Survivor: Winners At War

 originally aired February 12, 2020 to May 13, 2020

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Natalie (Sele/San Juan del Sur) A victim of the early voting strategies targeting existing relationships (Jeremy), only to make it back in the game later and prove quite adept at maneuvering 
• Amber (Dakal/All-Stars) Same as Natalie; wife of Boston Rob.
• Danni (Sele/Guatemala) Even among winners it's apparently bad form to appear too desperate.
• Ethan (Sele/Africa) The battle lines between old school and new school players quickly found an early victim in a very classic old school player.
• Tyson (Dakal/Blood vs. Water) Brilliant as he was in his winning season, he didn't have the leverage to get far this time, and too many schemers around him.
• Boston Rob (Sele/Redemption Island) Even one of the undisputed best players ever couldn't overcome the numbers.
• Parvati (Sele/Micronesia) Another brilliant player who couldn't overcome the numbers this time.
• Sandra (Dakal/Pearl Islands, Heroes vs. Villains) A two-time winner became a huge target, and brilliant tribal council strategy made sure she was taken out.
• Yul (Dakal/Cook Islands) A classic old school player too good for his own good in this setting.
• Wendell (Dakal/Ghost Island) Never found the solid allies his game depends on.
• Adam (Sele/Millennials vs. Gen X) Minus the absolute perfect mix of tribemates around him, Adam looked like a much different player.
• Sophie (Dakal/South Pacific) You can go back and look at what I thought of her originally, but this was the most pleasant turnaround of the season for me.  She was a much easier player to root for this time!
• Kim (Dakal/One World) In her original season pretty easy to project as winner or very close.  This time there was no such guarantee.
• Jeremy (Sele/Campodia) Always worth rooting for!  Just a hugely underrated player of this game.
• Nick (Dakal/David vs. Goliath) Generally proved he knew how to play the game regardless of what's happening around him.
• Denise (Sele/Philippines) Honestly, since I'm doing this recap well after the season, a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its many disruptions, I don't remember what Denise did.
• Ben (Sele/Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers) What made me like him so much his previous season was that he basically accomplished a huge turnaround from the kind of player he basically is, because scrambling made him look good.  He had no such redemptive arc this time.
• Sarah (Dakal/Game Changers) Loved her the first time, didn't love her the second time, when she won, and now I can say I love her again.  So on average, I think she's a great member of the Survivor legacy.
• Michele (Sele/Kaoh Rong) Clearly knows how to play this game despite being an under the radar player (or perhaps because of it), making it to the finals in her second attempt (and of course winning the first one).
• Natalie (Sele/San Juan del Sur) Something of reality TV competition royalty at this point, I guess.
• Tony Vlachos (Dakal/Cagayan) Such a favorite even before this, becoming the second-ever two-time winner, in typically brilliant fashion.  I don't know how a guy with such well-known tactics (see what happened the second time he played) can pull this off, but that just goes to show.  As deserving a win as there's ever been in this game.  A true legend.

