Survivor: Island of the Idols Finale

I might have to go into all of the history of rule breaking in Survivor and near expulsions that could have happened on the show. I don’t know if I’ll do it all in this post or a different one. But I might as well do all the ones I can remember. In the second season, Colby took coral from the Great Barrier Reef. This was not allowed, but he was not affected by this.

In the eighth season, Richard was involved with the previous touching scandal, but not as affected as he could have been. He was voted out right away, but for other reasons than the scandal. There have been a few seasons where personal items were stolen and then destroyed or otherwise ruined despite it being against the rules to take someone else’s items. Perhaps the most notable example of this was the aired stealing of Colton’s idol by Bill in One World. Idols could as personal items so they had to pretend that it never happened.

Caramoan remained the closest season to have something like an ejection to have happened. Brandon went on a rampage at camp and his tribe was allowed to forfeit the challenge before it happened which lead to his unanimous vote out and immediate removal from the game. I don’t think that he really was expelled (or ejected) as this was an unusual vote out instead.

I will admit that Dan’s elimination will remove a planned post that I might have considered doing where I asked if Survivor was refusing to expel people. Needless to say, I won’t be doing that anymore. Some are already thinking that Survivor producers forced him out in some way by perhaps over blowing what the situation could have been since they didn’t want to risk him winning or being a finalist. I don’t think that it was true. Still, you can read the link for more of an explanation of what happened. If you want to claim that some people made up what happened with Dan, I’ll have to remind you that there is video evidence of his inappropriate touching. I would suggest reading what we know of the situation thus far. It is possible we will never know the whole story.

https://ew.com/tv/2019/12/11/survivor-host-jeff-probst-dan-spilo-removed-episode-13/

I’m not sure that I have many thoughts going into finale. I have actually liked this season well enough. Some are ranking it as the worst or among them. I wouldn’t put it among the bad seasons, but I’m not sure that I’d put it with the good seasons either. I haven’t had time to read any of the True Dork Times much this season so I haven’t read any of their writer’s perspective on the season. Sometimes I can get quite upset when I learn that something I like isn’t liked among others. I love The Phantom Menace, for example. I’m not sure who will win, although I’d have to say that Tommy has the best chances in my mind. Maybe I can understand why others hate this season, but am not sure that I will.

While I was writing the recap for the last episode, someone on the group called Addicted to Survivor on facebook pointed out that I had put the wrong person whose shoes were put on the tribe flag. I have to apologize for this error. I forget the wrong person that I put at the correct person that I should have put in the recap instead.

With all the controversy this season and other issues, I’m starting to wonder: will Survivor last? I never thought that it would be at risk of ending until last season when I thought that towards the end. I have not heard of them looking for new contestants for future seasons. It is possible that the next one will be the final season of the show. That might not be the case. We’ll see if this continues to last or not. Do you think that the show is in danger? But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, Jeff introduces the contestants and mentors to the not live audience of players. Sandra says that she has learned from Rob, even if she wasn’t playing the game this time. We then return to the island where Rob talks to Sandra about how Survivor is not always about winning the money as one can find other things on Survivor like love. Back at the main camp, a boat arrives. They have to grab their personal belongings and leave to the Island of the Idols. Does that mean that they are not returning to their camp? Tommy is the only player who hadn’t been there before.

It seems that Sandra and Rob are leaving the island themselves leaving the final five to stay there the whole rest of the game. Rob tells us that there is one last test, but we don’t yet know what it is. Janet talks about how she has her idol and is certain to last one more round. But she doesn’t know that there is an idol nullifier in the game too. Noura thinks that they should get rid of Dean.

Tommy realizes that since the final five got all new buffs, he should look at it to see what it might have. He is color blind, and this puts him at a disadvantage. Thus, he asks Dean for help. Dean doesn’t help much, but Tommy is able to find a new clue anyways. There is an h. Are they sure that it isn’t an i? Dean admits that he doesn’t want to work with Tommy and goes alone to find it. He thinks that the swing at camp might have something to do with it. Meanwhile, Tommy thinks that there are branches that could be the clue. Dean ultimately finds the idol and doesn’t tell Tommy about what has been doing on. He says that he teaches advanced algebra. But what does this have to do with any of what is going on this show right now?

