A Day Late & a Million $$ Short: Finale #Survivor

And so we have the predictable end to an unpredictable season. Overall I'd say San Juan Del Sur ranks about middling for me amongst all Survivors. It was fairly boring up until the merge, then it got interesting...but in really weird ways. It's dissapointing that of the final five, Natalie was really the only one still playing the game (but props to Jac for the impressive comeback win in the final challenge). It's pretty bad when Nat had to resort to making supposed "big" moves just to do something.

A trend in the game that I'm not personally excited about is the making of big moves simply for the sake of making them. Sometimes they're necessary to get to the finals, sometimes they're not, and I can appreciate a player who's stayed on the right side of alliances the whole way through whether or not they've had to make a big move to be there. Natalie's strength in the game was her subtle play and quiet manipulation. In my opinion she didn't need the big moves to be the strongest Survivor standing.

I was thinking about Natalie's "big" moves, and I'm not sure any of the them actually did anything to improve her position. Let's have a look at them, shall we? (Please let me know if I've left any out).

First was Alec. She said Alec was enamored with Jon & Jac, but he'd already shown his willingness to screw over Jon at an earlier vote. She thought she'd have more loyalty from Keith, which is probably true, but his big mouth was unpredictable and made him dangerous as an ally. Also, Alec wasn't nearly the threat that Keith was in challenges, and we all saw how desperate she was to get Keith out in the final five, so I'm not convinced she improved her position by prolonging unpredictable Keith's time in the game.

Next was Jon. That vote improved her position, but it wasn't really all that big of a move now, was it? The edit showed Missy being hesitant, but come on, she wasn't not going to vote him out. He had the idol that he'd have played the next tribal so this was their very last chance. Getting him out earlier would've been bigger.

Finally, giving the idol to Jac and voting out Baylor. That was pure showboating---which juries are encouraged to reward whether or not the move serves a purpose, so it is good strategy from that standpoint, buuuuut it did absolutely nothing to improve Natalie's position and could've possibly even hurt it. First, she sent someone to jury who absolutely wouldn't vote for her unless Missy landed there on the next vote. Second, Baylor had been her loyal little puppy since they'd met at Exile Island! In no way could Nat trust Jac more than Baylor.

I guess that's all I have to say about this season. I'm looking forward to the White Collar, Blue Collar, No Collar angle for next season! How about you?

Nicki has spoken.