Tyson intimates to Monica that he's going to give her the Idol to do with what she wishes, because he knows with someone coming back from Redemption, he needs Monica rock solid on his side.
Hayden, Tina, and Laura compete at the final Redemption Island Truel, with the winner returning to the game. They have to put their foot on one end of a balancing board, and there's a vase on the other end. The last person whose vase is still standing wins. At the fifteen-minute mark, Laura bobbles around and somehow manages to get her balance back. Hayden keeps sweating into his eyes and when he wipes it away, he loses it and his vase breaks. Laura begs Tina to let her have it, like WTF Laura? Tina's like, “No way.” At the thirty-minute mark, Tina's legs start shaking and she almost loses it, but Laura bobbles a little too much and her vase falls. Tina will re-enter the game, and she keeps the clue for herself.
Tina and Ciera look for the Idol, obviously with no luck. So then they go to Plan B, trying to convince Monica to join with them for the final three. They head to the Immunity Challenge, which involves using a rope to make a table level, and then setting up ten blocks on it without having them fall. It sounds easy, but they have to walk backward to retrieve blocks while keeping the table level, and if any blocks fall, they have to reset it before getting another one. Everyone dumps his or her blocks multiple times except Tyson, who moves almost in slow motion and wins immunity. Honestly, if one of them had looked over and seen how he was moving, they could have done the same thing. Instead, they all tried to go quickly and kept dumping all their blocks.
Monica and Gervase argue over whether to get rid of Ciera or Tina first. Gervase bullies Monica and yells at her and it turns her off, especially after everything she heard from Ciera, so she considers voting out Gervase to show she can play her own game. At Tribal Council, Monica continues to vow to do what's best for Monica, and if nothing else, I think she lost jury votes for continually referring to herself in the third person. Tyson gives his Idol to Gervase to play. Ciera gets two votes, which sends her out. For the first time this season, we get to see the votes cast, and Monica did vote out Ciera in the end. But Monica is bothered that Tyson played his Idol, because it means her alliance doubted her. Yeah, how dare they doubt her when she was telling Tina and Ciera that she might flip.
The final Immunity Challenge requires contestants to grab puzzle pieces, race up stairs, place them on a table, and slide down a waterslide to get more. Once the puzzle is assembled, it will give them a clue to solve a combination lock and raise a flag. It's easily my favorite challenge of the season, because of the creative ways they have to retrieve the puzzle pieces, and it's always fun to watch people going down water slides. Tyson, Monica, and Gervase all get to the puzzle-solving together with Tina trailing. Tyson solves the puzzle first, finds the numbers he needs, and wins immunity before anyone else even solves the puzzle.
At Tribal Council, Monica once again revels in the attention as the person who could make a big move. I wish Tyson and Gervase would tell Monica to fuck off and take Tina to the finals. They won't, because Tina would beat both of them, but I'm a little tired of Monica's, “I have the power! Everyone bow to me!” and then she doesn't do anything but go along with Tyson yet again. Methinks someone is an attention whore. Anyway, once again, Monica does nothing interesting and votes out Tina, leaving us the final three we've known would happen since Hayden went home.
Gervase's speech basically boils down to, “I blindsided Aras. Also, I played in the first season.” Monica says that she chose to go to the finals with Tyson and Gervase because she has less blood on her hands than them. Tyson says he knew he'd be a big target, so he was playing to have fun until Rachel went to Redemption Island. He starts crying (it seems genuine) and says that when he let her go home, he realized he had to make her sacrifice worthwhile, so he started playing hard, finding Idols and trying to make moves without malice and here he is in the finals.
Jury questions: Vytas is less bitter than I thought he would be. He says he vowed not to vote for Tyson, but he can't decide whether to vote for Gervase (coattails) or Monica (betrayed him). Katie points out that Tyson mocked her when she was voted out, and he admits that was shitty. Caleb wants to know what big moves Gervase made, and Gervase claims that he was behind a lot of the moves that Tyson made. Caleb asks Monica to be vulnerable, and why would you want that? Anyway, Monica cries for a while and I'm over it.
Ciera wants to know if Tyson sees himself as the villain or a hero, and Tyson says every move he made was strategic and not personal, so he doesn't see himself as a villain. She asks if Gervase ever considered voting out Tyson. He admits that he did, but he realized he would be to go. Laura wants to know more about Monica and I wonder why? I don't. Tina asks for one word to describe their core. Monica says generous, Gervase says honorable, and Tyson says fun-loving. Hayden wants to know if Tyson had the Idol when they drew rocks, and Tyson admits he did. Hayden somehow gets Monica to whine some more. Finally, Aras asks Gervase to tell him why he should vote for either Monica or Tyson. Gervase says Tyson had a great game. Monica also says that you have to vote for Tyson for finding two Idols and winning the last two immunities. Tyson says he would vote for Monica, because she was able to maintain their alliance and still make people think she was on the bottom in order to gather information for them.
