Ok, so I misunderstood last week…tonight is NOT the airing of the Season Finale, but rather PART ONE of the Season Finale. Two players will be voted out tonight, and NEXT WEEK will be the finale.
My opinions about the remaining players are…
I’m rooting for Rachel to win. She has played a smart game and until recently, has been careful about keeping her advantages quiet. She wins challenges, takes advantage of her good luck, and seems good-natured regarding her fellow players–I appreciate how I have not heard her spewing hatred towards anyone, even people she dislikes or distrusts.
Teeny: I am disappointed in how she reacted to not being chosen for Sam’s reward. She doesn’t even like him, why should he have chosen her? I don’t like the derision and hate against Sam she expressed. I didn’t know that was in her, until last week’s episode I thought she was a sweetie.
Sue: Similar to Teeny, it’s the hard feelings against Kyle and the hatred with which she speaks of him that has disappointed me. In Sue I see a very strong and capable woman. A fighter. A force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, the good life she has fought to create for herself has made her lacking in compassion towards those – like Kyle – who have had a harder go of it in life, with fewer advantages.
Andy: At the beginning, remembering the painful meltdown last season of that one guy on the purple team, I viewed Andy as a weak player who shouldn’t last long, but now he is my second choice to win. I appreciate his ability to influence his fellow players, and how he dares to turn on his allies in order take advantage of better opportunities. Andy is playing smart and wiley, and I respect his game.
Sam: I don’t agree with the players that Sam is some kind of a big threat in the game. He seems like a decent guy who unfortunately gives off a vibe of being rich, white and entitled. A-Typical people (like Teeny and myself) hate that in a person–but it’s only a PERCEIVED advantage. In reality, he is not much of a threat to anyone in this game.
Genevieve: I feel for Genevieve and her recent self revelations. I appreciate her objective perspective and self control, and I groan with her as she now questions the cost of staying emotionally distant from people. I think she has a good chance to win it, and I hope that her attempts now to make friends isn’t too late. She’d be my third choice to win.
Yeah, we all know that the person who wins has nothing to do with what viewers and fans like me think. It’s all in the votes of their fellow players. I look forward to watching everything unfold.
See you tonight!
This is a 2 hour penultimate episode. I am SO glad that, as an Albertan living on Mountain time, that I watch this on Toronto time because I need to get to bed before 9pm in order to wake up early enough for my job. Two challenges, two tribal councils, two hours. We will go from 6 players to 5 players to 4 players. Jeff just summarized the game play of the remaining players. He had good observations about each person, any of them deserves to be where they are. Any of them deserves to win.
Tribe returns to camp. Sue tells how she lost her only remaining TUKU member, and is thankful that she still has an idol. The Italian team sit together and celebrate that what they did was perfection. Genevieve says she feels the love between them. Andy says if you cut me out now, I’ll puke my guts out. Genevieve laughs and says no way. Teeny, Sue and Rachel talk about Andy flipping. Sue and Teeny are angry. Rachel remains quiet. Teeny confronts Andy who tells her that he thought of it on the way to tribal council. Teeny says it seems like G&S knew that he was going to do this, he laughs. He is in damage control mode. Sam wants to recruit Teeny as a majority vote. Italy tells Teeny what happened in a playful way, with an untrue slant to it, Teeny laughed with them and feels like she might be part of their group. Teeny tells them that the four of them are who it’s gonna be at the final four. Teeny decides to jump ship and adapt to get Rachel out. Rachel and Sue are alone at the campfire and Rachel knows that she is in trouble, so she followed them. She couldn’t see them, but she could hear them. She crawls on her belly underneath a bush, right next to them and she can hear everything they are telling Teeny. Teeny thinks that Genevieve has a real idol. Sue wonders if Teeny was involved with what just happened at tribal. Rachel says she might have been semi involved, but she is all in now.
Rachel is brilliant.
-opening credits-
In the early morning, fire is still burning, Sue wakes up and mourns the loss of her friend and number one Caroline. She decides to stand up and start playing the game hard. She goes hunting for another idol. She’s looking for a miracle.
Rachel finds Sue digging around the well and asks if she is ok. Rachel tells Sue that she has the idol, don’t worry, you don’t have to dig up here. Sue is relieved and feels like she built up a good alliance with Rachel, but she won’t share that she has an idol too. Rachel is pretty sure that everyone will vote for her today if she doesn’t win immunity, and they will be ok, and they need to make Teeny think that they think that she is still with them, that they don’t know that she has flipped. Keep them comfortable.
Tree mail: Jump in – bob and weave – sink or swim – so you don’t have to leave.
Rachel really wants to win immunity, I’m troubled that Sue knows about Rachel’s idol, but Rachel doesn’t know about Sue’s idol, but things will play out as they will play out.
