Yul and Ozzy were neck in neck last night. Ozzy won a car. Yul won a million dollars. Read on for more info about the 'Cook Islands' finale.
I must say that this season was pretty lackluster in many respects. I thought that the racial divide would’ve been more explosive. Of course, this brings up an even bigger point – perhaps we make more out of race than is necessary? As the “Survivors” themselves said last night, perhaps, at our very core, as human beings, we are more alike than we ever imagined possible. Wow! That was deep of me. Thanks, Yul for helping me come to this conclusion.
Yul “Harvard-Stanford-Smart Guy” Kwon was deemed the ‘puppet-master’ and the ‘godfather’ throughout the game by his tribe mates, especially after he got Jonathan to flip-flop AGAIN and change things up. The Aitu four made it to the final four when Adam failed to win the second-to-last immunity challenge. He gave it a good try, but Ozzy was just a smidge faster and a hair smarter than he was. Adam tried to get the Aitu four to take the immunity idol out of play. I thought that was a good strategy, and well I had to give Adam his props. He tried to play the game to the very last. Adam’s thought was well, if I got to go home, y’all, at least make the final four fair.
The Aitu four felt that the results were still fair and well, things ended up as fair as possible. The immunity idol never really came into play. Yul did offer it to Becky, “If she wanted it.” He and Ozzy were pretty much assured their spots in the finale at this point ‘cuz Ozzy won the final immunity challenge against Sundra, who put up a brave and valiant fight. Ozzy and Yul decided together that they couldn’t really choose who deserved to be in the final three with them – yes, folks, there was a final three this time for the first time ever. Ozzy thought it would be fair to do two votes for Becky and two for Sundra, making things go to a tie-breaker.
Truthfully, Sundra and Becky were pretty interchangeable at this point. Many felt – and I am one of this plurality – that the girls rode on the coattails of the boys. True, the Aitu four was a cohesive unit, but even Becky admitted that they let Ozzy win challenges for them. Yul may have tried to downplay his strategic prowess by saying that Becky was right there with him on every decision, but… no one was really buying it.
The jury certainly didn’t buy it. And, well, they were there too.
Anyway, Ozzy and Yul’s plan for a tie-break went off but not without a hitch. Sundra and Becky couldn’t make fire. It took them over an hour. The clips, I must admit, were hysterical. Adam yawned. Ozzy put his face in his hands in obvious embarrassment. Jeff even said, ‘after 35 days, you should know how to make fire.’ An hour or so into it, he called for matches. Oh man! That was the funniest stuff I’d seen on TV in a long time.
In the end, Becky won because Sundra ran out of matches. However, Becky proved to be a non-factor. She didn’t get one vote from the jury. It was obvious that the jury didn’t respect her game play. The jury had mucho respeto for Ozzy and Yul. It was kind of a love-fest from the jury. I was expecting more bad blood, but there wasn’t any. Brad asked Ozzy about the biggest challenge he ever faced in his life. Ozzy talked about having a dad who never wanted to be there for him, and how it hurt him. It was very emotional. I wanted to hug Ozzy then.
Candice asked Yul if he SHAMELESSLY played up to the jury and he admitted that he did, although he took issue with the word SHAMELESSLY. A few people asked Becky what she actually did. She discussed the social game and mentioned that Yul was always consulting with her. She also mentioned that Yul offered her the immunity idol before the last challenge, but it was not in her character to be so devious. Her words didn’t have the desired effect.
In the end, Yul beat out Ozzy in a 5 to 4 vote. He said he wanted to use the money to help create more diversity on television. I’m all for that. Not sure how he’s going to do it, but if anyone can, Yul can. Ozzy, for his part, won second-place and a car. America voted for him and he edged Yul out by less than 1 percentage point.
This may have been the closest “Survivor” finale in the show’s history. Personally, I thought it was a great ending to a so-so season.
As for the reunion, we didn’t get much intel except that Adam and Candice aren’t in a relationship anymore. Billy tried to say that he put his foot in his mouth and didn’t really love Candice. Yeah, we believe you. JP mentioned that he’s working with the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, but said nothing about his rumored relationship with Brad. Parvati and Nate admitted they had feelings for each other, but it’s over. In fact, Parvati mentioned that Ozzy’s game play ‘captivated’ her when she cast her vote for him at the final Tribal Council. Maybe there’s something there?
The next “Survivor” takes place in Fiji and will have some twists including two immunity idols and one tribe lives in the lap of luxury while the other lives in desperation and desolation.
So, what did you think of the finale? Was the season lackluster? Did Yul deserve to win? What about Ozzy? Let’s chat in the discussion area. I’d love to hear from you.
The copyright of the article Survivor Finale – Recap in Reality TV is owned by Deanna Couras Goodson. Permission to republish Survivor Finale – Recap in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I have to apologize to Adam. I unkindly called him a lunkhead, but he's
done very well in the puzzle challenges. He won the memory/math challenge,
and did better than Yul in this last "most difficult puzzle
ever". He was very close to winning immunity. And Yul started the
puzzle before he did.