Survivor: Island of the Idols

originally aired September 25, 2019 to December 18, 2019

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Ronnie (Lairo) First voted out, a victim of the original core alliance that would come to dominate the season.
• Molly (Vokai) In hindsight the first victim of the Dan fiasco.
• Vince (Lairo) A victim of the nonsensical gimmick of the season, bringing back Boston Rob and Sandra for a secluded island visit to give somewhat helpful insight into the game and opportunities that more often than not were fairly pointless and only served to mislead their hapless visitors.
• Chelsea (Lairo) Breaking up a potential threat to the greater alliance.  This idiotic tribe didn't seem to realize it kept losing challenges regardless of their voting.  But don't worry, they'd definitely realize it later!
• Tom (Lairo) A victim of a tribal swap.  At this point Dean's ability to survive ought to have become apparent to someone.  
• Jason (Vokai) Left out of the convoluted voting strategies that dominated the season.
• Jack (Vokai) For a guy who idolized Greg from the first season, I wanted the edit to give him a chance to bring that kind of spirit back to Survivor, but his big moment ended up being a complicated racial moment with Jamal that they both learned from, which ended up being overshadowed by a far more complex and less easily-resolved fiasco.  But more on that in a moment...
• Kellee (Vokai) Yeah, so plenty has already been made of how and why she left the season.  Survivor became more talked about this season than it has in ages, thanks to how this situation played out, both during the course of the season itself and how fans reacted to it.  I almost quit watching Survivor after the Jeff Varner incident (believing, as I still do, that Jeff deserved a better response, which in hindsight could've easily played out the way the Jack/Jamal incident did, but would never have the way this fiasco did), but on the whole, this thing resolved itself the only way it could.  Eventually, the producers pulled Dan from the game.  But what Kellee, and those around her really proved, was that the game can sometimes get out of control.  Players can forget that there are real people and real experiences happening around them that have nothing to do with the game.  But more on that later. 
• Jamal (Vokai) I think this guy was one of the rare cool heads of reason in a game that often doesn't really have one.  Unfortunately, this was a season that played more to Lairo numbers than strategy or logic, so he had to settle for that teachable moment with Jack.
• Aaron (Lairo) I honestly thought much better of this guy after seeing his response to the Dan fiasco, but as a player, he was easily manipulating the vast Lairo numbers for no conceivable reason except this was just not a good strategic season, as evidenced by a mastermind who only wished he was cleverly operating behind the scenes being easily eliminated well before the end of the season.
• Missy (Lairo) I was back and forth on her all season, but eventually her basic character was revealed by the Dan fiasco as she willingly attempted to use it to her advantage with no thought about how it affected people not voting with her.  I'm not a fan of players who will do anything to have their best chance at winning.  Too often it means they end up with no chance at winning, and the only one who doesn't realize that is them.
• Elizabeth (Lairo) The Olympic swimmer and other "benefactor" of the Dan fiasco.  Given that Missy was more obviously constantly maneuvering, I'll give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt and assume she didn't realize what she was doing.  But in hindsight, she probably feels like an idiot, and she should.
• Karishma (Lairo) Nobody scrambled like she did this season, and the only reason she couldn't go further is because at least as of this experience she doesn't really that she really only stands in her own way.  A textbook example of talking more to the camera than her tribemates.
• Elaine (Lairo) I liked her a lot more than I ended up by the time she left, because her scrambling looked a lot less decent, a product of an insecurity she tries to overcompensate for when she's really moved well past it.  A would-be Rupert.
• Dan (Vokai) A prime example of the kind of support a bad alliance will willingly take, just because he adds to the numbers.  But as long as his behavior didn't bother them.  Ejected, first ever in twenty years.  Deserves the dubious distinction, especially after having been warned since the first episode.  Highly unlikely he's any better in real life.  Highly likely he won't be able to get away with it anymore.
• Janet (Vokai) A perfect example of that good person that sometimes appears in the game who ends up sacrificing their future prospects on general principle.  Fans like to complain about some of the "oily" early winners like Brian or even Rich, but this was a season that put them to shame.
• Lauren (Vokai) It's difficult to separate her from the worst aspects of the season, as she was perfectly willing to go along with a bad numbers alliance, and survived as an act of attrition because none of them was actually worth anything.
• Noura (Vokai) A person who lacks any real sense of reality except apparently when she has her sister around.  All her ideas of empowerment are actually the things standing in her way.  Literally made it to the finals because she had no shot at winning.
• Dean (Lairo) The real winner of the season, survived an awful original tribe and kept finding advantages and even using them (which is theoretically the new game play the season was meant to highlight), and came up short because, I assume, he was too aggressive in promoting himself at the final tribal council.  There were players in past seasons (like Amanda! twice!) who would've earned a lot more votes if they'd been half as aggressive as Dean was in defending his record.  But what he failed to emphasize was that it wasn't just the advantages he had to tout, but his ability to exist at the bottom of a tribe and an alliance that dominated the entire season and make it to the end anyway, not because no one thought he could beat them, but because no one saw what a threat he really was.  I have to assume there were a lot of jurors kicking themselves, watching this season play back. 
• Tommy (Vokai) Won basically because he joined the big idiot alliance and they voted for him just because he had been a part of it. 