-commercials break-
Challenge time. A boat takes them to a floating challenge that looks like an obstacle course. Rachel gives back the immunity necklace. Leap into the ocean swim to a platform. Move a buioy through a series of obstacles to the end where there is a puzzle. Be the first to complete the puzzle. There is a reward too: steak, baked potato, wine, juice and cheese cake for dessert at the sanctuary. I wonder….if Rachel wins and brings Sue, will Sue reveal that she has her own idol?
Sam takes an early lead. Then Genevieve after the second stage. Then Sam, Rachel and Andy. Genevieve works on the puzzle. Soon everyone is working on the puzzle, Rachel now in the lead, then Genevieve close behind. Genevieve is clearly in the lead, with Rachel trying to catch her, nobody else even is close. Genevieve wins it!! Well done! Both of them worked so hard!
Sam tells Genevieve to not choose him. Genevieve chooses Sue. She can choose one more person, Genevieve chooses Teeny. Of the six of them, Rachel will be the only person to have not enjoyed a fabulous meal recently. Rachel is confident that everyone will vote against her tonight, she plays her idol and then she and Sue can use their two votes to get out whomever they want to. Buuuttt….will Sue tell Genevieve and Teeny that Rachel has an idol and destroy the plan?
-commercials break-
The three women are extremely enthusiastic about the feast and the wine in front of them. Teeny starts by pouring the wine. Genevieve aims for the juice, Teeny aims for the wine and wants no juice. Genevieve tells them that she is voting for Rachel. Sue asks Teeny what she thinks. Teeny agrees that it will be Rachel because she will never beat her. Sue stays silent about Rachel’s immunity idol. Teeny is starting to get a little drunk and tells Sue that Genevieve has an idol. She worries that she blew it for Genevieve trusting her. Genevieve doesn’t care, she thinks it’s fine that the more people think that she has an idol when it is a fake one.
Back at camp, Rachel, Sam and Andy sit together on the sunny beach and talk about how they can’t beat Genevieve. She scoffs at them saving Genevieve when they can’t beat her. Sam tells Rachel that she wouldn’t play with him, so he had to find another way to move forward in the game. Sam tells Rachel that she has a really good chance at winning the game if she gets there. Rachel reminds them that none of it is personal, it hurts, but it’s just a game. She says she loves them and they’ll all hang out after this. She starts to cry and say goodbye. It feels good, yet she knows that she is playing into something that isn’t really going to happen. She’d rather play her idol tomorrow night though, so she can play with fire.
Rachel decides to ask Andy if he’s like to target Sam. She tells Andy that the jury will like Sam better than Andy. It’s not working on him, because he doesn’t like people minimizing him, and she sounds like she is doing that. Yet, maybe she is challenging him to flip on Sam. Andy tells her that he is sick of lying to her, he doesn’t like it, and he is going to think about it for a while.
-commercials break-
The three well fed players return to camp. Genevieve has some angry looking scrapes on her shoulder blades. Rachel heads to the water with the pot, and the men tell the women that Rachel let them have it while they were gone. Teeny, Sam, Genevieve, Andy and Sue agree to vote out Rachel. Sue doesn’t really agree, she is just present with them and silently observing. Sam feels like he is in a lot of trouble. Sue, Andy and Rachel are together when Rachel says that she plans to block Sam’s vote. Rachel tells Andy that she will not vote him out if he saves her tonight. Andy appreciates his own moves that he has been pulling off. He is on the fence about deciding what to do. Alone, Sue tells Rachel not to trust Andy because he told the group everything that Rachel told the men earlier. Andy tells Rachel that he has decided to vote her out, and proceeds to describe to her how good his game has been, hoping that she will vote for him to win once she is on the jury. His words made her question if he is more likely to win than Sam is. Perhaps she and Sue will vote out Andy instead.
They head out to tribal council under a golden sunset.
-commercials break-
Tribal council.
Rachel acts angry as she calls bullshit on Teeny describing last tribal’s blindside as an accident. Truthfully, Andy flipped. Andy tried to describe his plans within plans, but eventually has to admit that yes, he simply flipped. Rachel talks about how it felt like kind of a funeral for her today. Everyone talks about how they want to be truthful with each other about voting out Rachel. Everyone explains why they will have to vote for Rachel. Rachel kind of glares at each of them as they talk. When Sue is asked for an opinion, she explains that she will not be voting for Rachel and everyone knows that. Rachel gets an opportunity to talk about how much this game means to her, and how much fun she is having now that she decided to just relax and enjoy the game.
Time to vote.
Jeff goes to get the votes. With great drama, Rachel plays her idol. “You know Jeff? I think the only good thing about attending your own funeral is knowing that you will be alive tomorrow.” Rachel. Rachel. RAchel. Andy. (Caroline says: “HELL yeah!”) Andy. Sam thought he was gonna go. Sol says, “That was awesome!” Kyle says: “We’ve got ourselves a game!” Andy has a good attitude as he talks about the good experience he had.
- Andy: Rachel
- Sam: Your vote has been blocked, return to your seat.
