Survivor Gabon Finale - WARNING! Possible Show Spoilers In This Column! The 17th season of the award-winning Survivor came to an end last night. Two Immunity Challenges narrowed the final five to an optimistic trio vying for the title of Sole Survivor and the one million dollars that accompany that honor. In addition, the Sprint Player of the Season was announced during the reunion show that followed the finale. This winner of this distinction earned $100,000.
The first Immunity Challenge saw Bob, the 57-year-old physics teacher; win for a record tying fifth straight time. Pin-up model Sugar took a distant second place. The contestants had to collect puzzle pieces by digging, crawling and conquering two different mazes. After gathering all the pieces, the players had to create a replica of a Gabonese hut. All of this in order to stay alive in the quest for survival.
At Tribal Council Rat Boy Kenny was surprisingly confident until Jeff Probst started his accustomed instigating. When the matter of Bob promising him the Immunity Idol came up, Rat Boy questioned the physic teacher’s honor. Bob told the 22-year-old “professional gamer” that he changed his mind when he got wind of Rat Boy’s plan to backstab him. The vote was taken and Rat Boy was exterminated.
In between Tribal Council and the second Immunity Challenge, the final four, Sugar, Matty, Susie and Bob, honored the 14-tribe members that had been eliminated. They collected a mask for each contestant while a short video of that person was shown. It should be noted that during Ace’s vignette, his accent was not present!
The final Immunity Challenge required that the Survivors make a 10-foot house of cards using 200 wooden tiles within a 30-minute time limit. If no one made it to 10 feet, the tallest structure at the end of 30 minutes won immunity. Susie, the 47-year-old teacher/hairdresser, was victorious, creating a formation standing over eight feet tall. The victory gave the normally inconspicuous Susie immunity and a spot in the final three.
Back at camp Susie can’t keep her mouth shut and tells Bob that he is gone. She goes on and on with Matty piling on. The usually even-tempered Bob finally tells her to shut up and goes off to be alone. Sugar starts crying, realizing that she must choose between eliminating Matty and Bob. As Susie continues to blather, they collectively wonder where Bob has gone.
At an emotional Tribal Council, Probst prompts each remaining Survivor to reveal what their rationale will be for the upcoming vote. Matty and Susie both say the obvious pick is eliminating Bob, that he would be too hard to defeat at the Final Tribal Council before the jury. When Sugar is asked, she bursts into tears and explains that she looks at Matty like a brother and Bob as a father figure. This moves everyone and brings Bob to tears. Obviously, once again, Sugar has become the swing vote.
The four remaining Nobag members cast their votes. Probst reveals the vote, with the first two going to the venerable Bob. The third vote is for young Matty. With the music rising dramatically, Probst reveals, “That we have a tie.” When there is a tie, in Survivor tradition, there is a fire-building contest. The first competitor to start and sustain a fire substantial enough to burn a rope above it wins the final spot up for grabs. Remember when Bob had wondered off to be alone, prior to Tribal Council? Being a fan of Survivor, he knew hat it could come down to a fire-building contest. He was practicing! His practice paid off and he won easily, with Matty never even getting a flame. The final three was set – Susie, Sugar and Bob. Now it was time for the Final Tribal Council before the jury.
The Final Tribal Council
After three rather mundane opening statements, it was now time for the members of the jury to have their go at the trio of finalists.
Charlie – asked Sugar and Susie why he should vote for them. Susie said because she always tried and was still trying. Duh. Sugar gave an even stupider response, “I don’t know.” When he got to Bob, he talked about spooning and cuddling. It kind of creeped me out. I thought this was CBS, not Bravo.
Crystal - yelled at Susie about getting this far by riding the coattails of others. Then she went after Bob, berating him. The Olympic Gold Medalist then asked Sugar why she voted her off, to which the pin-up model replied, “You’re a bully.” Well said Sugar.
Kenny - started off by asking Susie, “Why you?” Susie responded by saying, “Because I am average.” Helluva reason Susie! Rat boy then told Sugar that she had scarred him for life by voting him off. Sugar’s response? You guessed it! She cried! With Bob he started whining about the Immunity deal. Blah, blah, blah…
Corinne – told Susie that she would vote for her if she promised to use the money to have her vocal chords removed. She then asked Bob to be nasty for once in his life. Seems Corinne likes nasty. She proved this by ripping Sugar apart with a tirade that ended with telling her to take a handful of anti-depressants the next time she decides to cry about her recently deceased father. Sugar flipped her off. Way to go Sugar!
