Survivor 47: Final update

 

Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:

Brian	Caroline
Iyasah	Gabe	Rachel
Angela	Teeny
Dylan	Genevieve
Lia	Kyle
Sheila	Sue
Roberta	Sam
Carol	Sol	Andy (AKA The Joker)

 

Second, 5 bonus points to Carol and Iyasah 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 4^th individual immunity win! (8 points for “Win individual immunity” [Rachel] to Iyasah!), becoming the 5^th 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 Iyasah!).  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 Iyasah!) 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 Roberta and Angela!), which means (5 points for “Chosen to be in the Final Three” [Sue] to Sheila!)

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 Angela!).  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], [Gabe] to Carol and Iyasah!).

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

I'll call this one: "*thisclose*"

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 Roberta!) and (2 points for “Jury Member” [Teeny] to Angela!).  Teeny is heartbroken, while Sam primes his Final Tribal jury pump, talking about resilience.

Farewell

We get a bit of scoring as the final three enjoy their breakfast (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sam] to Roberta!) and the jury recounts Sam, Rachel and Sue’s exploits (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sierra] to no one!) 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 Iyasah and Brian!).  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 Angela!). 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 “2^nd runner up” [Sue] to Sheila!), (20 points for “Runner up” [Sam] to Roberta!) and (35 points for “Winner” [Rachel] to Iyasah!)

Winnah!

So what does that mean for our final scores?  Brian and Caroline (95 points)  finish in 8^th. Sheila finishes in 7^th with 122 points despite Sue making it to the Final 3.  That’s more of a comment on Sue than you, Sheila!  Genevieve leaves Dylan in 6th at 131 points , as Kyle’s early ouster left early favorite Lia in 5^th with 151 points.  Carol finishes in 4^th at 170 points and could’ve been higher had The Joker stuck around another episode.  Sam wasn’t quite enough to get Roberta over the hump as she finishes in 3^rd at 176 points.

Going into the finale, Angela (with Teeny) had a 29 point lead on Iyasah (with Rachel).  In the end, Rachel’s continual immunity wins, referencing other seasons players and her victory proved to be too much for Teeny and Angela to hands.  With 227 points, Iyasah takes home the win in this inaugural season, leaving Angela in 2^nd with 207

CONGRATULATIONS IYASAH!  

Great game, all! I hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next season! 

1. Iyasah    227
2. Angela  207
3. Roberta 176
4. Carol     170
5. Lia        151
6. Dylan    131
7. Sheila   122
8. Brian     95