Rating: 4/10
One World continued the dismal run of post Heroes vs. Villains seasons characterized by dimwitted, youthful gameplay. Like Nicaragua, Redemption Island and South Pacific, most of the season's inhabitants appeared to be selected for their age and aesthetics rather than their personalities. Like the latter two, One World was worth watching for a dominant blueprint performance from one of its all-time greatest competitors. Its winner quickly seized control of another flock of birdbrained youngsters, confided her brilliance only in confessionals and cruised to arguably the most impressive win in Survivor history.
One World reprised Survivor's tried-and-not-always-true battle of the sexes gimmick, splitting its castaways into male and female tribes. The twist was that they lived and interacted on the same beach. The women weren't particularly interesting, but their interactions were more compelling than those of the Y-chromosome dullards. After a female med-evac, the men curiously asked the women if they could go to Tribal after winning immunity. It was hard to ascertain exactly why, but the motivation appeared to be Colton's distaste for homeless stand-up comic Bill. Colton, a mean young rich gay southern Republican, was the premier source of strategy and entertainment among the males. The season lost much of its watchability when he was med-evaced, parsimoniously holding onto the idol he'd found as a souvenir.
After Colton's med-evac, it was the Kim Spradlin show. She found an idol and told one confidante, Chelsea, who wasn't a goat but remained loyal to Kim without challenging her resume. Kim took advantage of a tribal swap to make inroads with some of the men before betraying them post-merge in favor of her original female allies. The female alliance subsisted because Kim viewed it as her best avenue to Final Tribal, not because of enduring gender loyalty. Kim initially tipped the scales by telling Troyzan Mike was trying to eliminate him, taking advantage of Troyzan's paranoia. Troyzan complied, Mike was sent to Ponderosa, and the men were systematically slain thereafter. Troyzan assembled enough moments (finding an idol and keeping it to himself, imploring the tribe to go after Kim with nine left, winning immunities with his head on the block, fashioning fake idols) to garner a return appearance. So did Kat, who somehow displayed life wisdom along moments of incredible daftness.
Kim dominated the immunity challenges after Troyzan's dismissal, removing all shreds of intrigue before her 7-2-0 victory. Kim played chess while the other women played checkers (and Christina played tic-tac-toe, poorly). Kim played moves ahead, recognizing the danger of accentuating herself. She couldn't contain her accolades, but established such strong trust with her allies they never considered voting her out. Kim was warm and accommodating on the outside and cold and calculating on the inside. Her confessionals revealed an icy strategic side she managed to hide from her allies. The finale's highest drama wasn't who would win, but who Kim would take with her. She decided to go with her strongest allies Chelsea and Sabrina over Christina - who she'd earlier said would be a no-brainer - because she didn't need to sit next to goats to win. Chelsea and Sabrina didn't deliver awful performances at Final Tribal, but both acknowledged Kim's impact on their game. Kim swept the Fan Favorite vote as well to punctuate her tour-de-force.
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