Recaps

Survivor Recap: Is There Any Other Choice?

survivor finale recap 2014

survivor finale recap 2014

After two huge moves (and an Idol in her pocket), Natalie’s got this locked up, right?

Immediately after tribal council, Jaclyn went on the offensive and could not believe that Natalie betrayed her. Well when you said at tribal council that you and Jon weren’t going anywhere, you essentially sealed your fate with that idiotic statement. I get Jon was your boyfriend and your alliance turned on you and sent you packing, but this is the game of Survivor. When someone stands in the way of you and $1 million, they gotta go. Natalie saw Jon as a threat and set into motion his exit. It was Jon and Jaclyn’s fault for feeling to comfortable and not taking into consideration the massive target they had on their back.

With Missy’s bum foot, her hopes in the game rested on Natalie and Missy, but to be honest, Missy has been a non-factor in challenges so her sitting out would provide the same outcome as if she were competing. Jaclyn might as well sit down with Missy. She too has been terrible when it comes to challenge. She never really had to try seeing she had Jon to essentially carry her as far as he did.

But it looked like Natalie’s decision to vote out Alec was starting to haunt her. Keith edged her out during the reward challenge, gained an advantage at the next immunity challenge and sent Jaclyn back to Exile Island. Well done Keith. Your social and strategic game was horrible, but you’ve been kicking ass in challenges and that’s enough to score votes.

What was Keith’s advantage? He got to find out what the challenge was, figured out how it worked and got as much time as he wanted to practice it. Talk about an advantage. But would he be able to benefit from it? And he did. The others didn’t stand a chance. With Keith (and Natalie) a lock for the final four, it was either Missy, Baylor or Jaclyn to go home.

Who do you choose?

Honestly, either one of them could go. It’s Natalie and Keith’s game to win and third place was up for grabs between the rest. But it all comes down to jury votes. Something Keith needs to start considering and something Natalie should already be thinking about. She doesn’t have Jon’s vote and sending Jaclyn’s to the jury will mean another person won’t vote for her. If she makes a “big move” and splits up Baylor and Missy, then she could potentially be down three jury votes. It’s a risky move, but did she really need to do it.

“Jaclyn, did you vote for who I told you to vote for?” Talk about ballsy. Natalie took a HUGE risk in aligning with Jaclyn, saving her with his immunity idol, sealing Baylor’s fate. It was nice to hear that Baylor wasn’t mad at her move, but something tells me that Missy will not be too impressed.

Back at Tribal Council, like Baylor, Missy understood Natalie’s gameplay, but was sad that her fate in the game rested in Keith, Jaclyn and Natalie. Meanwhile, Natalie assured Jaclyn that her plan was to take her and Missy to the end. They HAD to get rid of Keith. He had valid points for winning the $1 million prize and with him out of the way, that cheque was as good as Natalie’s.

At the final immunity challenge, Jaclyn was at the rear and it was looking like it would be between Keith and Natalie, but she chugged through and stole the win from behind. She’s secured a spot in the final three and only one spot was up for grabs and it was between Natalie and Keith.

The vote comes down to Missy and Jaclyn. Either way, both were going to lose to Natalie and Keith. Natalie played the better strategic game and Keith won challenges. However, Natalie was behind sending both of their loved ones home. Sure, Natalie saved Jaclyn at the previous tribal council, but would Jaclyn return the favour and save her?

Jaclyn and Missy were going back and forth between who to vote out: Keith or Natalie. And in the end, Keith’s charm and immunity challenge supremacy was enough to send him to the jury and to his son. The girls voted as a unit to send him home, meaning the idea to vote out Natalie was never going to be an option.. even after Natalie practically said she was going to win the show.

This two hour finale pretty much summed up that none of these people (except for Natalie, Josh and Jeremy) were thinking long term and what the ramifications of their decisions would be. If they did, Natalie should’ve been sent packing after Jeremy.

It was time for the jury to have their say.

This is Natalie’s game to win. After her closest ally Jeremy was blindsided without her knowledge, she took control of the game, sent home Jon and Baylor and somehow managed to get Jaclyn and Missy (the people’s whose loved ones got blindsided) to take her to the final three. Cut. Her. The. Cheque.

Natalie made her case saying that the girls made the wrong choice and should’ve took Keith to the end. She went on to say that she outwit, outplayed and outlasted everyone by making moves when she had to do them. As for Jaclyn, she brought up her inability to have children. I get it. It sucks. But what exactly does that have to do with you making a case for seven people to hand you a $1 million? Did you infertility help you win challenges? No. Did it help you find idols? Hells no. Did it help you make strategic moves? Nope. So why bring it up during your opening speech?

Here were some of the highlights from the final tribal council:

  • Jeremy addressing the jury, telling them that Natalie was the only person to vote for. They shouldn’t be mad that she outplayed them because that was the nature of the game. He urged them to vote for the person who played the game the best, which was Natalie.
  • All the cutaways to Alec and his open mouth. Did he not know it was open… that entire time?
  • “She got kicked out first and mine is going to be the last to go out.” – Natalie’s answer to Wes about playing the game without her loved one for 36 days and how poetic it would be that she was voted out first and she was voted the winner.
  • Reed’s comments to Missy. We all knew that they didn’t get along, but Reed took his time to equate Missy to the evil stepmother depicted in fairy tales. He said she did everything to make sure her daughter advanced in the game, got things she didn’t deserve (people giving up their reward to her) and talking down to the minority alliances who now made up the people who have to pick the winner. While it was a little overdramatic (and made Baylor cry), Reed had a point about Missy.

We all knew that Baylor was voting for Missy, Jon was voting for Jaclyn and Jeremy was voting for Natalie, but what about the other five? With a vote of 4-2-1, Natalie was rightfully crowned the winner of Survivor. It looks like it was three times a charm for her to win a CBS reality competition series.

 

 

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