Survivor: Cook Islands – Who Will Go and Who Will Win in the Season Finale?

“Wait!” you say, “why isn’t Adam in the picture at the top of this article? Shouldn’t he be there? He’s in the final five!”

Indeed he is, but do you really think he’s going to pull this one out by winning challenges? I’ll bet you one Ozzy and one Yul that he can’t. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s reverse for a moment and look at all of the wonderful possibilities that await us in this final episode.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the promo at the end of the last episode mentioned three remaining Tribal Councils. Despite what our esteemed professor mentioned in his strategic overview, I do not think that the final jury vote is separate from Tribal Council. That means that the first Tribal Council will take our Survivors down to four and the second Tribal Council will take our Survivors down to three. This leaves us for the first time ever with three finalists for final Tribal Council.

In a season when Mark Burnett has been lavishing us with twists (some decent, some excellent), I find this the most satisfying of them all. Now, some of my fellow writers might disagree with me. They’ll argue that by introducing such a drastic element at the endgame eliminates the strategy of a good player.

My argument in return is that a good player must have strategy on two fronts - getting to the endgame and winning over the jury. I believe that anybody who could have made it this far has employed some type of decent strategy (yes, even the under-the-radar kind that you’ve seen from Becky and Sundra). As for winning over the jury, if one plays the game viciously and thinks that he will wing it at the end, he is in for quite a surprise (Jonathan never had a chance).

And unfortunately for all those people who believe that strategy alone can win this game, there’s also a little something called “luck” that plays a huge part in all of this. Just ask former winners Sandra and Amber. Personally, I’m very excited that this new twist will continue the tradition of the primary rule in Survivor - the only thing you can count on is that you can’t count on anything. Adapt.

So where does that leave us? There’s going to be some Survivor chosen from the final three who will win using some combination of strategy and luck. But with three people going up against each other with nine available votes, there lies the possibility of a tie vote to end the game. If it’s 4-4-1, then there shouldn’t be a problem. The errant voter will be pulled aside and told to recast his or her vote for one of the remaining two. However, if there exists a 3-3-3 tie, I’m rather curious to see how the producers resolve it. I would absolutely hate to see a fire-building challenge on The Early Show to determine a winner.

But enough speculation about a tie. Let’s examine the promos:

Number 1: As the number of remaining tribemates dwindles down, one alliance is forced to think about turning on each other. Will this strong alliance finally crumble?

Well, obviously the Aitu four have to turn on each other at some point. In fact, they’ve already suggested doing so in order to eliminate the challenge threat that Ozzy presents. I say they’ll turn on him as soon as he loses a challenge (Adam or no Adam).

Number 2: At the immunity challenge, the Survivors must complete an obstacle course that ends with the most difficult puzzle in Survivor history. Who will capture this all-important victory for a spot in the final four?

Classic obstacle/puzzle joint challenge for the end of the season. I say that Ozzy will breeze through the obstacle parts but get caught up on the puzzle part (as he did in the challenge that Adam won). This means that Adam, Yul, or Becky (Sundra never seems to be in these by the end) will win immunity. But more importantly, it means that Aitu will get (and take) the opportunity to eliminate Ozzy from the game.

Number 3: Endurance is a key factor in the final challenge for immunity. Who will be the last one standing to secure a chance at $1,000,000?

This final challenge is the reason that Yul and crew would need to eliminate Ozzy as soon as possible. Knowing that Ozzy would absolutely crush everyone in an endurance challenge, he had to be eliminated beforehand. The winner of this challenge (it won’t be Adam, trust me; he’s too weak from so many days on Exile) will eliminate Adam, under the mistaken impression that there will be one more challenge before final Tribal Council.

Number 4: The final Survivors battle it out to convince the jury that they are most deserving of the $1,000,000 prize. Who will walk away with the money and the title of Sole Survivor?

This is where I think things will get interesting. The remaining three Survivors will head to Tribal thinking that they need to eliminate one more before the jury votes. Seeing how chummy Sundra and Becky have gotten, I wouldn’t be surprised if they plan on eliminating Yul (whose hidden immunity has lost its power) to go up against each other (both under the correct impression that they stand a better chance against each other than Yul).

However, upon finding out that this is the jury vote, both will be bowled over. Yul has definitely got Jonathan, Adam, Parvati, and Candice’s votes. Brad and Jenny’s votes are in the air due to very early alliances with both Yul AND Becky. Nate and Rebecca’s votes likewise might fluctuate to Sundra for that reason. And Ozzy’s vote could go to any of them. Of course, all Yul has to do is grab any of these airborne votes and he’s got a win. Even without them, he’s likely got the tie. My guess is that he gets at least Ozzy, as well as two other votes. The vote will be 7-2-0 or 7-1-1 in Yul’s favor.

Throw in a fallen Survivor retrospective montage and the reunion show, and you’ve got yourself a season! Thanks, Mark Burnett, for all of the twists! I look forward to Fiji!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

Wesley is a writer and English teacher from Wichita, KS. He’s hoping and praying there isn’t a tie. He can be reached with questions, comments, or snide remarks at Musnud@gmail.com.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recaps and other info on this show at the Survivor: Cook Islands page, and take a look at our The Amazing Race 8 page and our Apprentice: Martha Stewart page. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Survivor, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Survivor: Cook Islands and Survivor Fever!