In the second segment of the show, the contestants arrive at the immunity challenge. This challenge has a reward component to it as well. Everyone needs to drop their balls at the end in order to win. Who will be the first to hit puberty? Dean drops his balls, his voice drops, and he wins the challenge. Janet then pleads her case for why she should get food. He takes Noura on the reward. Dean thinks that he has a lot of power in the game.

In the third segment of the show, they return to the Island of the Idols. Dean and Noura get the reward in their own private section. Noura says that she sees him as a man. Noura thinks that this is like a date. Noura and Dean want to make sure that they take each other to the end. But what’s with the final two pacts? They don’t really do those anymore.

Janet wants to put all the votes on her since she had an idol. She wants to take out Lauren. Janet thinks that she should work with Tommy. Lauren is upset that she is not as in control of this as she could be. Dean thinks that Lauren might be a threat. The vote could go many different ways as Tommy feels that he might not be in control.

In the fourth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Dean is thinking about the present and also about the future. One should be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment. Dean says that there is a good fire there at the island. There are few choices left. Dean thinks that a moment could be like a flip of the coin. We then get to the voting at hand.

Janet plays her idol and her idol winds up being nullified. The jury notices that Dean played the nullifier. Janet hugs people on her way out. She still thinks that she played a good game. Jeff talks some about her when she shows up on the stage at the reunion show. Jeff is glad that she was not the first voted out of the game. Janet explains more of her moves and how she didn’t listen to her gut in the end. That’s why she told Tommy about it. There is then a breaking news alert that I hope did not mess up any of the tape by delaying the show. I thought later that I should have just recorded more than the usual extra five minutes that I do.

In the fifth segment of the show, Dean practices his fire making abilities. He made a final two pact with Noura and Tommy. Tommy lies to Noura and says that he can’t make fire even though he can. He wants to butter up the final immunity challenge winner before they win. Noura thinks that she is popular now that and since others want to work with her to make it to the end. But what is best for her?

In the sixth segment of the show, we get to the final immunity challenge. This is the usual wabbly letters challenge that we are often seeing all the time at the end nowadays. This is like time. Wibbly wabbly, timey wimey. There are a lot of setbacks throughout the challenge.

Jeff seems to have jinxed Lauren when he says that she is doing good since she drops right afterwards. Noura wins the challenge as she proves that slow and steady wins the race. Noura feels amazing. She gets emotional talking about what she accomplished thus far.

In the seventh segment of the show, Tommy is scared about what her decision will be since she likes to go crazy over and over again. She rambles on to the group about her decision. She takes a dip in the sea and then talks to the group about what she wants to do. Tommy is impatient waiting for her to just spit out what she wants to do. It is kind of funny just waiting for her to say what she wants to say. Tommy is her pick for who to be safe, which makes Lauren emotional over what to do. Dean is unsure of if he can make fire himself. Both Lauren and Dean work on making first. Tommy helps Dean with it. Lauren and Noura have a fight when Noura says that she will hide the machetes.

In the eighth segment of the show, we get to the tribal council at hand. Noura tries to explain what her decision was with the game. Lauren is upset that she will have to make fire. Noura thinks that Dean is the best person to make fire against her. We then get to the challenge at hand. Dean wins the challenge which eliminates Lauren from the game. Dean admits that Tommy played Noura. He must not realize that this is not the best way to talk to the jury. Lauren is emotional on her exit from the game. But she seems to be taking this well.

Back at the reunion show, Jeff talks to Lauren. She idolizes Rob and Sandra. That is why they were part of the island of the idols. This idol means something else as well. Jeff was suggested that Lauren should be part of Survivor and that is how she wound up being the first person in 20 years of this show to make it on Survivor that way.

