Survivor: Ghost Island Finale

Well, when I was looking through my rankings of the seasons that have happened thus far, I wonder if I had them ranked correctly. Now, I could always change my own rankings. I don’t know yet if I will or not. But I do think that this season has been rather lackluster. At least other seasons have fared a whole lot worse than it has. I wouldn’t even call it bad. But it isn’t really good.

While not as bad as Exile Island, I just have not liked the Ghost Island twist as much this time around. It seems to be nothing more than a reason to bring up past seasons. We have enough of returning players so many times that it can be annoying that an all new season still needs to have so many references to things in the past. How is this show supposed to get new fans if old seasons they missed are always being referenced time and time again? Maybe it is because no one has reversed the curse that it seems that this season brought nothing special to it.

We know for sure that the forced tie at the final four will happen again. What I hope doesn’t happen again is the ridiculously short reunion show that happened last season. They need to fix the reunion show. I’d rather there not be one than have it be stupid and messed up. You’d think that they’d learn their lesson not to fuck with things after Caramoan, but they have mostly gotten worse since then. Even if Caramoan remains the worst technically, the truly horrendous ones happened after it. Last season’s was awful and it will be hard for me to have good feelings if they continue to mess it up.

I’m not sure what will happen going into this finale. I don’t know who will win or who I want to win. I do not think that either Sebastian or Angela have a shot. Donathan seems far too annoying in the edit. Then again, so was Sophie in South Pacific and she won somehow. Laurel could win, but I don’t see it as likely. As for Wendell, I think that he rode too many coattails. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to Jeff talking about the people before the show starts. I do wonder if this will be the Jeff Probst show as usual. Maybe he needs it ever since the real Jeff Probst show got cancelled. I do worry about reality show hosts having too huge an ego. Look at our mess of a president. *sips tea* We then get to the review of the players thus far. It seems that Donathan, Laurel, Domenick, and Wendell are together in an alliance. I like the whole truth bomb label that they gave Donathan. Normally people who tell the blunt truth all the time have autism. That’s what I do. We are reminded of the fake idol that Domenick has.

We then get back to the people after tribal council. Domenick is wary of Donathan. I’m surprised that it took them this long to realize what he is like. Sebastian thinks that he needs to get out of other people’s shadows and take control of the game. Will he be the next Kimmi? She had nothing for her going into the finale and then was suddenly a target by trying to make big moves. She did badly both times that she played. Wendell wants to target Sebastian. We then get to the challenge. This maze challenge is the number one reason why I’d want to play Survivor. Sadly, I just don’t know if I’ll make it that far.

The winner of the challenge gets a food reward as well as immunity. But what will happen with Ghost Island? Will someone be sent there? When will this happen? It’s interesting that everyone has different places in the maze where their bags are. They aren’t all at the same place. This makes me wonder about the fairness of the challenge. Are all of them the same distance? I guess that we won’t know for sure and can only wonder. Also, why does it seem like all the puzzles are different? Or does it just seem that way because the yellow one has the top so soon? Wendell wins the challenge. We gets to pick people to join him on the reward. He picks Sebastian and Angela. Why them? That doesn’t make sense. Or are you trying to pick the people that you know won’t last to lessen the blow?

In the second segment of the show, we get to Wendell after his victory as the rest of the tribe goes back to camp. Wendell just wants to play nice to potential jury members. But will people see through his ploy? Sebastian still wants to blindside people. Laurel is upset that Wendell picked who he did for the reward and is afraid that she will lose a challenge because of it. People want to vote out Domenick and Donathan is part of the crowd. Angela doesn’t seem to realize that she wouldn’t be part of a move if it were against her. She spills the extra vote that Sebastian has to Domenick. Donathan spills the same secret to Laurel. Why? Just, why? Loose lips sink ships. The people of today need to learn this.