You can tell Tyson is going to win because everyone smiles when he answers questions. They like him. They feel that he beat them instead of that they ended up in the finals by the luck of the draw. And he did play the best game, even if he can be a little prickly at times.
Probst arrives at the reunion and reads the votes. Monica got one vote from Vytas, and Tyson got the rest. A very predictable (from about the halfway point of the season on) win, but a deserved one.
As usual, the finale opens with a season-long recap and either you watched it or, you know, this very site has recaps of each and every episode available! So I'm not going to recap the recap of what I already recapped, if that's cool.
Just to remind you where we are: Ciera is left alone, while Monica, Gervase and Tyson have stayed tight, although Monica has seemed a little bit open to making a move. Hayden, Tina and Laura are on Redemption Island and one of them will be returning to the game soon. All of them would probably join with Ciera, although Tina is the one most likely to flip and make a final three deal with Tyson and Gervase, in my opinion. And Tyson still has a Hidden Immunity Idol, although the Tribal Council is the last time it could be played.
When they all return from voting Hayden out, Ciera immediately tells everyone that she loves them and Tyson compliments her play. Ciera interviews that she tried to flip Monica and it didn't work, but she still has hope because of Redemption Island. She's hoping her mom comes back, but she also thinks that no matter who returns, that person will work with her. Yeah, that's great. So then you'll have an alliance of two people and the other side still has three. I'm all for fighting until the end, but I'm not sure why Ciera is so excited about this.
They discuss sleeping arrangements and Tyson defers to Monica. He interviews that he knows his best shot in the finals is against Monica and Gervase, and he may have to use his Idol to keep Monica on his side. Tyson tells Monica that she can trust him and Gervase one hundred percent, and then he gives her the Idol. To keep. He tells her that she can play it or give it to her kids. She refuses to take it and hands it back. Tyson interviews again that with someone coming back from Redemption and partnering with Ciera, he knows they will try to swing Monica over again. Monica interviews that if the boys see her as their lapdog, she's willing to show that she can make her own decisions, and with the returning player she will have two chances of going to the final three. So there's the first instance of Monica claiming she might just make a big move. It won't be the last.
Meanwhile, Hayden arrives at Redemption Island and gets a warm greeting from Laura and Tina. He reminds us in an interview that he's never been voted off a reality show before and it sucks. He starts out by telling everyone that Ciera won immunity, and that the Tribal Councils were crazy. He adds that someone has to break up the Tyson-Gervase-Monica triumvirate, because he doesn't want any of them to win. They all agree that whoever gets back in needs to team with Ciera and find the Idol. Aw, if that's their plan, they are in big trouble. Hayden concludes in an interview that he's going up against "two grandmas" in the truel, so he likes his chances. So he won't be winning. He just jinxed it.
Hayden, Tina and Laura get treemail announcing that this is the final Redemption Island truel. Tina has put her hair into two braids and it looks a lot better than her regular hairstyle. I have another tip for people going on this show; don't have bangs. Because they will grow out to an awkward length and just be a pain in the ass in general, unless they give you nail scissors or other means of trimming them. Anyway, Tina interviews that she needs to give this challenge her all, and if she walks out with even one ounce of energy left, she knows she screwed up. Laura interviews that she knows Ciera is waiting for the cavalry, so she has to get back in the game for her daughter. So they can both be immediately voted out again? I've yet to hear any of these people give a decent plan for that not happening other than "find the Idol." Which, if it were that easy, wouldn't they have done it already?
Everyone arrives at Redemption Island Arena or whatever they're calling it. Probst has one a much lighter blue shirt than usual. It's a fairly basic challenge: they will put one foot on one end of a balancing board and there is a vase on the other end. If the vase falls, you are out. And first place is the only place that matters.
They all start. Laura's legs look shaky right from the start and she's bobbling all over the place. Tina has her hands clasped under her bent knee for stability. Fifteen minutes elapse and Probst comments on how hot it is as Hayden wipes sweat from his eyes. Laura nearly falls and has to hop around to keep her vase on. I don't know how it's not falling. She manages to pull it back together, and I don't know how. Hayden continues to get blinky as sweat runs into his eyes; he twitches and his vase falls.
