Survivor: Game Changers Finale

Well, I’m going to have to look back at what I’ve done for previous finale posts and do the usual end of the season awards that I do from one season to another. I’ll have to work on that some. I’ll also have to look up what predictions I did before the game to see just how few of them I got right.

I wonder already just how crazy the final six tribal council will be. There are three idols in the game, someone is going to win immunity, there’s the legacy advantage that Sarah has, and possibly one, unlucky person guaranteed to get the boot. Could this be the end of Aubry, Brad, or Cirie? I guess that we’ll have to see to know for sure. Also, while I’m on the topic of Aubry, I don’t think that I would hate it if she winds up winning this season. I might have gone so far to think that her winning would mean that it is rigged, but I don’t have that much hatred for her anymore. With that being said, I do think that there are more worthy people who should win instead of her. But enough of my ramblings.

In the first segment of the show, we get to Jeff introducing the show. We then get to camp after what happened. Sarah has it out with Cirie over what happened. I don’t think that Cirie realizes what she did wrong. Tai admits that he was targeting Sarah. Well played, Cirie. Once again, honesty gets the best of Tai. Tai wants to use his idol to gain trust. He reveals both idols instead of just one. If I had more than one and revealed that I had one, I wouldn’t reveal the other.

The maze challenge is brought back. I wonder how Sarah will handle this challenge. She doesn’t need to win, but she can’t get it easy without the other players getting suspicious. This will be a long first segment. I will admit that I like reward challenges in the finale but only if they are also for immunity. Troyzan is colorblind? Who would have guessed? Brad is at the challenge place first, but is quickly followed by other contestants. Soon, they are all there. It seems like most of the people are evenly matched when it comes to the puzzle. Brad was missing pieces, but he finds them and wins the challenge. Sarah was close, but didn’t need it. Troyzan and Sarah are brought along for the food part of the reward.

In the second segment of the show, we get to the reward. Also, what are the three seasons they were saying were out on DVD now? Is it San Juan del Sur, Worlds Apart, and Cambodia? Are they really out or are they just saying that? Blood versus Water still isn’t out, but I’ll mention that later. Brad wants to go after Tai’s idol. He demands to hold one of his idols. But he seems too mean about this. This could lead to even more chaos than I was expecting. Tai and Aubry talk and Cirie joins them wanting to work with them. Sadly, it seems like everyone in the threesome of Brad, Troyzan, and Sarah is or could be immune. Tai has a breakdown over this.

We then get to tribal council next. Tai reveals how people think that he was a rat. Is he taking responsibility for this lie? Tai doesn’t feel like he’s doing all the lying. I can’t gather much from the conversation at hand. I also don’t really like when the legacy advantage is played. Tai decides to play his idols on himself and Aubry. Sarah then plays her legacy advantage. Troyzan plays his idol which means that only one person can be eliminated is Cirie so she is voted out by default. Poor Cirie. I blame Tai for this. If only he kept his idols secret. But something crazy was bound to happen, as I correctly predicted in my introduction.

This is almost what could have happened at the final six back in Cambodia. It’s also why I’m not sure that I like all these immunity twists. Again, poor Cirie. At least I was right that she wouldn’t win, but I didn’t want to be right about that. We then get back to the reunion show as Cirie talks to us early. Panama, Micronesia, and Heroes versus Villains have all been eliminated from the game and now only two time players are left. Jeff promises not to come back without the votes.

In the third segment of the show, we completely skip the camp life and get to the next immunity challenge. I’m also starting supper now. Sticking with the challenge: don’t we all hate it when our balls drop? We got to handle our balls with care. Sarah doesn’t know how to handle balls. Brad now has four individual immunity wins. Aubry wants to make a move now. Who do I even want to win?