We get to tribal council next and I wonder if there’s a way to edit these long paragraphs. I’m not even sure I’m going to attempt them. But I will try to not do them going forward. Maybe I need to stop saying random things. Donathan thinks that he could be going home, but that doesn’t seem to be a likely event to happen. Domenick calls out Donathan’s shit. Sebastian admits to the extra vote now that Domenick calls out Donathan.

While I admire Donathan’s honesty, it’s not always the best policy. I don’t know what this godfather reference was that they talked about just now. I need to watch that sometime. Wendell reveals his idol. People need to learn what the word secret means.

Domenick plays the fake idol before the votes are cast. How is he mimicking Ben from last season? Only Ben played a real idol. The votes are cast. No real idols are played. People did vote for Domenick. They were right about the tribal council being crazy. But will this be the only crazy one left this season? Sebastian is voted out. He didn’t use the extra vote, but it wouldn’t have helped him anyways. We then get James originally from China and Erik originally from Micronesia on the stage briefly. We’ll see them later at the reunion show. I just hope that they don’t take the time away from this season’s players. I also have to wonder if there were any podcasts with these players from past seasons in them.

In the third segment of the show, we go right back to the next challenge. There is no talk about the vote of the previous night. I hope that Wendell and Domenick at least try to win the challenge. It would be far more interesting to see who they could give an idol to than just expecting them to play it like Sash and Chase did in Nicaragua the last time they could play it. Wendell wins the challenge. When will this last Ghost Island thing come into effect?

In the fourth segment of the show, we get back to camp. Domenick is more than likely going to use his real idol this time around. Donathan says that he would bring Domenick to the end. He has some key words here: “I don’t want to put my fate in a fire-making challenge.” Domenick wants to vote out Laurel. I don’t even know if Donathan is being honest here. Laurel says that she’d want Donathan to be on the jury as he would vote for her. She thinks that the votes would be split and benefit a third person. This has never happened. That doesn’t mean that it never would. But I don’t think that it would. Wendell wants to make sure that he’s making the right choice.

We then get to tribal council. Everyone except Wendell and Domenick thinks that they are vulnerable tonight at tribal council. Donathan thinks that he could win as he hasn’t won a challenge. Wendell thinks that he could use his idol and even admits to it at tribal council. Will these people crack? I’m hoping that for the first time in a while, the final vote will be close. The votes are then cast.

Wendell lets Domenick go first with the idol play. Domenick plays the idol for himself. Wendell then plays his idol on Laurel. This makes me hope that people voted for Yanni and it would still count for Laurel. Donathan is voted out and it seems that both idols are wasted. But they wouldn’t have lasted beyond this tribal council though. I would have wasted it too. Jeff then brings out Donathan at the show that is happening. Sia is giving Donathan money. At least she had the sense not to interrupt the show to do so. Maybe she knows there might not have been a chance too.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge. This time, they are up front with what will happen at the final four. Why does someone who drop have to start over and not from the place where they can? Why did Domenick have to replace the ball again? I do have to wonder if there will be an obscure person winning final immunity. Remember when Susie won that challenge in Gabon? She didn’t deserve to make it that far. Domenick wins the challenge. But his words could still come back to haunt him. Will he consider the Laurel move that Wendell did a betrayal? All four of them will be going to Ghost Island together. And there is a note that Domenick gets.

In the sixth segment of the show, Domenick is glad that he gets to visit Ghost Island. Wendell is pretty sure that Domenick won’t pick him to be the safe vote. Domenick is upfront to us about it. Who will he pick to compete against Wendell? Laurel doesn’t think that she could win the challenge. I still wonder what this task is that Domenick has to do.

Angela thinks that she shouldn’t face off in the challenge. I don’t think that thinking you will lose at the final vote is a good choice to make. Who is the bigger threat between Wendell and Laurel? Perhaps Yanni is? Domenick gets to pick a cursed urn from the past. But what’s the point of this? Will he pick the urn from Australia, Cagayan, or Game Changers?

