Survivor finale! (Spoilers)

[Del]

My girl Steph made it fair and square, to at least 100 Gs, so I'm happy.

This is the first full season I watched since the first and I was blown away. Great TV.

A few minutes to the vote!

 

[Del]

Dani Is Victoly!

 

[griff_goodbeard]

I'm glad Danni won. I was rooting for her after Gary got voted out.

 

[Ghostwind]

Danni played a very smart game. They never did say what the final tally was but I wouldn't be suprised if it was 6-1. Stephanie made too many enemies on the jury during her run to the final two. I still wish Gary has made it because I thought he played a strong game, but Steph's machinations and group worship were too difficult to overcome at that stage of the game. Overall, it wasn't a hugely exciting season compared to some of the past ones, but was an interesting season.

Did anyone find themselves even more intrigued with the next season's show? Back to Panama and this time it looks like along with voting a person out at tribal council, they vote a person into exile on the island where they will remain until the next tribal council? I'm actually more excited to see that one than previous Survivor locations.

 

[Rel]

Danni played a very smart game. They never did say what the final tally was but I wouldn't be suprised if it was 6-1. Stephanie made too many enemies on the jury during her run to the final two. I still wish Gary has made it because I thought he played a strong game, but Steph's machinations and group worship were too difficult to overcome at that stage of the game. Overall, it wasn't a hugely exciting season compared to some of the past ones, but was an interesting season.

Did anyone find themselves even more intrigued with the next season's show? Back to Panama and this time it looks like along with voting a person out at tribal council, they vote a person into exile on the island where they will remain until the next tribal council? I'm actually more excited to see that one than previous Survivor locations.

I'm definately interested to see next season. I said to my wife as Jeffy was giving the preview speech, "They had me at Exile Island." I'm a sucker for the pain and humiliation of others.

I've not seen anything official but I guarantee that the vote was 6-1. Otherwise they've have shown the second vote for Steph to heighten the tension. They might occasionally conceal an additional vote during regular tribal council but not in the finalle.

I was glad to see Danni win. Not since that dude (whose name I don't recall) overcame the seemingly insurmountable might of the "all woman alliance" a few seasons ago have we seen somebody pull off this sort of upset. I just assumed that she was dead meat as soon as Gary left. And she probably would have been if Jamie hadn't been so damn insecure! Then she won the immunity that she absolutely had to win by virtue of the collective stupidity of the "alliance". I loved how Jeff pointed out that this was a 500,000% return on investment!

Anyhow, I'll be watching next season too. And probably the one after that. With this and Lost being the only two shows that I watch regularly, apparently I'm a sucker for people stuck on an island.

 

[SWBaxter]

I was glad to see Danni win. Not since that dude (whose name I don't recall) overcame the seemingly insurmountable might of the "all woman alliance" a few seasons ago have we seen somebody pull off this sort of upset.

You mean Chris, beating Twila? I never really counted that as a huge upset, since it was revealed he was actually in a final two alliance with Twila for a long time, so he wasn't nearly as isolated as it appeared. Danni had a similar setup with Rafe - he'd been protecting her pretty much since Gary's elimination - so it's hard to really credit her as a true underdog. She did win the two immunity challenges she really needed, gotta give her credit for that, but really she just played off the dominant Survivor trend. That being that taking control of the game can get you second, but flying under the radar is what nets you first. There's only 2 or 3 winners who've bucked that trend.

Looks like the next survivor will have some interesting twists. Kinda disappointed they're going back to Panama again, part of the fun for me is seeing different environments, but with the Exile island and no doubt other twists there should be drama to make up for it.

 

[Rel]

You mean Chris, beating Twila? I never really counted that as a huge upset, since it was revealed he was actually in a final two alliance with Twila for a long time, so he wasn't nearly as isolated as it appeared. Danni had a similar setup with Rafe - he'd been protecting her pretty much since Gary's elimination - so it's hard to really credit her as a true underdog. She did win the two immunity challenges she really needed, gotta give her credit for that, but really she just played off the dominant Survivor trend. That being that taking control of the game can get you second, but flying under the radar is what nets you first. There's only 2 or 3 winners who've bucked that trend.

Tom from last season being a notable exception.

