Survivor Gabon: Week 12 - Finale

Congrats to Ty (my Dad) winning Survivor: Gabon! I taught him everything I know. Ha ha... Actually, here's a bit of trivia for you, my parents introduced me to Survivor after college when I started to watch Survivor: Vanuatu with them. So, you can blame them for all these emails!

So we return to camp with Kenny still fuming over the fact that Bob wouldn't give him the necklace even though he was going to take him out if he did. Yeah, sounds fair to me. Then Sugar makes a huge move by immediately going to Kenny, before the challenge, and talking to him as if he's the leader and Bob is the next to go, not Kenny. Kenny felt secure from that point and all was undone. The challenge was quite elaborate, as the next-to-last ones usually are. Although it didn't seem quite as tough to me. And once again Bob won it! It was a bit closer this time, but still, pretty amazing that he tied the record for the most consecutive wins.

You knew something was going to happen with Susie getting so much air time, but the producers fooled me when tribal council came around. I thought they really were going to vote Susie off because I think we saw more of Kenny's strategy on interviews than his real persona around camp. Don't get me wrong here, I was really glad to see him go! I'm all for strategic players to win the game, but when they are cocky and refer to themselves in the third person, I can't stand it. I thought he once again unraveled at tribal council by calling Bob again. He really didn't need to do that, plus Bob exposed his plan! He was really dead then. My hate almost dissolved as he graciously left the game and seemed like a good sport in his confessional. Then I turned again at the last tribal council and then turned again during the reunion (more on that later).

So then there was a final four that I would have never, ever predicted. And as Susie got more and more interview time, you knew something was going to happen. I thought this was a great challenge. I personally like to see them sweat it out, but I think they assumed Matty would win quickly. I thought Susie was brilliant for just stopping while the others panicked. She played it very, very well. We finally got to see more air time of her as they headed back to camp, and trust me, I'm glad they didn't focus on her the whole season. They showed Bob getting real upset, and I was just as annoyed as he was, and we only saw 5 minutes of it! I'm totally with Susie that it was a huge shock, but honestly, ease it down a bit.

Then Sugar once again throws her wits up in the air and sees where it lands and basically gives Bob a million dollars. Now, if I was her and I wanted to win a million dollars, it would be a predicament of who to vote for as well, so I thought her choice would've been noble if she hadn't told Bob about it. Basically blindsiding Matty. How relieved was Bob? He knew he had it, and how smart of him to go practice. So we had to say goodbye to Matty. His game this season was... interesting... I would like to say he made some power moves, but he really didn't. He did great of not getting voted out, but he lacked a solid friendship and alliance with anybody, except Susie (which we never really saw). But it looks like that if he had won that fire challenge, he would have won a million. Now that would have been something.

Which then led to the final tribal council where Bob pretty much dominated by answering straight and letting the other two girls bury themselves. I'm sorry Susie, just trying to prove something to your family isn't going to do it. Why didn't she mention turning the game on its heels by voting Marcus out? Winning two immunity challenges, especially the last one! I know I don't have any children, but I think there are better ways to prove to them that trying is valuable asset than going on Survivor. If I'm going on Survivor, I want to win a million dollars! If I wanted to prove to people that I can try or do something, I'm going to do a marathon or go on a diet. Not go across the world away from all my close ones!

And as far as Sugar goes... this is why I couldn't take her as a viable strong player. You can't make all those moves and then just not even try to get a million dollars. Her moves were totally to just do what Sugar wanted to do, not to win a game. As I mentioned earlier, she basically gave Bob a million dollars. The last two votes I was really gaining respect for her and then she flushed all down in the toilet. It boggles my mind that there's been 17 seasons of Survivor and people still blow it at these tribal councils. I'm sure it is really stressful, but I think the key is to just be upfront and honest about your game, whether you have been the nicest guy ever or malicious. Bob obviously has watched Survivor before and I loved is answer to Matty's question, "Why do these girls deserve a million dollars?" Bob: "They don't."

This was a relatively boring last council save Corinne's comments. I just don't understand when people consciously decide to be that mean. I think Corinne just loves to have attention on her and I think she was on the show to become a famous actress. Why else would you act like that? And the way she referred to "the edit" at the reunion show was just a gesture to all the producers out there in L.A.

