Who’s the biggest Game Changer of them all?
How do you like your coffee?
Do you take it black?
But while I may not drink the stuff, I am aware that there is norightwayto drink coffee.
Different strokes for different folks, it seems.
So let me ask you another question: How do you like yourSurvivor?
Or, more specifically: How do you like yourSurvivorwinner?
[By the way, thats the first time I have ever used the official season subtitle.
Its certainly noEarths Last Eden(Gabon) orIslands of Fire(Vanuatu).]
On one hand, you have Sarah, who was the dominant force from a social/strategic perspective.
She built a very impressive resume.
On the other hand, you have Brad.
He tied theSurvivorrecord by winning five individual immunity challenges.
Say what you want about F.U.
Brad Culpepper, but that is a super impressive accomplishment.
Winning the last four challenges of the season?
That is super clutch.
So again, a very impressive resume.
So Ill ask you again: How do you like yourSurvivorwinner?
Its all about what you value more challenge dominance or strategic dominance.
Because the reality is that physically had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.
Three of the four challenges Brad won were on puzzles!
And the fourth one was that weird balancing balls one that had nothing to do with strength whatsoever.
But more impressive than Sarah?
According to Ozzy and Debbies criteria, yes.
Zeke illustrates the opposite end of theSurvivorjuror opinion spectrum.
Brads social/strategic game is probably a wash.
He did a lot of good work early.
I was actually shocked considering how he acted in his last outing.
But what the hell happened after the merge?
When he got on the wrong side of the numbers, Brads smooth social game began to crack.
He openly feuded with a future jury vote in Michaela and was super demeaning to another juror in Tai.
It was as if he undid all the good work of the first 35 days in the last four.
(Recap continues on page 2)
I wrote that way too lengthy preamble for a few reasons.
(1) I am long winded by nature.
And (3) at the end of pretty much every season I write one of two things.
Its either The right person won!
or The wrong person won!
And believe you me, they do argue.
And I love it!
Thats because the vote is purely subjective as opposed to objective.
All that said, the right person won.
At least in my book.
Bottom line: Im glad Sarah won.
I think she deserved it.
And I think the jury made the right decision.
(Me quibble in a recap?
What are the odds?!?)
So congratulations, Sarah Lacina.
You without a doubt did change your game to win the million dollars.
There were a lot of contestants brought back to play whom fans openly questioned.
Some of them did not deliver the second time either, but you did in a big way.
Well done, copper!
Its our lastSurvivorrecap of the season, so lets make it count!
Look for a chance to win one of the other finalist votes later in the recap.)
We start the episode with a recap of the season so far, which is both great and terrible.
So again, seeing all these titans in the recap could not help but be a bit bittersweet.
Then Probst launches into descriptions of the final six.
So quietly you half wonder if it is Cowboy Rick in disguise.
(Wow, twoSouth Pacificreferences already.
I guess its only a matter of time before we get to the Cochran rock flip.)
(Sadly, I was wrong.
I want to know who the rat is, she screams.
FREDO IS THE RAT!
Oh, sorry, wrong rat.
That was my advantage to use, she tells Cirie.
Why would you take my vote?
I wanted to use that another time and now I cant because of you.
This is the first in a series of absolutely terrible moves that Tai will make down the stretch.
And they keep getting worse.
Why he does this is beyond me.
Tai feels like he needs an ally in the game, but hes wrong.
We have seen it time and time again yesterdays adversary can become tomorrows ally.
As for Brad, he sees an opportunity.
It becomes a lose-lose scenario.
Thereisa reward attached, however: a big Italian meal delivered to camp.
But also the far more important immunity.
(A lot of compass roses this season, by the way.)
At one point Troyzan drops a puzzle bag on Aubrys box instead and then blames it on being colorblind.
I dont know if he was kidding or not, but it does raise an interesting point.
My son is colorblind, and there are certain shades of red and green that look identical to him.
This is when Cirie finally wins her first individual immunity challenge in four seasons!
They totally spoiled it in the preview!
YOU GO, CIRIE!!!!…
Except it is Brad.
I need a leap of faith from you for the way things have been.
What sort of funny business exactly is Brad taking about?
What sort of hijinks, shenanigans, or tomfoolery does he have in mind?
