Survivor: Fiji Finale

It's been two days since the finale of Survivor: Fiji, and I'm still flabbergasted. I truly can't believe I saw what I just saw. Wow.

First, the things I liked. I liked the challenges. Both were hard, and both could have been won by anybody (one of things I love about Survivor challenges). Loved them. I have no idea why Cassandra and Earl did such a bad job with the maze challenge, but the other three kicked some butt. (apparently when it looked like Cassandra wasn't trying in challenges sometimes, it's because she wasn't trying - she said that she didn't try hard on any challenge that would have involved swimming...it wasn't worth drowning to win immunity) And the final challenge looked brutal - way to go challenges team.

So on to the rest of the show. No shocker that Boo went home first. But the real drama came at the final four tribal council. After Dreamz won the final immunity challenge, he made the decision to not honor his deal with Yau Man, and kept immunity for himself. This was billed as "the most controversial decision ever made by a survivor." I don't agree with that at all - the Johnny Fairplay-dead grandma debacle on the Pearl Islands was way worse. That was motivated by greed. Dreamz saw an opportunity to give a better life to his kids. He knew if he gave Yau Man the immunity necklace, he was gone. Keeping it guaranteed him at least 3rd place, probably 2nd (who would really vote for Cassandra?). There's a big difference in the money awarded to 2nd place vs. 4th place - the kind of money that could change the lives of Dreamz's kids. I don't agree with the decision, but I certainly don't fault him for doing it. A couple other notes about it - Yau Man still wants to be friends with Dreamz, Yau Man says that if he had to do it over he would still give Dreamz the truck, and several jury members said that they were thinking of giving Dreamz their vote had he said different things at tribal.

Ahh, tribal council. I love when there's drama. But the final tribal council went beyond drama and crossed the line into cruelty. Not from all the jury members. Stacy, Michelle, Yau Man - all came off very well. Others seemed bitter, but reasonably so. But then there was Alex and Lisi. Both had been on the jury for awhile, and had plenty of time to calm down and be adults. But instead, they both came off as cruel. I don't know how they could watch that back and be proud of their actions. These are the same people who chastised Dreamz for his decision? People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I hear that Alex is no longer practicing law - I hope that karma bites them both in the butt.

In the end, I'm glad that Earl won. He played a great game, and deserved to win in the first unanimous vote in Survivor history. And the new season looks amazing. I have a personal interest in China (since that is where we are adopting our daughter from), and the change of landscape will make for a great game. Just wish I didn't have to wait till September!