Survivor: David versus Goliath Finale

Today is the season finale of Survivor. We won’t see the show again until the next season starts on the 20^th of February next year. Maybe it is just me, but the finales of Survivor aren’t as enjoyable in recent years as they have been in years past. I think that is because of Jeff Probst being annoying in many ways. If we get less than an hour of a reunion show or him being annoying with any and all of the bits that he does before the reunion show that takes time out of it, then we’ll know why. I’d almost rather there not be a reunion show than have one that’s constantly bad like this. His Jeffness is quite annoying.

Let’s talk about the idols from Redemption Island. One might question whether or not they should have been included in a season about not having to survive the vote, but it provided a very interesting first tribal council when it did. Kristina found the idol earlier than anyone else ever has and told a few people about it. This lead to one of those people, Phillip, revealing it and the possible blindside power that it had to people. Rob briefly held it, but gave it back to her. Sadly, her paranoia and being outside the loop caused her to waste it on herself.

Ralph found the idol on the other tribe before they considered voting out Russell. He didn’t reveal that he had it to other players before the vote, which I think was smart. And the merge, he wasted his idol on Mike while Matt was voted out, the same person voted out when Kristina played her idol. Rob found his tribe’s rehidden idol and played it when it last could be played.

Now I’m going to talk about the hidden immunity idols of other seasons in the future, but I don’t yet know which season I’ll be blogging about for sure when I do posts about it. I’ll also have to post the tally of men finding idols versus women finding idols. That’s the whole reason that I started doing this in the first place. Meanwhile, I hope that you enjoy this long post. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to Jeff introducing the players in different groups. We then get to the huge recap that normally happens. People look for a new idol. Calling it a scavenger hunt with huge stakes is always an accurate way of putting it. Angelina finds a clue to the idol. She finds the ladder and loses the clue. It fell out of her bra. Do people normally hate it when things fall out of bras? It does not seem that Angelina is successful in finding an idol. She feigns being hurt, claiming that she fell out of a tree and hurt her back. I once heard that on a foreign season of Survivor, someone was expelled for faking an injury. I don’t know why that would be.

We then get to the immunity challenge in question. The winner also gets the reward of spaghetti. The challenge is neck and neck throughout the six players in question. This is quite possibly the most intense finish to a challenge ever. Nick wins the challenge. Nick brings Angelina and Mike on the reward. Alison is not chosen and Jeff points that out for some reason. She is upset about being in the crossfire all the time. Why is she a target? Does she actually have a chance at winning?

In the second segment of the show, the reward happens at the water well. Angelina plots how to get the idol. Davie thinks that he can trust Nick. Angelina wants the reward winners to be the final three. They then talk about who to vote out and Nick does not want Davie voted out. Will Alison be the target? We then get Angelina talking about her story with the idol clue. I love Mike at this point with his glass of wine. He refinds the idol clue and Angelina gets the idol. Alison wants to avoid getting voted out. I do not get why someone as weak as her would be the target. Davie and Angelina are also brought up as names for the potential boot. Mike wants to get rid of Davie.

In the third segment of the show, we get to tribal council. People thought that they were in trouble when the tribe came back from tribal council. Angelina talks about how she hasn’t targeted Alison at the previous votes. Indeed, Angelina could have been the deciding vote. Davie thinks that the bonds get stronger as the tribe gets smaller, making any potential blindside hurt more. After the votes are cast, the person with the most votes is Davie.

He might believe that Nick didn’t do it but says that he will vote for the person who orchestrated his vote out. What? We then get to Jeff talking to Davie at the reunion show like area. Are there tears in his eyes or tears in his fro? Davie was a popular player. It turns out that he was a last minute replacement. I wonder who dropped out and why.

In the fourth segment of the show, Nick is upset over the blindside. Can people stop saying that they are blindsided when someone was voted out? It looks like Nick is on the war path over Mike’s decision yet still wants to get rid of Alison. This leads to the immunity challenge. Alison has issues balancing due to the coming tide. Perhaps it is red tide, which is bad. Nick wins the challenge. Nick thinks that he has all the power and is looking for revenge. That could be anyone, actually, since everyone BUT him and Davie voted against Davie.

In the fifth segment of the show, Angelina wants to get rid of Alison. Why is she the target? It makes about as much sense as when they got rid of Lydia in Guatemala. She wants to make a move with her idol. She wants to make a fake idol and make it seem like someone is safe when they aren’t. Mike tells Kara about the idol play and wants to blindside Angelina. Meanwhile, Kara wants to vote out Mike. It would seem that Alison wants to get rid of Mike now. Nick thinks that it’s a good idea. Angelina is there when the fake idol is found by Alison. Zeke from the 33^rd and 34^th seasons talks about the move there. This is one former contestant who is going to get airtime over current ones.

