May 13, 2007: And the Winner Is...
Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? Me either. That pretty much sums up
Survivor: Fiji - surprising. While I'm pleased with the winner, this season has been so all over the place that it's fitting that the finale leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. Dreamz reneged, Yau-Man was booted, and Earl won a million dollars. Two of those three things I didn't see coming. Yeah, it's kind of easy to say that you figured Earl would take the whole thing, but to think that Yau-Man would not be sitting next to him at final tribal? No way!
It did make for good television. It was all very
Dynasty, what with all the betrayal, double-crossing and courtroom grandstanding (Alex, I'm talking about you). Early on, and much to my dismay, we lost Boo. He made a good showing in the maze-challenge-from-hell that had castaways navigating dead ends and intermittent drawbridges while blindfolded. But Yau-Man won immunity again and killed any chance of Boo making it past fifth place. I'm not going to lie: Some part of me wanted to see Boo make it to the final four. I'm disappointed that he couldn't work it out, though he did try to sway votes before and during tribal council. I think that's the most we'd seen him speak.
Once down to the final four, it became clear to me that the show was just combing through some ancient torture manuals for these challenges. The castaways were basically hanging from their fingertips on a rack while undergoing water torture. Cassandra and Earl succumbed first, which wasn't a shock. But I figured that Yau-Man, being the slightest of the competitors, would have no trouble "hanging in" to the end. Alas, he couldn't outlast Dreamz, who fought hard to put himself squarely in the tight spot of his own making.
Dreamz "promised to God" that he would give up immunity at final four in exchange for a $60K truck. He took the truck and kept the necklace and tried to excuse this move as playing the game. Not cool. To my eyes, Dreamz wanted to be a man of his word. I believe he agonized over this decision. I saw the tears in his eyes, but heck, a million dollars is a lot of money. It can make people do strange things, which takes us to the final tribal council.
What happens to people in the jury? Is life in isolation so bad that it turns them into fire-breathing lunatics? How about this, Alex: ask a question and accept the supplied answer. It would have been nice if Lisi had curtailed her desire to try to make Dreamz look dumb. It was just silly and mean and it didn't work. Ed, Mookie, are you guys still hung up on that idol thing? That was
so six days ago. After all the ups and downs, this season ending with such an unpleasant tribal council was a letdown. There was way too much anger, and yet for all the bluster, not one jury member held a candle to Sue Hawk's famous diatribe.
Even the live reunion show - which I attended - wasn't all that exciting. Apparently, everyone has made up and is great friends. But the lack of hometown remotes and Dreamz still evading the question about his intentions makes me wonder....
Here's to next season in China. Until then, answer me this. Would you have given Yau-Man the idol? Did Yau-Man maneuver himself out of the finals by setting up this deal?