- Rachel: Andy
- Sue: Andy
- Genevieve: Rachel
- Teeny: Rachel
Tribe returns to camp. Rachel is happy that she finally is the one who knew what was going on. Rachel has had that idol since the day after Sierra got voted out. “I’ll share how I got it, but first I want to hear how Genevieve got hers.” Genevieve makes up a story about her idol, Sam knows it is fake, Teeny is thinking about it, but she is pretty sure it isn’t true. Sam is very silent. Genevieve and Rachel know that they can only be adversaries in the game. They both are the same kind of person. Powerful players.
Of the remaining five players, Genevieve and Rachel are the power players. Sue has the only secret immunity idol. Teeny and Sam are at the mercy of luck and favour.
-commercials break-
As morning breaks, talks about an idol start. Rachel is looking for an idol, Sam is digging through Rachel’s bag. Teeny, Genevieve and Sue look on. Sue seems to be on board with what he is doing. Sam is angry about Rachel’s luck. Genevieve loves competing against Rachel, she seems to really respect her. Yet, Genevieve decides to follow Rachel everywhere, make sure she doesn’t win an idol and vote her out. Rachel respects Genevieve too, and also enjoys the competition between them. They discuss who to vote to win if neither of them make it to the end, and they both agree Sam.
Sam, Teeny and Sue are irritated with Genevieve and Rachel. They were gloating together last night after the vote, each thinks that it is a game only about the two of them, that whichever of them makes it to the end will win. All three are irritated about that, and all three want to make sure that neither of them make it to the end.
-commercials break-
Challenge time. It’s a nice sunny day, and the challenge takes place on the sandy beach. Race in from the ocean, dig through a massive pile of sand, balance on a wobbly beam and stack 6 balls. Wins immunity. This is the kind of thing that Sue is very good at, wouldn’t it be interesting if Sue won this one again? Sam was in the lead in the running race. Sue is in the lead from digging through the sand. Genevieve is dead last through the sand. Sue in the lead with one ball stacked. Rachel right behind her with one ball stacked. Sue drops, has to start again. Sam drops. Rachel in the lead. Rachel loses all. OK. There are a lot of restarts. I’ll let you know who wins after all the drops and restarts take place.
Rachel won her third individual immunity!
Genevieve is bummed that Rachel won. She plans to use her fake idol that everyone thinks is real to her advantage during the plans for who to vote out. Sue has a secret idol. Genevieve has a pretend idol that people will expect her to play. Rachel has the immunity necklace, so I predict the person goning to jury will either be Sam or Teeny. Unless it becomes clear that Genevieve doesn’t really have an idol, which Sam may want to capitalize on to save himself.
-commercials break-
Sam told Rachel that he told people way back at the ninth tribal that if they don’t vote Rachel out, she will win the game. Sam told Teeny that he and Genevieve made the idol at the reward challenge. Teeny begins to realize how many times Genevieve has been lying to her, way back to Kishan, then Sol, and finally Caroline. She feels so stupid. Teeny tells Sue and Rachel that the idol is fake. Sue and Rachel do not believe it, they think that Genevieve told Sam to tell her that. Rachel walks away, Sue tells Teeny not to decide what to do yet, but to gather more information. Teeny decides to confront Genevieve about it and see how Genevieve reacts. Genevieve confesses quickly that it is fake and that she is a sitting duck. “Dang it, I really trusted him.” She knows that perception is reality, it doesn’t matter what Sam and Teeny think, if Sue and Rachel believe ithe idol is real and this is a trick, then they won’t vote for her.
-commercials break-
Tribal Council!
They discuss the challenge, how close winning the challenge was between Rachel and Genevieve. Teeny brings up the dilemma about trusting whether Genevieve has an idol or not. Genevieve and Sam stay silent while Teeny and Rachel discuss it. Jeff asks Sam, and Sam says he felt it was in the best interest of his game to get this information out, so he told Teeny, to get the information out. Teeny admits that is one of her strong suits, getting information out. Teeny comcludes by saying, “I’ve neve been more certain that I am uncertain.” Sam says, “So vote for her!” Teeny tells Rachel they should just vote for Genevieve, and Rachel says, because if she has the idol, the ricochet will land on Teeny. So it will be Sam. Poor Sam, too little honesty, too late.
Jeff goes to get the votes.
Genevieve pulls out her idol, “I told you it was fake.” Sue smiles and says, “Aww.” Sue plays her idol. Jury looks shocked and surprised. Genevieve, Sam, Sam, Genevieve, Genevieve. Sam asks how long Sue had her idol, “Since before the merge.”
Final four: Teeny, Rachel, Sue and Sam.
- Teeny: Sam
- Rachel: Genevieve
- Genevieve: Sam
- Sue: Genevieve
- Sam: Genevieve
Genevieve is thankful for the opportunity to play the game, and she had the time of her life.
