Outlast: The Jungle has been intense, but the main concern for Season 3 was whether the winners would win fairly. The format’s efficacy is always a topic of debate in previous seasons, and this jungle installment saw Wes taking some heat, leaving audiences questioning whether Team Charlie should have been removed by Netflix altogether.
The finale of Outlast: The Jungle put the final two teams through hell, with Team Alpha ultimately emerging victorious. But did they deserve the $1 million prize? Here is a play-by-play of what happened, along with my final assessment.
Team Charlie loses the bow-and-arrow challenge, foreshadowing Leiya’s downfall
Episode 7 left viewers on an exciting cliffhanger. Team Bravo (Pharaoh and Abby) advanced to the final very quickly, hitting the target after successfully lighting their arrows. Meanwhile, Team Charlie (Wes, Braxton, and Brett) were impressively shooting arrows with their makeshift bow but kept missing the target. It looked like it was over for Team Alpha (Nikki, Maddy, and Leiya), as Leiya struggled to get their fire going.
This was the first time Nikki noticed that Leiya was the weakest link in the team, as the contestant got overly emotional while trying to conjure some flames. This observation played a crucial role later in the episode. Eventually, with a lot of support and motivation from Nikki, Leiya managed to start a fire so they could light their arrows.
Luckily for Team Alpha, Charlie’s makeshift bow began to break, and Maddy hit the target. I imagine many viewers were thrilled to see Team Bravo and Team Alpha through to the final while Team Charlie – the most controversial camp in Outlast history – was eliminated.
Team Bravo shows mercy
While Outlast features plenty of ugly moments, the final episode proved that humanity still exists among these contestants.
Leiya, whose shoes had been stolen by Morgan from Team Bravo, walked to their camp to make an emotional plea to get them back. Without them, she would have been forced to endure the final challenge barefoot, which would have been impossible.
Pharaoh and Abby showed great sportsmanship and returned Leiya’s shoes. They wanted to win the right way, bringing a sense of integrity back to the show. I’m glad this moment happened because I was starting to think that Pharaoh was allowing his self-professed integrity to be shattered in recent episodes, but he barely hesitated on the decision when Abby came to speak to him about it.
The final challenge
The final challenge in Outlast is always brutal and always involves a grueling trek. Season 3 tasked both teams with following a 20km trail through the jungle, retrieving an additional map and key from a waterfall, making it back to shore, and rowing across the water to a treasure chest on the beach.
We have to consider that by this point, the contestants had spent 33 days in the jungle. They were completely starved and physically depleted.
Team Alpha’s hardest decision
Team Alpha had an obvious weakness that was becoming the elephant in the room: Leiya. Despite making it to the waterfall first and grabbing the map and key, the team recognized that Leiya would likely slow them down during the next day’s trek. Maddy and Nikki made the most painful decision of the season. Late at night, deep in the middle of the jungle, they asked Leiya to leave the show.
Ultimately, this was the right move. To be fair to Nikki and Maddy, they gave Leiya at least half the challenge to prove she could keep up. However, with $1 million on the line, it was a matter of mind over heart, no matter how heartbreaking it felt.
An incredible victory for Team Alpha
Day 34 was crucial, ending the survival game as both Team Alpha and Team Bravo raced through the remaining trek.
Maddy and Nikki proved that removing their weakest link was a smart move. They maintained an incredible pace, reaching their boat well before Team Bravo and making it halfway across the water before the opposing team even hit the beach.
In a moment of pure panic upon reaching the opposite shore, Nikki realized she couldn’t find the key. The women frantically searched for it while simultaneously unraveling the rope around the treasure chest. In a highly relatable moment – reminiscent of losing your keys in your own house – they discovered the key had dropped onto the sand, right underneath the treasure chest itself.
With the lock open, Team Alpha won Outlast: The Jungle in an incredible victory.
It was a fair win. Team Alpha was the most honorable team in the game from the start, sticking by their camp as much as possible during the harshest moments. While they had to cut Leiya at the eleventh hour, it was a necessary call rather than a selfish, impulsive betrayal. While some viewers felt disappointed by Season 3 for allowing teams like Charlie to thrive for so long, the most principled team ultimately secured the victory.
