Survivor 42.13 It’s Over!

Last night, the 42nd season of Survivor came to a close and I don’t think anyone was surprised by who won.  As soon as it was announced that she had been selected to join Romeo in the final three, I think everyone knew that Maryanne was not only going to win but she was going to win easily.  Usually, I’m not happy when someone makes it to the final three despite having never won a challenge but, for what she lacked in challenge skills, Maryanne still played a smart game.  Of the final three, she deserved the victory.

There were a few surprises early on in the show.  I was surprised that, despite winning a pretty good advantage for the next-to-last immunity challenge, Lindsay still lost to Mike.  While I wasn’t surprised that Mike decided to honor his original promise by using his idol on Maryanne, I was a little surprise that Maryanne didn’t then use her idol to save Lindsay.  But again, that shows that Maryanne knew that Lindsay would be difficult to beat.  Maryanne made the right decision.

I was even more surprised when Romeo won the final immunity challenge and secured all the power for himself.  Romeo’s been useless this entire season but he got lucky there.  Romeo foolishly took his friend Maryanne to the final three but then again, I doubt Romeo would have been able to beat either Mike or Jonathan if he had chosen differently.  Romeo got as far as he could.

I was surprised that Jonathan did so badly at the fire-making contest but then again, Mike had a definite advantage.  As a fireman, he knows fire.

As for the jury, it was pretty obvious that Maryanne was going to win.  She handled herself well while answering questions and explaining how she played the game.  She had a more likable personality than either Mike or Romeo.  She received everyone’s vote but Jonathan’s.  (Jonathan voted for Mike.)  Maryanne won and she deserved it.

Jeff Probst then announced that this was apparently the greatest season of Survivor ever which …. it wasn’t.  Maryanne was a good winner and Jonathan and Omar were interesting players but, for the most part, the castaways were a dull lot this season and the use of twists like the hourglass and the Do or Die made a lot of the challenges feel pointless.  This season was better than the previous season and I’m glad Survivor‘s back but, to be honest, I would be surprised if Survivor 42 is even included in any “Best of Survivor” lists.

Survivor 43 has already been filmed and we’ll come to use sometime in the fall!  Hopefully, there won’t be any more hourglasses to break.  As for this site, it’s now on hiatus until Big Brother starts up in the summer.  See you then!

Thank you for reading!

Lisa Marie

Congratulations, Maryanne!

Survivor 42.12 “Caterpillar to a Butterfly”

Last week, I said that the castaways better wake up and realize that Omar would very difficult to beat if he made it to the final three.  

Last night, Maryanne revealed that she felt the same way.  Maryanne not only engineered Omar’s blindside but she also firmly established herself as the front runner to win the entire season.  She’s got an idol so she’s guaranteed to make it to the final four.  If she makes it to the final three, either by winning immunity or the firemaking challenge, she’ll be difficult to beat.  Everyone likes her.  She can play up the whole “I never thought I would be on Survivor!” angle of her story.  And now, she can claim that she pulled off the biggest move of the season.

The finale is next week and there are currently five castaways left: Jonathan, Romeo, Maryanne, Mike, and Lindsay.  What makes thing complicated is that there are also three idols still active.  Maryanne, Mike, and Lindsay all have idols.  The next tribal council will be their last opportunity play them.  What that means is that, even if they don’t win immunity, those three are guaranteed to make the top four.

It also means that Jonathan and Romeo will have to win immunity if either one of them wants to be guaranteed a chance to join them.  Since Jonathan and Lindsay are the only two castaways who have shown any skill when it comes to challenges, it seems likely that the finale will come begin with another showdown between the two of them.  LIndsay wants Jonathan out.  If Lindsay were to win immunity, she could just as easily give her idol to Romeo.  Of course, if Mike wins immunity, he could give his idol to Jonathan.  As for Maryanne, who knows what she would do?

According to the previews for next week’s finale, Romeo is going to try to make a fake immunity idol, which would seem to indicate that 1) Romeo does not win immunity and 2) no one else gives him their idol.  But who knows?  Romeo could just be making an idol to try to trick Jonathan into throwing the final immunity challenge.  Either way, just the fact that Romeo is in the top five is kind of amazing.  I always forget he’s on the show.

As far as the rest of the castaways are concerned:

I think Maryanne has the best shot to win, assuming she makes it to the final three.  If the castaways are smart, none of them will want to take her to the final three so, unless she wins the final immunity challenge, I get the feeling that she’s going to end up having to make fire.

Lindsay has the 2nd best chance to win, assuming that the jury isn’t bitter.