So now it's down to Laura and Tina and Laura has the audacity to ask Tina to let her win. WHAT? Why would Tina do that? I can't believe she asked that. I guess she's desperate because she's really struggling. Tina immediately says, "No way, sister. I love you? But this is a million dollar challenge, honey." Good for you, Tina. I mean, she beat her own daughter for this chance; she's not just going to hand it to Laura now. Laura continues to bob all over the place while Tina is rock solid. Thirty minutes elapses. Probst has to emphasize that these are "two moms, battling it out." If it were Gervase versus Brad would he say, "Two dads, battling it out"? He wouldn't. Tina has a bobble and her vase tips up onto its edge and then clunks back down. Laura bobbles some more and eventually her vase tips and falls. Tyson hugs Ciera in the stands, as does Monica. Tina whoops it up and then apologizes to Laura, who says it's fine.
Probst gets his last chance to make everyone cry. He asks Hayden how this is different from winning Big Brother. Other than the part where he didn't win? Hayden says he appreciates his family and his girlfriend even more. He hugs Laura (who will be following him in like five minutes) and leaves as everyone applauds. I hope Hayden returns. He showed some great gameplay there near the end.
Probst moves on to Laura and asks her if she sees this experience as a success or a failure. Laura says that she's always told her kids to finish strong, and she didn't do that. Probst gives Laura a little lecture on parenting and how it's more important to put forth every effort, no matter what the result. It's a good lesson, but also soooo condescending. Like, just let Laura be sad and upset right now, maybe? Ciera tells Laura that she's amazing and has shown how to be a good friend, woman and mother. Laura tells Probst that she can't feel like she lost after hearing that. Everyone applauds Laura's exit, as they should. I mean, she almost survived being voted out TWICE. She won a ton of Redemption Island challenges. If she were a dude, Probst would be campaigning to have her back season. But remember how he said they haven't had as many female returnees because there just aren't as many female memorable players? Huh. Anyway, Probst caps it off by giving the HII clue to Tina. She exaggeratedly tucks it in her bra and joins her tribe as they head back to camp.
Once they get back, everyone welcomes Tina and congratulates her on her challenge win. Is it me or is this group way more supportive of one another than any other season we've seen? I mean, this close to the end with the lines pretty clearly drawn, it seems like usually people tend to stick to their alliances and offer token niceties if any. I don't know if it's because of the large number of returning players who had relationships outside of the game or the tribal shake-up that allowed people to get to know others more or what. I like it. I like that they all acknowledge they are playing a game and playing hard, but it's not personal. It frees people up to make big moves and we the viewers don't have to suffer through all the namby-pamby, "Oh, I don't want to hurt their feelings!" bullshit.
Anyway, Tina interviews that she's thrilled to be back in the game and she knows about the strong alliance of three. Tina's plan is to either find the Idol or talk Monica into joining with her and Ciera. Yeah, you might want to concentrate on the latter. Anyway, the other three go off to get water or whatever and Tina shares her clue with Ciera. Tina reads the clue and immediately scales a tree while Ciera stays on the ground, squinting into the sky. Ciera interviews that Tina is amazing, especially for her age, scampering around the tree. I think Tina's in the right tree, but of course, there's no Idol since Tyson has it. Once Tina is back on the ground, Ciera says that there's a chance that Tyson already found the Idol.
Ciera interviews that Tina was probably her last choice to return to the game, but she doesn't have much choice but to work with her and try to get Monica to join them. Tyson goes to get water while Gervase chills in the hammock, so Tina and Ciera talk to Monica. Tina flat out asks her if she's sticking with the guys, and Monica says that she's willing to listen to what the women have to offer. So that's the second time that Monica has implied that she might leave her alliance.
Tina's weird tactic is to tell Monica that everyone on the jury is pissed at her and they think she's not loyal. First of all, now you've got Monica in panic mode and second of all, she's going to prove her loyalty by flipping on the alliance she's had since early days? A rare social game misstep by Tina. Ciera recovers nicely for them by suggesting that Monica could emphasize her challenge wins and then says that she changed things up to show the jury that she wasn't just Tyson's minion. Ciera interviews that you have to appeal to Monica's ego, be nice to her and make her feel like she's making the decision on her own. So dealing with Monica is like dealing with my preschoolers. Got it. Ciera tells Monica that if she doesn't make a move, she won't get any jury votes, but if she does she could win. Monica interviews that Tina and Ciera talked to her for an hour, and she doesn't know yet which direction she will take. So there's the third time Monica implied that she might make a move. And this was in an interview, so it's not like she was just pretending for strategic purposes.
