Survivor Winner! (Spoilers)

[Jenny]

Damn, I so wanted Steph to win. But her & Dani, it was a sure thing that Dani would win.

Judd is a jackass, plain and simple.

[DarkFury]

Dammit.. I missed it AGAIN!!!!

I've never seen the finale for Survivor for the past 5 seasons because I forget that they come on Sunday.

[speedracer120]

They still have this stinking show on the air? Damn, I guess it has some staying power.

[gear02]

Damn, I so wanted Steph to win. But her & Dani, it was a sure thing that Dani would win.

Judd is a jackass, plain and simple.

Yup on both. I didn't think it would be a landslide though. I guess Steph pissed off too many people.

Btw I just realized that Rafe graduated from my college. That's kinda cool. I did think the should have one since he really did dominate the game through challenges and played a perfect game until the end.

[DarkFury]

So can anyone give me a synopsis of how the final four played out... since I missed it?

[kgsilvas]

From Television Without Pity: After maybe the most darkly amusing opening ever, in which a chicken is sacrificed, eaten, and avenged, we move to our first immunity challenge, in which Rafe wins the usual F4 maze. He sticks to his guns about not booting Danni, and as a result, one of the most clearly questionable decisions of the game is made at F4 when Lydia -- who would absolutely not have won any endurance challenge that could ever have been invented -- is voted off.

The F3 challenge is sort of awesome in that it starts out as one kind of challenge and evolves into another kind, and after Rafe loses because he breaks his concentration and Steph goes until she flat-out collapses, Danni finds herself on her way to F2 and has to choose between Rafe and Steph. Rafe tells Danni to go with what she thinks is right, but much like last week, it turns out that what Rafe thinks is "right" has a lot to do with what benefits Rafe personally. At the final tribal council, there is the usual combination of bitching and moaning and passive-aggressive crap, although honestly, it could have been worse, given some of the people involved. In fact, some of them actually seem to have pulled themselves together while they were sequestered. I KNOW! Rafe is kind of self-important, and Judd is a total *******, but other than that, it could be worse.

As likable as Danni is, it's not quite as perfect as one might wish when she ultimately wins, because although Steph was bitchy a lot of the time, she played a brilliant game, and the crap dished at tribal council is as sour-grapesian as ever. But Danni is cool, too, and her victory is a happy one. Overall, a surprisingly satisfying finale, and one with far less infuriating nonsense than usual.

[ufcrusher]

Dammit.. I missed it AGAIN!!!!

I've never seen the finale for Survivor for the past 5 seasons because I forget that they come on Sunday.

DF - where is your Tivo? This would not be an issue with a Tivo.

As for the synopsis - I would add the following things.

1. The Final 4 maze was one the hardest maze ever constructed, consisting of 6 live stations and several fake stations. It was in the shape of a bird, which they called the ultimate macaw. The maze had them running over a floating bridge, up a step temple (constructed of wood) and across rope bridges to get back into the maze. The 6 bundles they retrieved, were either single or double and formed into 1 of 3 animals. Monkey, Jaguar, or Bird. Rafe and Stephanie were slightly ahead of Danni, who was way ahead of Lydia. It was actually a pretty good challenge to watch. Raffe won by what appeared to be a slight margin over Steph and Danni, just as Lydia comes up the final rung of the "ladder" saying I got them all.

2. Stephanie was trying to convice Raffe to vote out danni, saying point blank that if they bring Lyida its a guaranteed final 2 for them. In private, Stephanie concedes that she would have to bring Raffe to the final 2 because he is the only person she can possibly beat as they have played ostensibly the same game, screwing over the same people. Raffe and Danni talked and Raffe said that he was going to take Danni, which was what finally happened.