He thinks that he should give his necklace away so that he can fight against Wendell. Listen, Wendell can be labeled a coattail rider. What has he done on his own? I don’t know if Domenick should make that crazy move. But I’d honestly be okay if anyone who isn’t Angela wins. Domenick could make the next biggest blunder if he gives immunity up. But we’ll never know for sure what the other option could be if he goes with one over another.

In the seventh segment of the show, Domenick thinks that one wrong decision can haunt you forever. Both of the women think that the other one can win the jury vote. Wendell thinks that the purple place would be the safer one. Domenick picked the urn from Cagayan. We then get to the decision. He then picks Laurel to be the safe person. Jeff lets Wendell sit at the purple one. Wendell wins, making Angela the person who is eliminated. The tribe didn’t speak, though.

In the eighth segment of the show, Wendell thinks that he has a good chance at winning the game. He has to bring his a game. Laurel wants to make sure that the jury knows that she has made moves. I’m not sure that she has, but it would make for a good underdog story. Domenick thinks that it could be a close vote. I think that he could be very right about that. He thinks that the tribal council will be one for the ages and is afraid of coming off as too cocky. We then get to the final tribal council, although we get a commercial before any more is shown. It is also almost 9 so to little to no surprise, we will be losing some of the reunion time that we used to get.

Total confessional count: Laurel- 25, Sebastian- 12, Angela- 11, Domenick- 43, Wendell- 28, Donathan- 26. New confessionals this episode: Wendell- 8, Donathan- 3, Yanni- 7, Sebastian- 4, Angela- 4, Domenick- 12.

In the ninth segment of the show, I can’t make sense of everything as we start with the outwit portion. Michael isn’t fond of Laurel’s game. He thinks that Domenick played the best social game and that Wendell wasn’t as good with it. But Wendell thinks that he was more personal with conversations. I think that Wendell is unintentionally giving help to Domenick. Wendell thinks that he was the one who was making the big decisions. Domenick tsks him off. He thinks that there was no mastermind because he takes orders from no one. Most of the people who worked with the duo thinks that Domenick was the one who brought people into the alliance.

We then go to the outplay portion of the challenge. Laurel thinks that she never had to rely on winning challenges in the game. Wendell helped do some of the camp life. I don’t know if I like this jury format because I’m not sure that all of the jurors would get to speak this way. Wendell thinks that he was loyal. Domenick then goes back to the Sebastian vote. Sebastian isn’t buying that he wasn’t doing the move the wrong way. Was Domenick’s game an act? They might be confusing him with Phillip. Chris thinks that Domenick played well even though they had fought a lot.

The outlast portion of the game is then done next. What’s interesting is that both of the other finalists had picked Laurel in this episode to continue. Domenick admits that he played really aggressively. You have to be aggressive. B e aggressive. Wendell thinks that he played a big game. There wasn’t that much spoken here and unless they edited it out, not every juror got to speak. Samantha who is a child in the audience gets to cast a vote for who she thinks will win.

In the tenth segment of the show, we get to the people casting votes. I wonder what would happen if there’s a tie. Who would she cast the tie-breaker for? Surprisingly, he reads the vote there at the island instead of later at the reunion show. This may be a tie. And it is. Laurel gets to cast the deciding vote. If I had to guess, this won’t be revealed until later at the reunion show. We still don’t know how they would resolve three way ties or ties with two jury members. Maybe that won’t happen anyways. Jeff takes the deciding vote away to read later. I do like that he did this since it is a tie. I think that Wendell might win based on what Domenick said earlier. But will he? The winner is Wendell. Poor Domenick could have changed things by picking someone different. Or maybe he was doomed either way.  Now, we will get only half an hour for the reunion show.