I think that perhaps the best general strategy is to call the shots but from behind the scenes. But if you're too behind the scenes then you're viewed as having no strategy. And if you're not behind the scenes enough then you're targeted as a leader type. From this perspective, I think that Rafe played near perfectly until the end.

As to Danni and Chris (thanks for recalling the name for me) having a bit of help, well sure. Both would have been toast if they didn't have somebody helping to look after them. But neither was part of what could really be called an alliance and winning Survivor without an alliance is a nearly impossible task.

 

[RichCsigs]

Just speculating...

What got my attention about next season was the "something on the island can help you win the million" (or some-such) line. Makes me think that the winner of the reward challange would get the chance to go to the island, the down side being your not around to protect yourself if everyone else decides to vote you off. I don't know if I like this major change, but I'll tune in to see if I am (which is what they're looking for anyway).

 

[SWBaxter]

Tom from last season being a notable exception.

Yup. And Richard Hatch from season 1 being another. It's the exceptions that prove the rule - most of the folks who tried to take control, whether they were evil bastages in Hatch's mold or relatively likeable guys like Rupert get targeted and dropped. Not that that's necessarily bad, but it made most of last night's show relatively predictable, at least once Lydia was voted out.

I think that perhaps the best general strategy is to call the shots but from behind the scenes. But if you're too behind the scenes then you're viewed as having no strategy. And if you're not behind the scenes enough then you're targeted as a leader type. From this perspective, I think that Rafe played near perfectly until the end.

I dunno, I think the only vote Rafe could've won once the final four was set was against Steph, and I'm not 100% sure about that one. He certainly didn't seem to have much of an idea how to get to the jury against somebody he could beat, maybe he really was just too nice a guy to win at Survivor. Given that Steph was very likely to lose any final two combo (both because of her leader position, and because it was her second time around), I was pretty surprised when she offered Rafe an all but guaranteed final two spot and he rejected it. C'est la guerre.

As to Danni and Chris (thanks for recalling the name for me) having a bit of help, well sure. Both would have been toast if they didn't have somebody helping to look after them. But neither was part of what could really be called an alliance and winning Survivor without an alliance is a nearly impossible task.

Eh, I disagree - both were part of the best kind of alliance you can have, a final two alliance where the other person does all the dirty work. Admittedly, it was by no means certain they'd make it, but that's the risk you take when you go for the gold. Larger alliances are really only good for making sure you reach the jury.

Of course, I'd bet dollars to donuts that almost everybody from the merge on was at least working on final two alliances and most of them just weren't shown. That's one thing I don't like about Survivor, they often focus on drama rather than showing us more of the scheming.

 

[Rel]

I dunno, I think the only vote Rafe could've won once the final four was set was against Steph, and I'm not 100% sure about that one. He certainly didn't seem to have much of an idea how to get to the jury against somebody he could beat, maybe he really was just too nice a guy to win at Survivor. Given that Steph was very likely to lose any final two combo (both because of her leader position, and because it was her second time around), I was pretty surprised when she offered Rafe an all but guaranteed final two spot and he rejected it. C'est la guerre.

I think that Rafe was a lock to win against Steph for precisely the reason that we've both cited: She was perceived as the "back stabber", not him. I think he could have made a case that since he carried Danni down the home stretch when the rest of the crew wanted to boot her that he was the superior player. Steph knew that she stood no chance against Danni and not a great one against Rafe that she had to take him.

So it sounds to me like once they booted Lydia that Rafe had at least a 2/3 chance of winning. He just needed to make sure that Danni didn't win the final immunity. But his biggest blunder was that when she DID win, he didn't run up and give her a huge hug and say, "We made it! We made it!" thus strongly encouraging her to keep her word about their deal.

Speaking of the final immunity, I thought it was pretty interesting that Danni won this thing for one reason: She's tall. Her legs were long enough to allow her to brace herself against the pole at a high angle. Steph was having to stretch way out and kept slipping lower and lower. Rafe could have done well (and they might be leaning against those poles for days!) if he hadn't had his mental lapse. And incidentally, Lydia had NO chance at winning that. She was short with even shorter legs. Despite all the "low center of gravity" stuff that gets spouted, she had at no point proved herself to be all that coordinated.

Frankly I'm glad that she didn't have a shot at it because I hate to see people who are totally followers win the game (I'm looking at YOU, Vecepia!). You gotta at least make a move here or there or be shown to scheme occasionally if I'm going to root for you.