Redemption Island
It is the final duel to get back into the game. The competitors are Laura, Tina, and Hayden. Laura is the clear favorite as she has dominated Redemption Island all season. The challenge involves using your foot to step on a plank in order to balance a vase at the end of the other side. Laura is the first one to start struggling but makes some miraculous moves to stay in the challenge. Hayden is the first out after he loses his concentration for a split second. As Laura continues to struggle, she begs Tina to let her win. Of course, the request is ridiculous as Tina did not even throw the last challenge for her daughter, Katie. Although Tina has to make one key save, Laura can only fight her shaky leg for so long before she loses. As such, Tina reenters the game. The loss is very tough for Laura. As she has dominated throughout the season, it is a shock that she is not able to pull out the final one. She regrets it as her daughter is in the audience and she has always taught her children to finish strong. However, Jeff Probst correctly points out that she has given her best effort all the way to the end of the show so she did finish strong. As Tina won the challenge, she also gets to pick the person getting the clue. Of course, she keeps it but it is pointless as Tyson already found it.
Final Five
The challenge takes balance and concentration. You have to keep a table level by pulling a rope with one arm while walking back and forth to tables to grab nine blocks then stack them one at a time on the table. If your arm holding the rope is unstable, the table will rock and the blocks will fall over requiring the player go back to the table to reset the blocks. Tyson remains calm the entire time and finishes first easily. The next order of business is whether to eliminate Ciera or Tina. From my perspective, Ciera is the clear choice. Whether the decisions panned out all the time or not, Ciera has made a lot of big moves from which she can make her case to win. As for Tina, she was voted out right after the merge. She does have a lot of friends on the jury as her alliance was voted out. However, Ciera has the much better case in terms of gameplay and the game of Survivor has evolved in that jurors usually value strategy over likeability now. On the other hand, Ciera and Tina continue to work on Monica to switch. However, Tina takes an aggressive approach with Monica that just does not work as Monica is not someone that can be bullied. Ciera knows it and tries to talk to her more softly. However, their best case is made by Gervase who passionately wants to vote out Ciera and tries to strong arm Monica. Consequently, she needs to weigh strategy and a wounded ego again. At Tribal Council, she notes this conflict. As Tyson already has the Immunity Necklace, he gives Gervase the Hidden Immunity Idol to remove any chance of Monica flipping as it is the last time he can play the idol anyway. Nevertheless, Monica votes their way to eliminate Ciera. I completely respect that she is able to separate strategy and emotion when she goes to vote.
Final Four
I really like the Final Immunity Challenge. It is a massive obstacle course where the players have to get six bags and bring them to the top of steps that has a water slide. The players slide back down to the obstacle course. Once a player has all 6 bags, they can work on a puzzle that has a clue to that helps figure out a combination on a lock. Once it is unlocked, it raises an Immunity flag. Monica has been a beast in challenges and takes the early lead. As Gervase chases her up the stairs, she checks him so he cannot get past her. In the end, Tyson picks the best time to perform his best in the challenges. He won the last challenge and wins the Final Immunity Challenge. Of course, the next order of business is to vote out Tina unless she can convince Monica to force a tie so that Gervase and Tina need to compete in a tie breaker to see who can make fire first. The move would not have made sense for Monica. Tina has a lot of friends on the jury while Gervase has annoyed the other players at times with his trash talk. Accordingly, Monica makes the correct decision and votes with Gervase and Tyson to eliminate Tina.
Final Tribal Council
I really like all three speeches. Gervase makes an interesting argument saying he combined old school and new school. As he played in the first season, he had a 13 year layoff. The game has definitely changed drastically and is nothing like the first season. Gervase states a great point in that he needed to and did adjust to the new school style of play to make it to the end. Monica addresses the “elephant in the room”, which is the perception that she was dragged to the end by Tyson and Gervase. She notes that she had opportunities to flip at the end of the game. However, she wisely points out that she wanted to sit next to Tyson and Gervase at the end as they have blood on their hands and made empty promises. If she swapped sides, she would have had sat at the end with people that also did not have blood on their hands and had as good of a case if not better than her.
Tyson makes the best argument. He knows he was a big target heading into the game. As a result, he initially wanted to just have fun as he assumed he would be voted out. However, the game changed for him when Rachel got voted out because he was so big of a threat that the other players hoped that he would switch with her. Rachel won the girlfriend of the year by declining the gesture. Consequently, Tyson told himself he had to get to the end so that Rachel did not sacrifice herself in vain. From Tyson’s perspective, getting to the end and winning is the only way it will be worth not saving Rachel when he could have swapped places with her. Tyson is completely vulnerable in telling the jury his motivation. It is completely genuine and not gameplay. You can see the jury really respects him for being so honest and presenting a noble reason for his strong gameplay.