Immunity Challenge. This is an interesting one because I don't see anyone having a particular advantage; it takes skill, but I don't know what particular skill it takes other than patience. Anyway, they each have a wobbly table with a rope they can use to steady it. While holding the rope, they have to walk back and grab blocks, one at a time, from various platforms, then walk back and place the block on the table. If their blocks fall at any time, they have to stop what they are doing and go back and reset, then continue. The first person who gets ten blocks to stand for three seconds wins immunity. The lead changes places many times as one person will get four blocks up and then dump them all, and then another person takes the lead and dumps them all. I wonder if they were required to pick up the blocks in a certain order; it seems like it might make sense to get the ones that are farthest away first, then work your way forward, but everyone does the opposite.
At about the halfway point, Tyson takes the lead and never looks back. He has developed this slow and steady style of walking and pulling his rope that looks hilarious but obviously works. He reminds me of The Gentlemen from the "Hush" episode of Buffy. But he goes on to win the challenge, so I guess he has the last laugh. He asks if he can kneel down as if being knighted when Jeff puts the necklace on him, and Jeff agrees. I mean, who wouldn't want that? Tyson interviews that he never thought he'd win immunity so late in the game, but he's not going to celebrate yet because the game is still on.
When they return to camp, Tyson resets for us: he has both the immunity necklace and the Idol. He would like to keep the Idol as a souvenir, and now he has to determine who his alliance will be voting out tonight: Tina or Ciera. So Tyson, Gervase and Monica head down the beach to discuss their vote. Gervase makes the case that it's more like that he can beat Tina, because Ciera made a big move in the game, plus she's a young mother who's never won before. Monica doesn't want to potentially go up against Tina because she didn't have to vote out any of the jury members, since she was on Redemption Island. She has no blood on her hands and Ciera does. Tyson says that he doesn't want to make the choice, and he wants them to decide. What he doesn't say to them -- but he does in an interview -- is that he's hoping to take some of the heat off himself since he's already being accused of running the game.
Monica and Gervase have a private discussion about what to do. Gervase makes the case that Ciera is a liar and manipulator so she needs to go. Neither of them is discussing the two major factors here: who has a better chance of winning the final immunity (hint: probably not Ciera, who has only one won challenge all season) and if that happens, who will the jury vote for. I mean, sit down on the beach and make marks in the sand thinking about who would vote for Tina over you and who would vote for Ciera over you and use that to make your decision. Gervase's argument makes no sense. Who cares if Ciera's a liar? Good! Use that against her with the jury. Monica sticks to her guns and Gervase thinks she's talking nonsense and starts getting a little loud (whisper loud) and physically intense, putting his hands on Monica's shoulders. It makes me really uncomfortable; I can only imagine how Monica feels.
Anyway, in an interview, Monica claims that she's been bullied this whole game. I don't think she knows what bullying is. To me, bullying is constant physical and emotional threats. Who has threatened her? She took some heat in the early Tribal Councils because she wouldn't stop talking strategy and it made people think she was a loose cannon, but that was hardly bullying. I think Monica has lived a life of privilege, to say the least. Anyway, she cries a little bit and says that Gervase had better be nice to her since they're in an alliance, because he needs her. So there's the fourth time that Monica has implied that she might flip on her alliance. Again, in an interview.
Tina and Ciera sit in the shelter and discuss how they didn't win immunity when they needed it. Monica suggests that they do still have an option, since Gervase doesn't have immunity. So there's the sixth time that she suggested that she might flip, although you could argue she didn't mean it and was just doing it for strategic reasons. What strategy, though? She doesn't need to lie about the vote, because Tina and Ciera don't have the numbers. I guess she's just keeping her options open? Anyway, Tina wonders if Tyson has the Idol and would give it to Gervase, since Tyson already has immunity and tonight is the last night it can be played. Monica doesn't think he would use it, because they don't suspect that Monica might vote out Gervase. Tina interviews that tonight is the last night that Monica can make a move, and Tina would love to see it happen. Monica doesn't actually tell them that she'll vote with them; she just agrees with everything they say. Monica interviews that tonight is her night to make a strategic move and she's going to own it. So there's the eighth time that Monica implied that she was going to flip on her alliance. She vows to make her voting choice based on what's best for her and her alone.
Tribal Council. Probst confirms that Tina has aligned with Ciera and then asks Monica how her day has been. Monica says she feels like a first-round draft pick. I am momentarily distracted by a quick shot of Hayden, who has shaved off his beard and now just has an awesome moustache and is still wearing a tank top. He looks like he belongs in a Queen video from 1981. Anyway, Monica says that the girls came to her and suggested that they "take out the villains." Gervase says that he doesn't know how he's the villain, because he's played the game just like everyone else sitting there and he's been true to his alliance. It's true; he's not a villain. This season doesn't really have a villain (except maybe Colton). He's winning, and people don't like getting beat.