Survivor: Edge of Extinction

originally aired February 20, 2019 to May 15, 2019

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Reem (Manu) First voted out, first to embrace Edge of Extinction, and stuck with it to the very end.  She becomes almost by definition the best example of a first vote loser ever in the game.
• Keith (Manu) The surprisingly impactful Manu tribe sort of crystalized over this particular tribal council.  Keith ended up being one of two players to quit Edge of Extinction.
• Aubry (Kama) The fifth voted out (Devens and Chris ended up back in the game thanks to Edge of Extinction) was one of the returning players, who never really figured out how to contend with the new players.
• Wendy (Manu) A standout personality in a season almost devoid of them, Wendy unfortunately couldn't compete in the actual game, and was the other one to quit Edge of Extinction.
• Joe (Kama) Another returning player, a hugely popular one among fans, but who just doesn't have the killer instinct to compete in the actual game.
• Eric (Kama) A key member of the overly ambitious Kama alliance that was quickly dismantled.  Take that for what you will.
• Julia (Kama) One of the more anonymous members of the edit and/or overly ambitious Kama alliance.
• David (Manu) Not as much the strategic powerhouse as the last time he played, David still proved a considerable threat and one of the main reasons the game played out the way it did, spurring Devens along to near-victory.
• Kelley Wentworth (Manu) Her appearance this season justified her reputation as a strong player, always scrambling for power.  Spurred her ally Lauren deeper in the game than she would've gone otherwise.
• Wardog (Manu) One of those would-be master strategists who've dominated the game in recent years despite a rank inability to win (although this really goes all the way back to Boston Rob in the fourth season).  Love the nickname, but he didn't have the personality to match.  Where o where art thou, Coach??? 
• Ron (Kama) Hugely cocky de facto leader of the overly ambitious Kama alliance that took on basically a whole tribe and thus epitomized why that's a horrible idea.  Also epitomized the charisma void in much of the cast this season.
• Aurora (Kama) Somehow made her name by performing well in challenges while complaining she had no allies despite being in the general Kama alliance.  Basically had no interest in strategizing.  That's a terrible way to play this game!
• Victoria (Kama) Sort of made an effort to strategize, but coasted too long on the Kama numbers.
• Lauren (Manu) Made it surprisingly far despite being the weaker player of an alliance with Kelley Wentworth that ended well before she was voted out.  A second chance could prove how good she can really be.
• Rick Devens (Manu) Originally eliminated ironically because Lauren and Kelley realized he was a huge threat, and then seized the Edge of Extinction opportunity to in fact become a huge threat, and by far the biggest and best personality of the season.  His late showdown with Chris in a fire-making challenge probably goes down as an all-time great moment in Survivor lore.
• Julie (Kama) The fact that she got no votes from the jury despite arguably looking best at the final tribal council ought to tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
• Gavin (Kama) A great story but...absolutely no!...personality!  And that's what sucked so much about the Kama alliance, that it only worked at all because of the ridiculous numbers that were thrown at it, not because any of them were particularly good players, and the fate of the alliance proved that beyond any doubt, and the fact that none of them ended up winning.  Again, this is exactly why you don't just assume numbers are all you need in this game.
• Chris (Manu) The greatest beneficiary, obviously, of the Edge of Extinction gimmick, which itself was basically a combination of Exile Island and the Pearl Islands outcast concept, which ended up backfiring spectacularly with an unlikable player ending up back in the game.  This time not only did we get Devens back, but Chris, who swooped in at literally the last minute and actually gave up protection at the last tribal council before the vote so he could prove his worth in the game, in an epic showdown with Devens in a fire-making challenge.  I'm so glad the season ended the way it did.  We've had too many seasons, recently, where it was players who thought they were master strategists basically cancelling each other out because they couldn't figure out how to actually maneuver this game.  It's always possible to be outmaneuvered, but the trend has more been players who weren't good at strategy thinking they were, just because they were aware of the general way the game is played.  They end up more like a Jerri than a Rich, which is why it's better when a Tina wins, someone who maybe didn't have the best game but still put in the effort to get to the end, no matter how it was accomplished, and won with honor.  That's where Chris stands.

