Thank goodness for the magic of tivo. I was out Sunday night -- who knew that when I bought tickets to see Les Miz they would schedule the finale for Survivor: Guatemala the same night.

This brings me to my only problem with tonight's episode. When the football game ran long, who at CBS decided to show 60 Minutes in its entirety? Because I also recorded the reunion show, I at least saw the whole episode. But if you didn't, you missed tribal council. And more than that, why would they delay the start of the season finale of one of their most popular series? It's a decision that simply did not make sense.

Anyways, the episode itself was really good. The first immunity challenge was insane. They really did want to make this the hardest season of Survivor ever. It must have been hell for the survivors, but it made for great television. But even better was when they got home from the challenge. Apparently it wasn't enough for Steph to ask if they could eat the chicken during the ritual; once the Mayan were gone, she finally was able to eat the offering. I already liked Rafe, but I was so impressed with his ability to turn down a meal to stick to his principles. And because you know how I feel about karma, I wasn't so surprised by the super storm. And it was all complete when you saw the reaction on the face of Jeff & the jury when they found out. You know that in the back of his head he was thinking "so we manage to have an actual Mayan ritual performed for you all and you at the offering????". Hee hee! I heard Rafe say Monday that they had all made a pact not to mention it at tribal council; that's why they all reacted the way they did when Lydia brought it up. And I wasn't so sad to see Lydia go.

It was at this point that I think Danni won the game. Rafe would have taken Danni. And Steph would have taken Danni. And even though they didn't think so, Danni would have beaten either one of them. So the final immunity challenge really was just a matter of who would sit next to Danni. It was a very different final challenge for Survivor. Usually the final challenge just comes down to will. This one was strength as well. It was interesting how they all figured out how to wedge themselves in against the pole. I wondered if the challenge designers had anticipated that, and whether they had set the rule about not touching the pole with their hands in advance, or once they were all wedged.

Anyways, I still can't believe that Rafe "released" Danni from their promise. He played such a great game, and he threw it away at the end when Steph cried. Boo hoo. She didn't win. I can't believe he was swayed by that. So Danni made the decision to take Steph to the final -- a million dollar choice. I truly think she would have still won against Rafe, but with Steph she pretty much guaranteed herself the million.

The final tribal council was FANTASTIC. I was glad that people like Judd were still angry -- it makes for GREAT television! :) It did almost seem that at some point Steph gave up. She wasn't giving good answers to their questions -- she still was acting like she deserved it just because she was Steph. Danni knew she had the numbers, yet she still answered every question honestly.

So it was no suprise when Danni won. (although she did look SO different -- I knew she had lost a lot of weight, but I hadn't realized just how much) And you know what she is planning on doing with the money? She's taking her dad to the Super Bowl. You go girl. Until "Exile Island"...