Here’s your Survivor Finale Recap. Watch for Montavilla’s recap later.
After voting out Hayden, Tyson interviews that he needs to make sure that Monica is still with him and Gervase. To that end, he shows her that he has the idol, and even hands it to her in case she’s feeling insecure. She hands it right back to him.
Interviewing the next day, Monica claims that she isn’t going to limit her options to the Tyson/Gervase alliance. She is, however, aware that whoever returns from Redemption Island will be voting with Ciera.
Speaking of which, Hayden arrives at the Redemption Island camp with a good story. He tells Laura and Tina about Ciera’s immunity win. Both of them are delighted. Hayden’s happy to be going up against “two grandmas.” Has he not been watching the last half-dozen challenges? At least one of those “grandmas” is no push-over.
Speaking of push-over, the morning’s challenge turns out to be a balancing act. A large, fragile vase is placed on one end of a teeter-totter. Each player must keep it from falling by placing one foot on the other end. Which means they must stand in the stork position for as long as possible. I can’t help thinking Vytas would have killed this one.
Surprisingly, Laura is the shaky one. After 15 minutes, she nearly loses her vase, hopping on one foot to regain her balance. But it’s Hayden, wiping sweat from one eye, who loses first. Tina is rock solid. Laura begs Tina to let her win, but Tina is not about to sacrifice an inch. Laura keeps trying, but the effort is too much, and her vase shatters on the rocks.
Jeff mentions Hayden’s Big Brother and asks him what he takes away from Survivor. Hayden says it taught to appreciate what he has back home.
Laura’s final moment is more emotional. She feels like she failed at finishing the game strong. “What’s the good of winning six or seven challenges if you lose in the end?” Ciera pipes up that she’s proud of Laura, and Laura cheers up.
Jeff gives Tina the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol and, since she’s allowed to keep it, she tucks it safely into her bra. She decides her two options are to either find the idol, or to persuade Monica to flip on Tyson and Gervase.
Working on Plan A, she and Ciera search the obvious tree. Well, Tina searches, while Ciera stays on the ground, shocked to see the 50-year-old-plus granny climbing trees like a kid. It’s certainly more than Ciera’s done. They don’t find it, and Ciera says Tyson’s probably found it.
On to Plan B! The two women corner Monica and Tina warns her that the jury is going to be “ugly.” She claims that every jury member went through Redemption Island talking about how Monica was Tyson’s lapdog. Ciera, alarmed by Tina’s aggressiveness, tries to play good cop, urging Monica to raise her status by making an epic move.
The Immunity Challenge is a new one. Each player must set up a row of ten blocks on a table. The hard part is that the table is another teeter-totter, which they can control by pulling on a rope. They must keep the table balanced as they add the blocks one by one. At any time, the blocks might fall over.
It’s an exciting race, as the blocks to keep falling over — so being ahead doesn’t mean a whole lot. But Tyson manages to control his table the best and wins. He kneels down so that Jeff can place the necklace around his neck, like a squire being knighted.
Tyson decides to leave the decision about who to vote out — Tina or Ciera — to Gervase and Monica, which leads a rather bitter argument. Monica is determined to get rid of Tina because she thinks Tina will get a lot of jury votes. Gervase wants Ciera out because she strong and surprisingly strong.
Monica ends up feeling bullied and resentful. So, when Tina and Ciera talk about their impending doom, she tells them she’s willing to vote out Gervase. “Tonight is my call!” she interviews triumphantly.
At the Tribal Council, she brags about how she’s being treated like a “first draft pick” by the two warring teams. The more she speaks, the more worried Gervase looks. Ciera reminds Monica that this is her chance to make a big move. Monica promises Jeff that tonight she’ll be making her strategic move — the best move for Monica.
The show gives a little cliffhanger when the votes are cast and Jeff calls for the Hidden Immunity Idol. But, while he interviewed about wanting to keep the Idol as a souvenir, Tyson makes the smart move and hands it to Gervase. It wasn’t necessary, since Monica voted for Ciera. But it was smart to play it, and it was the last chance to do so.
Afterwards, Tina is shocked that Ciera was voted out instead of her. But she’s happy to be in the running. Her goal is to tie Sandra Diaz as the only person to win the game twice. But to do that, she has to win the final Immunity Challenge.
The challenge is a big one. The players have to run through a huge playground (which looks like fun, if you aren’t fighting for a million dollars), collecting bags of puzzle pieces. There’s one part where you get into a gondola and pull yourself across a chasm. There’s another part where you must step from tiny platform to tiny platform. And, of course, the obligatory rope net bridge.
