Survivor: Exile Island, The Finale and Reunion - It Could've Been Better, It Could've Been Worse

Back in my younger days, I had a board game I think was called “Rock Superstar.” While I can’t remember how you won, but I do remember that at some point in the game, you had a chance to make a hit record. There were three possible results: “It’s a hit,” “It’s a flop,” and “Break even.” From here, it seems as though the finale of Survivor: Exile Island broke even: That is, Aras wasn’t the greatest champion in the show’s history, but his victory wasn’t a total downer either.

Let’s start at the beginning. The only way the finale was going to be a hit was if Cirie won. Even a win from Terry wouldn’t have been as satisfying, given his behavior in recent weeks. With that, it’s time to ask a question: Were you as deflated and depressed as I was when Cirie was officially eliminated from the game? She may be one of the most memorable people to play the game since Rupert, albeit for totally different reasons.

When the game started, contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t so much that she was afraid of leaves. Rather, it was the creepy crawly things under the leaves that seemed to give her the willies. But as we know, Survivor isn’t so much about surviving the wilderness as it is surviving tribal politics, and Cirie proved she knew how to do that from the get-go. Despite her lack of prowess in the first challenge, she was skillful and persuasive enough to turn the tables on Tina, who by all accounts should’ve been around a while. Note to Evan, an attorney friend of mine: If you can be half as persuasive with a jury as Cirie was with her tribemates, you’ll have a long, distinguished career.

Then, after the switch, she was supposed to be gone on day six, but it didn’t quite work out that way. She seemed at times to survive more attempts on her life than James Bond, and before anyone knew it, she’d worked herself into the main alliance, and in the process, the hearts of America. The key word is worked, which she did plenty of around camp.

And let’s not forget her stunning triple play, which led to the ouster of Courtney, and resulted in a Hall of Fame moment, deservedly so. She went from someone who didn’t expect herself to last long, to someone who refused to settle for anything less than first place.

And then there’s the fish. Not only did she catch a fish, she caught she biggest one of the game, and did it partly out of sheer determination, not unlike the way the successfully fished for allies the entire game.

Then came the fateful tiebreaker challenge. First off, kudos to Burnett and company for doing away with the “Purple Rock of Stupidity, er… Death.” I don’t know if Burnett resorted to a fire-building competition on his own, or if he was “PRODded by CBS,” but it was a lot more fun to watch, and resulted in perhaps some of the game’s best drama this side of Shane.

The irony is, while her social skills got her farther than she dared to dream, ultimately it was a lack of survival skills that eventually became her undoing. Another irony occurred when Jeff Probst commented that she was watching Danielle when she should be working on her own fire, because watching what everyone else was doing was what got Cirie that far in the first place. Yet a third irony comes in the fact that Shane, of all people, became the voice of reason at the Reunion Show, noting that Cirie played the best social game of anyone out there.

When her demise was final, she left the game the way she played it, with grace and class. She didn’t cry, mope, call anyone a scumbag, or gloat that she’d soon be eating chocolate. Instead, in contrast to all the long faces across America, she sported a huge ear-to-ear grin, as if she’s just won. In her own way, maybe she did.

In her final comments, she explained her smile, stating she was proud to have gone out on day 36. She said she hoped her family was proud of her, and stated she was sorry for letting them down.

Cirie, in my book, you didn’t let ANYBODY down. Not your family, not the viewers, and certainly not yourself. Not the producers either, as Jeff Probst noted that you were cast for one reason: your spirit. It was that spirit that got you so far, and made you so fun to watch. Some players are carried to the end, but you were carried by your spirit of refusing to settle for third or fourth place. If I were your husband or your son, I can’t begin to tell you how proud I would be of you. I’d seize on every chance to point you out and say, “That’s my mama/wife.”

As Shane put it, you were “every woman,” that is, someone the common joe (or jo) could relate to. You just seemed so, so, uh, accessible, that’s the word.

And then there were three. First let’s look at Terry. While I let him have it for his conduct in the previous episode, he seemed to redeem himself somewhat in the final three reward challenge by calling Aras the “ultimate competitor,” and saying that the yoga instructor brought his “A-game” every time.

Danielle noted the rivalry between Terry and Aras, and it seemed at times like they were like former Cold War rivals the U.S. and U.S.S.R.; that is, there was always an underlying theme of tension and competition between them, but at the same time, a begrudging respect, and nothing resembling a full-scale, all-out war.

Then came the game’s final immunity challenge. Looking back, did the reward challenge really provide any meaningful advantage to Terry? Yes he was well-fed, but in the end, his lack of balance cost him a seven-figure check. Is it possible that once he fell off the platform the first time, he got a bit flustered, and then desperate, and was never able to regain his composure, which eventually led his tumbling into the water, and out of the challenge?

Then there was Aras. Did he fall, or did he jump? Danielle seemed to give him a head nod, as if to say, “It’s okay to jump,” and Aras later stated that he jumped. He also noted on The Early Show that most likely, Danielle was going to beat him whether or not he jumped.

At the time, I thought winning this challenge put Danielle in a horrible position: She had to either betray Terry, who she promised to take if she won, or Aras, to whom she’d given the head-nod. In reality, it didn’t matter, because she apparently wasn’t going to win anyway.