I dont begrudge Brad for trying to take advantage of Tais lapse in judgment.
But the problem is the tact and approach he takes when doing so.
Considering that Brad wants to send Tai to jury telling Troyzan, Hes not getting it back.
Were voting him out tomorrow.
Were making him the fool why would he want to antagonize a future jury vote?
Thats just shortsighted gameplay.
Honestly, nobody really cares about me, says Tai.
They just want something from me.
(And yes, there used to be a giant gong at Tribal Council.
As well as a hilarious trunk of cash.
)(Recap continues on page 4)
Hey, who likes numbers?
Lets head over to Sesame Street to consult my good friend Count von Count.
Hey, Count, how many players are left inSurvivorat this point.
One… two… three… four… five… six.
One… two… three… four… five.
I may not have been a math major, but I can do basic subtraction and 65=1.
That means the votes are completely irrelevant.
So how do we feel about this?
Put aside the fact that it was Cirie for a moment.
Not a single person voted for Cirie, and yet she was booted from the game.
But it should only be that one advantage, notthree.
That is advantage overload in a huge way.)
The good news is that I believe the producers are smart enough to know this.
I dont think they ever anticipated having five immunities played at a single Tribal Council.
They experimented by adding two extra advantages dont forget Debbies at Exile Yacht and my guess (hope?)
is that they realize that was probably two too many.
This is what they do they constantly experiment and recalibrate.
Heres hoping they scale back a bit moving forward.
So it was a Tribal of firsts.
First person voted out with no votes cast against them.
Most idols played at a Tribal.
Most people immune at a Tribal.
Jeff even let Cirie take his line of the Tribe has spoken.
Let her have her special moment.
You think were heading back to the beach?
Its time for immunity challenge No.
Let me just say that this one looks positively maddening.
And most of the players seemed maddened by it.
I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT GOING TWO BALLS UP ON EVERYONE MEANS BUT ITSTILLFREAKS ME OUT!
But that is about the last thing I get.
It wasnt last week.
It wasnt even three days ago.
What in the name of Dreamz with a Z is going on here?!?
Then theres Brad, who is still putting the screws to Tai dammit!
First two balls up, then enormous, then screws…
I swear I am not doing this on purpose!
even though Tai no longer has an idol.
Ill put it to you like this, Brad barks at him.
I control who goes to the final four.
I control who goes to the final four.
What the hell happened to Brad Culpeppers social game?
He has no respect for me, says a despondent Tai, and hes right.
So we head to Tribal Council No.
Meanwhile, everyone says that there are people left they feel they cant beat at the end.
Everyone, that is, besides Troyzan, and Michaelas reaction shot pretty much says it all.
Obviously, Do you feel there are people left you cant beat at the end?
is a weird question to answer because as a contestant, you have to weigh two completely opposite impulses.
So you really cant trust how anyone answers this question.
Even though it is, you know, crazy.
Just ask the editors who gave Troyzans brother Todd more screen time this season.
(I wonder how many people do that but its edited out so we dont see.)
Talking to people before the game, they were worried about Aubry.
And she was on the ropes from day 1.
But she held on and made it all the way to day 37.
Gotta give her props for that.
That marks his record-tying fifth individual immunity victory and clean finale sweep.
All thats left is to vote off the only obvious competition in Sarah and take home the million dollars.
Quite frankly, says Brad, I think I can beat every single one of them.
NO, YOU CANT!
But wait, youre still going to get rid of Sarah, right?
It comes down to who has done me wrong the most.
And that would be Tai.
IT DOESNT COME DOWN TO WHO HAS DONE YOU WRONG!
IT COMES DOWN TO WHOM you’ve got the option to BEAT!
AND you’re able to BEAT TAI!
Its my island, he brags, stealing a line from hisOne Worldalliance-mate.
That way whomever Brad and Troy are voting for still has a chance to stay via fire-making tiebreaker.
Its actually a very smart move.
Sarah is pretty confident that Tai is the target, but why?
That would cause my SpideySurvivorsense to start tingling.
If I were Sarah I would have hedged my bet and voted Troyzan as a safety measure.
That way, if Im the target, I am not blindsided and still have a shot.
And if Imnotthe target, its no harm, no foul.
After all, this is the last vote-out, so who cares if Brad and Troyzan are pissed?