In the fourth segment of the show, Brad seems to be enjoying his immunity high. Sarah realizes that Troyzan will probably be brought to the end by Brad so she suggests that Aubry and Tai join her and vote him out. She has some trust issues. Tai wants to get Aubry out. Suddenly, this great idea of getting rid of Troyzan is gone. But he could still prove to be the goat at the end. Brad does more of his intimidation with Tai. This can’t be good in the end as someone could go against him at some point. The vote doesn’t seem set in stone before tribal council. Aubry gets voted out, which I honestly think is a bad move on the players’ part.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to the last immunity challenge. I miss the endurance challenges being at the end instead of beginning of the merge. Brad wins the challenge and feels confident going towards the end of the game, wanting to get rid of Tai over his betrayals.

In the sixth segment of the show, Brad wants to get rid of Tai. Troyzan wants to tell him but this is shot down by Brad. I think that it might be good not to tell him least he work with someone else to force a tie. He tries to do this anyways. Will Sarah’s constant flipping get in her way? She thinks that forcing a tie might not work in her favor. If she doesn’t do this, will people know that she did anything? She has done a lot and most people wouldn’t know what happened.

Meanwhile, only two of the five other people who won five immunity challenges have won the game. (I just lost the game.) Tai brings up his idea to force a tie. Didn’t he help do that back in Kaoh Rong? Tai reveals more of Brad’s condescending ways towards him. They still don’t know what might happen and a tie could be irrelevant as it normally is (except for Gabon). Will Sarah force a tie? Only if Brad and Troyzan are agreed will the vote matter. Tai is voted out as the tie is avoided. I don’t know who I want to win of the three, but I honestly might be okay with either Brad or Sarah. I would rather it not be Brad that wins, though. Troyzan now reminds me of Gervase in Blood versus Water. Kaoh Rong becomes the last season eliminated from the game.

In the seventh segment of the show, Troyzan thinks that he can win the game and has a good feeling going in to the end. I don’t think that he’ll win. Sarah thinks that she played a good game, although I’m not sure if the jury knows this. I don’t know if she or Brad will win. It might be her, actually. Brad doesn’t want the money but does want to win. Could he do what his wife didn’t? They all then go to the final tribal council. It is worth noting that Andrea, Cirie, and Ozzy are all serving on their third jury. Jeff wants to shake up the final tribal council. Is that allowed? Or is he just saying things?

Total confessional count: Aubry- 19, Brad- 29, Cirie- 30, Sarah- 32, Troyzan- 13, Tai- 22. New confessionals this episode: Sarah- 6, Troyzan- 4, Tai- 4, Aubry- 3, Brad- 6, Cirie- 2.

In the eighth segment of the show, Zeke chooses to go first and brings up the jacket that he gave to her that she has worn. The jury seems like more of an open forum. Andrea brings up that Sarah is probably not trustworthy. Turns out that people did know about Sarah’s betrayals. I don’t think that I like this new format. Ozzy wants to be Brad’s champion and Zeke is Sarah’s. Some people think that Sierra was the brains at one point. I can’t even keep track of all that is going on. Sarah talks about how she has to be who she is in the game. Troyzan does get to talk some. It doesn’t seem like people respect his game at all. Brad tries to reveal what he did and Tai tries to turn it around on him. People seem to agree with Tai that Brad was being rude. All that was just part one of the open forum.

Now for the next part: Ozzy once again talks about why Brad deserves to win. Debbie thinks that Survivor is a lot of Lord of the Flies, which was an inspiration for the game according to Jeff back in All-Stars. Sarah then reveals how she played differently than Brad and how Brad might have dominated physically more because he was in the NFL. Michaela actually enjoys that the advantage was used against her and Jeff even admits that the advantage was meant for the sit-out.

Part three of the whole event is brought up and the finalists are given a final statement. Sarah thinks that everyone on the jury could have beaten her and that’s why she stuck with Brad and Troyzan. I think that Troyzan realizes that he probably isn’t winning and the jury seems to respect this.