In the eleventh segment of the show, Jeff reveals who the votes on the jury were for. Domenick then wonders about the choice of the fire at the end. He might have made more mistakes than just the one at the end. Jeff talks to Michael some as well. He graduated early from high school. It seems that Chris is now friends with Domenick.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Jeff talks to Erik and James about what happened. We talk about James first. He didn’t even want to watch Survivor anymore because of it. Erik then talks about what happened with him. Jeff is forgetting about how great they played outside of the moves that failed them in the game. Did he get to this apology that he said he would do? I don’t think that he did.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, we get to a look at the next tribal council. It will be called David versus Goliath. Why are they always doing versus themes? It wouldn’t hurt to do a normal season again. One tribe will be the underdogs who worked up and the other tribe are people who are strong already. Jeff then does the totally unnecessary plug in to the summer show on CBS that they are doing. It is a show called TKO which seems like a remake of Wipeout. They could have talked to players from the game and waste our time with this instead. It’s like when they promoted The Millers during the reunion show of Blood versus Water. This show could wind up with the same fate.

In the fourteenth segment of the show, we get to Jeff wanting to cast people for the show. If someone is inspired on twitter, he will get it done. I wonder if we’ll know who this person is. Well I got to work later tonight and probably don’t care that much if I ever get cast. At least this blog will be on people’ radar, but then they could always mistake me for another Adam Decker.

Points at reunion show: Stephanie Gonzalez- 0, Jacob- 0, Morgan- 0, Brendan- 0, Stephanie Johnson- 0, James- 0, Bradley- 0, Chris- 1, Libby- 0, Desiree- 0, Jenna- 0, Michael- 2, Chelsea- 0, Kellyn- 1, Sebastian- 0, Donathan- 0.5, Angela- 0, Laurel- 1, Domenick- 1, Wendell- 1.

The reunion show wasn’t that bad, although it was shorter than I would like it to be. Still, giving us only half of a reunion show was quite a problem. But maybe they don’t care. Plus, the people on twitter are going to want to suck up to producers instead of bashing the show. It is too late for those who already did that and can’t quickly delete it.

I have different thoughts going into next season. One, I’m getting tired of the recurring themes of the versus seasons. I do wonder how they keep coming up with one theme after another. It makes me wonder if I should try to come up with different themes. But it is hard to tell what they will think of and I don’t think that I could have done that a lot of the time.

Before I go any further, it is time to get to the end of the season awards. These are the awards that I give this season, although not all of them are good awards. Let’s start with the bronze award of the season. I will give it to Domenick for his overall cockiness throughout the season. The silver will go to Donathan for his honesty being generally poor game play. As for the gold, it will go to Chris for all of his dumb moves in the episode where he was voted out.

When it comes to the breakout character of the season, I feel that, as always, there are a lot of good people who could get it. But in my mind, the only person who I think works best to get it is Michael. He may have struggled the whole game, but I think that he was quite a good player regardless.

What is the most memorable moment of the season? I don’t know what all would qualify for it. But I do think that one thing stands out. I think that Chris’s downfall is the most memorable part of this season. It may not have been good for him, but I love that episode where he was voted out. I also can’t wait for this month to end so it doesn’t try to complete words that I write normally.

Before I go any further, I might as well go into the ranking of this season. Before I get to that, I’ll rank the tribe swap of this season against 27 that I have ranked now. (27 is not the right number of tribe swaps, but is the number that I have now.) The first tribe swap of the season will rank as 7^th best. The second swap of the season will rank only as 23^rd best. Speaking of 23, I would rank this season as 23 out of the 36 seasons.

Well, that’s it for this season. I might be glad that I overslept this morning as I just might be up too late this time at my late night job. I didn’t use to work on Wednesday nights and may have to switch when I work so can stay here later and be okay the next day. What I will say is that these posts will continue as usual throughout the summer. You’ll see something every Wednesday, although, I might skip one of them every now and then. I’ll have to tell you why in case it ever happens.

I still don’t know when or if you will see posts on old seasons for a while. I’m hope that I can get it done at some point. If you do, you will see these posts change and random posts disappear in favor of them. Does this make sense? I will tell you if anything changes in the future. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.