Survivorfest 5 - Finale!

Congratulations to Natalie for being so lame as to have not offended the jury!  Evidently Mick was too lame to have even gotten that far.  Alas, poor Russell, we hardly loathed thee.

Congrats as well to our Survivorfest 5 winners:

Karen S - The only person to have selected Natalie to win...of course she also chose Marisa to win...
Kate - So very close...
Glenda - Had first place locked except for choosing Natalie as her Lovable Loser

And our own Lovable Loser, Toni, who eked out a tie breaker by selecting the best Lovable Loser.  Very appropriate!

Rather than a blow-by-blow of the challenges and conversations of the Finale show I'm opting to throw out a summary of some of the events.  Sure, it's a cop-out but I didn't even get around to sending out Christmas cards this year.  Oh, yeah.  Merry Christmas, everybody!!!!  Does that count?

One of my favorite parts of the finale show is when they take the long trek to visit the montage of the players who have gone before them.  And they all try to think of nice things to say about the losers that everyone really hated and were glad to see go.  Except for Evil Russell.  Like him or hate him, he called 'em like he saw 'em.

Can anyone explain why Shambo's tribal mask didn't have a mullet?  I know my family was a bit disappointed.

Jaison looked like he was finished with the game about six weeks ago.  In the final days he was evidently suffering from diarrhea. When he was voted out, did anyone else thing he was busting ass out of there to get to a real toilet?  We need to know these things!

Evil Russell's decision to drop Jaison and keep Mick was a tough call.  I think he had a better chance with Jaison just because he had the ability to say something inappropriate and inflammatory in the jury trial that might help Russell out.  I guess it turned out that Mick did about the same...by being so lame that no one had any interest in giving him the million dollars.

Evil Russell definitely made the right choice by getting rid of Brett.  With all the irritated Galu members on the jury and the kid making such a run at the last few immunities, I have to agree.  There's no way that Brett doesn't win the money if he's with the final three.

I have to agree with his choice of keeping Natalie.  Historically speaking, the "meat sandwich" types that get dragged along to the final vote and yet made no contributions other than voting along the way don't get much sympathy.  Something about Russell rubbed the jury the wrong way so badly that if there were no other choice but to give Russell the money I think they'd have rather burned it.  One big thing that Natalie did was living the lifestyle. She definitely seemed to give her best efforts in challenges and didn't seem to bellyache about everything.  Even Jaison mentioned that she had changed dramatically from the early weeks of the game.

Still, how many other seasons of Survivor were won by someone who never won a single immunity challenge?

Okay, fess up.  How many of you out there thought you knew what Shambo meant when she referred to Natalie as "the 'c' word"?  Coattail was not even on my top ten list of guesses.

After Erik's rant in the trial I wonder if he's a complete pyscho.  He did make a valid point though.  Mick was chosen as leader and he did anything but lead, which may have played directly into Foa Foa's lousy record in challenges.  Of course, so did Russell's dumping of water and other various dirty tricks.

Did anyone else think that Brett, cleaned up, looked like Eric Foreman from That 70's Show?

Did anyone else think that Ben, at the reunion show, looked like a hairdresser?  Definitely not like a professional mixologist!

Like him or hate him, Russell really played this game at the highest level.  He was visibly upset when he didn't win.  He even offered Natalie $10,000 if he could just have the title of sole Survivor.  I think that maybe he had a side bet with a buddy that he was trying to win.

Was anyone else surprised by Evil Russell's wife?  She looked like a twelve-year-old biker chick.  I don't know why, but I was picturing something more along the lines of an angry-looking Kathy Bates.

Next season of Survivor will be the 20th!  For this lofty anniversary they will have a Heroes versus Villains competition.

I'll send out email before the next season for anyone interested in playing Survivorfest 6.

Until then, thanks for playing and I hope everyone enjoyed the game!

Have a safe, healthy and happy holiday!


Tony