Ciera says that her pitch is that the guys have always told her that Monica is an easy vote and will do what they say. Tyson rolls his eyes and shakes his head at Monica. Ciera makes a stronger pitch, which is that you need to make a big move to get jury votes and there's no bigger move than to get rid of the villain of the game. I don't think this villain thing has traction; people seem to like both Tyson and Gervase. Maybe get rid of the person who's running the game. I also don't think it's true that you have to make big moves to win. Tyson hasn't really made any big moves other than maybe blindsiding Aras. Tyson finally defends himself against Ciera's accusations by saying that he's never claimed to control Monica and if he said, "I've got Monica," he just meant that he's aligned with her and he trusts her and they will vote together.
Probst asks Monica how she can figure out who to believe, and Monica says that the last twenty-four hours have been extremely difficult because the arguments are "breaking down Monica." Do you know that you ARE Monica? Just checking. Also, if Monica had just stopped pretending she was going to vote out Gervase, no one would have bothered her. Instead, she strung Tina and Ciera along all day, so of course they kept checking in with her, and of course Tyson and Gervase felt like they had to check in with her as well. I think Monica likes the attention and I don't see how anyone has broken her down. Then Monica claims that tonight is going to be all about her and she's going to make her strategic move and she keeps referring to herself in the third person. When she says that, Tyson gets a look on his face like, "OH SHIT." And who could blame him?
Probst notes to Gervase that those are scary words and Gervase admits that his heart just dropped out of his chest. Time to vote! Everyone votes and then Probst notes that if anyone has the Idol, tonight is the last night to play it. Tyson passes his Idol to Gervase, who plays it, so no votes against him will count. Probst reads the votes: two for Gervase, which don't count, and two for Ciera. That's enough. In Ciera's exit interview, she talks about how she made it much further than she thought she would, and she went out fighting and did all she could. As she speaks, we see the voting and Monica did vote for Ciera. So after ALL that talk about making a move and ALL that talk about how she was tired of being bullied, she voted with her alliance anyway. And the best part is, she didn't even convince them to vote out who she wanted to vote out. So she was useless, as usual. How can she even have a prayer of winning any jury votes? Unless the jury just hates Tyson and Gervase so much that they vote for her by default?
They return to camp and Tina confesses that she was shocked by the vote, because she was sure she was going home. She interviews that now her only shot is winning immunity. She really has no argument. Gervase and Tyson won't flip on each other, and no one wants to take Tina to Tribal over someone else in the alliance. Monica mocks Gervase a little for playing an Idol, but Tina says she expected it. Monica interviews that she was blindsided that Gervase played an Idol, because he would have had to if they really trusted her. OH MY GOD! All she did in the days leading up to Tribal Council was talk about how she was thinking about voting out Gervase and she was going to make a big move and she was mad at Gervase for bullying her and she was feeling inner turmoil and wanted to die inside. Than AT TRIBAL, she said she was going to make a big move that would help her alone and prove she was capable of being strategic. All of that only telegraphed, "I am going to vote for Gervase." And then she gets mad when he played an Idol just in case? As insurance? When it was Tyson's last possible chance to use the Idol anyway, so why not use it? She is oblivious. Anyway, she interviews that her strategy is to win the final immunity so that she can be in control of her own destiny. Again, is she talking about actually making a move here? Or just more blathering with no point?
The morning, Tina sits alone on a cliff and watches the sunrise. It's pretty great. You know, if you like that sort of thing. Beautiful things. She interviews that she's proud to be there on Day 38, but she also knows that the only way she has a chance to make the finals is if she wins immunity. Tina returns to camp and Monica asks her about the sunrise and they appear very chummy. Tyson watches them, nervous. Tyson and Gervase agree that today's challenge is do or die.
The final four head to the final immunity challenge. It's quite elaborate, as is befitting the final challenge. There's a giant wooden theme park built on the beach. Probst explains that the contestants will need to travel to various parts of the structure to retrieve bags of puzzle pieces, then carrying only two at a time, climb up a huge flight of stairs to drop off the bags. Then they get to slide down a gigantic water slide to go retrieve more bags. Once all six bags are retrieved, they can start solving the puzzle, which will be a clue to a combination to open a lock and raise a flag. The first one with the flag raised wins. This is somewhat reminiscent of the late-stage challenge that Cochran won.
Probst reminds them how crucial this challenge is and then tells them to get started and everyone takes off. There are basically six spokes, and each spoke requires a different mode of travel: one is jumping on a net, one is a balance beam type, one is climbing across a wooden grid and my very favorite requires sitting in a little wooden boat and using a rope to propel yourself over to a platform. They all grab bags and start running up the stairs. Gervase and Monica are together and Gervase is about to pass her, so he calls out "On your left." Instead of moving over, Monica gives him an elbow to the sternum. Twice. I kind of loved that.
