Survivor: Cook Islands - Survivor Live, The Finale, Part 2, Sole Survivor Yul Kwon

Yul insists he wasn’t dictatorial and didn’t tell people what to do. He tried to insure everyone had a voice, and that’s why he thought no one saw him as a threat. He tried to make it collaborative so everyone had a stake in their decisions.

Dalton asks about the one scene where Yul seemed to imply to Becky that she might not be the one going to the final two with him Yul claims it was editing, they took snippets of a longer conversation and mixed things around. Becky was always the one he intended to take to the finals. She always understood there was a standing offer that she could take the hidden idol if she felt she needed it.

Young Allie of KC is here, yet again. Doesn’t this kid ever go to school? Jenna gives her a Blast DVD. The caller asks if Yul likes the Raro people now. Yul says he holds no ill will toward anyone, they are a very likeable cast, and outside of the show he feels they are a great people.

Jenna tells Yul she read in an article where Ozzy told Yul that he wanted to use the money to build a surfer house for himself and his buddies. Jenna wonders if he was producing crocodile tears at Tribal Council to get votes.

Yul is positive Ozzy was genuinely tearing up over his dad. However, Yul had never heard the college objective before, but maybe that’s true as well. Like, the hundred grand he won won’t cover a goodly piece of that? How do people without a windfall ever get into college?

Yul confirms that pre-mutiny, Ozzy had talked about setting up a camp for his surfing buddies. In an unaired cameo, Yul questioned that and saw it as a waste of the money. Later in the game, after talking with Ozzy at greater length, Yul understood the objective better. We don’t learn a lot more now, but apparently it involves kids.

Yul thinks Ozzy would have won hands down in any other season.

The graphic that usually opens the second segment tells us that in his work as a legislative aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman, Yul helped draft sections of the Homeland Security Bill.

Dalton points out that Yul has been accused of being a politician and a diplomat. Yul says he did some things “because they were the right thing to do.” This leads to discussion of “Hat-gate.”

Yul feels, in this instance, he was being set up by the Production crew. He tried to give the hat to the crew, to return it to Jonathan. After an hour, they came back to him, refused, and suggested he give it to Jonathan at Tribal Council.

Yul left the hat sitting there on a jury seat without a note, and felt it was a dead issue. When Jeff starting making an issue of it, Yul was surprised.

Solé from California is very excited to be on the show. In fact, more excited than Yul was when he won. Good for her! She says Yul adds a positive quality to the show. After more squealing, she asks if he ever took time to enjoy the surroundings. Yes, there’s a lot of down time and they’d spend hours enjoying the area. It was a beautiful place, even Exile Island.

Dalton notes Yul was not a force in individual immunity challenges, and wonders if he was holding back and letting Ozzy take over? Yul says he didn’t throw any challenges and has doubts he could have beaten Ozzy anyway. After the merge, he knew that if he won a challenge it would cause him trouble – if he keeps the immunity, he’s greedy; if he gives it to Becky, he’s potentially alienating Sundra and Ozzy; and if he gives it to someone else that may cause hard feelings with Becky. Any of these actions might have splintered the alliance.

A clip is run of Yul offering Becky the idol at final-four time. Dalton sees it as last-minute heavy planning. Yul says that was a situation he dreaded. He had his prior commitment to give it to Becky at any time, and he didn’t want to split the alliance by seeming to turn on Sundra. All four were agreed that the tiebreaker was the only fair way to resolve the situation.

They decided that if Becky accepted the hidden idol from him, it would be a bad way to end the game. It wouldn’t help Becky, who would be seen as the ultimate coattail-rider; also it would hurt Yul, who would be seen as manipulating the game. Right after that clip, the two of them quickly decided it was a bad plan for Becky to have the hidden idol. They didn’t want to end the alliance with back-stabbing. Yul says both of them completely agreed.

Jenna tells us that before the show, Yul told her the guys were allowed to offer fire-making advice. So, maybe the guys have to shoulder some of the blame for that shocking performance?

Richard in Wisconsin likes the feel-good story of integrity and loyalty that ran through this whole season. He asks if the diverse cast ever talk about their ethnic differences? Yul says that talk seemed to stop after the (pick’em) first merge. Yul says they all felt pressure to represent their communities, but it went out the door after the pick’em. He feels Candice and Jonathan wanting to reunite was not racially motivated; it was only because they were on an original tribe together.

Jenna has always felt that original tribe divisions wouldn’t really matter. If you are focused on winning, anyone who helps you get there is an ally. She adds that it’s tough to represent any group in such an overt situation, be it an ethnic minority, a gender, or whatever.

Yul is happy the way things turned out. He says, “In some small way, I hope we prove it’s not really your cultural background that determines who you are or who your friends are. If you look at our tribe, the reason we bonded is because we had similar values and similar work ethics. Jonathan realized he wasn’t close to his Raro alliance in terms of how he thought and his personality. He wanted to come over to our side, because he thought we were more deserving and we were more aligned with (his values).”

Dalton jumps topics to run the “Probst’s Thoughts” feature, where a message is played that Jeff Probst previously recorded about the departing player. Jeff remembers he said that, like Ozzy, he initially thought Yul could win. Jeff liked the way he spoke, how smart he is, and that he challenged them about the dangers of perpetuating ethnic stereotypes.

Jeff remembers Cao Boi making Asian jokes and Yul trying to shut it down, because he felt it inappropriate that humor at the expense of an ethnic group is wrong. Probst declines to take a side in that discussion, but likes the way that Yul stood up for his beliefs, possibly risking a loss of support in the game (from Cao Boi).

Jeff ends by saying Yul was likeable, easy to root for, and surely inspires others. Yul responds, “That’s very nice of him.”