I thought it was funny that nobody answered Randy the way he wanted to. Matty did not need to wear that tank-top. Kenny once again pouted way too much and was a drama king with his pacing. Marcus didn't look too smart with his boring questions. I completely forgot what Crystal asked. And Charlie is as nice as ever.

Which thankfully led to a victory by Bob! Such a deserved win. And Susie with three votes? Can you imagined if she had won? Bob probably could've been a bit more aggressive in his answers at the last tribal council and gotten one more vote or so, but thankfully he won. He did great at staying in the middle and playing hard when it counted. I think he made some wrong moves here and there, but he never lingered on them. You always like it when these type of people win Survivor. He played a pretty honest game and at the end, I think everybody still likes him, even Randy.

The reunion show really just kind of reflected the season. It was good, but not great. Way too much attention on Corinne for my taste. Randy came off a bit odd, but he does have a biting humor. I loved his response about cheating in school. I was really glad to see Kenny admit that he got way too cocky. This is where I forgave him once again. You could tell he was in a totally different mode out there, just like we are between our homes and work. He saw it as work, which he should have, but it actually seems that he's going to take away a life lesson from this game.

Oh, and Michelle is really one weird girl. Termites beware!

I have to admit, the past couple of episodes have been really good. They really saved this season. It didn't stay predictable and I guess that's what happens when an strong alliance of four gets broken up. Somebody won that totally deserved to win, and I'm usually always happy at that. But if you like this show as much as me, I'm really wanting to see something fresh this coming season in Brazil. This was the first time I really started to get bogged down by the cliches of the show. I mean, I know it's going to be there after 8 years of being on T.V., but I think that this season proved that by having too many contestants that are generally mean-natured doesn't necessarily mean a compelling season. Nastiness doesn't always collide with strategy. This season went a step back towards it's usual formula, so we'll see if Brazil has some new tricks up its sleeve.

What changes would you like to see? Do you think there are way too many hidden immunity idols? Should Exile Island be done away with?

Were you happy that Bob won? How would you rank the show?

As always, it's been fun and we'll gear up for next season! We can't let Ty enjoy that trophy too much!

Survivor Gabon: Week 5

Finally! A really good episode this season. It really needed an episode like this one. The strategy part of the game rose a bit and there was actual drama in the immunity challenge and tribal council.

I think it was a real good thing for Ace & Matty to form something. They both are in awful positions, and I don't know if much will change going into the merge. There was something about it though that you didn't quite believe. I almost predict something where Ace turns his back on Matty...Matty gets voted off...and while part of the jury he will glare menacingly at Ace until he is voted out. I think Matty has the most heart of a competitor that I have seen in a long time, but I just don't quite think that the brains are there.

I always like the reward challenge that they used where the contestants have to catch each other. It looks sooo exhausting and I can't imagine trying to do that with as little food Fang has had. You can tell that it didn't quite go as long as similar challenges have in the past. It was a true testament of how little food that Fang has.

What an amazing immunity challenge! Overall, I really don't like anybody on the Fang tribe, but I was rooting for them so much to win! How brilliant of Matty & Kenny to climb over those obstacles (I can't believe I used the word brilliant with these two). I'll get back to Kenny boy in a second. But alas, the team fell apart at the end. As said in the previous email, I hate it when there is a tribe that consistently looses, but at least they brought some drama back to the camp. I really didn't know what was going on for a while and why in the world Sugar would tell Kenny about the hidden immunity idol!

I'll break here to talk about Ken. You can tell he is a smart guy, but he is taken his "gamer" title far too seriously and there are times he just needs to sit back. Every time he needs to make a big decision, it's an awful one. That's my opinion at least.

There was a lot of drama at tribal council with everybody seeming to throw everybody under the bus, but they were really smart to get rid of Kelly. She kind of sealed her fate by what she said, if others had any doubt at all, but if they want to win any sort of challenge at all, she probably was the best one to go.

Like I said earlier, I really had fun with this one. It finally kind of felt like a Survivor episode and it had a great tease for the next episode. It's a smart move to make both tribes figure out who to vote out. Fang was probably going to have to vote somebody off anyway, and let Kota finally feel what's it like to scramble. And who has the immunity idol exactly? Ace or Sugar? So confusing.... which I really like.

So, did you like this episode like I did? Is Crystal too emotional and a disappointment in the challenges? What do you think about Randy? Do you love to hate him, or just hate him?