Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:
Second, 5 bonus points to Carol for correctly guessing that “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” is from the Godfather 2! That was a sneaky one!
Everyone is ecstatic to make it to the Final 4 and we immediately
get our final immunity challenge. They have
to crawl under a muddy net and then use a pole to unweave a rope above their
heads. Use the rope to lower a gate and
collect a bag of tiles. The tiles spell a word that unlocks a machete. The machete cuts a rope that releases the
puzzle.
First one to finish the puzzle wins immunity, decides who’s
going to Final Tribal and who’s competing to make fire.
Sam finishes the mud and pole first, but Rachel is right
behind him. They all even out at the
gate, but it’s Rachel who’s through it first, followed by Sue (!) as Teeny and
Sam struggle. Trailing the entire time, Sam catches up and Rachel solve the anagram
puzzle at nearly the same time. Rachel takes a lead on the puzzle leading Teeny
and Sam to cheat off her. “If you’re doing that it means you’re trailing”, Jeff
says. Indeed. In the end, they can’t catch up and Rachel
takes home her 4th individual immunity win! (8 points for “Win
individual immunity” [Rachel] to Carol!), becoming the 5th woman
in Survivor history to win 4 Individual Immunity challenges.
Back at camp, Rachel is in disbelief on where she is in the
game (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rachel] to Carol!). She recounts Jenna, Chrissy, Kim and
Kelly, the other women who’ve won 4
individual immunities (5 points for “Mention previous season’s players” [Rachel]
to Carol!) and tells Sam and Teeny they are going to compete in final fire-making
challenge (5 points each for “Chosen to make fire” [Sam], [Teeny] to Ricky
and Marissa!), which means (5 points for “Chosen to be in the Final Three”
[Sue] to Dalphyne!)
Sam is more than willing to make fire, which Teeny sees as
arrogant despite him saying he doesn’t know how. She thinks he’s lying and seems intimidated
by him, so Rachel helps Teeny learn how to make fire. On his own, Sam’s practicing shows he truly doesn’t
know how to make fire but after reading his letter from home, he’s re-energized
and ready to fight!
At the fire making challenge, Rachel quickly ends suspense saying
Teeny and Sam will make fire, which Teeny sees as an opportunity for her (1
point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Marissa!). Teeny reveals her one-sided rivalry with
Sam, because he’s the stereotypical guy onto whom she’s projected her own
insecurities. That’s a remarkable level
of self-awareness. Good for you, Teeny! Meanwhile, the jury chats amongst themselves (5
points each for “Shown talking while on jury” [The Joker], [Sierra], [Gabe] to
Jay, Ricky and Jen!).
Teeny’s fire catches first and slowly builds as Sam gets
nowhere. She struggles but her flame slowly builds higher and higher. It’s on the rope, and Sam still hasn’t caught
fire yet. She has an inferno going but the
rope will not pop! The wind catches her
fire, blowing it away from the rope as Sam finally gets a flame. In an
unbelievable turn, he catches up!
The wind hurts Teeny but it helps Sam blowing his into the
rope and from out of nowhere he wins the challenge, sending Teeny to the Jury. (10
points for “Win the fire making challenge” [Sam] to Ricky!) and (2
points for “Jury Member” [Teeny] to Marissa!). Teeny is heartbroken, while Sam primes his Final
Tribal jury pump, talking about resilience.
We get a bit of scoring as the final three enjoy their
breakfast (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sam] to Ricky!) and the jury
recounts Sam, Rachel and Sue’s exploits (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’
[Sierra] to Ricky!) as we head to Final Tribal.
This is Rachel’s game to lose. If she’s anywhere close to / better than
Sam/Sue at Tribal, she wins.
Without recounting every point brought up in Final Tribal,
we have (2 points for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Gabe], [Caroline] to Jen!). Rachel tells a quality tale of how her game
went from a flop to a threat, while Sam’s was a scrappy, never give up, find a
way to stick around sort of game.
Sue tells everyone she’s actually 59 and would be the oldest
woman to win Survivor. They’re shocked by this which, as a mid-50s person,
shocks me. She looks ok for 59, clearly having had work
done. But she said she was 45…yikes.
Sam does a great job in his storytelling, weaving a
compelling case on why he had to play the game he did, while Rachel focuses on
how her game emerged at the merge, how she tied the record for immunity wins, how
her sneaking around led to her perfect idol play. Sam reminds everyone that he attended 10
tribal councils, was voted for at 4 of them, and never once voted wrong. Sue is
shown saying very little, which summarizes her game well.
Sam didn’t have as solid a game-story to tell as Rachel did,
and while Rachel told her story well Sam told his better. The only question is, was it enough to bridge
the gap?
As Jeff goes to get the votes, (5 points for “Shown
talking while on jury” [Teeny] to Marissa!). Jeff announces the votes and
it’s a blowout win for Rachel, with Sam getting the only non-Rachel vote which
means (15 points for “2nd runner up” [Sue] to Dalphyne!), (20
points for “Runner up” [Sam] to Ricky!) and (35 points for “Winner”
[Rachel] to Carol!)
So what does that
mean for our final scores? Jen picked up
a few thanks to Gabe’s jury-chatting, as I did with Kyle but we remain in 8th
and 7th. Dalphyne must be
shouting “#WAKEUPSUE!”, as having a player in the final 3 lands her in 6th.
Similarly, I can hear Marissa shouting “#WAKEUPTEENY!”
as her 4th place finish lands Marissa in 5th. Forever-champ Kristyn had a good run, but she
ends in 4th. If Andy had made it to the Finals, I’d have liked Jay’s
chances but he ends in 3rd.
In the end, no one could stop Rache’s train. With 231 points Carol takes home the win, and
Ricky comes in 2nd at 199.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CAROL!
Great game, all! See you next season!
- Carol 231
- Ricky 199
- Jay 184
- Kristyn 168
- Marissa 152
- Dalphyne 149
- Scott 123
- Jen 97
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