Chanelle Howell

Chanelle Howell is a contestant from Survivor 42.

Chanelle started the game by pairing with Daniel Strunk to become the swing votes between two warring factions on the Vati tribe. Ahead of her first Tribal Council, Chanelle made a poorly calculated move to risk her vote at the summit, which set into motion a series of events that irreparably damaged her credibility and scarred tribal dynamics even after the merge. Haunted by her fatal miscalculation, Chanelle was left out of the majority alliance and taken out at the earliest opportunity, becoming the first juror.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 29
Hometown: Hamden, CT
Current Residence: New York, NY
Occupation: Executive Recruiter
Favorite Hobbies: Exploring new countries, trying new cuisines and blogging about them
3 Words to Describe You: Cunning, competitive, cultured
Pet Peeve: Slow walkers. It's the New Yorker in me.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Utilizing my recruiting skills to create a mentorship program to help young women get into professional spaces.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I'm good at crunching numbers in my head!
Who is your hero and why? My parents! They've worked so hard to build a life for my siblings and I and set us up for success. I can never fully repay them, although I intend to try through winning the million!
Which past Survivor will you play the game most like? Kim Spradlin played a perfect game, so just trying to keep that same energy.
Why do you believe you can be the Sole Survivor? I'm truly a student of the game. I've watched all the seasons, I've studied the greats, and I've learned the nuances. I am a subject matter expert in Survivor. Aside from having the "toolbelt" to win, my motivations will push me through the cold nights and hungry days. I want to show Black and brown girls that this game was made for us, too!^[2]

Survivor[]

Chanelle and her closest ally Daniel Strunk found themselves as swing votes between two pairs, but they eventually gravitated toward Jenny Kim and Mike Turner. Because Mike found the Beware Advantage, Chanelle's vote was crucial heading into Vati's first Tribal Council. However, she faced temptation on her journey with Omar Zaheer to risk her vote in order to gain an Extra Vote. This backfired as she made Omar feel that her vote was crucial, implying encouragement that he should risk his vote. As both players opted to risk their votes, both of them lost their vote at their next Tribal Council visit. Fearing the worst, Chanelle attempted to circumvent the worst-case scenario by tricking Hai Giang and Lydia Meredith to split the votes to create a 2-1-1 plurality to save Jenny. However, at Tribal Council, Hai wised up to Chanelle's ploy and, because of Mike and Chanelle's lost votes, was able to force a deadlocked vote; left with no options, Daniel flipped on Jenny to avoid a rock drawing tiebreaker.

The aftermath of that vote caused friction between Chanelle and Daniel, as they consistently tried to undermine and discredit each other. She shifted her focus to turning Vati against Daniel, capitalizing on his apparent injury yet his contradictory insistence on spearfishing. The new majority of Hai, Lydia, and Mike felt that Chanelle was more sneaky compared to Daniel's openly messy gameplay. Despite these concerns, they decided to work with Chanelle going into the merge. However, expecting a split vote and hoping to protect against the Shot in the Dark, Chanelle voted for Mike, which further alienated her from her tribemates.

When the tribes merged, Chanelle was one of the four players excluded from the majority alliance. Chanelle's attempts to connect with the other players were met with awkwardness and stonewalling. She benefited from the Hourglass twist as it kept her safe from the initial vote, though she was still left out of the Lydia blindside. After she lost the following Immunity Challenge, Chanelle realized that the vote was down to either herself or Romeo Escobar. She decided to play things cool to fly under the radar in the hopes that the vote would be deflected to Romeo. Unfortunately, Mike's vendetta against her motivated him to keep Chanelle in the crosshairs and he ended up getting his way. In a 7-3-1 vote, Chanelle finished in 11th place and became the first member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Chanelle was one of the jurors that questioned Mike for his claims of integrity which were contradicted by his string of betrayals. In the end, Chanelle was swayed by Maryanne Oketch's compelling Final Tribal Council performance and joined the jury in awarding her the title of Sole Survivor in a 7-1-0 vote.

Post-Survivor[]

• In the spring of 2023, Chanelle competed on CBS's The Challenge: USA 2.^[3] She was placed on the Red Team. She finished in 2nd place out of the 12 female Challengers.

Trivia[]

• Chanelle and Mike Turner are the first contestants to be ineligible to vote in three separate rounds of voting at the same Tribal Council.
• Chanelle is tied with Lydia Meredith for the most votes received against her in Survivor 42, with 9.
• Chanelle is the first juror to not have a "Life at Ponderosa" episode since the series' introduction in Micronesia.

References[]

Survivor 42 Castaways
Chanelle Vati	Daniel Vati	Drea Ika	Hai Vati	Jackson Taku	Jenny Vati	Jonathan Taku	Lindsay Taku	Lydia Vati
Marya Taku	Maryanne Taku	Mike Vati	Omar Taku	Rocksroy Ika	Romeo Ika	Swati Ika	Tori Ika	Zach Ika