Survivor: David vs. Goliath

originally aired September 26, 2018 to December 19, 2018

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Pat (David) A medical evacuation, but probably didn't greatly impact how early he was going to exit.
• Jessica (David) Her ouster was probably an early indication of the tone of the whole season.
• Jeremy (Goliath) Ironically, probably about as abrasive and socially clueless about this fact as Natalie, whom he tried to coach away from such tendencies.
• Bi (David) A rare player who values their life outside of the game more than the game, withdrawing after becoming aware that she'd damaged her MCL.
• Natalia (Goliath) A victim of David/Goliath cooperation led by Alec, an early indication that despite the Goliath bluster the Davids had a real fighting chance.
• Natalie (Goliath) Jeremy was right about Natalie; in her real life she's shielded herself from any real responsibility for her personality, so she thinks it doesn't matter.  But outside of that bubble?  It does.
• Lyrsa (David) I don't know why all the "strong women" this season were such poor examples of strong women, but Lyrsa, at least as far as this season goes, was the worst example.
• Elizabeth (David) The sort of player I could root for a little more if she had the gameplay to go with her personality.
• John (Goliath) In the interests of full disclosure, I've been a fan of John Hennigan/Johnny Nitro/John Morrison/Johnny Mundo/Johnny Impact since he first made a name (any name!) for himself in wrestling.  His Survivor experience probably helps explain why he never excelled in WWE, despite his considerable talent, because he has trouble asserting himself, as anyone who watched this season can attest.  He's content to sit back and try and let his work show itself.  Thankfully he has good social instincts.  He made a lot of good decisions with fellow players, and had better game instincts than his results suggest, but then he also voted for the winner, which is always a huge plus.  In the end he knew what was worth rewarding.
• Dan (Goliath) The recipient of a needless alliance split at the hands of would-be lover Kara.
• Alec (Goliath) A crafty player who signaled the way forward that didn't leave numbers as the only deciding factor, but played hard and smart for as long as he could, and didn't even get burned by his decision not to remain loyal to Goliath, but rather by how the season played out.
• Carl (David) There are a lot of players in Survivor history who think they're better than they actually are, and Carl is one of them.
• Gabby (David) The second of our three "strong women" who maybe ought to dial it back a little.  Obviously, her low point was backstabbing Christian basically because she discovered he had a committed relationship outside of the game.
• Christian (David) One of the most unique and lovable players in Survivor history (if there had been some kind of audience favorite reward this season, you can bet he'd've gotten it), in the end undone by the tangled knots of strategic would-be loyalties he himself eagerly, unwisely embraced when he decided to vote out John (which, in all fairness, John had intended to do, too; just imagine a scenario where the bonds any of these players made along the way actually stuck).
• Davie (David) I nicknamed him "Ninja Dave" early in the season, a remarkably nimble utilizer of advantages who was a highlight by any standard, and who managed to stay out of trouble for far longer than he was actually a threat.
• Alison (Goliath) The kind of player easy to root for...if only she had ever decided to make an actual, y'know, decision...
• Kara (Goliath) Made the baffling decision to vote out her own strongest ally, Dan.  See where that got her?
• Angelina (Goliath) One of the more idiotic and socially clueless players to ever play the game, this "strong woman" is even more ignorant of her effect on those around her than Natalie.
• Mike (Goliath) In the end, he couldn't divorce himself from the idea of the game rather than the reality of actually playing it.  If he'd managed to do that, he might have actually deserved to be in the final, and maybe even win.
• Nick (David) And sometimes the good guys really do win.  Nick did what a lot of these players only tried to do, and by securing the final three immunity necklaces, he was able to win the season, too.  He forged bonds easily, even if he didn't seem to know what to do with them, but he was as a result fun to watch and thus easy to root for.  If it couldn't be Christian or Davie (my top two choices), it really, really had to be Nick.  And I think the jury members were ideally selected to recognize that fact.  This isn't always the case, so it's great when it is.

Reconsidering Sandra

As of Survivor: Ghost Island, the thirty-sixth season, I have Sandra Diaz-Twine listed twenty-ninth out of all thirty-five winners.  She's, ah, the winner who won twice (Pearls Islands, Heroes vs. Villains), you'll recall.  Winning twice really ought to secure her a better slot, even on an entirely subjective list such as mine.  I mean, no one else has done that.  But I never liked her, and I never saw her as particularly earning those wins.  Even though she did it twice!

But here we are today.  I'm ready to offer a significant caveat.  It's possible that my opinion of Sandra is mostly reflective of the third layer of Survivor.  The first is the players themselves.  (Well, I suppose casting directors would be one if the results always matched what they thought they were casting.)  The second is Jeff Probst, who's always adding instant reaction as host.  The third is the infamous editing process.