In the sixth segment of the show, we get to the next tribal council. They talk about the vote at the last tribal council. Angelina thinks that she is getting people to join her side. Alison thinks that Mike could be a threat, but he doesn’t think so. Does Mike’s voting confessional make any sense to anyone? Alison plays her fake idol on herself. Angelina plays her idol on herself. I don’t think that she needed to do that and the jury comments how she won’t stop talking about it. Alison is voted out. She doesn’t get a special spot in the pre-reunion show segment.

In the seventh segment of the show, we skip straight ahead to the immunity challenge. After they grab their first ball, the challenge starts. It will be complicated when they add additional balls. Where you place the second ball matters as now there are two balls are in motion. Everyone then gets to three balls in the next portion. Angelina is out at this stage. Mike is out at the next stage leaving it to one David and one Goliath as the showdown at this part. Kara blunders at the part where she was about to get a walk and Nick wins the challenge as a result. She talks about being upset at her defeat. I guess the sun had turned red for a bit. He now has to figure out what choice to make next.

In the eighth segment of the show, Angelina is glad that her ally won the immunity challenge. A David now holds the cards. Different people make their cases as to why they should stay in the game. If I were him, I’d pick Kara to go to the end as the other two both have a shot at winning, but she doesn’t. What is weird is that he straight up says who he is going to pick and that Angelina will be safe. But is he being honest? He doesn’t have to be, but maybe he is. We then get to the tribe going to the last elimination of the season as the sort of tribal council happens.

Jeff tells them about what is going on. Nick is in a spot, according to him. He does pick Angelina to go to the final three with him. Mike and Kara are then the two that will compete against each other at the fire making challenge. Kara starts doing a fire, but it goes out. Mike then gets a fire going. It seems like it is a weak flame that doesn’t do much of anything. But Kara doesn’t make progress on her fire. I wonder why they made it seem like Mike had no chance if he now wins. Kara is eliminated from the game as a result as she is now out and on the jury. At least she gets to be Super Friends with the other jurors. She also does not get any special segment like Davie did.

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to the sun rising over Fiji. This would be the time for The Circle of Life, but that’s Africa and not Oceania. Angelina is glad that she made it this far. I don’t know if Nick is the underdog that he thinks himself is. Do a lot of lawyers not grow up in trailers? Mike talks about how he is still in the game. To date, the only other season with an Amazing Race contestant on it had that person win the game.

Mike talks about his moves in the game. He is here to win the game. You’d think that everyone is there for the same reason. I know that there have been people in the past who have just been there for the experience, but you don’t see that as much anymore. Jeff talks about some of the facts of this season thus far before the last break before the last tribal starts.

Total confessional count: Davie- 22, Mike- 34, Nick- 29, Kara- 24, Angelina- 31, Alison- 16. New confessionals this episode: Angelina- 7, Alison- 4, Davie- 1, Mike- 7, Nick- 6, Kara- 2.

In the tenth segment of the show, we get to the outwit part of the game. Elizabeth starts talking about what has happened so far in the game and she talks about how everyone is undecided. Christian wants to know what each of them did to outwit the game. Nick says that he built personal connections with people by playing with different people. John wants to know how Nick made moves after he was voted out. Angelina talks next instead of Mike. She talks about getting herself out of the weakest part of her game. Mike then talks about how he needed to get deals with everyone. But this isn’t what some people like about his game and feel it is more of a weakness.

Mike talks about having tons of people working for him. He talks about having people influence the game. And Nick talks about how he played a good game too and how he was more in control of his own game instead of having others control it for him. Angelina then tries to make a case for herself. Kara does think that Mike played a good game.

We get to the outplay part of the game next. Mike might not have done as well with other parts of the game outside of making fire at the end. Angelina has to explain how she is a David and Nick has to say why he is a Goliath. Angelina then talks about the fake idol and how she wanted to play with the game’s theatrics. Nick talks about how he is good at puzzles, a people person, and that he won more than one immunity challenge.

Last comes the outlast part of the game. Angelina explains why she is a Goliath in the game. Her story is about triumph, hopefully not the insult dog that poops on everything. Nick explains how he helps people who have struggled with drug addiction. He talks about how he did what he could to win in the game. Mike felt that he was never nervous in the game. I thought that was Gervase who was never nervous. He is looking for the rainbow, which is part of gay pride, even though he is bi-sexual, which is just a bit different. I wonder if Noah’s ark could play into a Survivor them. Jeff then gets a kid to vote like they normally have in the past.

