(S13E14) Ah, we've reached the end of a very satisfying season of Survivor. It was one of my favorites in a long time because there were some incredibly strong players out there and some very sharp moves. The main twist of the finale is the introduction of a final three instead of a final two. While it doesn't really impact the voting I think it did mean that two of the most deserving got into the finale rather than one strong player picking the player they believe they can beat.The first immunity challenge is pretty impressive. Jeff promises the Survivors that this is the most difficult puzzle in Survivor history and he's not kidding. Obstacle course doesn't even begin to cover it, this mass of ropes and boards and beams. And the players are remarkably close throughout the entire game. The compass rose puzzle is very tricky but once again Ozzy wins. You have to hand it to Adam, he came very close. Could he really not be as dumb as he often seems?
Adam floats an idea to vote for Yul and bring out the immunity idol (even though he knows he is going home). Ozzy and Sundra seem vaguely tempted but they really don't seem motivated to make a big move.
At tribal, Adam says that Ozzy wins the challenges, Yul is the brains behind the whole thing and that he isn't sure what Becky and Sundra do but that they are all "boring" and don't like to take risks. Adam makes some very persuasive arguments at tribal, basically taunting Sundra and Ozzy to force Yul to bring out the idol. No such luck, Adam goes home without the idol in play. I have to wonder if he had a point though. They all played a tight team game and not an individual player game. This would have been the last point to really shake things up but the tribe sticks together to the end. Boring? Maybe a little.
The last challenge is always endurance and this one is no different except that the perch gets smaller and smaller at regular intervals (probably to prevent Ozzy standing out there for days to outlast everyone). Becky is the first one out followed by Yul. Becky looks crushed, knowing that he can no longer protect her. Sundra lasts for over two hours but finally falls. Poor Sundra, I was really hoping she would stun everyone.
Ozzy and Yul debate on who to vote for. Yul obviously has an alliance with Becky but Ozzy has no alliance and wants to force a tiebreaker. Yul offers to give the idol to Becky which just seems like the most insane idea ever. It's hard to believe he would really do this, could he really unravel his game this late in the season.
At tribal Jeff brings up the point that Yul could give the idol to Becky and no one would vote for Yul. Luckily, Yul has not lost his mind and the tiebreaker forces Becky and Sundra, the two coattail riders, to make fire to stay in the game. It's clear that neither one of them was making a lot of fire during this season. An hour goes by, Jeff's slumped over, the jury is yawning and Ozzy and Yul have their heads in their hands. Jeff finally takes pity on them and hands out the matches. They should have just made them keep trying in my opinion. Even with matches the girls are just so bad at this. Didn't they imagine that they might be called upon to do this? It happens every damn season.Jeff says they should both know how to make fire after being out there all that time. Sundra runs out of matches and Becky wins. Jeff says "the tribe has spoken" but what he really should say is "Sundra, your inability to use matches has spoken."
Ozzy wonders if Becky will get any votes at all since her showing at the firemaking was so lousy. As throughout the season, Becky sort of seems like a nonentity in the final three. No one really knows anything about her, she gives nothing away, even in her opening speech. She talks about her "connection with people" but really all she did was glue herself to one of the strongest players. She played a "social game?" I think not.
During the final tribal Ozzy seems to be doing himself in with his "I relied on myself" argument in the beginning but brings out the heart and manages to show what differentiates him from Becky and Yul, mainly his emotions and his hard-luck story. Becky tries to prove that she was really the power behind Yul and reveals that she rejected the immunity idol when Yul offered it (did she really?). Yul and Becky both give lots of logical answers while Ozzy tends to ramble.
This time they dispense with the Jeff rides off into the sunset montage and go right to the voting. Ozzy looks he's gained ten pounds since the last tribal council. As suspected it comes down to Yul versus Ozzy. By one vote Yul wins. It's a bit hard to watch Ozzy, who has very emotive eyes, react to the news. He's clearly bummed. At least Ozzy wins the car later in the broadcast.
One of the things I enjoy most about the reunion show is seeing who looks better cleaned up and who looks better au naturel. In my opinion, Candice, Ozzy and Parvati looked much cuter out in the jungle as did Becky but Sundra, Jonathan and Adam look better once they are cleaned up. Also in the reunion we learn that the Candice and Adam romance is dunzo, Nate and Parvati had a little thing going on and J.P. is going to be on some Janice Dickinson modeling show. No big surprises are revealed. Oh, and there's no Becky/Yul romance. Because she's an android (seriously, can that girl ever smile? Unclench, sweetheart, unclench).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2006 @ 4:49AM
Paul said...
Best season of Survivor in ages. And for the first time I think ever, I was happy with the 2 main finalists (Becky doesn't really count). Whether Yul or Ozzy had won, I would've been pleased with the outcome -- although I was rooting more for Yul, which made the result all the better.
Yul was a brilliant player, though -- arguably the best ever.