Mike is in a good position, even though he hasn’t really done much this season.  If the jury wants to vote for who they like on a personal level and if Maryanne doesn’t make it to the finale, Mike might have a shot.

Jonathan can make a case for himself but I think his social game wasn’t as strong as Maryanne’s and Mike’s.  Simply winning challenges is a good way to make it to the end but it doesn’t often translate into a win.

Romeo is pretty much a nonfactor.  If he makes it to the end, it’ll be because everyone feels they can beat him.

The finale is next so we’ll see what happens! 

Survivor 42.11 “Battle Royale”

Ugh.  Last night, the Do or Die twist returned.

For all the talk about how the hourglass reset is the worst twist in Survivor history, the Do or Die is a close second.  Basically, at the immunity challenge, the first person to drop out of the  challenge gets hit with the Do or Die.  At tribal, they have to pick from three boxes.  If the box has a skull picture inside of it, their game is over.  They’re sent to the jury and no one else is voted out that night.  If the box has a flame, they’re safe.  They get immunity, along with whoever won the challenge.

This was the 2nd season in a row for the Do or Die Twist and, just like last season, it ultimately amounted to NOTHING!  Because everyone else chose to sit out the challenge, only Jonathan and Lindsay competed in the immunity challenge.  Jonathan won immunity.  Lindsay got stuck with the Do or Die.  But, then at tribal, she picked the right box and she got the flame, meaning she was safe.  Then everyone did what they were already planning on doing before the Do or Die Twist was even reveled and they voted out Drea.  BORING!

(Considering how strong a contender Lindsay has become over the past few episodes, can you imagine how much it would suck if she ended up getting kicked out of the game because she picked the wrong box?)

Seriously, Survivor has gotten kind of wimpy as of late.  I get that this is supposed to be a kindler, gentler Survivor but I miss the old, unforgiving challenges.  In the past, the twist would have been that the first person to drop out of the immunity challenge would have been sent to the jury and then the remaining members of the tribe would still have to vote someone out at tribal council and Jeff Probst would have laughed about it.  Survivor used to be ruthless.  Now, things have gotten too nice.  The castaways are giving big rewards, a lot of food, and there are so many idols that a player can basically coast their way to the end without actually having to do anything.

I will say that I did enjoy the bit, during tribal, when Drea tried to steal Mike’s idol, just to discover that Mike had given the idol to Omar.  Omar’s a dangerous and smart player and it’s a bit strange to me that no one seems to be targeting him.

As for the final vote, Drea had an extra vote so she was able to cast two votes for Mike.  And Romeo voted for Mike because Romeo never knows what the plan is before tribal.  Everyone else voted for Drea, including Maryanne, who previously refused to vote for Drea.  The final vote was 5-3 and was close only because of Drea’s extra vote.

Two more episodes left!

Survivor 42.10 “Tell A Good Lie, Not A Dumb Lie”

One thing  with Survivor is that you don’t want to get too cute when it comes to trying to vote someone out.  Just come up with your plan and go with it because adding any extra complications will undoubtedly blow up in your face.

Case in point: Hai.

Hai has spent almost this entire season bragging about what a strategic genius he is.  And last night, it did look like he might have a chance to get Jonathan out of the game.  But Hai made a huge mistake when he tried to convince Jonathan that he had an immunity idol that he was willing to play on Jonathan’s behalf.  Instead of just focusing on trying to convince the other castaways to vote out Jonathan, Hai decided to try to trick Jonathan.  I’m not sure what Hai’s strategy was, beyond wanting to show off and make Jonathan look stupid.

Jonathan, of course, saw right through Hai’s lie and he used it to convince the other castaways that Hai was 1) a strategic threat and 2) untrustworthy.  He had some help from Omar who, during a reward feast with Mike and Lindsay, lied to Mike and told Mike that Hai was bragging about Mike being “his puppet.”  With Jonathan, Omar, and Mike eager to vote out Hai, it was easy to get Lindsay, Drea, and Maryanne to join in. 

At tribal council, Hai was blindsided.  He and Romeo voted for Jonathan but everyone else voted for Hai.  By a vote of 6-2, Hai was sent to the jury.

There were two other big developments last night.

First off, Maryanne found a hidden immunity idol, replacing the one that she used at the previous tribal council.

Secondly, Lindsay won reward and invited Omar and Mike to join her.  During the meal, they watched videos from their loved ones (and, of course, Omar told some lies about Hai).  It was a bonding experience for the three of them and it wouldn’t surprise me to see these three and Maryanne in the final four.

We’ve got three weeks left!  As of right now, I’m starting to think that, after spending much of the game laying low, Lindsay might be the ultimate winner.  We’ll see what happens!