In the eleventh segment of the show, we get to the votes in the game. I wish that I knew or could keep track of who all was on the jury. Nick is seen getting a vote. Christian votes for Mike instead of Nick, his once ally. I don’t think that Angelina got any votes. Will this be a landside vote? I guess that we will see in the near future. Jeff drags on the vote in the end as he tends to from time to time. There are at least three votes for each person who got votes and Nick wins. The kid gets it right again.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Jeff talks about what Nick did to win the game. He also talks about the theme of the season. Nick wanted to be a lawyer in order to be rich. But now he doesn’t have to work for a big firm. Mike was very successful before the game and turned down a job to be on Survivor. He wants to keep chasing the adventure of the game.

Jeff then talks to Angelina about how polarizing she is. She makes the usual claim that this isn’t how she normally is in life. Am I supposed to believe that whenever people say that? Jeff thinks that a man playing the same game wouldn’t have been thought of in the same that she was. We then see the jacket moment again. She now realizes some of her own blunders in the game. Dan talks about the twist that got him out of the game.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, Christian talks about his place in the game. He talks about the challenge where he talked a lot and possibly helped himself win this way. Survivor is like the first day of school, according to him. We learn about Gabby’s friendship and how it has survived. Natalie then talks about herself and how she didn’t like how she was portrayed in the game. Jeff doesn’t think that she got a bad rap, although it seemed like Angelina was about to defend her for a moment. A lot of weight loss has happened throughout this season, possibly more than usual.

In the fourteen segment of the show, we get to Pat talking about his departure from the game. We then talk about the next season of Survivor. Some of the players revealed are Wendy and Rick. They also talk about the four returning players in the game that I’ll mention later, probably not in this post. There is then a new layer to the game that they gloss over. It will be called Edge of Extinction. I hope that’s not a meta reference about this show possibly being in danger.

In the fifteenth segment of the show, Jeff more or less just closes out the show, not doing or saying much of anything as we get ready for the news to start. I wonder just how many newscasts start with something akin to “terrible things in the world today. Good evening.”

Points at reunion show: Pat: 1, Jessica: 0, Jeremy: 0, Bi: 0, Natalia: 0, Natalie: 1, Lyrsa: 0, Elizabeth: 0, John: 0, Dan: 1, Alec: -5, Carl: 0, Gabby: 1, Christian: 1, Davie: 0, Alison: 0, Kara: 0, Angelina: 1, Mike: 1, Nick: 1.

I’m fairly certain that Alec wasn’t at the reunion show, which is why he gets negative points. I couldn’t tell offhand if anyone else was banned besides him. He spoiled that he was a contestant on the show and that is why he wasn’t there at the reunion. Not sure what else there is to say about the reunion. I don’t think that it was as bad as others were, but there was room for improvement.

Now let’s get to the officially unofficial end of the season awards that I do at the end of each season. There are the three dumbest moves of the season, breakout character of the season, what I thought was the most memorable moment of the season, and the ranking of this season’s tribe swap and the season as a whole versus the other 37. I’ll then post any wrapping up and end the post.

For the bronze award for dumbest move of the season, that will go to Carl’s cocky game play. The silver will go to Natalie for her game play. And the gold will go to Angelina’s for hers. I did think about putting Alec on here, but I felt that his controversy was largely unrelated to the game. Some of what happened regarding Pat’s evacuation might belong on here instead of Carl’s moves.

I could mention the nominees that would qualify under the breakout character of the season award, but I don’t think that I’ll do that since it me, it seems too much of a no brainer. Christian wins the award this time around. I don’t think that anyone except Natalie would come close to winning it.

Now I should talk about the most memorable moment of the season. I might have a hard time thinking about it right now. I’ve been a bit exhausted in life lately. There are tons of different things that I could pick, but I think that the tribal council where Dan was voted out is the best fitting one.

Lastly, let’s get to the ranking of the tribe swap and then the ranking of the season. I have 28 swaps ranked right now, although there should probably be more of them on the list. I’ve decided that this swap will rank as 24^th best of them, with few ranking as worse than it. Out of the 37 seasons, I will rank this season as number 22.

While I do have Survivor: Gabon on DVD, I don’t yet know when I’ll be able to start watching it. What I know is that I do also want Survivor: Blood versus Water on DVD. When I’m done watching Survivor: Borneo again, I’ll start watching Survivor: Gabon again for the first time since it first aired. Keep an eye out for posts on Sundays when I’d blog about an old season like it. Also keep an eye out for Fridays in case I do get a second old season to blog about as well. I’m not interested in any other old seasons of the show right now. Blog posts will be on Wednesdays again starting next week. There will not be any random posts if I start blogging about Gabon on Sundays. That’s all that I need to keep you updated on for now. This is Adam Decker, signing off.