In the ninth segment of the show, it is day 39 on season 39. Noura is glad that she made it this far, even if she might have been voted out first. Tommy thinks that he has it in the bag, but Dean thinks that he might be able to make his case for why he should win the game himself later. Tommy thinks that Noura might be a wildcard in this game. Maybe she could make others draw 4 depending on what type of a wildcard she is. Noura wants Tommy help with her speech. He might give her bad advice. Dean thinks that he has done a lot and might play to the jury more than what he’s done. Noura thinks that she has a case to make to the people at the end. People then gather at the final tribal council.

Total confessional count: Dean- 30, Noura- 26, Tommy- 36, Lauren- 28, Janet- 20; Rob- 14, Sandra- 11. New confessionals this episode: Lauren- 6, Janet- 2, Dean- 10, Noura- 10, Tommy- 10; Sandra- 1, Rob- 1.

In the tenth segment of the show, people start the outwit portion of the game. Kellee is one of the people who wants to help these undecided voters decide what to do. Dean thinks that he did a good job helping form relationships with people. Noura says what she doesn’t want to be and straight up says who on the jury she doesn’t want to be. Elaine thinks that Noura only played using emotion. Lauren wants to know what strategy Noura had, if any. She wanted to meet people in the middle.

Tommy explains that he tried to play in the middle. Noura explains that Tommy tried to weaken Lauren in preparation for the fire making challenge. Dean thinks that Tommy was working both sides. Maybe he was working with Rita and Zordon. Janet wants to know when Tommy wanted to betray her and he then admits that it was as far back as the final eight. Jamal wants to know what lines they didn’t want to cross in the game. Tommy admits that he will lie and cheat, but he didn’t bully. Dean gets emotional and he said that he wasn’t going to promise a final three to someone he didn’t want to be with in the end. Kellee wasn’t sure that she knew the real Dean. He wasn’t negative, according to himself.

Jamal says that he wants to know more of Noura’s strategy of picking Tommy over Dean for the final three. Jamal wonders if Dean is better at winning since he proved himself by making fire. Dean points out that Tommy didn’t win immunity throughout this game. Tommy thinks that he was better at the social part of the game. He tells the jury why he outplayed others.

Dean talks about his legacy advantage. He learns from Jamal is not real. But he was doing better. Dean thinks that he is better at the outplay due to his idols and advantages. Tommy thinks that these are not moves in the end. Jack admits that Tommy might not be helping out his own case. Kellee thinks that it was possible that Dean could have been playing the goat, but he wasn’t. A rainstorm breaks out at the tribal council at hand. Karishma thinks that his real game is showing forth.

Jeff wants them to go to the outlast part of the game next. Tommy thinks that he did a good job even if he did not ever win immunity. Noura thinks that she was herself even if she was crazy. Dean then wants to admit that he did a lot of moves and continues constantly playing the jury. He wants them to help write his own history with him. All that’s left to do now is vote.

In the eleventh segment of the show, the jury members start voting. Only Dean and Tommy are then shown getting votes. He is then shown in Los Angeles for the reading of the votes. Tommy winds up winning this season. Jeff promises to talk to Tommy and Kellee during the reunion show. He also says what will be going on for the 40^th season of the show.

Now I have to post my annoyance at facebook over something. There is a group called Survivor whispers that points spoilers about the season. Facebook posted an ad for this group that revealed the final three and winner. I didn’t want to see this and hope that they don’t do something like this again. I will admit that I’m glad that I didn’t know who won sooner and had already predicted this result anyways.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Tommy talks about his win. Sandra explains some of what he had done. Tommy admits that he loves these people. He wasn’t playing to make best friends. He was playing to win the game. Sandra realized that everyone who came to the island loved Tommy. Some think that he is the best ranger. Noura admits that she did what she could to stick out. She wants to be a peacock over the game. Jeff then talks to Elaine and how she was loved by the fans. She was open about how she was in the game. She thinks that God gave her what she needed even if it wasn’t what she wanted. She is right about that. Karishma talks about her life and how you need to focus on what you have.

