An “Insider” Look at Survivor: Micronesia's Finale – “I Earned a Spot in the Final Two”

Natalie’s Final Words

Natalie begins by saying, “I feel proud of the group of girls that I finished with.” She respects their play. Natalie says she played the best she could and is proud of how she did – even though she’s usually her own biggest critic.

Natalie has learned that she can actually finish a project she starts. She tends not to do that at home, and drop things easier. But, here, she was the last Fan standing. She stuck it out. They actually had a quitter this season, but it wasn’t her. Natalie pushed herself through levels of discomfort she has never come close to before. She’s bummed she didn’t win immunity today, but she didn’t. “Parvati, party time! What we’re going to do in Vegas will stay in Vegas.” Natalie says Amanda’s great and she loved her talks with Cirie, too.

Okay. What with Natalie’s strange Tribal Council question and her Vegas comment here, I think she really is hoping to get it on with Parvati. One thing you have to say about Parvati, she is one A+ flirt – apparently with members of both genders!

Natalie, The Day After

Natalie begins by saying she got even more fired up in the game after she orchestrated the blindside of Jason. She says it was “executed brilliantly,” and really set her in motion. She also found the three or four hours she had with her mom to be really recharging, emotionally. That gave her the strength to go on. The Erik blindside “made me feel on top of the world.” She can’t believe it happened. “In any normal world that shouldn’t have ever happened. Ever.” Natalie felt like a puppet master, then. She was just having so much fun then.

Going on, Natalie says she started off by playing a subdued, wallflower game. In real life, she’s not at all that way. But she managed to hide herself for 30 days that way. Natalie thinks she can’t even understand how much she learned about herself now. “I know I’ve learned a lot about myself.” But Natalie needs time to sit down with herself and digest it all. She goes on to say how she rolled her eyes hearing other people on Survivor saying it changed her life. But now she understands. Her fear levels have changed. Some of her beliefs have changed.

This game allowed her to bring her mother to Micronesia… and got her to swim with millions of jellyfish when she’s scared of water! Natalie goes on to say how much her mother has given her in life, so for her to be able to give her mother a trip around the world and let her feel great about herself here was just incredible.

Natalie played a good game. She was right that she was instrumental in two major blindsides. She worked the angles and played hard. She has nothing to be ashamed of here.

Girls, Girls, Girls

This clip starts with Parvati climing the palm tree in her spotted bikini. Amanda waits below for the coconuts to drop. Parvati interviews, “I haven’t missed the guys out here for one second.” She loves that it’s all girls. They can chill out without the big egos in the way. Amanda and Parvati are excited because, “we beat them out with our brains!” So true.

Immunity Challenge: Crystal Method Ouch. That challenge title is painful – and a bit edgy for CBS. I wonder if they think of the final four ladies as real “heroines,” too. Anyway, this clip is the same as we saw on the show. Natalie and Parvati get a good head start, but Amanda tears them apart when it comes to the puzzle ladder, reaching the top first and storming into the final three.

Secret Scene: Natalie

This clip starts with Natalie and Cirie on the beach. Natalie asks Cirie if she thinks one of the palm trees looks big enough to hold her. Cirie thinks so. They laugh as Natalie prepares to climb the tree and Cirie cheers her on.

Natalie proceeds to make her way up quite a large palm tree, successfully getting the coconuts from it. Cirie says they don’t need “no Eriks.” The ladies are happy because they won’t be thirsty now. Natalie interviews that she was proud of herself. She doesn’t have to rely on the guys for it.

First Tribal Council

We actually get a recap of part of the Tribal Council, along with the vote. Jeff Probst talks to the ladies about their skill at blindsiding others. He hints that there might be a final two, instead of a final three. Natalie hopes for a blindside now – to save herself, but doesn’t get it. And Amanda gets weirdly defensive when Cirie says she’s on the bottom of the alliance with Parvati and Amanda, when it’s pretty obvious those two have been peas in a pod all along.

Strangely, CBS doesn’t show us what the ladies said when they voted this time. Huh.

Cirie’s Final Words

Cirie speaks with tears in her eyes. “Wow. Here I am again, coming up just short.” She says she had some great experiences, doing amazing things. She managed to survive two of the worst nights on Exile Island alone. She feels a great sense of accomplishment, but… Cirie apologizes “once again” to the people she was playing for. She says, “Mom…” and just stops. The tears pour down her face before she continues,saying, “I really tried hard… I’m sorry.” Cirie names some other people that really matter to her and tells them, “I tried my hardest. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Aw. Man. Cirie’s making me cry. It is very, very clear that she not only wants the money, but feels she truly needs it for her family. Yet, Cirie didn’t play that card in the game. She played the best intellectual and social game in both her seasons, and each time was bounced just before the jury vote. I feel so bad for her. You can just see her aching inside. I was with you, Cirie! I was rooting for you all the way!

Cirie, The Day After

Cirie starts off saying she played under the radar her first time out – you remember, when she was scared of leaves. This time, Cirie feels she was an active participant from day two – she had to be. “This time… I had to fight every day to stay in this game.” In Panama, she was in an alliance that took her along to the final four. Here, she felt she was always in the bottom of an alliance, and had to fight the whole time.

But Cirie feels that she did fight, and fight successfully. “This time, I earned my way here.” It’s devastating to get so far, and fight so hard, and not make the jury. “It’s like I’ve been hit with a baseball bat.” Finding out it wasn’t a final three was awful. She also knew that she would be out if she lost that immunity challenge. To leave at 38 days in was heartbreaking.

Cirie doesn’t have too hard feelings towards Parvati and Amanda, she just feels she deserves to be in the final two as much as them – if not more. “I’ve worked hard!” She knows the other ladies have worked just as hard, but… At day 38, you can feel the money. You know it’s yours. “I feel like all I needed was the opportunity to talk to the jury. That’s all I needed to get the million dollars.” And Amanda took that opportunity away from her. She feels like Amanda chose Parvati as more deserving of the million. Then Amanda says she likes both she and Parvati the same. Then why would she choose her to stay over Cirie? “It feels like a crock.”

“I earned a spot in the final two.” She got herself to the last few days herself this time. It’s sweet she did that, but it’s sour she didn’t actually get to sit in front of the jury.

I agree with Cirie. I feel like she, more than either Amanda or Parvati, deserved the win this time around. I wish she had gotten the chance to get in front of the jury too. Boo to Amanda for picking Parvati!