with a bomb planted in a nearby bush, but was killed himself by the shockwave, which ruptured his organs. Thus, Endgame began abruptly.

The finals progressed similarly abruptly. Despite Reece's efforts, Bebe's condition had continued to deteriorate rapidly. Reece had to drag her barely-conscious girlfriend to the Endgame arena, sequestering her behind a tree. Moments later, however, Bebe's lapsed into unconsciousness and her breathing stopped. Brian saw the movement of Reece trying to wake her and closed in, immediately opening fire. Reece, in a panic now due to Bebe's unresponsive state, returned fire with a pistol. Feeling she had no time to play safely, she recklessly abandoned her cover to get a better shot. Brian was caught off guard by this, and before he could take advantage of the situation, Andrea, coming from the flank, shot him in the side. Reece followed up with several shots to the chest.

Andrea, clearly delusional, began babbling thanks at Reece. Reece walked up to Andrea and shot her point blank in the forehead, expressionless, before returning to Bebe. By this point, however, Bebe had passed away, and nothing Reece did provoked a response. Though the final shot broadcast was Reece dropping the gun and shaking her girlfriend, it quickly became known that she tried to shoot herself upon being declared the winner, and was only prevented from doing so by the timely intervention of the pickup team.

Legacy:

• Rated as: Poor
• Though the romantic angle of the season won it some acclaim, and emphasis on Reece and Bebe’s relationship in post-edit productions was well-received, many fans felt the anticlimactic nature of the ending was unsatisfying. Furthermore, many felt that other interesting contestants fell largely by the wayside, often due to their unfortunate deaths to Danger Zones or Zeke's explosion, which collectively claimed almost half the game.
• The fact that Season Twelve’s cast included several fans of the show who themed themselves after previous competitors actually did it little good, as the manufactured nature of their performances frequently failed to strike the desired chord. Brian and the "Dopey Deuces" were at best played for comedy and in no way matched the popularity of their idols. They also provided tonal dissonance, with their bumbling contrasting unfortunately with the overall atmosphere of a mysterious, creepy forest and the melodrama of Reece and Bebe, creating a disjointed season, albeit one with its moments.
• The scenery, though beautiful, was also rather monotonous and combined with the weather led to a massive number of Danger Zone deaths (twelve, just shy of a third of the season). This led to widespread disappointment, especially among fans who felt that laxer enforcement of Danger Zones might have led to a markedly different Endgame. The camera work was also somewhat unusual this season, making use of high angles and infrared at points to cut through the thickest fog, which endeared the production to some but annoyed many.
• Several shots from Season Twelve became memetic, most notably the Dopey Deuces' famous ‘exchange of looks upon realizing they'd just saved Brian from ambush and Andrea’s "confused by murder" stare. In both cases, however, the intent was not wholly affectionate.
• Reece earned a fair bit of hate for her actions, which read as largely selfish; rumblings of her attempted suicide immediately following the game were particularly irksome to those who had favored another contestant for the win. When Reece recovered from the loss of her romantic partner and began endorsing SOTF with her own line of designs on various clothing, criticism of her intensified, and this escalated even further when she eventually used her notoriety to secure funding to open a baked goods shop. Many fans felt that the relationship was overblown, and accuse Reece of using Bebe to earn sympathy, noting that her actions would have left her as one of the most unambiguously deplorable contestants of the season had she taken them for her own benefit. She fairly quickly slipped out of the spotlight, though whether by choice or by being shuffled aside by the producers is unclear.

Suggested by: Espi