My other favorite thing is how Tyson goes down the water slide. Instead of sitting at the top and pushing off, he just leaps up into the air so he lands mid-slide. It's a pretty amazing athletic feat. By the time everyone has four bags of pieces, Tina is way behind. Gervase, Monica and Tyson all end up starting the puzzle at about the same time; Probst can't help but keep talking about how Tina is doing awful at this challenge. I mean, he doesn't say that, but it's implied. Tina finally catches up and starts the puzzle way behind.
The puzzle is not that difficult. It's mostly long strips of wood with sentences on them, with the top half of the letters on one strip and the bottom halves on the other. So you just have to match them up. Tyson is first to finish the puzzle. He reads it and sees that he needs to know how many pieces in the puzzle, how many stairs in the stairway, and how many letters on the runway up to the flag. He counts puzzle pieces and then runs down to count the stairs. He returns and spins the dials to display the correct numbers, then pulls out the key and raises his flag. Tyson wins final immunity; he didn't win by a little bit, either. No one else had even finished his or her puzzle.
Everyone congratulates Tyson as he gets his immunity necklace. Tina interviews that she's disappointed that she didn't win, so now her only move is to present Monica with the idea of making it a tie vote, which is yet another chance for Monica to make a big move and impress the jury. That will probably happen, right? We all know Monica is all action and no talk, instead of the opposite!
They return to camp and Tina notes that it's the first time they're really seen celebration from Tyson. He's grinning ear-to-ear and it's the first time in a long time we've seen that too. You don't realize how seriously the normally-goofy Tyson is taking this game until he starts smiling again. Tyson interviews that he's never made it this far in the game before, and it's one of the best days in his life.
Monica laughs about how she checked Gervase on the stairs, but Gervase interviews that it kind of made him mad because they had a common goal: anyone but Tina. Gervase and Tyson have a small celebration together that they made it to the end. Gervase interviews that they just need to vote out Tina, which should be a foregone conclusion, so now he's thinking about what he will tell the jury.
Gervase talks to Tina, kind of testing out his jury speech. He says that his goal was always just to get to the end of the game by being himself. He adds that he hasn't intentionally been mean or hurt anyone. Monica, standing nearby, smirks and rolls her eyes. See, this is why people think she's fake. Right here. She acts like she loooooooves everyone and she's never anything but nice, and yet here she is rolling her eyes at Gervase instead of speaking up and telling him that she thinks he's wrong. You can't have it both ways.
Hey, you know what Monica hasn't done in a while? Pretended like she's actually going to do something interesting. So she interviews that she needs to be on her A game (now?) and maybe she'll write down Gervase's name at Tribal Council. She talks to Tina and explains how angry she was that Tyson gave Gervase the Idol. Tina says that her only play at this point is if she and Monica vote Gervase, knowing that Gervase and Tyson will vote for Tina. That would mean a tie and in the final Tribal, that would mean that Tina and Gervase would have to build a fire. Tina is pretty confident she could beat Gervase at that challenge. Everyone is pretty confident Tina could beat Gervase at that challenge.
Monica asks Tina about Gervase's chances in front of a jury. Tina thinks Gervase is very likable and people tend to like him more than they like Tyson, so he might be unbeatable. Seriously? With this crew? I think this jury is going to respect gameplay over all. They all seemed to understand that it's a game; they don't seem majorly bitter, at least now like we've seen in the past. Anyway, it's smart of Tina to claim that, but I don't know if even she buys what she's selling. Monica interviews that she could vote Gervase and sort of smack him down for how he's treated her, as well as make a big move in front of the jury. The downside is that then she'd be going up against Tina and she doesn't know if she could beat her. She can't. But she can't beat Gervase either, so why not go with the more interesting move? I would at least try it. But Monica honestly thinks she played a better game than Tyson and Gervase. It's interesting in this conversation how neither of them mentions Tyson as a jury threat, when I think he's the BIGGEST jury threat.
Tribal Council. Probst starts out by asking Tina what her strategy is, since she's clearly the one on the chopping block. Tina says that she needed to win immunity, and when she didn't, she had to go to Plan B: work Monica. Probst thinks Monica's alliance is over based on the fact that she checked Gervase during the challenge. Gervase admits that he was surprised. Probst thinks Monica is saying that all bets are off and she's here to win. Monica says that she's been in "pole position" in the last three Tribals (cue eye rolls from Ciera and Hayden, who've heard this song and dance before). Monica says that Tina asked her to vote Gervase and force a tie.
