We start out with Grant arriving at Redemption Island and he has a great attitude. We see that Rob has a heart and is sad that he had to vote Grant and to me it seemed like Rob was a little emotional talking about it in the confessional. It's too bad that Grant held that against him during the reunion show and I hope that they can work out their differences and be friends and not take a page out of Lex's book, from after the All Stars season.
Rob is thinking that Ashley will be voted out before the returning RI person, unless Grant comes back or assuming Ashley wins immunity, which usually happens when they show those types of comments.
Matt fell in love with RI. It is home and says what a blessing it was and that he was bitter first but it has passed. I cannot say enough good things about Matt and his character. Being a Christian myself, I have to say that while Matt wasn't perfect, he handled the situations presented to him in the best way he could and in a way that would be pleasing to God. Through the experience his faith grew deeper and the world got to hear the good news in a real way. Mike also grew deeper in his faith, which is awesome. That was what God cares about, not who wins the game and I don't think God orchestrated Matt and Mike not winning the challenge, that was just each of their skill sets didn't allow them to win. While it would have been a great end to RI to see Matt return again, it would have been painful to see him voted out a third time. Andrea also says that she is a major underdog in the duel, which is a true editing clue that she will win the duel.
RI Duel was probably a lot more difficult than it looked. They had to balance a vase on a board and using only their foot, keep the vase from falling off. Grant first out, then Matt followed a little later. Mike and Andrea battle it down to the end and both have some great recoveries but in the end Mike could pull it out and Andrea returns to the game. The biggest mistake in this challenge is watching the others because it takes your focus off what you are trying to do. I think it could have been a different game if instead of being side by side, they were more shaped like a plus sign, with their backs to each other, but I think it was better the way they did it and of course easier for Jeff to see the action.
Grant, Matt and Mike all had great comments and don't seem bitter at all. They all seem to have grown personally through the experience of Survivor and understand it is a game. Of course we saw at the reunion show that Grant was a little bitter towards Rob, but I'm thinking that feeling really started happening after he was watching the show instead of when he was out there.
Back at camp Andrea makes some comments that I thought may have gotten her voted out before Ashley, regardless if Ashley won immunity or not. Sadly today I can't remember exactly what she said, but you can watch it again online to see. Andrea then starts telling the girls that the people on RI wants to vote for Phillip to win the show, which was a lie, but not a bad strategy when you are trying to make something happen.
Natalie and Ashley are talking and it certainly seems that Natalie wants to be loyal to Ashley and wants to turn on Rob. At this point I think she is seriously considering flipping on Rob and even confirmed it was a possibility she would have, but didn't because her and Ashley knew Rob had the idol. She said that at the reunion show and that surprised me, since they didn't show it and I thought Rob had kept it secret, but in the end, it probably was the best move by Rob to do so, since they knew he was going to play it and when he did, it wasn't a shock. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
At the first challenge, which I thought was pretty lame, the Survivors had to walk across a balance beam and get bags of numbered pieces. There were four bags, each containing more pieces than the previous bag. They had to empty the bag and put the pieces in numerical order (they were numbered 1 - 100) before retrieving the next bag. It was close but Ashley won immunity with Andrea within 5 or 10 pieces of finishing and Rob within 15 pieces.
With Ashley winning immunity, it seems pretty obvious that Andrea is probably going home and Ashley and Natalie confirm it by agreeing to vote for Phillip after Andrea is gone. As we watched, we didn't know that anyone knew that Rob had the idol and he made it seem like he wasn't going to play it, because he likes to take risks. We then see Andrea try to talk to the girls about forming a voting block to get Rob or Phillip out, while Rob and Phillip take a walk (Phillip is informing Rob how Natalie and Ashley were off talking at the edge of the woods for a long time). Natalie once again seems like she wants to turn on Rob and the editing would make you think she will, but she doesn't.
At Tribal Council, there is a moment where Rob looks concerned about some of the comments that were made so he makes a smart move to play the idol. It turns out he didn't need to play it though, and to the view it seemed that it may have been a mistake to play it since now everyone knows he kept it from them. In the end it would have been worse not to play it and get voted out, so I still think it was smart to play it safe. Phillip was happy about Rob playing the idol even though it he didn't know for sure that Rob had it, but he suspected it. Andrea gets voted out 3-2.