Marcus - was very esoteric, telling Susie she wasted her opportunity to be a role model for mothers everywhere. He then asked Sugar, if she won, to use some of the money to honor her late dad. Bob should have exerted more control, in Dr. Marcus’ humble opinion.
Randy – began by shouting, “All three of you can kiss my ass!” His line of questioning went downhill from there, asking Susie why she felt sorry for him and Bob and Sugar why they laughed at him. For a guy who once declared himself the “King of Gabon”, he sure has a lot of issues.
Matty – was the final juror to interrogate the finalists. Unfortunately, he chose to ask the ubiquitous, “Why are the other two more deserving than yourself” question. Bob, ever the wise old sage, replied, “They aren’t!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Now it was time for the jury to cast their ballots. After the voting, during which Randy’s comments had to be bleeped out, we were transferred, through the magic of television, to the live reunion show. Host Probst welcomed everyone and proceeded to read the votes for the last time. Susie took the early lead, with 3 votes to 1 for Bob. The next two went to Bob, tying the score. After a dramatic pause, Probst announced that Bob was the sole survivor of Survivor Gabon and winner of one million dollars. GOOD (Bob) had indeed triumphed. This time it was over NONDESCRIPT (Susie). Curiously enough, Sugar garnered nary a vote. Final tally Bob – 4, Susie – 3 and Sugar – 0.
The reunion show was fairly entertaining, revealing that Corinne was truly a mean and nasty person in real life. She even complained that she was not portrayed as negatively as she should have been. Randy really is bitter, but in a fun, lovable way. Honest. Crystal produced her 2004 Olympic Gold Medal to prove her athletic prowess. Too bad for her it didn’t show while in Gabon. Ace, using his best British accent, assured everyone that it was indeed genuine and that he was born in England. Bob added to his loot by winning the Sprint Player of the Season as voted by the viewers.
Season 17 of Survivor started slowly, but developed into one of my favorites seasons ever. It featured numerous twists and the challenges were always fresh and interesting each week. GOOD came out on top and we were introduced to Sugar the pin-up model. What more could a Survivor fan ask for? Until Next Time…From Tocantins.
The first Immunity Challenge saw Bob, the 57-year-old physics teacher; win for a record tying fifth straight time. Pin-up model Sugar took a distant second place. The contestants had to collect puzzle pieces by digging, crawling and conquering two different mazes. After gathering all the pieces, the players had to create a replica of a Gabonese hut. All of this in order to stay alive in the quest for survival.
At Tribal Council Rat Boy Kenny was surprisingly confident until Jeff Probst started his accustomed instigating. When the matter of Bob promising him the Immunity Idol came up, Rat Boy questioned the physic teacher’s honor. Bob told the 22-year-old “professional gamer” that he changed his mind when he got wind of Rat Boy’s plan to backstab him. The vote was taken and Rat Boy was exterminated.
In between Tribal Council and the second Immunity Challenge, the final four, Sugar, Matty, Susie and Bob, honored the 14-tribe members that had been eliminated. They collected a mask for each contestant while a short video of that person was shown. It should be noted that during Ace’s vignette, his accent was not present!
The final Immunity Challenge required that the Survivors make a 10-foot house of cards using 200 wooden tiles within a 30-minute time limit. If no one made it to 10 feet, the tallest structure at the end of 30 minutes won immunity. Susie, the 47-year-old teacher/hairdresser, was victorious, creating a formation standing over eight feet tall. The victory gave the normally inconspicuous Susie immunity and a spot in the final three.
Back at camp Susie can’t keep her mouth shut and tells Bob that he is gone. She goes on and on with Matty piling on. The usually even-tempered Bob finally tells her to shut up and goes off to be alone. Sugar starts crying, realizing that she must choose between eliminating Matty and Bob. As Susie continues to blather, they collectively wonder where Bob has gone.
At an emotional Tribal Council, Probst prompts each remaining Survivor to reveal what their rationale will be for the upcoming vote. Matty and Susie both say the obvious pick is eliminating Bob, that he would be too hard to defeat at the Final Tribal Council before the jury. When Sugar is asked, she bursts into tears and explains that she looks at Matty like a brother and Bob as a father figure. This moves everyone and brings Bob to tears. Obviously, once again, Sugar has become the swing vote.