The players have to run up stairs to a puzzle table, dropping two bags at a time. The way down is a water slide, which also looks like fun. But the stair climb is no joke and they have to do it three times at least. The puzzle provides “clues” to a number combination. Entering the right combination allows the player to raise a flag and win.
There is much racing. At one point, Monica and Gervase are running up the stairs and she does an elbow-check to him. He gets pissed off about it later. Tina ends up falling away behind the others, because of the running. There is a fun shot of her hopping across the rope net like the kangaroos from her first season.
The challenge stays close, but Tyson gets his puzzle finished first, slides down the water slide (probably to count the stairs as he comes back up), and wins again.
At this point, it’s all over but the ritual jury battering of the final three. Because I don’t see any way that Tyson will lose. But there’s still the formality of the final four vote. Monica teases us a little by talking to Tina about voting out Gervase. Tina agrees happily, and Monica keeps talking, trying to persuade herself that a) this is a big move, rather than a petty one, and b) that it’s another big move when she hasn’t made one yet.
But, once again, she votes with Tyson and Gervase. And whispers “we did it, we did it, we did it!” when Tina’s torch is snuffed.
I note that there’s barely a half-hour left for the final Tribal Council. More evidence of a Tyson win.
The final three lay out their cases like this:
Gervase: I played a combination of old school and new school strategy. My return after thirteen years and run to the end is impressive.
Monica: I wasn’t Tyson’s puppy dog. I made my choices — and the last three choices were big ones. I didn’t break any promises.
Tyson: I came in thinking I’d just have fun, sharing this experience with my girlfriend Rachel. But when she sacrificed herself for me, I became determined to last to the end. I made big moves, rooted around for the idol, and won the important challenges. He emphasizes that every thing he did was strategic, and none of was done out of malice.
The Jury speaks:
Vytas reminds Tyson that he promised not to vote for him. He tells Gervase that “old school” means an unwillingness to adept. He tells Monica that she turned on him.
Katie asks about Tyson pointing her to the jury chair when she was voted out. He apologizes, and calls that moment his one regret in the game. She seems mollified.
Caleb asks Gervase to name his big move (which is voting out Aras). He asks Monica to be vulnerable, and she talks about her pride in surviving the game alone without Brad.
Ciera asks Tyson is he is a villain or a hero. Tyson replies that he was strategic, which isn’t villainous. She asks Gervase if he would have vote out Gervase. Gervase replies that he was looking for the opportunity, but the timing was never right.
Laura asks Monica, again, to show vulnerability. Monica seems confused and says people said horrible things about her. She cries and does seem hurt by it. Laura thanks her and says she was vulnerable right then.
Tina asks the three to describe themselves with one word only. Monica says “Generous.” Gervase says, “Honorable” (and then explains it with many words). Tyson asks if “fun-loving” is one or two words.
Hayden wants to know if Tyson had the idol when they drew rocks. And where it was. For the third time, he asks Monica to show “herself.” Monica, exasperated, cries out, “Have you all never met a nice person?”
Aras asks the three to pick who (of the other two) should win and tell way. Gervase picks Tyson. Monica picks Tyson. Tyson picks Monica for pretending to be weaker than she was, and bringing them lots of information.
The jury votes. We see Caleb vote for Tyson and Vytas for Monica. Jeff walks all the way to LA (without a fun video sequence), and we get to the results. One vote for Monica, and the rest for Tyson.
I’m just going to list some of the highlights from the reunion show. Everyone is on stage this year. Tyson reiterates that Rachel’s sacrifice focused him to win the game. Jeff approves of this new Tyson. Monica’s kids are proud of her. Ciera gets huge applause when she’s introduced. Jeff still can’t figure out Colton, or why Caleb is with him. Rupert is still popular. Aras and Vytas are still brothers, and still fight. Kat hints that she got a boob job in order to please Hayden.
Jeff teases the next season by showing three quick images and the letters B, B, & B. This turns out to be Brawn vs Brains vs Beauty. Make of that what you will. Then last year’s winner, John Cochran shows up and talks about getting a job writing for The Millers. They show a funny skit with him and Will Arnett. Hooray for cross-promotion!
The evening ends on a somber note. Tina’s son (and Katie’s brother) died just a few weeks ago in a car accident. Tina says the other driver was wearing his seat belt and walked away. Her son did not, and he died. She urges everyone to wear seat belts. Katie asks that any donations be sent to the Red Cross to help their efforts in the Philippines.
That’s it for this season of Survivor. I hope you enjoyed the recaps. I know I’ve enjoyed the comments, and reading Eric’s thoughts on the show. I hope to hear from you all next year!
Tyson is the sole survivor of Survivor Blood Vs Water.