I find it interesting that both Matt and Andrea voted out twice in the same season, when they were initially so tight but then had their falling out. And there lies the flaw in the RI concept, because it is extremely difficult to reenter the game and have a shot at staying and it both cases, the returning player was the first to get voted off. In this case though, it was only because Ashley won immunity.
Back at camp Rob lies to Natalie and Ashley saying that he was taking them to the end and they will vote out Phillip next. Of course we know that really isn't going to happen, it was just to give Ashley some comfort, before they go to the challenge.
Before we get to the final challenge, I have a couple observations:
- There are too many puzzles in Survivor these days. It seems like almost every challenge has a puzzle element to it. While I enjoy the puzzles, I really think there should be less of them.
- There wasn't a fallen comrades portion of the show and I think this is the first time they haven't done that. I suppose they could have done it, but didn't show it, since they had the duel from RI, that took up that time. I'm sure that was how it was, but maybe not.
The final immunity challenge has Rob, Phillip, Ashley and Natalie having to go through a huge maze to collect 4 bags of puzzle pieces. At the start Everyone but Natalie gets the first bag relatively quickly. Natalie does eventually get a bag, but I don't think she got any more (maybe one more). Phillip couldn't get his last bag, but Rob was getting to the bags first and Ashley was following him. Rob starts the puzzle first and it looks like Ashley might win, when she gets the correct work in the last spot, but then she second guesses herself. Rob talks to her about working together, but that was short lived and Jeff Probst stated the obvious, that you can work together, but only one of you can win immunity. Rob and Ashley neck and neck and Rob pulls it out and wins final immunity!!!!! Rob cries with joy!
Rob gives Amber the credit for encouraging him to try again and he says no matter what happens now it is ok, win or lose. Now he has to convince the jury to give him the money even though Amber already won once.
Back at camp, Ashley is feeling good about TC as both her and Natalie think Phillip is going home. Then Rob talks to Natalie and says that Ashley has made friends with a lot of the Zapatera tribe and she would be more dangerous to have in the final 3. Natalie is feeling conflicted about voting for Ashley but tells Rob she will do it. It wasn't real convincing though and I thought we might see a tie breaker challenge at TC between Phillip and Ashley. That didn't happen.
At Tribal council, Ashley put the final nail in her coffin when she admitted that she feels she has the best chance to win in the final 3. Whether that is true or not we may never know, but I think that comment made it a lot easier for Natalie to vote for Ashley. Welcome to the Jury Ashley! It was also good to see that she doesn't seem bitter.
Day 39 at camp and Phillip talks about how great grandfather told him he would get to the end. Phillip thinks he can convince the jury that Rob is behind it all and to vote for him, but everyone knows Rob was in charge. He doesn't stand a chance. Natalie is extremely proud of herself and feels that at 19 she is a good symbol for her generation. She played her role in the game very well.
Now comes the best part of the show, Phillip says he wasn't proud to wear plumb underwear and he burns them in the Fire! My question is why did he wear them then, there has to be a story in their somewhere. So Phillip goes free balling it to final TC.
Here are my thoughts on the Opening Statements:
Natalie - She is loyal, stuck with Rob, good social skills. Coat tails is what it says to me and give the money to Rob. I think this is where her inexperience shows through.
Phillip - Says he revamped his strategy on day two and decide to be the villain so that everyone would want to take him to the end. He said he wouldn't be sitting there without Rob. Phillip claims he implemented Rob's plan, which is laughable. He basically said give the money to Rob.
Rob - Great opening remarks. He said what needed to be said, didn't apologize for the way he played the game and spoke with the experience of playing 4 times will give you.
After the opening comments were done, it pretty much gave you the impression it would be a landslide, but we still had the jury questions to come. The question would be, do we have a bitter jury or not and will they reward Rob or give it to Phillip, or more likely Natalie? Let's take a look at each jury member.