Jeff then talks about the do rag conversation. Jack isn’t there at the reunion show for reasons unexplained. Jamal says that it was a way of opening himself up to his now roommate Jack. Jeff then gets to the Sia award. Jamal gets $15,000. Elaine gets $100,000. Janet gets $100,000 as well.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, Jeff talks about a lot of what has been going on this season and how they might not have done the right things with Dan in this season. He wants to turn this into what could be a positive. He sits down with Kellee one on one and admits that she was right about the whole thing. People have spoken out to Kellee about what has happened with them. She was upset that Dan had stayed in the game longer than he should have. She felt that she was not believed because of this. Jeff admits that they weren’t transparent with the private conversations. No one asked for what had happened. Some have gotten hate mail or hate tweets over what happened. Kellee is still glad that she spoke up and that this season isn’t defined by some of what Dan has done. She wants to believe that people are capable of change. She hopes that people can do better in the future.

In the fourteenth segment of the show, Jeff introduces the newest season of Survivor. Winners will get back in the game. All of the players had won the game before. I’ll talk about more of it later. While there is more to talk about it, I will wait until later in my Gabon posts to reveal more. Just know that the first three posts are already written and won’t be edited. There’s nothing else in the show after this except the credits of the show, ending it. I hope that nothing meant for the reunion show was cut out due to the breaking news event. But I don’t think that was the case. I’m glad I didn’t miss anything.

Points at reunion show- Ronnie: 0, Molly: 0, Vince: 0, Chelsea: 0, Tom Laidlaw: 0, Jason: 0, Jack: 0, Kellee: 1, Jamal: 1, Aaron: 0, Missy: 0, Elizabeth: 0, Karishma: 1, Elaine: 1, Dan: -5, Janet: 1, Lauren: 1, Noura: 1, Dean: 1, Tommy: 2; Rob: 1, Sandra: 2.

There’s not much to say about the reunion show. I don’t know who else might not have been at the reunion show. I heard that Jeff Varner made a post on social media defending Dan, but you’d have to remember that they aired footage that proved what Kellee said was right. Maybe the situation was a bit overblown, but he had enough issues and it could have been too late for him to make amends.

As for next season, I will post in spoiler comments some of what I know. SPOILER. There will be a twist called Survivor currency which sounds like a terrible idea. It is making the idol twist even more of what a problem it could be. There are enough advantages that are out there and we don’t need something that could be an even worse idea than anything that they’ve thought of before. END SPOILER. Something that I am annoyed by is that Rob and Sandra were said to be mentors this season because they didn’t want to ever play again according to sources. Yet there they are in the next season as players.

Before I get to the awards that I tend to give at the end of each season, I might as well say that this time around, there will be no mentioning the three dumbest moves of the season this time around. I feel that Dan’s ejection overshadows all other dumb moves that happened this season. Thus, it would seem quite insensitive to put anyone else on a list with him even though he’d come in first.

Skipping right on to the next thing, let’s get to the breakout character of the season. I think that Elaine is the clear winner of that award. She did a lot this season and made great impacts on this game. I do also think that Kellee and Noura are both worth honorable mentions.

Now I need to say what I think the most memorable moment of the season is. There has been so much camaraderie among most of the players and wonderful tribal councils without even the drama that we are used to. But I’ll have to give the most memorable moment to the main twist of the season as it has brought us tons of great moments over and over again.

Before I have the ranking of the season against the others, I will rank the tribe swap here again the other tribe swaps I have ranked. Out of the 30 swaps I have ranked thus far, I have this season’s swap ranked as 5^th best out of all of them. Meanwhile, out of the 39 seasons, I rank this season as 21^st best.

There’s not much else to say as I wrap up and finish this post. Normally, I would be announcing that I would be returning the weekly blog posts to Wednesdays where there should be random posts of this blog being published. But that will not be the case even though random Wednesday updates will probably appear at some point depending on when this blog yields to other blogs. This blog will instead have updates on Sundays with me returning to blog more about Survivor: Gabon. That will start on this upcoming Sunday. I plan to see you then. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.