Surviving the All-Star Reunion: Emotion Runs Hot, Jerri Runs Away

So you’ve read all about the two hours and ten minutes of Sunday night’s Survivor finale in my recap, Surviving the All-Stars, the Finale: Relationships Broken, Relationships Created. Now it’s time to move on to the reunion portion where everybody can air their feelings. And how.

Remember that I was actually in the live audience, so I’ll be bringing you a few extra tidbits that you didn’t get to see on TV. Let’s go!

Host Jeff Probst starts by asking Rob if Amber earned the win or if she coattailed it or was his partner. He hesitates as he thinks about how to answer this loaded question about his new fiancé, and then says it was a little bit of both. She definitely helped with the decisions, and they consulted as a team. He gives her all the credit in the world.

Probst switches to Amber and notes that at the beginning, it was strategy rather than romance. So why Rob? She says that coming into the game, she couldn’t stand Rob, and he didn’t like her either. So it would be perfect to pick somebody who nobody would expect her to ally herself with. Besides, he has a big mouth and a temper, so he can take the bullets and they’ll forget about her. (In other words, the same strategy she employed last time, with Jerri as the big mouth taking bullets.)

Time to focus on the rock on her finger. Niiiice. Probst says Rob did one thing right.

Was Rob aware that he was taking the bullets for Amber? Yes, and it was kind of planned. Although they made people mad, he knew that once they got to the Final 2, the jury would have to vote for one of them. He was hoping they would see that he was the one taking the chances and reward him for it.

Probst next starts to ask Rupert why they didn’t vote out Rob and Amber, but doesn’t even get half the question out before the crowd breaks into a cheer. As I mentioned in my recap, it was definitely a pro-Rupert audience. They had been cheering for him from the moment he stepped onto the stage (before we went live), and he had been eating it up. So it was no surprise when the cheering began and he let out a Rupert Roar. Or two or three. Probst can only laugh. But he goes back to asking why nobody tried to get rid of Rob and Amber. Rupert says there was a lot of talk about trying to get Rob or Amber out, even between him and Tom, he notes. But nobody really stepped up.

Probst catches on to the comment about Tom and asks if there really was talk between the two of them about getting rid of Rob. Rupert says he talked to Tom about it, but Tom stood behind Rob.

Switching back to Rob, Probst asks why he took Amber instead of Jenna – he might have been able to beat Jenna. But Rob says there was no question. She’d been with her since Day 1 and he didn’t think he could beat either of them. He realized that he’d pissed off just about everybody on the jury, so he was hoping he could maybe get a couple votes. It was actually closer than he expected.

Probst asks who on the jury voted for Amber. Tom, Lex, Alicia, and Shii Ann. If it had been Jenna instead, Shii Ann would have changed her vote. Probst concludes that would have been the difference. Unfortunately, he failed to analyze both sides. Because it’s possible that somebody who voted for Rob could also have changed their vote. For example, Rupert might have voted for his alliance partner Jenna instead. Jenna says that it would have depended on the final Tribal Council and Rob isn’t too eloquent in his speeches.

Moving on to a topic that everybody loves, Probst brings up when Rob asked Lex for the favor of keeping Amber. Lex did it, there was no payback. So, Lex is asked about how he had done the same thing to Colby, Ethan, and Jerri. The crowd applauds. I can’t speak for everybody, but I know I was clapping loudly because Lex needs to be called on his hypocrisy for this point. (After all, it was a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment.) Ethan is certainly nodding at the question. Lex says the difference is that there was never any deal struck between Colby, Ethan, and himself. They didn’t make alliances (sure looked like they had) and there were no promises made. The audience doesn’t like the answer and boos. Lex continues that there can only be one winner of Survivor and they didn’t work into his plan. Um, I think he’s making the case against himself right now. Plus, he didn’t mention Jerri, who most certainly did have an alliance with him.

Probst notices that Rich is shaking his head and asks about it. He says it’s no different from what Rob did. Just because it didn’t work into Lex’s plan doesn’t make it different. He loves them all, but, “It’s a game.” And Lex’s speech about it being more than that is simply not true. When you’re playing chess, you don’t give away something because they are your buddy. The rules are different but it’s a game and he says Lex should have known that going in.

Lex retorts that Survivor is not chess. Rich says it’s just a more complicated game. Probst interrupts to go to a commercial, but we are promised more. And when we get back, Probst picks right back up by comparing Survivor with poker. If you bluff in poker, nobody gets mad. But bluffing is part of Survivor too.

He asks Kathy about whether there was some strategy in their move to keep Amber. She says that obviously they didn’t make the decision in 30 seconds, and they were thinking that they had more options with Amber and Rob might like the favor. She also says that she knows Rob and he asked for that favor “outside the game.” Oh baloney. They were in the game. Rob asked for something dealing with the game. In return he promised to help Lex in the game. She continues that there were several reasons they kept Amber, not just one.

Which is just what Rich needed to hear. He jumps in and says that Kathy just proved his point. She tries to deny it, but he’s right. He says that if it didn’t work into their plans, they wouldn’t have done it. It was a game decision. Go, Rich! He is the King of Survivor for a reason.

Probst says you can argue it differently because everybody draws their lines differently. Eh.