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In the second episode of Survivor 40: Winners at War, Tony Vlachos and Yul Kwon both successfully, yet very differently, retrieved breadfruit for their tribemates.

Yul revealed he “topped” Tony with his device and salvaged more fruit in a Twitter response.

Tony Vlachos
Tony Vlachos | Robert Voets

Yul Kwon and Tony Vlachos before ‘Survivor 40: Winners at War’

In 2006, Yul Kwon competed on Survivor: Cook Islands initially as part of the Puka Puka tribe. After a tribe swap, he found himself in the minority and used his God Idol to gain the advantage and lead himself and three others to the Final Four. His strategic gameplay won him the title of Sole Survivor over fan-favorite Ozzy Lusth’s physical prowess in a 5-4-0 vote.

Eight years later, Tony Vlachos made his Survivor debut on the 28th season, Cagayan, or Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty. Initially a part of the brawn tribe, Tony navigated his way to the Final Tribal Council despite playing a chaotic game where he flipped on his allies several times.

Even though the police officer lost the last immunity challenge, he convinced loyal Woo Hwang to take him to the end over the unpopular Kass McQuillen, and won in a dominating 8-1 victory.

The Cagayan winner returned for Game Changers (Season 34) but became the second person voted off the island when he made an enemy out of Sandra Diaz-Twine.

Yul Kwon and Tony Vlachos retrieved breadfruit for their tribemates

Tony and Yul, along with 18 previous champs, chose to come back for Season 40’s Winners at War for another title and a record-breaking $2 million cash prize.

Both are on the Dakal tribe, but they are playing very different games. Tony put himself on “probation” and isn’t running around looking for idols, at least not yet. Additionally, he aligned with Sarah Lacina for another attempt at Cops-R-Us and made peace with Sandra Diaz-Twine.

On the other hand, Yul put together an alliance with the “free agents” consisting of himself, Sophie Clarke, Wendell Holland, and Nick Wilson. He also orchestrated the elimination of Amber Mariano and successfully placed targets on the “poker alliance.”

In a deleted scene from Winners at War, Yul and Nick attempted to knock breadfruit out of a high tree using a long bamboo stick. It didn’t work, but in the second episode, the management consultant successfully retrieved one using a stick with a rope tied around it.

Tony, wanting to get more breadfruit than Yul, fastened a 20-foot ladder together with bamboo sticks and “flimsy pieces of twine.” Even though the ladder looked very unstable, he managed to walk up and retrieve breadfruit from the tree.

Yul Kwon revealed he caught more breadfruit than Tony Vlachos

Many fans noticed that the very different ways in which Yul and Tony approached the breadfruit are reminiscent of their differing, yet proven successful gameplays.

For example, Tony built a ladder that barely held together but rushed up it and hoped for the best. On the other hand, Yul “patiently and effectively” solved the problem. Regardless, both were successful and retrieved breadfruit for their tribemates.

On Twitter, Yul revealed he “caught way more breadfruit” than Tony, and “didn’t almost kill everyone on” the tribe while doing so. Watch Survivor 40: Winners at War Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

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