Surviving Vanuatu, the Finale: Apologies ‘R’ Us

It’s finally that time – the end of a Survivor season. It seems like just yesterday when we first saw the women shoved aside at a traditional ceremony – the last time they would be pushed aside during this season! Chris caused the men to lose the first immunity challenge – but ended up being the last man standing. Yes, it was a season of irony.

But all of that is in the past. I won’t recap it for you again – I’ve been doing so the entire season (well, except last week, when the local CBS affiliate decided that the #1 University of Illinois Fighting Illini basketball game would go on as scheduled – and Mike DeGeorge ably stepped into these shoes). If you want to read up on what happened previous, I suggest you go to our Survivor page, which lists all of our articles on the series – including recaps, tons of commentary, and interviews with almost every contestant, most recently including Ami.

Now, though, it’s time to look ahead. We’re at the Final Four. Chris made a decision that many people disagreed with last week. Now we can put some of those arguments to rest, because we’re going to see what actually happens. Will he make it to the Final Two? Will the three women band together despite some intense feelings between Eliza and the other two? What will the jurors have to say about all this? Who will be the Sole Survivor?

It’s the night after Tribal Council and Eliza is whining that she had been so happy when she cast her vote because she thought Twila was actually going. Chris tells us that Julie had it coming – she pulled a fast one on him after the merge and he got her back.

As three of them are around the fire and Twila is a little ways off, apparently messing with the hammock, Chris tells Eliza that it’s all part of the game. She says she knows, but she has never told anybody that they don’t deserve to be there. Twila chimes in that Eliza doesn’t deserve to be there. The only reason she’s still there is that she was riding coattails since Day 1. She has done nothing.

Eliza retorts that she’s rubber and Twila’s glue, and anything she says will bounce back and stick to her. Nyah! Well, not quite in those words, but essentially. Twila says at least she’s played the game and worked hard. Eliza points out that she has won the most rewards and maybe she’s playing the game by resting up for the challenges. She says that if Twila had conserved her energy maybe she could have done well at challenges, and then adds, “Probably not, but maybe.” Heh, gotta give her points for that one.

Twila and Scout go to sleep, but Eliza keeps on complaining to Chris. She says it kills her to think of either of the other women in the finals. Chris says not to worry, it’s all going to work out, but Julie was not the answer. Eliza asks if he is still loyal to her, and he assures her that he is and she’ll see. She says she believes him. Um, why? Let’s say he is loyal to her – so what? The best they can do is force a tie, which isn’t terribly helpful. His best bet is to dump her at the next vote, and I have to wonder if she realizes that.

Eliza does seem to have an inkling that maybe she should be skeptical, but he keeps telling her to have faith. She asks if he thinks he can get one of them to turn on the other. He tells her this is not the time to talk about it. To me this says, “Shut up because I have no answers and just want you to believe me so I don’t have to keep lying.”

The next morning, Eliza tells us that the way voting will line up is pretty clear, so she needs immunity. If she doesn’t get immunity, she prays Chris does. OK, the only way this all makes sense is if the following is the case: First, Chris told us about tie-breakers a couple episodes ago. I think the producers would have only included that if a tie was going to come at some point – otherwise, why bother? The way he explained it is that if the tie does not get broken, the people who are targeted get immunity and everybody else is vulnerable to the Purple Rock of Death. However, a dedicated RNO reader e-mailed to say that a post-show interview with one of the other players indicated that the immunity holder also retains immunity. If that is indeed true, then if either Eliza or Chris wins immunity and their alliance holds, that means they can get rid of whomever they want, even though they don’t have a numeric advantage. They simply vote for either Twila or Scout and then the one they don’t vote for will get the boot because the person with immunity will be immune and the person Scout and Twila target will be immune. Nice, huh? Let’s see if that is indeed the case.

Time for the immunity challenge – the first-ever Survivor vertical maze. They have to go up and through a bamboo ladder maze collecting 10 pairs of wooden tiles, one at a time. This will give them ten letters, from which they have to give a two-word answer.

And they’re off! Chris heads up high, Twila down low. Scout kind of saunters in – she knows she doesn’t have a chance. Twila gets back to her station with her first pair; Chris has his and is bringing it down. Eliza can’t find one but then follows Twila – Twila gets her second and Eliza her first.

Scout has her first. Chris has his second, as does Eliza. Twila gets her third and is really moving! OK, enough of the play-by-play, which has got to be rather boring to read. I’ll give you the highlights.

The three in contention (let’s forget about Scout) each have five. Chris pulls into the lead at six, but then Twila takes it back at seven. Chris takes the lead back at nine, with Twila close behind.