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to the votes. I do wonder if a tie is possible. That could explain why no clear cut winner edit seemed present for me. There are at least two votes for both Brad and Sarah. It appears that Troyzan is ignored. The winner ends up being Sarah. That’s cool, I guess. I don’t have that strong feelings, but I’m glad that it wasn’t Brad, especially at the end. What’s interesting is that the two people who were rejected from the cast of Cambodia were now rejected as winners.

In the tenth segment of the show, we get to Sarah’s winner montage. Playing like a criminal actually worked for her this time around. I wonder if Tai voted for her. Did Sarah become a lot like Tony this time playing the game? Apparently, Sarah had to get permission from her friends to play the game. Brad talks about the decision to get rid of Tai instead of Sarah at the final four. Tai makes amends with Brad over that. Thanks for admitting the reality of the edit.

Jeff loves the game of what if that he likes to do at the jury that we see, but might be misleading. The person not in the tie gets to vote in the event of a tie, which wouldn’t work under all ties. But when would this have been known? Jeff is kind of being a bit rude with this question. Tai then gets to talk some about what he did in the game. Cirie then gets to talk some about what she has done during the game and past seasons of the game. Will there be another commercial? There is, but with a lead-in to it so we know what they will be talking about.

In the eleventh segment of the show, we get to the now infamous outing of Zeke. And just to clarify any confusion: he has transitioned, he isn’t transitioning. He honestly feels that it ultimately was a good moment in the end. Survivor is what got him through his post transition depression. You never hear about the depression that much regarding transgender people. Sarah helped Zeke in this moment and that might have been why he wanted to vote for her to win. Zeke thinks that his life is much better because of this, bad moment. Jeff Varner mentions his negative side of the bad moment that he did. He owned the mistake and has a new job because of it.

In the twelfth segment of the show, Aubry mentions that she has a crush on John Cochran which is quickly glossed over. Why mention that, other than to give him unneeded airtime? Sandra gets a quick segment as to why she is the person she is. Sierra talks about her mistake of giving her the legacy advantage. Was she the third vote for Brad? Malcolm talks about his vote. I love how they struggle to give people airtime, but at least they are doing that. Ozzy makes a possible political statement.

In the thirteenth segment of the show, we get to what the new season will be about. Have they filmed it yet? I don’t think that they have. I think wrong. They are returning to Fiji again and there will be three positive qualities given to them by others? The tribes are heroes, healers, and hustlers. Why h’s? They are one h short of being four h. Now how will Wikia keep the heroes tribe from the upcoming season separate from the heroes tribe of the twentieth season? I guess that they will probably give these tribes different names.

In the fourteenth segment of the show, Jeff Varner talks about the shame that he lived with after outing Zeke. I wonder if they will become friends in the future, if they aren’t that already. I just hope that people don’t think that Jeff Varner is trying to profit off of his situation. Hey, if you don’t want the book, then don’t buy it. Honestly, I should get books by some of the former contestants. Only I’m not sure that I will with any of them. Doubt I'd get Michael Skupin's book now that he's in jail.

Points at reunion show: Ciera- 0, Tony- 0, Caleb- 0, Malcolm- 1, JT- 0, Sandra- 1, Jeff Varner- 2, Hali- 0, Ozzy- 1, Debbie- 0, Zeke- 1, Sierra- 1, Andrea- 0, Michaela- 1, Cirie- 1, Aubry- 1, Tai- 1, Troyzan- 0, Brad- 1, Sarah- 2.

What do I think of this upcoming season? Well, I have a bit low expectations going into it. They are going with something different as usual, but I have no idea if that’s good or not. Worlds Apart didn’t wow me when they did their collar twist. Whether you liked the twentieth season or not, you have to admit that they did not do a good job casting the heroes for that. Before Worlds Apart aired, I thought of doing a random post called blue collar versus white collar versus no collar with all returning players. I never did it before the season aired as I just didn’t know who would work. I thought that I might wait until after the season aired only to decide “fuck it, I don’t care.” I didn’t like the collar twist in Worlds Apart as I felt that it did almost nothing to the game and that was the whole gimmick of it.