Probst asks Tina what would be in that for Monica. Tina says that everyone is trying to figure out not only HOW to get to the finals, but WHO they want to sit to at the finals. Probst asks Gervase is that scares him, and Gervase admits it does. And then Gervase does the weirdest/dumbest thing. Probst asks if there's still a sense that big moves can sway a jury at this late date. Gervase says that big moves do tend to impress jury members, so making a big move can be a winning ticket. Does he realize that he's arguing for Monica to vote for him at this point? That's the big move they are talking about? Sometimes I feel like Gervase doesn't really understand how the game works.
Anyway, after all that talk about making a big move, Monica does nothing. She votes for Tina, so Tina goes home 3-1. The jury looks bummed; I think they were all hoping to vote for Tina to win.
The morning, Monica, Gervase and Tyson get their finalists breakfast, complete with mimosas. And bacon. Tyson interviews that he never thought he'd make it this far and now he has to figure out what to tell the jury. Monica interviews that she made it without Brad, and the woman who gave her life for others did it for herself. Gervase interviews that he's come full circle from the first season, and the game was totally different than the last time he played, but he made it to the finals. He's confident in his ability to convince the jury to award him the win. We shall see.
Hey, they didn't do the March of the Fallen Survivors. While I despise that segment, it is easy to recap. Anyway, the finalists head to Tribal Council. The jury is seated. Probst congratulates the finalists for making it as far as they can go in the game and gives his usual speech viz-à-viz power shifts to jury.
Opening statements. I get why they do this, but I wonder how much what people say influences the jury's votes. I feel like they come in knowing who they will vote for. I'd like to see some interviews with former castmates who could confirm or deny that. Gervase thinks he used the best of old school and new school Survivor. He compares himself to an athlete who played his rookie season, took thirteen years off, then came back and played at a high level. That's a terrible comparison, but okay. Gervase thinks his new school strategies included blindsides, none of which were really his idea. He takes credit for blindsiding Aras. I'm pretty sure Tyson was the one who organized that, but okay.
Monica's up . Okay, here's what Monica SHOULD say. I wanted to play a game of loyalty while protecting my own interests. I made an alliance early on, and I stayed true to it until the end. I fought hard and won three immunity challenges. I contributed around camp. I tried to get to know the other players. And when we had to vote someone out, I worked with my alliance to figure out who that should be. Perhaps because I wasn't as vocal as Tyson or Gervase, it looked to some people like I was a follower. But my word is my bond, and I intended to stay true to my alliance to the end and I did that. I think you should vote for me for my loyalty, my ability to create and keep a strong alliance and my ability to win immunity challenges.
Instead, here's what she goes with. She starts by denying that she was "drug" along like a dog to the finals and that's not true. I know that it's her dialect, but what's wrong with dragged? Monica claims that she didn't take any of the chances she had to make a move because she wanted to sit with Tyson and Gervase in the finals because she has "less blood on her hands and less broken promises" (she means fewer). I think what's she's trying to say is that she knew she couldn't beat Katie, Ciera, Hayden or Tina, so it didn't make sense to her to go with any of them to the finals. She should just come out and say that instead of alluding to it.
Tyson is the final speaker. He knew he would be a huge target, so he decided to have as much fun as possible as long as he could. But that changed when he let Rachel go to Redemption Island and didn't take her place, even though Rachel was voted out because the other tribe hoped that Tyson would swap with her. Tyson felt that was a sacrifice by Rachel and he wanted to live up to that sacrifice, so at that point he started playing the game hard, blindsiding people, making huge moves, finding both Hidden Immunity Idols and winning the final two immunity challenges. He concludes that everything he did was strategic and not out of malice. It's a good argument and I think it rings true. That's pretty much what we've seen.
Jury time! Vytas is up first. He's the one juror I have pegged as possibly being bitter. He tells Tyson that he did the right thing in knocking out Vytas and Aras because they weren't planning on taking him to the finals. Vytas reminds Tyson that he vowed that Tyson wouldn't get his jury vote, so he feels he has to stick to that. Vytas give Gervase a speech about how old school doesn't work in this game, and he's only there because he linked up with Tyson. Vytas says that he considered Monica a friend and she turned on him in a way the guys never did. So Vytas doesn't know who to vote for. I don't know if I buy that.
Katie, what's your question? She congratulates them all, and then tells Tyson that he said he never did anything out of malice, but when they drew rocks and Katie lost, he turned to her and pointed to the jury and said her seat was over there. Yeah, what was up with that? Tyson has no good explanation other than that he was pumped with adrenaline from drawing rocks and his mouth got ahead of his brain, but he apologizes because he recognizes it was a shitty thing to do.
