Survivor: Philippines Finale Thoughts

Sunday night was the finale of Survivor: Philippines, the twenty-fifth season of the long-running reality show.  It struck me, even though I've been watching since the first episode of the first season, that I'm still learning how this game works.

I went into the the final tribal council firmly believing that either Lisa or Mike Skupin was going to win, and was pretty convinced that it would be Mike, because Lisa had made more obvious strategic moves that would alienate the jury and Denise was basically the nonentity who rode their coattails, and yet...Denise ended up winning pretty convincingly in the actual votes.

Even during the jury comment portion of tribal council, I was convinced I was right.  Jeff Kent made comments I believed would sway votes.  Jonathan Penner made comments I believed would sway votes.  Malcolm made comments I really believed would sway votes.

And yet the vote came down to what everyone in the Philippines had been saying, that Denise would win.  I didn't see it because I was watching not as a participant but as a viewer.  Malcolm's comment about appeasing was really the relevant perspective, and I guess I should have listened more closely.

Time and time again I've watched from the obvious TV perspective.  I've seen players in the finals who easily should have won (Amanda, twice, most notoriously for me) if only the final tribal council had been taking my perspective rather than its own.  Heck, I remain baffled as to how Tom and Ian would view Katie any differently than I did, and I respect the hell out of Tom and Ian and not at all out of Katie.

They saw something very different from I did.  They didn't see the edit.  They saw Katie.  I guess the jury in the Philippines saw Denise as the ultimate appeaser.

Mike Skupin had the best story, hands down.  Maybe his tribemates didn't appreciate it, but the viewer certainly did.  Maybe he should have come back in a Fans vs. Favorites season.  Maybe that would have made a difference.  Skupin transformed himself from the guy everyone wanted out in Survivor: The Australian Outback to the guy they all hated to see go.  When he came back eleven years later, he was once again the guy everyone wanted out, and yet he stuck around because he figured out how to play the game instead of merely be one of the few players who knew how to live out in the middle of nowhere.

Penner pointed out that for all the talk of wanting Skupin out, he never actually had votes cast against him.  Part of that was because Survivor: Philippines was full of castaways ready and willing to outstrategize each other, but none more than themselves, as Penner and Jeff Kent found out (and perhaps even Abi).  Increasingly, Survivor has become a game of attrition, where you don't live or die on tribal council or immunity idols, but on your own alliances, whether or not you can stick with them, whether or not you flip to another one entirely.  This is something that began in the first season.  After all, how dull would that final tribal council have been if Kelly hadn't very nearly flopped out of the original Survivor alliance, and thus deprived us of Sue Hawk's ultimate jury member speech?

By the way, I think Sue was finally topped, and by an actor, the only breed of human capable of doing Sue and all her current cable reality show brethren one better.  (Which reminds me, why doesn't Sue Hawk have her own reality show yet?  I mean, Colby, who has the personality of a jock strap, hosts his own cable reality show.)  Penner's outing of Lisa as a former TV star (The Facts of Life, in case you missed it) was done so brilliantly, whatever chance she had of upsetting Denise was completely shattered, and everyone knows it.

The jury at the reunion indicated that Malcolm wouldn't have had a shot at beating Denise had he had the chance, which is another indication of the wide disconnect between the castaways and the viewer. He's the one who vied with Lisa for the season's most popular player.  I doubt Denise was up there.  When Jeff talked to her about the reception she's gotten, it was about her clients.  When he talked to Malcolm about it, it was about the people on the street.

You can always tell when Jeff himself isn't impressed with the winner.  That's what makes Jeff Probst so special.  He's the show's biggest fan and everyone knows it.  I was starting to doubt it last season, but then there was a lot of emotional upheaval about Survivor: One World, and it's taken me a while to reconcile Kim as the worthy winner, even though she was an early personal pick.  I just didn't like how she went about it.

Did Denise deserve to win Survivor: Philippines?  Absolutely.  Do I still think that if Survivor were like American Idol, Skupin would have had the shot I thought he did?  Absolutely.  Although clearly it would have been Lisa in that instance.  I loved Dalton Ross gushing over her all season in his EW commentaries.  She deserved it.

It was a good season, as everyone was saying, very memorable and worth more than just seeing Penner and Skupin get another shot.  Skupin made it very far, redeeming himself even though revealing himself as Survivor's biggest klutz (you are relieved, Boo).  Penner will always remain a personal favorite, one of the best players to never win, perhaps the best (or that could be Ozzy).  Malcolm deserves his second shot (though I will not provide spoilers for what I know about Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites), even if he wasn't quite everything he seemed to be at one point (though far more than he seemed at an earlier point).

As for me, I will try watching future seasons not just from the viewer's perspective, but from the one of the people lucky enough to play it.  After all, I did pick Rich to win Borneo, from the moment he first spoke.  Beginner's luck?  I hope not.