Andrea - Starts with Phillip and asks who is the real Phillip, as they saw several different Phillips out there? Phillip didn't really answer the question. Andrea asked Natalie about betraying Ashley and not trying to get something going to get out Rob and Natalie responded saying that while the friendship was real, the game is not about the friendship, it is for the million dollars. That certainly seems like a vote for Rob.
Ashley - Was bitter towards all three of them, but starts with Phillip. She tells him that she is sick of Phillips voice and he is not to respond to her. That of course sends Phillip over the edge and he says to say your peace but don't tell me what to do. At the time I thought she still might vote for Natalie, because she didn't seem happy with any of them.
Grant - He asked Natalie to explain her alliance with Rob, which I thought she did a good job at. He made it clear that Phillip wouldn't be getting his vote, so it appeared another vote for Rob.
Ralph - He says Natalie can't do anything without Rob. He was surprised Phillip didn't have a whole chicken on his head by now. He then asked Phillip why he never spoke to Ralph and Phillip did a great job of answering that question. He said it was to prove he was loyal but that he admired Ralph and that outside of the game or if they were on the same tribe, they would probably get along well. This definitely influenced his vote for Phillip, which I'm not sure he was planning on to begin with.
Matt - He asked Rob how he handles being a liar and feels he doesn't know who Rob is. Understandable comments from someone of faith. Didn't have a feel for who he was voting for.
Julie - She said no one played a respectable game and asked rhetorical questions to the group. To Natalie, "Do you think your parents would be proud of the way you played?" Julie said as a mom, she wouldn't be. She asked Phillip if his son would be proud, which he answered he would be. She told Rob that as a father to teach your daughters to be strong women. Again it wasn't clear who she was going to vote for.
Mike - He started by saying that he was closer to God than before and thanked Matt for the conversations they had. He then asked all of them what they learned about themselves? Natalie said she learned alot about camping, and that she is strong, more capable than she thought. It provided confidence and she appreciates her family more. Rob responded that it was time to stop playing games and that this would be the last day he plays Survivor. Phillip said he could stand on my own, as an outcast and that he was a beacon in the shepherd family. I thought all were good answers and wasn't sure which way Mike was leaning on the vote either.
Steve - He congratulated Rob and Natalie on surviving the elements and making it to the end. To Phillip he said he was sorry for him, who you is and what he had become. Clearly not a Phillip vote.
David - Now for something completely different, David is what a juror should be. He talks to the jury, not to the final 3 and says you should vote for Rob because he played the best strategic game ever and you all bought into it. David gets what this game is about and I'm not sure of how many people on the jury changed their votes because of what he said, but it certainly didn't hurt!
It's time to vote... they only show two votes and Ralph votes for Phillip David votes Rob.
As the transition to the live portion of the show, Jeff comes out and he reads the votes. Only 6 of the 9 votes are read, and they were:
Rob.
Phillip
Rob
Rob
Rob
Rob!
Rob wins 8-1 (the 3 that weren't shown had to be for Rob, otherwise they would have been shown, to add drama)
The reunion show had David proposing to Carolina from Survivor Tocantins and she accepted, Jeff bringing in a current federal agent to vouch for the fact that Phillip really was a federal agent. Phillip and Steve making up and Grant still harboring bitterness towards Rob. The disappointing part about the reunion show as that Jeff didn't make an attempt to get to everyone like he usually does, so many people sat there and didn't get a chance to speak.
We got a preview of the next season and RI is coming back and so are two players. Not sure if they will be people from this season or not, but it will be interesting to see.
My overall thoughts on the season, while many did not think it was a great season, I think it was an average season. For me it was fun watching Rob be the master of the game and to watch Phillips antics. Other than that, the cast was pretty blah. Matt was the only other bright spot and he got to really be a focal point thanks to RI, something that we never would have seen otherwise and God's message wouldn't have been proclaimed like it was. I'm hoping they tweak RI next season and only have it go until the merge, then get to the reward challenges, etc. Ultimately, I hope this is the last season they do RI, because ultimately I don't think it stays true to what Survivor is about. When your fire goes out, you are done.
As always I look forward to next season, but look forward to the break as well. I will blog if I see something interesting related to the show and you can still follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/survivorpurist) as I will be updated that more frequently than the blog, on the off season. So until then... the Tribe has spoken!
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