Adam's biggest mistake was in pretending
he had the immunity idol. Candice, Parvati and Nate all thought he had it
and didn't worry about Yul. The "whiteys" (Jenna Morasca, of
Survivor Live said it, not me) all probably thought that if Adam doesn't
have it, then Jonathan must have. There was no way Yul "who had only
been to exile once" was going to have it. Do you think they
underestimated how smart he was? Was that mindset perhaps racially
motivated? The same with Ozzy and the physical challenges. The big, buff
men of Raro (Adam and Nate) underestimated that little Mexican boy.
By the way, Yul was right in saying he was lucky to get the idol.
He said that he went at just the right time. If Jonathan had gone instead,
he would have found it for sure. There was no way Adam the lunkhead (sorry)
was going to solve the clues and find the idol.
I'm sure that if
Ozzy and Sundra knew that there would be a final 3 instead of 2, they would
have considered Adam's suggestion of getting rid of Yul's immunity more
seriously. If they had done it, Yul, Becky and Sundra would have been up
for elimination. It would probably have resulted in a tie between Yul and
Sundra, since Becky and Yul would vote for her and Sundra and Ozzy would
have voted for Yul. But that didn't happen.
There is so much to
say about the last tribal council. I can't believe the way a couple of them
voted. And I can't believe Jonathan's mouth. Adam preferred Ozzy but voted
for Yul because of a "promise". That is as lame as Dr. Sean's
alphabetical system of voting people off. If Adam felt that Ozzy had earned
and deserved it, that's how he should have voted. Parvati voted for Ozzy.
And Ozzy was right; Yul didn't get Jonathan out on his own. It was a group
decision among the Aitu Four. Candice, who was clearly not happy with Yul,
said that if Yul said anything else, she would not vote for him. He did and
she did. And when he did, what he said was more of the hedging that Candice
had accused him of. Jonathan lashing at Ozzy like that was unbelievable.
Naturally, he would be a little arrogant. He's 25 years old and basically
kicked everyone's a** out there. Personally, I just found him to be
extremely c
Dec 21, 2006 12:35 PM
Dale Enomoto :
On the Survivor website, past survivors post blogs commenting on the
current season. Bruce from Survivor: Panama has repeated made jokes about
this season's contestants gaining weight due to the abundance of fish they
had to eat.
Well, he may have been joking, but was closer to
the truth than he realized. Becky DID gain weight- 2 pounds. Jonathan lost
30 pounds. Guess who was exerting more energy?
Dec 21, 2006 7:50 PM
Deanna Couras Goodson :
A lot of good stuff in your post as usual. You've got to consider writing
here when Fiji starts...or pick a show you want to comment on...even if
it's a one-time thing. You rock!
I was suprised that Sundra
voted for Yul. I really thought she'd give her vote to Ozzy. As for
Jonathan, I just think that he had to pick a way to rationalize his
decision. He was never gonna vote for Ozzy. I don't think he's racist.
Perhaps, more age-ist. Personally, I think Ozzy will be okay without the
mil. We'll see more of him.
I think there was this jealousy
thing towards Ozzy. People resent having their butt's kicked physically,
but can take it better if someone beats them mentally. I would've voted for
Ozzy.
Dec 22, 2006 11:50 AM
Dale Enomoto :
I would have voted for Ozzy, too. Jonathan is definitely an ageist, but I
think also that he was influenced by personal factors. Jonathan respects
the fact that Yul went to both Stanford AND Harvard and has a law degree.
Ozzy can't compete with that. Even if Ozzy and Yul had both played the
strategic game, Yul had Jonathan's vote.
It's human nature to
want to vote for someone you like and Survivor turns that on its head. Most
of the time, at least one person in the top two manipulated, schemed, and
back-stabbed. If you're going to be true to that aspect of the game, the
person who schemed the best should win. Christy of Survivor: Amazon
realized that. In her final comments, she tearfully vowed not to vote for
either of her "wicked step-sisters" to win the money. In the end,
however, she admitted that Jenna had played the best strategic game and
gave Jenna her vote.
Thank you for the wonderful compliment. I
tend to ramble (which English majors often do) and I sometimes drift
between past and present tense in my commentary, but I've enjoyed posting
here very much. It's easy when the topic interests the writer. Ozzy and the
drama really got my interest up this season.
I've always had the
mind of an English major, spotting grammatical errors in things I read
(newspapers, novels...blogs) and even hearing them in TV and movie
dialogue, but I haven't done any significant writing since college and had
to withdraw from a serious writing course in the past, so I'm reluctant to
make any commitments that I might not be able to keep. For now, I'd rather
post when I feel like it.
Maybe I'll "see" you again
when Survivor: Fiji premieres. (No commitments) I wonder how the coup will
affect the show?
By the way, do you watch Top Chef?
Dec 27, 2006 12:04 PM
Deanna Couras Goodson :
No worries about making any serious commitments. Sorry for taking so long
to respond. The holiday and all.
I do indeed watch "Top
Chef" and will be posting a bit of an episode guide here in the New
Year as well as more items about different series. I spend too much time
watching TV and not enough writing about it.
