Episode Report Card Sara M: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT It Ain't Over Til The Fat Man Cries
By Sara M | Season 19 | Episode 16 | Aired on 12.20.2009
Oh no! Not Ben! I'd rather talk to Li'l Russell more than Ben. But we come back from the commercial to footage of Ben kicking Russell in the challenge and then getting kicked out for it. Ben shouldn't have kicked Russell, but he totally took a dive. Look at him rolling around on the ground. Ben shows off his stupid outlaw tattoo again and ... uh ... he's kind of cute. He wasn't cute on the show but he is now. Too bad he's a dick. Probst asks Ben if they're cool and Ben says they are. And not in contention for the $100,000 Fan Favorite prize, which will be announced right now. Our top three: Li'l Russell, Shambo, and Brett. Brett's like, "?" I guess the audience voted for the only two people who got camera time and then where like "who the hell is Brett? Must be some mistake. It'd be hilarious if the guy who wasn't on this season won. I'll vote for him!" And the winner is ... god damn Li'l Russell. Once again, America has let me down. Probst asks Mick how Li'l Russell can win the fan favorite award while the jury favorite, Natalie, isn't even in the top three. Um, maybe because Natalie didn't get any camera time and also people voted before they even saw the final show that cast her in a much better light in terms of her gameplay? Mick's just like, "well, no one voted for me in the game or outside of it, so I don't care." Actually, he says Li'l Russell was great to watch. If not, presumably, to live with.
Probst remembers that he has like fifteen other contestants to talk to and changes the subject to Jeffrey Tambor and his medical crisis that is nothing compared to Dead Russell's. Jeffrey Tambor says he's fine now and unlike Dead Russell (and, currently, Li'l Russell), he didn't cry on camera when his medical crisis happened. "Just kidding!" he says when everyone boos. He's also lost 65 pounds since being on the show. Probst asks Ashley how being on the show brought her closer to her father. She says that she and her dad watched the show every week, so being on it strengthened their connection or whatever. Probst asks Monica about her experience on the show. She says what just about everyone else always says about growing and learning a lot. Probst asks Yasmin about her relationship with Ben. Ben and Yasmin hug (they had plenty of time to settle their differences in the loser's lodge for 30 days, I guess) and she says that her parents raised her to forgive ... if not forget. It helps that Yasmin looks aMAYzing.
Probst talks to Betsy next, saying that more than anyone else this season, people thought she was voted out way too soon. Betsy agrees with this. She gives her four kids a shout-out and says they're proud of her and she totally has a crush on Probst. Yes, that's what you want to hear your mother say on TV. Especially when she's still married to your dad. Probst hams it up for the cameras and pretends to have similar feelings for Betsy, then immediately changes the subject to Marisa and asks her if she regrets being "too aggressive" and thus becoming Li'l Russell's first victim. Marisa does not. As for Liz, Kelly, and John, uh ... well, I guess they should have found some idols or lied about Hurricane Katrina if they wanted camera time. We head to a commercial with a montage of the awful weather the contestants endured.