Survivor lives and breathes in search of interesting personalities.  Players who have no shot at all of winning can dominate the edit for as long as they're still in the game, if for no other reason than they're compelling to watch, and thus easy calls to base episodes around.  Big personalities have existed from the start.  It just so happened that the biggest personality from the first season (Rich Hatch) also won, and that was one of the few times I personally was able to call the winner from the very first episode.  But it's not always that easy.

Sandra won, arguably, by competing in two seasons dominated by wars of attrition, not because there was any one player strong enough to bend everyone else to their will, but because a lot of good players kept getting in each other's way.  In these later seasons there've been a lot of self-styled master strategists, but I'm not really talking about those players.  I'm talking, maybe, about a lot of big personalities that just plain cancelled each other out.

Sandra was never a big personality.  She was just one of those players that was able to make the most of other people screwing themselves over, and being able to take advantage of that.  Most of the time that's good enough to get you in the finals, but it almost never gets you the win.  But it got Sandra the win.  Twice.

So what was different? 

The other day my sister actually met Sandra.  My sister's also met Rudy, by the way, not because she goes out of her way to track down Survivor players (Bob hosts his challenges not far from where I've lived in Maine, by the way, but I haven't had a chance to go watch those yet) but, I guess she's just lucky.  (Actually, don't tell Sandra, but this time it wasn't entirely luck.)

And she met an incredibly nice person.  According to my sister's account, Sandra was about as normal a person as you can possibly get, especially if you've been on two seasons of Survivor, and won them both.  She was taken aback by my sister even knowing her name without an introduction!  And she seemed completely honest about being happy to talk with my sister, and offered Facebook friendship on the spot, and even her phone number! 

So I suspect that the Sandra who competed in two winning efforts, who didn't exist in the edit, was someone who proved on a daily basis that she was just plain good to have around, normalizing in extreme circumstances, a down-to-earth type.  If she'd competed in one of these later themed seasons, she'd be on the Good People Tribe.

And that's how she won.  Twice.  So now I get it.  There's always going to be plenty left out of the edit, but it seems a terrible shame that two whole seasons of gameplay were lost in translation.  So maybe when I get around to watching her seasons again, I'll try and see if the hidden Sandra Good People Vibe was actually easier to see than I previously thought, and maybe bump her way up in my ranking.  I mean, she won twice.  Sometimes the nice ones really do win.

Survivor: Ghost Island

originally aired February 28, 2018 to May 23, 2018

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Stephanie Gonzalez (Malolo) This was a season where players tried playing hard right out of the gate.  This is ridiculous strategy. 
• Jacob (Malolo) If you're going to become obsessive about advantages, you might consider having a solid position without them. 
• Morgan (Naviti) The early tribe switch-up caused a lot of drama. One of Domenick's early allies.
• Brendan (Malolo) The victim in the season's first great moment, one of the more dramatic tribal councils in the early part of a season.
• Stephanie Johnson (Malolo) At this point Malolo had become easy pickings.
• James (Malolo) After another tribe swap, the surprisingly crucial Angela in the middle part of the season was responsible for his ouster.
• Bradley (Naviti) One of the stronger strategists in the season, a victim of the multiple tribe swaps, eventually.
• Chris (Naviti) Immediately made himself Domenick's target by volunteering as leader in the first challenge.  Biggest mistake was refusing to show his vulnerable side to anyone.  Otherwise a strong player.
• Libby (Malolo) One of several generic young lady, at least from the edit, basically a number.
• Desiree (Naviti) Decided way too late and too clumsily to try and compete.
• Jenna (Malolo) Another generic young lady, at least from the edit.
• Michael (Malolo) Great player, ultimately on the wrong side of the numbers, and the insane Naviti plan to stay strong from the original tribe even though most of them were always going to be cannon fodder.
• Chelsea (Naviti) Another generic young lady, at least from the edit.
• Kellyn (Naviti) The season cast two women who were proud of reclaiming their independence through divorce this season; Kellyn was by far the more obnoxious and smug of them.
• Sebastian (Naviti) Seemingly cast for the Ozzy role, for which he was hugely unqualified.
• Donathan (Malolo) The dude cast to be both a Deep Accent Person and gay, and clearly not at all prepared to play this game.
• Angela (Naviti) The other proud divorcee, and ex-military; her edit heavily emphasized this while she was still a threat, but eventually she faded into the background.  But still a notable player in the season.
• Laurel (Malolo) Part of the strongest finals I can think of, all three of them totally deserving to be there.  Always knew how to keep her position strong in the game.
• Domenick (Naviti) The would-be alpha male, just this side of another Russell, with an ego raging out of control.  Clearly a very strong player, but took for granted the strong players working around him.  Acknowledged for his season dominance as part of the first-ever tie in final tribal history.
• Wendell (Naviti) As good as Domenick was, he never seemed to realize or care how crucial his relationship with Wendell really was, or how hard Wendell had to work to keep it from dooming their chances.  Domenick and Wendell dominated the season as few players ever have, and were noticeably cocky about it, thanks to the Naviti pact to stay strong, with them always at the top.  But Wendell was better and totally deserved to win, thanks to that crucial tie-breaking vote from Laurel, who was always Wendell's secret weapon.  Had Domenick actually decided to do the fire challenge with Wendell, it would've been the first time since Tom and Ian in Palau that great competitors and allies had such a dramatic showdown.  That choice at least preserved the strong final three, and led to the best of them winning.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

