My attempts to be a strong warrior and Survivor player,
were challenged even though I tried to avoid Exile island.
I endured criticism from Erinn, Sierra and all the naysayers,
But with unexpected back pain, immunity lost was unplanned,
and the wizard put the final stake into the Dragon Slayer.
(I know it's not the greatest, but give me some credit, ok?!)
The final four, which wasn't a huge surprise was J.T., Stephen, Taj and Erinn. What was the surprise that followed a spider-web challenge built just for J.T., was the outing of Taj. I'm still trying to figure out the reasoning behind this. They said it was because Taj was more of a threat to win individual immunity in the final three than Erinn was and I don't buy that at all. Besides the challenge way back when everybody played water-tackle-basketball, Taj has not been a threat at all. I don't know if Stephen and J.T. were scared that they might not hold up to their promise to be in the final two, which apparently cracked anyway. I think Taj wouldn't have been frustrated at all to be third and she would have probably cast a vote for Stephen. But they pretty much just made their only Jalapao ally very, very angry.
The regret was apparent when the final three returned to camp and Erinn couldn't shut her yapper. Then my pick Stephen decided to start a new gameplan. I think it was called "Self-implode" because from the moment him and Erinn had their little heart to heart, it seemed like Stephen did everything in his power to destroy the great game he had played up to this point. Although I wasn't the biggest fan of Erinn, I definitely knew she was smart enough to weasel herself into the final two.
I liked the final immunity challenge because it was different than the endurance ones we are used to seeing, yet it obviously tested your mental prowess. J.T. proved once again that concentration can get you a long way in winning a challenge and Stephen just let his nerves overtake him. Then after this, the bond that seemed to have no faults in it broke. Erinn made an ingenious move by pleading a brilliant case to J.T. to take her to the final two. Now, I don't blame Stephen AT ALL for talking to Erinn, but when J.T. confronted him on it, all he had to say was, "Yes, I talked to her about that, but I wanted to throw her off our game. I wanted to see if she would approach you about it..." There, all is said and done.
I honestly think J.T. was dead set at that point to bring Erinn to the final two, but his plan changed at tribal council because Stephen began to be more talkative than he ever should have been. He answered Jeff's questions so badly, I think J.T.'s plans changed. He saw a jury that would respect him for bringing the strongest player with him (which means more votes) and he now had a jury that hated Stephen at that moment more than Erinn. I do think friendship played into it as well, don't get me wrong, but J.T. was so good at reading people at this game, and at that moment he saw that Stephen would be more hated in the final two than Erinn, which had not been the case up to that point.
I've never been the biggest fan of the final tribal council. It provides for all sorts of akwardness, which I know is the point, but it usually just ends up being a jury full of resentful players getting their last two cents in and being all coy about who their vote is going to be for. Besides for Sierra who took this route, I thought the jury asked great questions for the most part and they were ones that actually made the other two squirm, well Stephen at least. Like Amanda in China and Fans vs. Favorites, Stephen did an awful job of pleading his case. Stephen did a great job in this game... he strategized well, seemed to play the social game well (until the end), and made very strong allies, but none of this shine through. For a while in my mind I had Stephen over J.T., because it did seem like Stephen made the plans and J.T. went along but diverted if it shone a bad light on him (how brilliant was it not to vote for Coach?). But by the end, I thought nobody was more deserving of winning than J.T. I was surprised that Stephen got absolutely no votes, but that's how bad he did at that last tribal council.
I thought it was great to see a final two that had the two strongest players in it, and to see somebody win that I thought absolutely played a flawless game throughout. J.T. was a provider, everybody loved him (although he played a part in everybody getting voted out), he was awesome in challenges, and he alligned himself with the right people at the right time.
Congratulations to Roger for winning this season! At the beginning, I was certain J.T. was going to make it to at least the jury, but usually somebody who is so strong gets a target on his chest early. J.T. played that Southern charm to perfection and he showed that you can play this game with intensity and strategy, but still have everybody love you at the end. By far, one of the top Survivor players ever. Wow, it sounds like I have a man-crush on him too... Great pick Roger...
We have at least two more seasons of Survivor left... it'll be a long summer, but in the meantime watch So You Think You Can Dance, you won't regret it...
Thanks for reading all my updates this spring and being patient for all my delays. I hope you love reading them as much as I like writing them. Also, I think it's time to reapply again, don't you? As always, I have to leave you with some questions...
Will there ever be a more colorful character than Coach? Did you think Taj deserved to be voted out like that? If Erinn were in the final two, would she had a chance at all of winning? Was Stephen his own worst enemy? And would you agree that J.T. is one of the best Survivor players ever...
Until the fall...
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