Survivor wrapped up its thrilling 40th season with a stirring finale, featuring the gladiatorial return of long-exiled Natalie and a number of riveting challenges and teary exits. The epic three hour finale climaxed in a decisive fire-making challenge with a razor-thin margin of victory between two of Survivor's greatest and most intimate combatants. The winner of that challenge, Tony, received three fourths of the votes the next day at Final Tribal, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest castaways ever to play the game. We'll examine that legacy in a moment, but first let's take a look at final pool standings and the castaways Tony overcame in the finale.
Final Standings
1. Ben & Michal - 250 points
Tony - 124
2. Doug - 222 points
Natalie - 97
3. MoonBee - 221 points
Natalie - 97
4. Baggins - 215 points
Tony - 124
5. Phil - 138 points
Michele - 56
6. Eric - 54 points
The Final Six
Denise augmented a venerable reputation with her unforgettable eradication of Sandra, a spectacularly-satisfying backstabbing I believed was unnecessarily heavy-handed. Denise goes home with that feather forever in her cap plus the knowledge she hung deep into the game's most competitive season and busted out only because four of her five opponents held idols. She's got a title belt stuffed in that cap too, from a season she attended every tribal council.
Ben trampled a weak cast with relentless gritty play his first season. Then he took advantage of a late-game twist conspiracy theorists and Ben Greenberg believe was corruptly planted to give him opportunity he normally wouldn't have had and offer a more compelling Final Tribal. In any case, Ben was shrewder than most or all of his competitors that season and few of them this season. Some have speculated his most memorable moment this season - offering his own head to Sarah as a resumé-builder - occurred only because Ben correctly self-assessed he had no chance of winning a final vote. It may have been his last chance at redemption - and he seized it.
Would Sarah have beaten Natalie and Michele if her flame had cauterized the rope before Tony's? I believe so. By that point, Sarah had keenly spotlighted her struggle to receive credit for outplaying and outwitting in a misogynistic world. The jury wasn't particularly impressed with Natalie's monolithic Edge game or Michele's act of survival, plus Tony's presence on it would surely have tilted respect Sarah's way. If her flame had burned through first - and it was ohsoclose - the GOAT conversation would be revolving around Sarah instead of Tony.
It was unfortunate and unbecoming for Michele to go without a vote at Final Tribal. Ironically, her grand anxiety - playing an effective game and earning no respect for it - was realized at that voteless Tribal. Certainly her performance justified more. It wasn't powerful or flashy, but scrappy and chameleonic. Michele was in such hot water all game her goal was typically to survive the next vote rather than burnish her extracurriculars. By the time she washed up at Final Tribal, her two competitors had developed resumés - one physical, one all-around - too impeccable to dent. Michele isn't in the GOAT conversation, but can hold her head high as one of the very few to win one season and make Final Tribal another.
Natalie did prove there was more to her game than physicality when she won San Juan Del Sur. We're not talking about Ozzy here. But the physical element is what Natalie will be remembered for - because the fitness and athleticism she displayed this season was transcendent but also because her social game faltered. I don't recall the events that got Natalie voted off first this season - that feels like ancient history - but she did get voted off first. And when she got back in the "real game", she didn't do enough to accentuate her physical accomplishments. Sure, she linked up with Michele to topple the Ben/Sarah/Tony alliance, but anyone with two idols could've pulled that off. As Rob mentioned at Final Tribal, she isolated the fellow Edge players too severely to earn all their votes. She pitted Sarah against Tony in firemaking rather than attempt to slay the dragon herself, claiming she wanted the alliance to destroy itself and that she'd already done enough to earn votes. Ultimately most sided with Tony - despite spending more of their time with Natalie. She'll go down as a legendary physical player with an ordinary social game.
Tony overwhelmed his competition the first season he played with psychotic, uncompromising aggression. His game was raw and villainous. He picked up where he left off for Game Changers and was promptly voted out first. That early exit illuminated a lightbulb over Tony's head: the maniac style is not appropriate for many Survivor situations, particularly for pre-targeted former winners. The best players can access maniacism but don't reside in it. Tony told everyone he was flipping the switch this season and did it. We spent the first two thirds of the season wondering if Tony would ever switch gears back towards aggression. It may be hard to remember now, but the traits Tony displayed for the bulk of this season were modesty, whimsicality and deference.
Then, when it came time, he flipped the switch. Starting with a masterful takedown of the opposition leader, Tony was a tour de force down the stretch. He did it all those last few episodes, tactfully outwitting, outplaying and outlasting his opponents. Like a great actor, poker player or bicycle racer, Tony's greatest strength was ultimately revealed to be his mastery of diverse and incongruent skills. Tony has come a long way in his Survivor career - as a player and as a human being. He's earned his title as the King of Survivor.
3 comments:
Tony deserved the win and I'm glad the jury gave it to him. Great game, Tony. Congrats, Ben and Michal.
I also think that the order of the top 3 played out correctly based on their season. Natalie needed Tony gone to have a shot. She answered the jury questions way better than Michelle, and had a good story; going out first, suffering, grinding, and ultimately controlling a lot once she was back.
Michele represented herself very poorly to the jury. Some simple changes to her answers would have at least earned her a vote or two, but I had my hand on my face listening to what she was telling them about why she deserved the win. Her game was good enough to get her 3rd, but not flashy enough in any direction to get her further than that.
The final 3 finishers also had the 1st highest, 2nd highest, and 3rd highest point totals in our pool in their respective finish order. I think that means we all deserve a pat on the back for setting up a good pool points system. Yay us!
I do wonder what would have happened if Sarah won the fire-off. I don't think Sarah gets 12 of 16 winner votes. Let's assume Michele keeps her goose-egg or even pulls in a vote or two. This win might have gone to Sarah, but Natalie did a good job of convincing the jury that Tony was running the show. Natalie probably did too good a job of this in the end. If Sarah beats Tony, the votes are much more evenly distributed between her and Natalie. I see the win going either way, honestly. Sarah ultimately would have deserved it more, but I don't know if the jury knew that. Ultimately, I'm glad things went the way they did. Tony is a great Survivor rep and he will do more in his King role than Sandra ever did in her self-proclaimed Queen position.
Going back to newbs next season will be a very weird thing.
Great pool, everyone!
From various post-show interviews, it seems like a handful of the jury members seriously considered voting for Michele with the intention of having her come second place, but ultimately decided that there was too much danger in diluting the vote and having Natalie win. They needed the right player to win and represent them this season
This season was rigged against me. It started when I moved to New Jersey. That started a chain of unlikely events that resulted in Sandra being on my team twice. And then Sandra immediately left the Edge. Put it all together and this was a probability of less than one in one million. And to top it off I finished last. Who could have predicted this? Despite all this I feel like I'm the edge of a major breaktrhough!
I'm looking forward to seeing Moon on the show within the next year.
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