Survivor - Fiji (spoilers)

[Shalimar]

I'm glad Yau won the first immunity challenge, at least this way Dreamz doesn't get to be a dick and try and screw him over again.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Finale: That rat bastard!

It'll be interesting to see whether the jury rewards integrity or gamesmanship. I'm betting (well, hoping) on integrity.

Yet again, the person I feel is most deserving doesn't win ...

 

[CrusaderX]

 

[Shalimar]

I never knew Vader had such a giant cod piece.

 

[John Crichton]

I never knew Vader had such a giant cod piece.

Don't worry, it's all cybernetics.

Anywho, the finale went down exactly as I thought it would after the "betrayal." It was a very cool moment of suspense to see if Dreamz would actually give up immunity and honor the deal. I certainly wouldn't have. The problem was that Dreamz played a pretty decent game but he didn't have the communication skills to balance his betrayal along with his reasoning for doing so. If he was a little more honest about things he may have gotten a vote or two.

Dreamz really surprised me by sniffing out where the vote was going and when to switch things up. He actually played the game just as well as Earl did, just a louder game. He was involved in everything the whole way. But Earl deserved it for his share of luck and solid play. But neither played a game as well as Yau-man. Just like in the past, the best player never made it to face the jury. His one mistake cost him everything.

In all, I was very impressed by this season. My hope for the future is to eliminate boring and useless players such as Cassandra who brought NOTHING to the table. She wasn't entertaining, she was terrible in the challenges and the only reason she stuck around so long was that everyone knew she had no shot of winning the whole thing. Non-threats are boring.

Survivor: China (!!) can't get here fast enough.

Anyone else gonna give Pirate Master a shot to fill in the summer gaps?

 

[sckeener]

Dreamz...argh. I am so glad he got ripped by the jury. I only wish there had been a way for Cassandra and Dreamz to have come in 3rd and received nothing.

I was impressed with Boo giving Yau such a compliment and Alex proved himself a jerk even in the jury.

Yau was the best. He had his own style to everything and I think he showed how classy he could be even after losing.

This was my first survivor to watch...at least it was a good one.

 

[el-remmen]

HOORAY!

I haev watched all 14 seasons of Survivor, and this is the first time the person I was rooting for from the point where I knew the contestants enough to care, has won.

Go Earl! I think he deserved it as much as Yau-Man.

 

[Arnwyn]

Extremely disappointed that Yau didn't win - he deserved it more than anyone else. He did take a risk by not reminding Dreamz that his kid is watching, and to "do the right thing" in front of him, and the rest of North America.

However Earl winning (with a complete shut-out - I should say so) was the second-best result.

I was impressed with Boo giving Yau such a compliment and Alex proved himself a jerk even in the jury.

Total agreement. It entirely looked like Boo thought Yau was screwed (giving Yau the compliment, clapping him on the back during the jury questioning). And yeah - no question Alex was a jerk. Good riddance to him.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Disappointed that Yau-Man didn't win, but glad to see Earl did. I'd wanted one of the two of them to win practically from day one- aside from being good players, they were pretty much the only two that seemed to actually have any sort of personality to me.

Lisi's always been a few cans shy of a six-pack, but man did she ever go completely nuts at Tribal Council. Geez! Even Jeff was completely puzzled (and he's coming across as very bitter and annoyed lately with the game, or at least some of the competitors- I'm looking at you "Dreamz"- maybe it's time he should think about packing it in if it is starting to get this personal. I like him, but it's pretty blatant. Or maybe he just needs to hang out with Phil from the Amazing Race for a bit, unwind. Switch places for a season, even.)

Alex, too, was just asinine at TC. I never really liked that guy, and if this is how he practices law, no wonder he needed to try and win a million bucks. I really hope he isn't a trial lawyer.

I frankly thought everyone was too easy on Dreamz- after all his talk of how much his honor and integrity mean to him, and how he really wants to make sure his kid sees him live up to his word, etc. If he really had been playing Yau from the start, he wouldn't have made all those confessionals, you know? Just made him look even more like the snake he was the entire game- ironic, considering he was the first person to ever suggest that everyone just play the game in the open, and let everyone know what is going down so there wouldn't be any surprises. And Yau-Man letting him off the hook like he did? "It was all my fault"- yeah, in the sense that you know, you trusted him. I can see why he might feel the need to forgive Dreamz for his own peace of mind, but he completely devalued the nature of Dreamz' dishonesty by publically vindicating him like that.

Anyway, looking forward to next season, as usual, but I really hope they do something to make the finale more interesting next time. Even the congo drums seemed to be bored with this one.

 

[Storm Raven]

Anywho, the finale went down exactly as I thought it would after the "betrayal." It was a very cool moment of suspense to see if Dreamz would actually give up immunity and honor the deal. I certainly wouldn't have. The problem was that Dreamz played a pretty decent game but he didn't have the communication skills to balance his betrayal along with his reasoning for doing so. If he was a little more honest about things he may have gotten a vote or two.

Dreamz really surprised me by sniffing out where the vote was going and when to switch things up. He actually played the game just as well as Earl did, just a louder game. He was involved in everything the whole way. But Earl deserved it for his share of luck and solid play. But neither played a game as well as Yau-man. Just like in the past, the best player never made it to face the jury. His one mistake cost him everything.

I thought it was very funny that Dreamz thought he could back out of the deal, and then have a shot at the million bucks. He kept phrasing the questions as "do I choose between keeping my word and getting an opportunity to win a million dollars". The million dollars wasn't an option though, because once he backed out of the deal with Yau Man, no one on the jury would vote for him. I saw that the instant that he started hemming and hawing about it - if he had gotten Yau Man voted off before the final four, that might work, because then he wouldn't have been engaged in so obvious a backstabbing, but to keep immunity after agreeing to give it up, that's just ensuring that no one in the jury will ever vote for you. The real choice for Dreamz was between keeping his word and nothing. He chose nothing.

Really, once Dreamz did that, and Earl ended up with the nonentity that was Cassandra, I couldn't figure out any voting scenario that wouldn't logically end up in a shut out. I suppose Lisi could have gone off the rails and done something insane, but that's about it.