Survivor Guatemala: Survivor Live Recap, The Finale, Part Two

This week’s guests are winner and runner-up Danni Boatwright and Stephenie Lagrossa. My own occasional comments are enclosed in square brackets like this [I see the headlines – Two Impressive Women on Survivor!]

Actually, only Stephenie is there to start, but looking very attractive with long curls and an off-the-shoulder golden dress that shows off a nice tan. Danni is either in the washroom or busy counting her money. Dalton starts things off by having Steph confirm that at the finale she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to win. In fact, she figured she didn’t have much chance against any of them, except for possibly Judd. Jenna thinks Steph might have beat Jamie too. Stephenie acknowledges that, but also knows that no one was letting either of those guys get anywhere near the finale.

Dalton asks if her being on the show before was a factor in the vote. She feels it was, noting that she and Rafe played similar games, yet had he made the final two, he probably would have won.

Dalton asks Steph who would have flipped their vote. Steph starts out naming Cindy and Lydia, but Dalton informs her that on yesterday’s show, Lydia said she would not have voted Rafe against Danni. Jenna wonders if Lydia is changing her mind, post-game.

Jenna asks Stephenie if she knew she was done for by final Tribal Council, noting that in Palau, Katie did and responded with some flip answers. Steph first notes she didn’t get hammered nearly as bad as she expected to (by tough or mean-spirited jury questions). She says she pretty much knew she wasn’t going to win, but still intended to give it her best shot.

She expected that Judd and Jamie, having been blindsided, would not vote for her but had expected Bobby Jon’s vote, since she essentially put him on the jury over Brandon. Dalton retells Rafe’s story from yesterday about why that vote was lost, but they seem to give it less credence than they did yesterday. Steph doesn’t really know.

Both hosts think Stephenie performed better than Danni in from of final Tribal Council [sure did!]. Steph was surprised Danni wasn’t smoother, because Danni has done the pageant thing many times. Steph is pretty sure their minds were made up before they ever got to final Tribal Council. They all quickly agree that’s probably true for the majority of Survivor jurors.

Steph relates that they do talk among themselves “back at jury camp, and one bad seed can spoil the bunch.”

Dalton brings in the first call of the day, and it’s Norma from Texas. Norma admits to being a Danni rooter (Steph shakes her head) and asks why Steph didn’t stick with Judd. Steph says it’s because she truly believed Judd was trying to get her out, she believed what Danni told her. Stephenie feels that unless he won Immunity, the others would have tossed Judd out in the next week anyway. All three agree it probably wouldn’t have made a material difference in the game.

The hosts say that both women played a real good game, but by necessity, different styles of game. Stephenie agrees Danni played “an awesome game.” Jenna compares the jury to the All-Stars jury, which was “bitter.” Steph agrees, saying you have respectful juries and bitter juries, and this one was bitter at her. Dalton says the main difference was that in All-Stars, Rob clearly outplayed Amber but here, both played good games.

The next caller is Canadian Kimberley. She felt Steph ought to have won and asks if there’s any decision she’d change so she might have won. No. However, she thinks if she’d taken Lydia to the final three, Rafe would have won. She indicates she let Rafe override her on this decision, but she was sure the final challenge would be about endurance, and Danni runs marathons.

Stephenie was aware that Rafe felt both women would take him to the final two. She isn’t sure why he made a final-three promise with Danni and in fact, didn’t realize how close the two of them were until she saw it on TV!

Dalton comments that the editing hid that Steph and Rafe were so close, making it look like Steph’s partner was Jamie, then Judd. Steph says they didn’t show relationships much [why?] and adds that after their overnight reward, she and Danni were “real tight.” Steph reiterates that they were both making the decisions and often changed each other’s minds, but on TV it looked like it was all her.

Dalton asks if it was tough watching herself on TV and the subsequent reactions, with her getting a different edit than last time. She says it was. She tells us that she’s not as “super-perfect” as she was portrayed last season, nor is she what we were shown this time. “The way you come off is the way you come off, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I was myself out there.” She was her own worst enemy because she was measured up against this ideal from Palau. Plus, she knew adaptation was necessary if she was to do better than number seven this time, and it came over as very competitive.

Stephenie tells us the other players often brought up the Palau season and she tried to change the topic, she didn’t want to be talking about it all the time.

Jenna says that there are always moments when you say something you shouldn’t, and it’s up to the editors whether they show it or not, and insists she was nice “a couple of times.” Steph admits she said some things she wouldn’t say in everyday life, but that’s the game. Jenna comments that you get used to the cameras after a while and let your guard down, and that’s when you have a moment of weakness.