SURVIVOR: BLOOD VS WATER FINALE – 12/15

We head to the first Immunity Challenge, and it looks like something we’ve never seen before (got to give John Kirhoffer and his crew props for all the work they do!). It involves steadying an unbalanced table while retrieving blocks and standing them up. Sounds simple. But I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this one before, so at least we’re seeing something new.

Right off the bat, the women seem to have an advantage, but that means nothing as the challenge wears on. You can see how sensitive the table is to keep the blocks standing, as the slightest teetering can knock them all over. Everyone seems to spend a bit of time figuring out the learning curve, with no one having a clear advantage. Tyson is doing well as all the women have slip-ups that knock over all their blocks.

But Tyson has figured out that slow and steady wins this race. Slow movements, baby steps, patience… And with the lead that he’s built, the others are now needing to go for broke, which only causes them to take bigger risks…with negative results. Everyone is dropping their blocks but Tyson just works it slow and steady. And wins. The Immunity necklace is his, and now we get to see the mad scramble at camp. Will Tyson give his hidden idol to Monica? (Probably not) Will he give it to Gervase? (He probably should). We’ll see…

Again, I want to mention that the cinematography has been really excellent this season. It helps to have a beautiful locale like the Cagayan Islands , but you also got to know how to shoot it too. Props to all the camera crews on Survivor 27 for giving us some amazing footage.

As we return to camp (Day 37) it’s all about figuring out who the Alliance of 3 is going to vote out. Tyson is feeling like he doesn’t need to make the decision, he’ll just go along with whoever Gervase and Monica chooses. Trouble is, each of them feels that it’s smarter to get rid of different people. Gervase thinks it’s better to vote out Ciera because she’s made the bigger moves and Monica thinks it’s smarter to get rid of Tina because she has more friends on the jury. Both arguments have merit, so Tyson sends them off to figure it out on their own. He probably needed to take a nap or something else really important…

So as Gervase and Monica debate each position, you can see that neither wants to back down. And Gervase is getting a bit frustrated that Monica just doesn’t give in to his wishes. This scenario is confirming all the things that Ciera and Hayden were telling Monica: that she’s just the guys’ “lap dog” and she’ll do whatever they say.

News Flash! Monica has a mind of her own, and she does not appreciate Gervase’s strong-armed approach to getting her to agree with him. I think this conversation will set the tone for the rest of the episode… But before they head off to Tribal, Monica gives us a taste of what the tribe is in for:

“Tonight, it’s my call. I’m gonna say who goes home…”

At Tribal, we already know where everything sits, but Jeff’s going to walk us through it again. “Tina’s with Ciera, Tyson’s with Gervase, Monica…where do you sit?” And instead of just keeping her yap shut and saying “the girls approached me but I know where my allegiance is” and letting the Ty-vase think they’re solid; she spills the beans about the girls approaching her to get rid of the “villains.” Which, judging by their reactions, gives them a new possibility on how she might be voting. So, if I’m Tyson, I’m immediately thinking I may need to give my hidden idol to Gervase.

As I see it, Monica’s problem with the game is that she’s too honest. She simply cannot lie to keep things quiet. She’s always got to reveal her honest feelings, and damn the torpedoes! So just before they go to vote, she feels the need to reveal EVERYTHING… Practically telling Tyson and Gervase that she might make a big move.

So I’m thinking I’m either A) entirely right about her and she’s going to vote Gervase, or B) she’s playing everyone, and just getting Tyson to give his immunity idol to Gervase, to send either Ciera or Tina home. Can’t wait to see what happens…

However, before Jeff reads the votes, he tells us it’s the last night the hidden immunity idol can be played, so let’s see if Tyson actually does decide to not use it and give it to Rachel, as he said he would…

And he gives it to Gervase, whatta guy! And as we hear Ciera’s farewell, we see that Monica voted for Ciera, so B it is. Maybe she’s not as dumb as everyone thinks, and maybe she’s just improved her position in the game.

