The title of the episode this last episode for the season is "Perception Is Not Always Reality" where two challenges and three Tribal Councils will yield the winner.
Let's look at the episode...
We go into this episode with each of the five women (Alicia, Christina, Chelsea, Kim and Sabrina) all confident that they have a chance to pull off this win. Okay, Alicia has enough confidence for most of them put together.
Kim and Sabrina talk and consider to vote out Chelsea and to take Christina to the final three with them.
The first immunity challeng consisted of a culimation of skills. They first had to untie knots to open a gate. Then, they had to cross a balance beam maze (something designed to benefit female competitors as women have a better sense of balance - kudos, challenge designers). At the end of the maze, they bounced along a cargo net to retrieve five bags of puzzle pieces. Once the bags were gotten, they used the pieces to solve a puzzle to give them clues to three numbers on a combination lock. Finally, they climbed a tower to solve the lock to raise the flag.
Whew. I'm just tired typing all of that.
Kim manages to pull out victory, her third individual immunity win. Chelsea approaches Kim later and tells her that they should vote out Alicia and take Sabrina to the final three. Kim is not sure which way she wants to go, struggling internally as she knows she has complete control of the game. She goes to Sabrina and tells her that Alicia should be their target. She then goes to Alicia and Christina and tells them that Chelsea is the target. Kim really kept the gals all moving to how she was thinking.
At Tribal Council, the votes go down with Alicia sent to the jury by a 3-2 vote.
Immunity Challenge number two is a brilliantly designed one as well. Using a metal rod, the gals pick up a bowl and move it through a metal maze. Once out the top, they stack the bowls atop the balanced maze. First one to get ten bowls through and stacked wins and goes to the final tribal council.
This one was a nail-biter. Sabrina fell behind early. Chelsea tried to keep up, but clearly it was a battle between Christina and Kim. Kim's cool head allowed her to pull out the victory with seconds to spare.
Back at camp, Christina simply accepted her fate that she was going home. We see no attempts on her part to try to break the rock solid since day one alliance of the other three. At tribal council, she even admits that. Jeff tries to get her to make a pitch to stay in the game but she has nothing left to convince anyone, even herself. In a vote of 3-1, she becomes the ninth and last member of the jury.
Before dawn, Sabrina gets a bit emotional about her experiences on the island and how much it has meant to her. She hopes it can show her students back in Brooklyn that there is a whole world out there to experience.
The trio have the celebratory breakfast, break down the camp and head to the final Tribal Council.
Chelsea's opening arguments are far from strong. She admits to turning off emotion to play the game, and she admits that she was Kim's partner in crime. She says she was part of all the decisions, an equal partner, but would the jury see that?
Sabrina makes a good pitch of why she laid back in challenges and tried to not come off as a threat. She got to know people and felt bad when they had to be voted off.
Kim keeps her confidence in how she worked with her alliance, removed people when the time was right to do so, all in a bid to advance herself to the finals.
The jury then gets to speak, and it is a mixed bag to be sure. Not nearly as bitter as I expected though some folks clearly held a grudge.
Jonas starts it off with a nice icebreaker. Kudos to him. His vote ended up going for Kim.
Michael seemed pretty ticked still, but Kim was smart to tell him that he went when he did because he was a big threat and someone Troyzan was willing to vote off at the time. His vote ended up going for Kim.
Jay seemed to have let it all go - good for him. He clearly was bested by these women and could respect that. His vote ended up going for Kim.
Leif surprised me as the most upset still about being voted out when he did. I would gather he suffered a good bit of bullying growing up due to his height and took the rejection by folks he felt were friends to heart. Sabrina did try her best to ease that, which was enough to earn her his vote.
Troyzan too realizes he was voted out because he was a huge threat. He poses a question to Kim - get it right in his eyes and get his vote. She answers. But when Jeff asks him if the answer was the right one, Troyzan does not respond clearly. His vote went to Sabrina.
Kat comes out of the gate saying how mad she was, but then she launches into her past about her heart surgery at a young age and how she has to have another one again in a year. Was she holding on to that tale in case she made it to final tribal to use as part of her strategy? I am betting yes. Despite that, she does act as the voice of reason to the jury - to vote out of a good place and not an angry place. Good for her. Her vote goes to Kim, even though she says as she casts it how mad she still is. Let it go, Kat, let it go.
Tarzan clearly had his vote already cast in his mind. So instead it takes his moment to sing the praises of God, his wife, and even these three girls who kept him in the game long enough for his wife to come visit the island. Chelsea weeps and tells him that his love of his wife has given her something to aspire to. Not enough to get that vote, Chelsea - he voted for Kim.
Alicia clearly saw herself as a power player and took her voting out as a sign that she was too fierce a competitor to keep around. Uh...okay... She points out that she had her pawns (Christina and Tarzan) while Kim had hers (Sabrina and Chelsea). She respectfully votes for Kim for the win.
Christina seems comfortable with her fourth place showing. She asks Kim had she kept her in the game, which of the other two would she have let go. Kim feels she could beat Sabrina so she would have jettisoned Chelsea. Christina votes for Kim too.
So, when the final tally is done, the votes are two for Sabrina and seven for Kim (Chelsea ended up with zero, befitting the person who tagged along and let Kim do all the major work). Congrats to Kim for pulling off a great game - and she got to walk away with an Immunity Idol in her pocket as a souvenier, never needing to be played thanks to a big immunity run at the end.
I was not able to stay up late to watch all of the Reunion show. That is in on the DVR which I will get to later today or this week. Look for that post and my final thoughts on the season coming soon to the blog.
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