While there have been very bitter juries in the past, this jury is very respectful. They are former Survivor players and loved ones of the former players so I think they can empathize with the difficulty of the game and respect the players who make it to the end. Vytas tells Tyson that he will not vote for him. Before Vytas was voted out, he threatened Tyson that he would not vote for Tyson at the end as a final ploy to try to save his own game. There is no bitterness in the statement. Vytas is just trying to keep his word. He is definitely anticipating a call back to return another season so he does not want his threats to be empty ones. A lot of the questions are directed at Monica in terms of who she really is since she was guarded during the game. While these types of questions have been malicious in the past, it definitely appears that the Survivors just wanted her to answer honestly. Accordingly, she gives them a strong answer by saying she has lived in her husband Brad’s shadow for most of her life. As such, she has played tough and fought to get to the end in order to prove herself to her family. In addition, she states that Survivor is her turn to take the spotlight in the family. While she begins to win over the jury and performs well, she cracks near the end during Laura’s question and shows her frustration by asking the jury whether they have ever met a nice lady. While it definitely turns them off from considering voting for her, the jury definitely respects her as a strong woman, mother, and wife.
Aras asks the best question by asking each Finalist who among the other two players they would vote for and the reasons. Gervase picks Tyson because he cannot criticize anything about his game. Tyson knew the dynamics going on in the game and had people digging for an idol he already had. Monica also picks Tyson noting that he found two idols and won the last two Immunity Challenges when the other players could have voted them out. Tyson picks Monica. While the three were always a Final Three alliance, Monica was able to distance herself from them in the middle of the game, appear to be on the bottom, and get information Tyson and Gervase could not get as they stood at the top of the majority alliance. I think it is a very fine gesture from Tyson to acknowledge the critical contribution Monica made to the alliance rather than throw her under the bus to feed the negative perception the other players may have had of her during the game.
In the end, Tyson played the best game, had a great story saying he was motivated by love for his girlfriend, and was still able to be funny and charming. Aras’s question also got Gervase and Monica to make Tyson’s case for him. Accordingly, Tyson sweeps the jury except for Vytas who votes for Monica to fulfill his promise that he would not vote for Tyson. Tyson definitely played the best this season and is a worthy winner.
Live Reunion Show & Next Season
Jeff is able to get through all the Survivors quicker as he can do it two players at a time due to the Blood vs. Water twist. I did not think he asked any piercing questions to get answers we did not already know. He gave kudos to Ciera on making big moves and playing for first rather than fourth. He notes that is exactly how you should play the game. Ciera will definitely be back in a future season if she chooses. Similarly, Vytas and Hayden are great players and characters. Both answer that they would play again and we should see them again. In my opinion, a lot of the players this season are great candidates to return again. Of course, Jeff also acknowledges Colton and asks him about quitting again. In a snide comment that gets no laughs, Colton notes that he quit the season because he played on “Tribe AARP”. However, Jeff gives the best response by saying that the AARP kicked his ass this season. The most awkward moment of the reunion is when Kat implies she got a breast implants for Hayden and Jeff pretends to not know what her references means.
In a sad note, Tina shares that her son Taylor died in a fatal accident. I respect that she is able to remain composed and talk about an unthinkable nightmare for a mother. Moreover, she tries to make a positive out of a tragedy by delivering an important message to the audience. As her son did not wear his seatbelt and the driver lived because he wore a seatbelt, she pleads for others to wear seatbelts as accidents are not something you can predict and you need to be safe at all times. In addition, Tina and Katie ask that anyone wanting to honor the memory of Taylor to pay their respects by donating to the Philippines disaster relief.
The theme of the next season is Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty. It is easy to assume that there will be three tribes that consist of strong people, nerdy or intelligent people, and good looking people. While it is a new idea, I am not that excited by the theme. However, it always depends on a great cast of players.
Overall Reaction to the Season
While I came into the season thinking the Blood vs. Water format would be a mess, I am glad to admit I was completely wrong. It worked magically and is one of the best seasons I have watched. It kept my attention for the entire season and I watched every episode. The twist of having loved ones really adds a unique aspect to the game. We had drama and great gameplay throughout the season. We saw a lot of great characters and players. It is definitely a format I want to see again.
About Matt Cargile
Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.
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