3. The final challenge consisted of a balance board (think of a baps board, where you have one very small pivot point under a large board. If no one is on it, it would be touching the ground on one side, while the other would be in the air.) Over this balance board, they have 2 ropes hanging down from a cross member above. When they first start the challenge, they are allowed to have one hand on both ropes. After 1 hr, they had to release one rope. After another 30 minutes, they had to release the last rope.

All 3 made it through the first 1hr without problem. Shortly after they let go with the one hand, Stephanie lost her balance and ends up swinging on the rope to the pole holding the cross member. She then uses the pole, rope, and board to get into a position where her back is up against the pole, has one hand on the rope, and her legs are on the balance board. While Steph is floundering, Raffe ends up doing the same thing, ending in the same position...followed very closely by Danni. All 3 end up in ostensibly the same position, using the pole to hold them up and balance on teh board. With about 1 minute remaining, Danni removes her hat and puts it between the pole and her shoulders/back where its touching the pole. Stephanie attempts to do the same with her hat, but ends up putting it too low.

Probst calls for the last hand to be released and tells them that they cannot use their hands at ANY time to touch the pole or anything else. A few minutes later, Rafe is seen stretching his one leg putting it back and goes to shift his weight to move the other. At this moment, he but his hand on the pole for all of a second or two....GONE. Raffe goes off into the grass, sort of in shock on the verge of tears.

They showed elapsed time, and you see that Stephanie has slid down the pole further and further. Her legs are shaking and she is crying. More elapsd time and they show, Stephanie is almost 4 ft lower on the pole than where she started, a few inches above the ground. Danni looks to be in exactly the same place and has her game face on. Stepahnies hat which had been in the small of her back was now at the crook of her neck! At this point, stephanie tries to "walk" her way back up the pole...all the while her legs are shaking and she is crying. All the sudden she is on the ground, and Jeff announces that Danni has won. Stephanie is still in the same position where she started and is crying saying her legs/back wont work. Danni comes over to comfort her as does Raffe. When Raffe arrives he says to Danni that he releases her from her promise to take him to the final 2. That he wants her to do what she thinks is right, whatever it is, even if it means not taking him. This statement by Raffe seems to calm Stephanie down a bit, so I wonder if it was mostly an act on her part. Later on they have Raffe and Danni talking about his decision, with him consistently reaffiriming his earlier statement.

4. Final 3Tribal Council - Danni states to the camera that she has no clue what she will do, that if she wants to win she has to take Stephanie. If she does whats right, it will be Raffe. That she wont know what she is going to do until she casts her vote. --She obvioulsy chose Stephanie. Raffe is shown saying that he cant believe Danni's choice and that the only reason he let her off the promise was that she had repeatedly stated that no matter what she would do what was right, helping those who had helped her and had played better. He says that no matter what Stephanie will get his vote.

5. After TC - they burn the camp as an offering to the Mayan g-ds. Even though they ate the real sacrifice after the fact as mentioned in the other persons synopsis.

6. Final Tribal Council - Usual hub-bub. High points included the final 2 being asked if they could get rid of one member of the jury who would it be. Danni stated without missing a beat Raffe, as he is obviously gong to vote for Stephanie, but I knew that when I voted him out. Stepahnie basically wouldnt answer this question, saying I guess Bobbie John since he was the first member of the jury. Judd didnt quite pull a Sue, but did the following: He asked Danni if she either roller bladed or ice skated before. Danni said yes, a little. To which he responded, I think it was a bit more than a little as you have been skating your way through this entire game. He then calls Stephanie out on lying to his wife. He then says that he will promise her that he will keep his promise. Otherwise, it was mostly anti-climatic, standard questions.

They showed Raffe voting for Stephanie to win....Judd voting for Danni to win, saying that I promised you I would never right down your name Stephanie and I keep my promises. During the reveal, they only pulled 5 votes, first two as described above, the last 3 for Danni. They never showed the rest of the votes.

Hope that helps.

[DarkFury]

Thank you for the synopsis...

BTW... I don't have a TIVO.... I don't believe in them. :D