So as they return to camp, we find out it wasn’t B. It was C! Not only does Monica feel blind-sided that Tyson gave his idol to Gervase (and why wouldn’t he?) but now she’s got to regroup to see where she stands. I can’t understand why she’d be so off put by Tyson protecting his right-hand man, in fact, she even says at one point that she didn’t know he had it. But we saw the scene where Tyson showed it to her and almost offered it to her, so I’m really confused.

But needless to say, we all know that Monica is an emotion player… No, make that an emotional person, who reacts to things when all she needs to do is put blinders on and look forward. That type of person is not what I call the sole survivor, so let’s hope she wins the final Immunity Challenge.

And since this is the last one, you know it’s going to be a doozy. Season’s past, just think of all the incredibly intense final immunity challenges. Really physical, multiple faceted, frenzied. I’m sure we’re in for that today. Today’s challenge involves moving through a series of obstacles and collecting puzzle pieces (2 bags at a time). After collecting all 6 bags, you solve a word puzzle which will provide clues to a numeric combination, which they’ll use to open a lock releasing their flag.

And as they get started, everyone save Tina is doing well. Monica shows she’s playing to win by blocking out Gervase as he tries to pass her up the stairs. You go, girl! As the 3 leaders collect their 6th bags, it’s Tyson, Gervase, Monica separated by about 20 feet… And then sure enough, the puzzle is taking a while to solve which gives Tina a chance to arrive and even have a chance to win. Competitors are just shameless now and looking over at each other’s puzzle. Whatever happened to doing your own work!? But it doesn’t matter as Tyson continues to dominate and solves the numeric combination. It’s a good time to win 2 in a row! I bet a lot of people forgot what kind of challenge monster he used to be in past seasons…

So Tyson locks up his first Final Tribal Jury, and now’s the hard part. Determining who’s going to sit with him. Tina thinks she’s the most likely victim to go home, but she has one play left in her: try to get Monica to vote for Gervase so there’s a 2-2 split, which would force Tina and Gervase to “build fire.” That’s all she’s got, so in the next scene where Gervase is telling Tina that he was shocked to hear Ciera call him a villain, Monica’s reactions are priceless. She knows he’s been a bit of a bully to her, and it would serve him right to finally get his comeuppance. This move by Monica would also serve a dual purpose, by showing the jury that Monica’s willing to make the “big move” that everyone wants to make at this stage. The only other consideration she has is whether she wouldn’t want to sit next to Tina at Final Tribal, because she knows Tina will receive a number of votes from the jury.

And it just occurred to me that Tina has never once mentioned that “people won’t vote for me because I already won.” I know this argument has been used in the past (even against Tina, if I remember correctly, from Survivor: All-Stars). But who knows? Perhaps she’s said it and we just haven’t heard it, but you’d think that would be one argument that Tina uses in her appeal to take her to Final Tribal.

As they head in to Tribal, Jeff brings us up to speed on the state of the Alliance of 3. It doesn’t exist anymore. And that was most evident when Monica checked Gervase on the stairs. Monica is very clear that she’s “in it to win it” and I’m sure all bets are off on thinking this alliance is still making group decisions.

Tina is asked what her only play is and she’s upfront in stating that her ONLY play was to attempt to get Monica to vote against Gervase. Monica seems to be willing to entertain making that big move, but as Jeff reads the votes, it’s Tina going home. So for the second time, Monica has surprised me in thinking that she’s on board to make a big move, but she’s unwilling to pull that trigger. It seems that she’s more interested in sticking to her original alliance than to make any moves. And while she gives a lot of lip service to how she should make a big move, she’s never able to pull the trigger. I wonder what her speech is going to be like…

Day 39 and the trio gets to enjoy their standard Day 39 banquet. Must feel like a Sunday brunch on Easter after 38 days of struggling to find a decent meal. Afterwards, we’re given each player’s take on what they needed to do to get here, and what it means to each. Tyson is proud of his accomplishments, Monica is happy to have found herself again (without Brad’s help!) and Gervase sees this as his journey’s come full circle. Being one of the original Survivors, he feels like winning the million dollars would be the perfect ending. Trouble is, he never really seemed to do anything this year, other than be a sounding board for Tyson’s plans.