Hopefully this upcoming season can be better than at least Worlds Apart. Of course, Worlds Apart ranks pretty low for me. I don’t know if you’ll see a random blog post where I use returning players to cast this season. At least it seems like there are two good tribes to the one, potential bad one (hustlers). I’ll explain more of how I’ll handle this blog in the future until the show returns as I could have past seasons to blog about in the future.

Enjoy this post where I rank my earlier predictions versus what actually happened. Predictions versus reality: Here is where I originally thought the players would rank- Predictions: Premerge boots- Sandra, Ozzy, Andrea, Troyzan, Brad, Tony, Hali, Aubry; Jury members- Jeff Varner, JT, Ciera, Sarah, Sierra, Caleb, Debbie, Tai, Michaela; Finalists- Cirie, Malcolm, Zeke. Here’s how they actually did rank: Premerge boots- Sandra (right), Tony (right), Ciera (wrong), Caleb (wrong), Malcolm (wrong), JT (wrong), Jeff Varner (wrong); jury- Sierra (right), Debbie (right), Michaela (right), Hali (wrong), Ozzy (wrong), Zeke (wrong), Andrea (wrong), Cirie (wrong), Aubry (wrong), Tai (right); finalists (all wrong)- Troyzan, Sarah, Brad.

Let’s get to my thoughts on the three dumbest moves of the season. I don’t think that it will be that hard to come up with them. With the bronze award, the third dumbest move of the season would have to go to Tony for playing too hard too fast. With the silver award, the second dumbest move of this season would have to be Sierra telling Sarah about the legacy advantage. The gold award and dumbest move of the season would have to go to Jeff Varner for outing Zeke. I knew that would win the moment it happened and didn’t even bother to track potential nominees after that.

What is the most memorable moment of the season? Honestly, there’s a whole lot to choose from. I don’t have to go with something good in the end. And that is why I’ll have to pick Zeke’s outing as the most memorable part of the season as we may forget everything else about this season, but not that. This will be remembered for years to come by plenty of people who have never seen Survivor.

Before I rank this season, I’m going to rank the season’s tribe swap. I realize that I have messed up, in a way, with some of the rankings that I’ve done of this in the past. Gabon and Cambodia had two swaps, and I only counted them as one. All-Stars had a dissolve before a swap and Cook Islands had a switch from four tribes to two before a mutiny later. I will not change those season’s rankings yet. But I only mentioned them once in terms of swaps instead of twice. From this point forward, I’m going to mention swaps twice should they have happen more than once a season. I will fix this in past seasons when or if I blog about them. This means that out of 24 swaps, I will rank this season’s first as 20^th out of all of them and the second will rank as 17^th out of all of them.

You might be wondering how this season would rank among the other, thirty-four seasons. Well, while I think that this season is good, there’s a lot of bad stuff to it as well. It might rank a bit lower than some might think as a result. Of course, I don’t know how others feel about this season. But I’m putting it more towards the middle and ranking it 19 out of 34. I’m not sure that it offered as much as it could have. Like All-Stars, it had too many twists, although, unlikely All-Stars, these twists actually did more to the game than that other season did. The cast was pretty likable, although a lot of good players left early into the game. I do like the end result, though.

There’s really not much else to add outside of this closing. It is worth telling you when this blog will be updated in the future. If it continues to be random posts until the next season starts, then it will be on Wednesdays. But I will be wanting to get Survivor: Gabon on DVD to watch again. Keep a lookout on Sundays for this blog because if I get it, I will be blogging about it on Sundays. And I don’t yet know when Blood versus Water will be on DVD. If I blog about two old seasons at once, one of them will be on Sundays and the other one would be on Fridays. Keep a look out in the future for changes to this blog as a result. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.