Survivor: One World Recap - Finale Part I

Perception Is Not Always Reality

By Kim Hollis and David Mumpower

May 14, 2012

The face of evil (though not as evil as Colton).

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As has become the norm, the first several moments of the final episode are devoted to recapping the season to date. The gist of this is: the men are dominant. The men cannot lose. Colton is pathetic. Colton is weak. Colton is given an immunity idol. Colton functions as a sleeper agent for the women. The men lose. Colton becomes a racist, dwarf-hating xenophobe. Colton is struck down for his sins. The women vote off the men while the men vaguely wonder if the women are voting off the men. Chelsea doesn't want to do Tarzan's laundry. Kat dry humps her visiting cousin. Troyzan is a sore loser. Tarzan cross dresses; not coincidentally, Tarzan is then eliminated.

Yes, One World has been a quirky season.

Night 36 at Tikiano is a celebration. Only a month ago, these same five women had little shelter and a bunch of alpha males taunting them about their inferiority. Oddly, those taunts were valid and deserved. All of the women this season suffered significant culture shock at the start. When Kourtney broke her wrist during the first immunity challenge, the incident seemed like foreshadowing for a run of incompetence for the ladies. Alicia and Christina spent the body of the first Tribal Council berating one another. Independent of anything else we say about the women, we are quite impressed that each of them has held true to the alliance they formed on day one. Alicia has been convinced on multiple occasions that Christina went back on her word, but this has not been the case. Their constant allegiance in spite of personal dislike is one of those subtle ways the women outplayed the early expectations we had for them.




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While Chelsea celebrates the elimination of Tarzan, her frequent provocateur, Kim reflects on exactly the tidbits we mention above. The season has progressed over three months for the viewer, but this has been only five whirlwind weeks of Kim's life. The reversal of fortune her alliance experienced is rare in this game. She is right to appreciate it.

Humorously, Alicia takes this opportunity to lament the way she just eliminated one of her perceived allies, Tarzan. Even more amusing is that she states she is comfortable that Kim, the same woman who just hoodwinked her into eliminating Tarzan, will stay loyal with her to the end. Survivor really needs to add live shots of players watching as the episode airs. Alicia's blank stare at last week's puppet mastery would have made our week. Alicia goes on to compliment her gameplay, a statement that defines her as one of the most optimistic contestants in the show's history.

Kim and Sabrina debate strategy, offering a couple of fascinating tidbits. We are already playing It's Anybody but Alicia, and the editing acknowledges this. She is the first one mentioned due to her potential to garner a couple of votes. We call those the Crazy votes. Even Evil Loser Russell and Coach picked up some of those over the years (hi Shambo!). Then, there is some discussion about how Chelsea will be perceived as the top of the heap over Kim and Sabrina. We disagree with this assessment, and Sabrina's body language indicates she does as well. The purpose of this is to make us believe that Kim may choose to vote off Chelsea. We are of the opinion that Kim might vote off her parents before she votes off Chelsea, so we're not buying it.


Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

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