Let them be pissed!
Its the perfect safety net.
So whywouldntshe do it?
And tie I mean, Tai like Aubry before him, is voted out ofSurvivorfor the very first time.
Tai is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
I hold him in the highest regard… outside the game.
In the game he seems to have difficulty with deception.
Quite simply, he was all over the place.
So theres our final three of Brad Sarah, and Troyzan.
We see them at the beach for just a minute in the standard finalists-being-reflective-of-their-journey-while-also-looking-ahead-to-final-Tribal-Council scene.
The most telling moment is when Sarah asks Brad if hes nervous about the final Tribal.
Not really, he replies.
In this case, Outwit stands for the social part of the game and emotional intelligence.
which frankly, sounds a bit repetitive with the social gameplay covered in the Outwit portion, but whatever.
So what are my thoughts on this huge format change?
The last few finale Q&As have kinda been snoozefests or, at the very least, underwhelming.
And they all seemed to be following the same script.
Theres the person who annoyingly asks something along the lines of Why did you vote me out?
Theres the person whoisbitter about being bested.
But here is what is kind of fascinating.
Probst spoke about trying to find a way to tweak the system.
Instead of not allowing them to talk to each other, they created a forum for an open debate.
Im not being critical of that decision.
If anything, just the opposite.
(No offense, Zeke, but my moneys on The Mountain.)
The smart money would probably go on Ozzy in such a situation, although dont count Zeke out.
Tai, for once, says he is shocked!
to learn that there is gambling going on in here.
(Again, a sign of Sarahs effective gameplay.)
If you are buying drugs, youre a drug user now.
If youre a prostitute, youre now a prostitute.
While those last two sentences may sound like aSurvivorreward gone wild, I get what she is saying.
I mean, not that I am particularly familiar with drugs and prostitutes but… you know what?
Lets just move on.
This response to Sarahs superior gameplay tracks completely with how Debbie voted inKaoh Rongas well.
Hey, guess what, everyone?
So which would you take: an invisible edit or a less-than-flattering one?
Do you realize how you talk to people?
Brads not a dumb jock as he likes to say.
Thats a difficult one to recover from, and Brad never does.
As mentioned, Brads wins came because of his work on puzzles and balancing the balls into the chute.
None of them were because of any form of brute strength or athletic prowess.
Of course, most of the jury doesnt know that because they did not see the challenges themselves.
Sarah then does aSurvivorclassic that dates all the way back to Todd Herzog inChina.
She tells the people on the jury that they were only there because she worried they could beat her.
This is exactly what Todd did to Jean-Robert.
Like I said, smart.
Troyzan may have gotten the invisible edit this season, but he ends on a very strong note.
So Sarah is indeed revealed as the winner and the celebration begins.
(Im too tired to go through all the guesses now, but will ping the winner directly.
The question is simple: What juror asked the very first final Tribal Question inSurvivorhistory??
The winner will be contacted directly.
Okay, lets get to some odds and ends from the Reunion show.
I mean, thats a super minor thing, but also the kind of thing I obsess over.
First off, they should be in the same spots because it makes no sense to change them.
Plus, you had the winner in the middle, which is the best spot.
Plus that way you had one woman between the two men, which also is the preferred visual.
Did Troyzan just run in there and steal Sarahs seat?
THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT!
People like myself have been asking Probst about thisfor years.
As a rule, it makes total sense and I dig it.
I obviously needed a Snickers out there, he proclaimed.
And kudos to Sarah for saying she modeled her game after Tonys.
- Its really nice to see Zeke thriving in the wake of that terrible public outing.
I have never felt as loved as I do right now.
(It was also nice of him to give a shout-out to my boy Josh Wigler!)
Look, anyone who readmy recap of that episodeknows how I feel about what Jeff did.
But I dont want the guy to suffer for all eternity because of it.
I did notice that Zeke and Varner did not interact at all during that segment.
- There were three Cochran cutaway shots during the Reunion, in case you were counting.
Clearly, I was.
And to continue to make it worthwhile for you, we have lots of more goodies.
Like that aforementioned deleted scene above, as well as Jeff Probst sharing some insideintel onnextseason.
Of course, you’re free to always follow me on Twitter@DaltonRossfor all the updates.
And that will do for me.
Thanks again for playing along.