The four remaining Nobag members cast their votes. Probst reveals the vote, with the first two going to the venerable Bob. The third vote is for young Matty. With the music rising dramatically, Probst reveals, “That we have a tie.” When there is a tie, in Survivor tradition, there is a fire-building contest. The first competitor to start and sustain a fire substantial enough to burn a rope above it wins the final spot up for grabs. Remember when Bob had wondered off to be alone, prior to Tribal Council? Being a fan of Survivor, he knew hat it could come down to a fire-building contest. He was practicing! His practice paid off and he won easily, with Matty never even getting a flame. The final three was set – Susie, Sugar and Bob. Now it was time for the Final Tribal Council before the jury.
The Final Tribal Council
After three rather mundane opening statements, it was now time for the members of the jury to have their go at the trio of finalists.
Charlie – asked Sugar and Susie why he should vote for them. Susie said because she always tried and was still trying. Duh. Sugar gave an even stupider response, “I don’t know.” When he got to Bob, he talked about spooning and cuddling. It kind of creeped me out. I thought this was CBS, not Bravo.
Crystal - yelled at Susie about getting this far by riding the coattails of others. Then she went after Bob, berating him. The Olympic Gold Medalist then asked Sugar why she voted her off, to which the pin-up model replied, “You’re a bully.” Well said Sugar.
Kenny - started off by asking Susie, “Why you?” Susie responded by saying, “Because I am average.” Helluva reason Susie! Rat boy then told Sugar that she had scarred him for life by voting him off. Sugar’s response? You guessed it! She cried! With Bob he started whining about the Immunity deal. Blah, blah, blah…
Corinne – told Susie that she would vote for her if she promised to use the money to have her vocal chords removed. She then asked Bob to be nasty for once in his life. Seems Corinne likes nasty. She proved this by ripping Sugar apart with a tirade that ended with telling her to take a handful of anti-depressants the next time she decides to cry about her recently deceased father. Sugar flipped her off. Way to go Sugar!
Marcus - was very esoteric, telling Susie she wasted her opportunity to be a role model for mothers everywhere. He then asked Sugar, if she won, to use some of the money to honor her late dad. Bob should have exerted more control, in Dr. Marcus’ humble opinion.
Randy – began by shouting, “All three of you can kiss my ass!” His line of questioning went downhill from there, asking Susie why she felt sorry for him and Bob and Sugar why they laughed at him. For a guy who once declared himself the “King of Gabon”, he sure has a lot of issues.
Matty – was the final juror to interrogate the finalists. Unfortunately, he chose to ask the ubiquitous, “Why are the other two more deserving than yourself” question. Bob, ever the wise old sage, replied, “They aren’t!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Now it was time for the jury to cast their ballots. After the voting, during which Randy’s comments had to be bleeped out, we were transferred, through the magic of television, to the live reunion show. Host Probst welcomed everyone and proceeded to read the votes for the last time. Susie took the early lead, with 3 votes to 1 for Bob. The next two went to Bob, tying the score. After a dramatic pause, Probst announced that Bob was the sole survivor of Survivor Gabon and winner of one million dollars. GOOD (Bob) had indeed triumphed. This time it was over NONDESCRIPT (Susie). Curiously enough, Sugar garnered nary a vote. Final tally Bob – 4, Susie – 3 and Sugar – 0.
The reunion show was fairly entertaining, revealing that Corinne was truly a mean and nasty person in real life. She even complained that she was not portrayed as negatively as she should have been. Randy really is bitter, but in a fun, lovable way. Honest. Crystal produced her 2004 Olympic Gold Medal to prove her athletic prowess. Too bad for her it didn’t show while in Gabon. Ace, using his best British accent, assured everyone that it was indeed genuine and that he was born in England. Bob added to his loot by winning the Sprint Player of the Season as voted by the viewers.
Season 17 of Survivor started slowly, but developed into one of my favorites seasons ever. It featured numerous twists and the challenges were always fresh and interesting each week. GOOD came out on top and we were introduced to Sugar the pin-up model. What more could a Survivor fan ask for? Until Next Time…From Tocantins.
2 comments:
Darn it. It's Thursday. What will I do?? I guess I'll have to clean my apartment or something since there won't be anything good to watch on TV. *sigh*
It could be worse. You could be having Corinne and Randy over for a Holiday drink!
Post a Comment