originally aired September 27, 2017 to December 20, 2017

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Katrina (Heroes) The initial chaos of her tribe meant it was either Katrina or Chrissy who would go home first this season.  Honestly, I don't really care what Katrina would've ended up doing, but I really wish it had been Chrissy.
• Simone (Hustlers) Ouster mostly reflective of the general character, or generally the poor character, and integrity, of this season.
• Patrick (Hustlers) Probably, he and Simone simply didn't really reflect the intended character of their original tribe.  But this season's depiction of the tribe themes was terrible, and pretty much pointless, the first time Survivor has really dropped the ball in that regard.
• Alan (Heroes) Honestly, sometimes it really seems black men are cast in this show just to look terrible in this game (Earl being a notable exception).
• Roark (Healers) First time Chrissy orchestrates the exit of another woman.
• Ali (Hustlers) Second time Chrissy orchestrates the exit of another woman.
• Jessica (Healers) A victim of the numbers, and her own stupidity, forming a relationship with Cole and not realizing that at least strategically it's a huge, huge mistake.
• Desi (Healers) A victim of the numbers.
• Cole (Healers) Basically a huge idiot, and a major reason the season played out the way it did.
• JP (Heroes) Seemingly nothing much more than a beefcake meathead.  But an amiable presence in an increasingly chaotic season, which is something of a miracle.
• Joe (Healers) A true spirit of chaos, but worth rooting for as opposition to an unlikable dominant alliance.  Also probably the best player to watch this season, until the final few episodes.
• Lauren (Hustlers) One of the members of the majority alliance that was fully convinced they were in charge of the game.  Which of course none of them were.  So they all turned on each other.
• Ashley (Heroes) One of the actually likable members of the majority alliance.  Mostly because she was one of the expendable members, and she had no clue.  So not such a good player, and a key reason the season turned out the way it did.
• Mike (Healers) A likable guy until he decided to become an adjunct member of the majority alliance, just to stick around.  So my respect for his gameplay fell drastically.  Betrayed the spirit of what he and Joe had fought for, and in hindsight ruined a terrific tribal council moment.
• Devon (Hustlers) An amiable cutthroat is still a cutthroat, and he's a key reason the horrible majority alliance happened.  None of the key members could've made it as far as they did on their own.  And none of them won.
• Ryan (Hustlers) One of them "lifelong fans" who too often turn out to be horrible students of the game, who mostly survive as weasels. 
• Chrissy (Heroes) A horribly insecure person who has made her life a fiction about how secure she is.  And maybe in the real world, she really is secure, but Survivor is a game that exposes people for what they really are, rather than what they've managed to make of their lives. 
• Ben (Heroes) Was actually kind of unlikable as long as he was leading the majority alliance, but his true character came through once he was forced out and had to scramble to stay alive in the game.  And that became, thanks to the latest twists in the game, and how it has evolved, one of the most thrilling finishes in Survivor history.  Honestly, it was a much-needed redemptive arc for the season as a whole, which otherwise characterizes the increasingly desperate nature of the game as it tries to justify its continued existence.  The producers seem content with a false image of the competitiveness of players trumping the ability to cast people actually worth watching.  But rats are still rats, and viewers, I think, would much rather watch snakes devour them.