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12-18-2006 @ 5:46AM
steve probst said...
This may be the first survivor since the first one that both the first and second places deserved to be the final two.
but that was on of the most boring final tribal council ever. If there is another survivor all-stars I sure hope they ask Jonathan.
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12-18-2006 @ 10:00AM
Blake said...
With Yul being a leader through out the entire game, there was not a chance Becky would be the castaway winning Survivor Cooks Island. While Ozzy was a leader in an astonishing number of immunity competition winner, the women voters did select the winner properly, while the men did not.
See for yourself: http://todayspolls.googlepages.com/survivor_winner
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12-18-2006 @ 9:10AM
Linda said...
Final four boring? Yes, but it was great to see four people make committments to each other and actually keep them in this game!
I loved Ozzy's idea of "fairness" in forcing a tie-breaker between Sundra and Becky. Too bad they both embarrasssed themselves with the fire-making! The shots of the jury, Jeff and Ozzy and Yul were priceless though!
I was thrilled Ozzy and Yul were in the Final Two. Both were deserving to be there - a first on this show in a long time. Congrats to both!
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12-18-2006 @ 9:17AM
Walt said...
One of the qualifications for being on Survivor needs to be the ability to use a magnesium/flint to start a simple fire. You have to shave the magnesium stick first. I almost turned it off when Jeff resignedly let them use matches and actually did when one of them couldn't start a fire with matches.
How many seasons of Jeff saying "Fire is Life" does it take for candidates for the game actually taking the time to practice... you know... lighting a fire?
I get the feeling some of them choose to use the time before going on the show to get their teeth whitened instead.
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12-18-2006 @ 9:12AM
Lacey said...
This was a great season of Survivor but I wanted Ozzy to win. I picked him in the beginning right when I saw him on the boat/ship. Sitting at home and watching how the votes played out had me screaming at the TV. And did anyone see Billy at the Reunion? He had the same outfit on that he wore on the island. Does he not have anything else to wear? Well Figi looks like a great new place for them to explore. I just hope I'll find a favorite to root for in the beginning because that just makes the show better. Next is Amazing Race All-Stars and I think if Ozzy and Yul got together they could win the whole thing. CBS should think about asking them. I would be rooting for them all the way. At least he won the car but the million would have been better.
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12-18-2006 @ 10:25AM
ALLISON WALDMAN said...
I thought it was a good and interesting season. I would have been happy with either Yul or Ozzy winning, so I have no complaints. As for the characters that emerged over the 39 days, I'm stunned that Jonathan was deemed a villain for the way he played the game. I think he made some dumb moves -- like following Candice during the mutiny -- but ultimately he worked hard, fed his tribemates with dozens of fish, and tried to build alliances. I was more ticked off by Adam and Nate, both of whom were arrogant braggarts who seemed to think that their pecs were reason enough to make it to the final 4. I would have kicked them off at the first chance!
As for the women, I found them really dull. Only Parvati seemed to have a strategy -- the rest were go-alongers. Compared to other season when the women teamed up to vote off the men, these ladies were really subservient. The fact that Sundra and Becky couldn't make a fire is proof of how dependent the women were throughout the Cook Island experience.
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12-18-2006 @ 10:35AM
buzmeg said...
I did predict the F3 correctly. I was rooting for Ozzy as I just couldn't connect with Yul. There was something about him that I didn't like. IMHO, Ozzy was physically the best player ever.
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12-18-2006 @ 11:16AM
RanMas said...
Lacey #4 - good team (Yul & Oz) to add to TAR! Can't wait to see Rob & Amber in action again. YUL definitely deserved to win - but I would have been fine w/ Ozzie too. Did anyone else think that Ozzy looks like Joey Lawrence in his younger days (back when he had hair)!!??!!
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12-19-2006 @ 2:37PM
doog said...
This was the best Survivor in a long time, and all of that griping at the start about ethnic tribes turns out to have been silly.
I also would have been happy either with Ozzy or Yul as the winner. Both played the game very well. As for Becky, I think that she did turn down the idol; Yul offered it to her, saying it was up to her, and she showed up at tribal without it.
The inability to make fire was rather laughable. It's almost as if the two of them were daring Probst to come up with another way by having both completely fail. I guess that it wouldn't have mattered.
I wonder what they would have done had Becky actually received a vote and it ended up tied? Another vote on the spot?
The preview for Fiji looks pretty interesting as well. I wonder how they were affected by the recent coup de etat?
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12-19-2006 @ 11:27AM
Mike said...
No doubt, Ozzy is Joey Lawrence's long lost clone...WHOA!!! But I do have to say that Ozzy deserved the million, if you think about it, what did Yul do once he found the idol? He was not dominant in physical challenges, and blew it by admitting he had the idol at the auction. Once everyone knew, he just sat back and let everyone dub him "leader" when he NEVER did any leading!! He just let the idol do the talking for him. I wonder if they can cut the check to the idol instead!!
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