Survivor – Nice guys finish last … or go to Redemption Island

I’ve watched Survivor long enough to know all about foreshadowing, and this week’s episode – right up to the Immunity/Reward Challenge – was nothing but foreshadowing which left little in the way of suspense, even at Tribal Council.

After spending a good portion on the episode telling us how important it was to take Ashley out so she would stop infecting Natalie with her crazy ideas, which could eventually include taking Rob out of the game, Ashley goes and wins immunity. Naturally, this threw a little monkey wrench into Rob’s plans, but there was never a question as to who his backup sacrifice was … Grant.

We’ve known almost since the beginning that Rob has had Natalie and Phillip in his sights for the Final Three, and he has not wavered one bit. He may tell other people he has their backs (he even apologized to Grant in one of his interview pieces), but you can hear the sincerity in his voice when he tells Natalie that he will never vote for her. So it was no surprise that he had to throw the vote in Grant’s direction.

What I find odd is that at no time, at least not in the edit we saw play out on TV, was Phillip’s name mentioned as a target. He spent a good part of the show annoying and agitating the girls, but they see Grant as the bigger physical threat, so he had to go. He seems like a nice guy that I’d rather see in the finals than Phillip, but being a nice guy still doesn’t mean he should win.

On Redemption Island, Matt and Andrea had it out and Ralph got a little pleasure from making Andrea sleep outside of the shelter her first night there, paying her back for how Ometepe treated Zapatera after the merge. But Andrea got the last laugh as Ralph had no clue on how to put a puzzle together (too many correctly spelled words were printed on it, I guess) and in what will probably be the final Redemption Island duel, we’ll see Matt, Mike, Andrea and Grant compete to return to the game for one last shot at the million.

With the season finale looming, should Rob be worried about those on his own tribe that he’s sent to Redemption and the jury? Whoever comes back could very well team up with Ashley and Natalie to take out Rob. If Mike comes back, he’s probably got the votes of all the former Zapatera tribe on the jury and that is enough to win. Matt could also pull the Zapatera vote just because of how they feel about Rob blindsiding him twice. I don’t know how open the girls will be to aligning with Andrea should she return (they really don’t like her) and Grant could go either way, but if Rob convinces him that he did not cast a vote (since only three were read) then he could still work with Rob and Phillip to take out Ashley (if she’s still in the game at that point).

There are a lot of scenarios to be played out, but we won’t know who is the Sole Survivor of season 22 until Sunday night. Who do you believe deserves the million dollars – not your favorite, but who truly has played the game and deserves to win?

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on May 11, 2011 @ 23:52 EST5EDT