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Probst asks Katie – who is looking very orange tonight – if she is mad at him for picking on her at the challenges, because “it seemed like I was saying ‘Katie in the rear, Katie behind.’” Is he obsessed with Katie’s poor performance or her ass? Katie’s all good, she had a blast.

Artis, were you angry during the game? “Entirely your perception,” avers Artis. He goes back to his pre-show interview where he said that if “I’m not smiling, I look like I’m about to take your head off. There’s nothing wrong with me.” After watching the show, he started to think he “was the angry black man.” Then have more of an impact on the game, and fewer interviews that go “I’m angry they are enjoying the reward which is rightfully ours,” Artis. I did enjoy that one charming interview just before you were voted out, though.

Carter was a disappointment, according to Probst, because he was this “bubbly, talkative, really funny guy,” while Carter on the show was “duh.” What happened? “The first part of the game was ridiculously hard for me,” says Carter talking about the rain and the hunger, but the second part was better with coconuts and sunshine and new people. Is Carter still hungry? I think he's still hungry.

And now the one we’ve all been waiting for. “Dawson, I have to say, no one... oh my God” says Probst as Dawson runs down, grabs his neck and plants one on Probst’s lips. “She got it in,” Probst confirms “but fortunately, she doesn’t kiss anywhere as good as my wife.” Did you know that Probst’s wife was formerly married to the guy who played Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell? Now you do.

Now let’s see where Survivor is going in its 26th season! Back to the Caramoan Islands in the Philippines! And because Survivor’s had a lot of diehard fans, the castaways will be ten “ultimate fans” and ten “favorite players”.

Will the favorites’ experience make them an “unstoppable force”? Probably not, if you’ve seen the spoiler list of returning players floating around on Survivor fan sites. Will the fans “enthusiasm and deep knowledge” of the game help them overcome the veterans? Probably not, given how terrible the “fans” were at the game last time they tried this concept. Even this season, we had plenty of self-described fans – RC, Malcolm, Jeff Kent, Lisa. How many were good at playing Survivor?

Anyway, it’s time for Probst to wrap things up by handing over the check to Denise – no over-sized novelty check, either – and Probst makes another reference to $600,000 but Denise says it’s “life-changing” and will go a long way in Iowa. Then he pimps the Survivor auction, makes a pitch for people watching to send in an audition tape and thanks everyone for a great season.

And it was a great season. We had some good game play to get behind, a lot of poor game play for our amusement, some big personalities, the comeuppances they deserved and a worthy winner. But more than anything, what made this season a good one more was the unpredictability, especially after the merge when alliances hadn’t fully formed and no one really knew what was going on. Here’s hoping for more of the same next time.

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