Welcome to the finale you lovely lot. Those of you who have stuck around through this season have been treated to a much better strategic season than last year but there is a chance tonight we get a worse result.
Chrissy begins by being way too excited in a way only puppy dog Kiwi Jeff can, then we get a really long recap I skipped (sorry guys this seems like a really long episode).
Then we see Matt be a total douche and tell the Jury that he and Dave have known each other since childhood. Let’s address the Matt and Dave friendship. It felt for a long part of the season like it was a huge advantage that was ruining the game. But it was also a huge stumbling block that only two contestants had to get passed. Dave and Matt knew if they were found out it would bring them both down. It was something they couldn’t control and didn’t ask for. It was a totally different challenge in the game. Oddly, I’ve always liked the idea of a blood vs water season where every pair thinks they are the only pair in the game. A bit like Matt and Dave they’d not be told it was BvW, they’d then hit the mat and see someone they know. But it wouldn’t be addressed at all by production or Jeff. I think it’d be pretty cool.
Final Tribal Council
At FTC the jury is not sitting in order again and it’s fucking enraging.
Lisa does a nice job with her speech apart from where said if a player got to the end without lying they are a better player than her. They pan to Tess who thinks she didn’t lie but she did just pre-merge and doesn’t think it counts. The stuff about her pre-game alliance with her family kind of sucked.
Tess sucks, I dislike her as a Survivor player but her speech is pretty decent. She claims she didn’t scheme or throw under the bus, Kaysha might see it differently. She cries about her background.
Dave goes into his speech without knowing how much the jury dislikes him. He shows the idol and puts it on. He talks about hustling and his control over the game. The jury doesn’t look interested except Tara. He mentions his childhood illness and his escape from a violent background. He talks about wanting to donate money to help ill children then pay off his parent’s mortgage. He’s a nice boy.
Brad blows up Dave’s spot by asking him about his childhood friend with Matt. Dave pretends he was going to bring it up when Matt asked his question, no one believes you Dave! Renee is bitter as fall get out. She doesn’t like Dave, does she? I don’t get why he used her name as the only obvious fake name to give Josh. She calls Tess the only one who played a genuine game. Urgh, I don’t care if it’s genuine, it isn’t worthy of winning Survivor. Matt pretends he made the decision to tell people about him and Dave out of respect for the jury. Nonsense, it was bitterness. Matt goes on to ask Dave why he voted out Matt, Dave said it was because Matt wasn’t telling Dave everything and that Lisa told him about the idol. Tara asks what they have each personally gained from the game. Tess says she has a sense of pride and belief in herself. Dave rambles a bit. Lisa talk about travel and how she got there herself, she made a plan and did it and that now she has more confidence in herself.
At least the jury asked questions in order. Time to vote.
Back in the Studio
The votes come down: Tess, Lisa, Tess, Lisa, Tess, Lisa, Lisa. LISA WINS and I’ll be honest I cheered. This was the result she deserved and this is the result fans deserved.
Quick comment on Lisa wearing an RHAP bell shirt, hoody and converse. I love her, she’s great. I love that she’s unapologetically one of us. Lisa, I’m really glad you were on TV being such a good representative of superfans!
I won’t be recapping the reunion part.
Final Thoughts on the Season:
This was a good season of Survivor. There were great characters and big moves. There was a winner that I rooted for from the merge on and who played a quiet but decisive game. It was fun. Now we’ll see you again here for Australian Survivor.
