Survivor 33 Finale Recap "Voters Finally Get It Right"

   Let’s skip the small talk. Let’s skip the introduction. Last night was the finale and there is tons to say, so I am just going to jump on in. While I would have preferred a Jay or David win, Adam deserved the win based off of who he was up against in the final three. It baffles my mind that there are people who think Ken or Hannah deserved to win after a season of mediocre play. Adam wasn’t perfect, but he tried, and he often knew what needed to be done. So let’s talk about the one thing that angers me about the finale. People keep insinuating that Adam won because he mentioned his mom’s cancer in his final speech. It’s amazing how bitter people are that they think that that won him the game. Just like Jeremy in Second Chances, Adam would have won anyway. Chris said it the best when he was addressing the final three: the jury gave Adam credit for the big moves that occurred in the last half of the game. Adam had Chris, Jay, Brett, and Sunday all before tribal council even began. That means he had this season in the bag before he even had the chance to mention his mother’s story. May the story have influenced David and Jessica to not give pity votes to Ken? Possibly. But it didn’t cause Adam to win. He won on his own merit by being against Hannah and Ken who did practically nothing all season.

   To all of the people who thought Ken or Hannah would win, may I ask why? Hannah had four things that were preventing her from ever winning and I predicted just last recap that she would not receive any votes. 1.) She was a flip flopper between alliances. In Big Brother those may win, but they do not win in Survivor.  2.) Any move that she may have deserved credit for, like the David vote out, she did not vocalize to the jury. How are they supposed to know she made it happen when Adam is the only one who vocalized wanting David out? 3.) The only moves she did claim were voting out Sunday and Brett. These are two moves the jury and myself included believed were mistakes. 4.) She was socially unaware the whole game. She made two connections that were strong enough for votes, David and Ken. Ken sat next to her and David was always going to vote off of game. People may not have been annoyed by her, but there is little evidence that they liked her.

   It is difficult to talk about Ken. He was an early favorite of mine, but he did nothing all season except win challenges and talk about loyalty. However, he then betrayed his closest ally David and voted him out. So he went against his only argument as to why his game play was better by turning on that level of game play. He apparently also received a good edit because in post finale interviews it appears that the cast did not even like him that much. Dear fans of alpha male survivor players, COMPETITION WINS SHOULD NOT EQUAL WINNING SURVIVOR. The worst player in the entire world with zero strategy or social awareness could win challenges and make it to the end. It requires no playing of the game or solidifying relationships to do that. If you have to champion challenge wins as why you should win the game, it means you completely ignored the fact that Survivor is a social game first and foremost. If you alienate that aspect of the game, you shouldn’t win.

    So, now on to a more positive topic: I thought I’d do a retrospective where I pasted my thoughts on the final three from my first initial thoughts on the season and see how my opinion on them has changed. I read over my initial thoughts last night and found the contrast to be hilarious. It’s part of why I enjoy not being spoiled when it comes to Survivor. It’s interesting to see how my perspective changes. 

"Adam: I really don’t have an impression of him outside of the fact that he talks REALLY loud when he is giving his confessionals."

   It’s hilarious to see that I had little to no opinion on Adam. During the rest of the season, my opinions on him fluctuated faster than Hannah flip flopped between groups.

"Hannah: We go from someone with some intelligence, to someone who miraculously showed none last night. The target was Figgy until Michelle whispered to her during tribal to vote out Mari instead. Here’s the kicker: Michelle wouldn’t tell her the reason until after. HELLO?! If someone won’t tell you the reason until after you do it, that’s a pretty good reason NOT to do it. Furthermore, the fact that she was told last minute proves she is on the bottom of the “Kappa Kappa” alliance, a name that she gave them last episode. So now a showmance and an alliance that doesn’t need her is strong in this game. She screwed herself."

   Right from the start I predicted that Hannah would make dumb choices due to lack of social awareness. And my opinion of her never really recovered. While she survived until the end, the reason why she would never win was apparent from the start.

"Ken: I like Ken. He seems down to earth and good at challenges. Basically, he is like my past favorite Joe. The issue is, these guys don’t win. The second they lose an individual immunity after the merge, they are voted out. I’ll enjoy him while I can."

  All I can say is Ken got lucky that Jay existed. If Jay had not been winning individual immunities, I have a feeling that this prediction about Ken would have come true. Though I guess I was still technically right about him not winning. Joe Anglim he was not.

   So now that that fun little retrospective is over, let’s talk about some rankings for this season. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable season. Second Chances and Beauty V Brains V Brawn 2 had dampened my enthusiasm for the show a little bit. I was not as excited every week to watch.  I thought that would continue this season but since the merge the season was spectacular. The finale had me on the edge of my seat thinking who would go home when. 

Season rating: 8/10

Winner rating: 8/10. Adam was not the best player of the season, but he deserved it over who he was sitting next to.

My three favorite players:

1.)    Jay- It should not be a surprise to anyone. I was fairly obvious in my Jay bias in recent recaps.

2.)    David- His growth was an amazing story to watch and unlike others, when he made a strategic move it was usually in his best interests.

3.)    Ken- I am not as fond of him now since his game really became apparently bad post-merge. However, I really liked him pre-merge so he still deserves a spot on this list.

So another season of recapping comes to an end. But have no fear, I won’t be gone until March. Instead in January, I’ll be returning with recaps for Nick’s season of The Bachelor. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of mocking to do. Until then, Happy Holidays to all! Make sure to spend it with family and friends.