Caleb asks Gervase what his game-changing move was. Gervase says that it was probably voting out Aras. He adds that he knows it looked like Tyson was behind a lot of moves, but that was by design; Gervase was able to call the shots without putting a target on his back. Was he? Or did Tyson just let him think he was calling the shots? Because from what we saw, it seemed like the latter.
Then Caleb starts a trend with the jury, where he asks Monica to show some vulnerability. I really did not get this on first viewing, but after mulling it over, I think I get it. I think we all know someone like this. Someone who is always nice, who always sacrifices, who if we're honest is kind of a doormat, someone who has subsumed their own wants and needs and desires to those of others for so long that they don't have any left, it seems. And you just KNOW that person has something else going on: some pent-up anger, some sarcasm, some bitchery, some deep need for a show of gratitude. But you just never see it and never see it until you start to wonder if the person is just a robot with no personality, because it's not human. So I think that's what the jury is asking for from Monica -- some sign that she's not a robot.
Monica starts crying and says that she really wants this, because she's never had anything for herself. And she's proud of herself and she hopes they're proud of her, because she's felt like she didn't have a friend since Brad left. She says that she wanted to make it to the end and win so that she could have a title other than Brad's wife and her kids' mom.
Ciera says that she called Tyson a villain and she wants to know if he sees himself as the hero or the villain. Tyson says he doesn't think he's a villain because every decision he made was based on strategy and not personality. So he would look at numbers, what could happen down the road, challenge wins and make his decisions based on that, not whether or not he liked someone.
Ciera asks Gervase if he ever planned to vote out Tyson. Gervase says that he considered it and it was in his plans, but when the time came, he thought that if he flipped and went with Ciera and Hayden, they would vote him out as soon as Tyson was gone.
Laura says that she doesn't know who Monica is, like Laura knows that she can be prickly and hard to be around and that's her vulnerability. She wants to hear something like that from Monica. Good point; instead of playing the victim all of the time, like, "I don't know why everyone is so meeeeeeean to me! I'm nothing but nice!" Monica needs to look at herself and see what her own faults are instead of projecting them on others. Anyway, Monica starts crying and says that everyone was really mean to her and told her that she's boring, but she stuck it out and fought. Monica still doesn't get why people don't like her. I don't think she ever will.
Tina is up . She asks them to give her only one word to describe the core of who they are. Monica says generous. Gervase says way more than one word but his answer is honorable. Tyson asks if fun-loving is one word or two. Everyone laughs. Everyone loves Tyson.
Hayden asks Tyson if he had the Idol when he drew rocks, and Tyson admits that he did, and he found it in the bird's nest in the tree. Hayden says he loves Monica and Brad. Monica says, "And I MADE HIM!" Whoa. That was a little creepy. If you don't like being the wind beneath someone else's wings, maybe don't marry a professional athlete. And maybe don't take him on a reality show with you. Anyway, Hayden says that people perceive Monica as fake and that's why she gets beat up. Monica cries again and says she doesn't know what they want, and she feels like a target. She whines, "Have you all never met a nice person? Have you all never met someone who isn't selfish? Have you all never met a NEAT LADY?" See. Right there. What human being under the age of 60 calls herself a NEAT LADY? What is that about? Monica and Hayden finally agree to have dinner and coffee after the game is over, so that was weird.
Aras tells them to soak in the moment, because it's the best. He has the best question of the night in terms of getting actual useful information. He makes each of them tell him who they would vote for if they were on the jury. Gervase says Tyson, because he played a great game, strategically. Monica says she would vote for Tyson, hands-down, because he found two idols and he won the last two challenges. Tyson says he would have to choose Monica because when the tribes split, even though they had an alliance, Monica kept her distance and was able to gather information from other people and bring it back to him. Nice that he made his reason for choosing Monica, "She was a good lapdog. She retrieved what I asked her to."
Time to vote! Caleb votes for Tyson and Vytas votes for Monica (while telling her, "You're a little bit annoying, but you're a real strong woman."). Probst gathers the votes and thanks everyone for a great season.
Probst walks into the reunion with the vat of votes, and joins the jury and the finalists on stage. We'll get into Tyson's hair in the reunion recap. Let's let Probst read the votes first. Monica gets the one vote from Vytas. All of the rest go to Tyson. When Tyson realizes what's happening, he starts crying and Monica hugs him. As Probst proclaims Tyson the winner, he jumps up and hugs Monica and Gervase and just sobs. He really wanted this. I don't know that I've ever seen another contestant who so openly wanted to win. Tyson is joined by Rachel, and they head out to the audience to hug Tyson's friends and family. Good for him. He earned it.
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