And the winner is…
Michele! After 39 days of blindsides, broken alliances, and bitter exchanges, the 24-year-old Jersey girl outwitted, outplayed and outlasted 17 other contestants. And for those who are keeping track, that means that Beauty reigned supreme this season.
A come from behind victory…
Michele may not have won the night’s first challenge (a reward of steak, veggies and drinks that ultimately went to Aubry and Cydney), but she did win when it mattered. The final immunity challenge guaranteed the winner a spot in the finale. Therefore, it only made sense that it would also be the most complicated and rigorous competition ever devised. However, Michele never gave up despite being dead last earlier on, and thus, she beat the others.
Michele definitely needed this win because Aubry, Cydney and Tai were not going to bring her to the finals. Before leaving for tribal council, it looked like Aubry was going to be the one voted out, but Tai flipped (again) and forced a tie between Cydney and Aubry.
A tie at the final four stage means a fire-making tiebreak, and oh, was it a nail-biter! Aubry’s fire kept veering in Cydney’s direction, so at one point it looked like it would burn through Cydney’s rope instead of Aubry’s. Then, out of nowhere, Aubry’s fire completely collapsed, opening the door for Cydney.
Unfortunately, Cydney couldn’t get it together and was eliminated. Her goodbye speech was heartbreaking because she said that she had played to give her mother a better life by affording the basic necessities.
A major twist…
For the first time ever, the final three competed in a challenge where the winner would have the chance to vote out a jury member. (AWESOME!) Once again, Michele won and had to decide how to use this advantage. The obvious choice was Joe since he was Aubry’s ally. However, Tai suggested that Michele get rid of Neal instead since Neal could be very persuasive on the jury. Aubry obviously didn’t want either of her former allies to be picked, so she tried to steer Michele toward Scot or Jason since both could stir up a lot of trouble.
In the end, Michele chose Neal, and it’s a good thing she did. As he was leaving, he said some very harsh things to her, ending with “you don’t stand a chance.” I was a big Neal fan when he was still in the game, but he went a bit far with that comment.
The road to the finals…
The contestants enjoyed the traditional breakfast feast on their last day and even saw themselves in a mirror and weighed themselves to see the toll that the game had taken. The final tribal council would be even more so because this jury wanted the hard facts, not a bunch of excuses.
By the time it was over, it wasn’t clear which way they were leaning. After an emotional farewell to Mark The Chicken (yes, they did not kill the chicken despite starving), the votes were read on the live show.
And with that, another amazing season of Survivor will go down in the books. I only wish the one-hour reunion special airing right after the show would focus less on the winner and runners-up (who we’ve been following for the past few months) and ask questions of the lesser-known players.
What did you think about the ‘Survivor: Kaoh Rong – Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty’ finale?