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But on the other hand, it is a huge slap in the face because everyone from every other season, including people who quit the game, have all been up on stage for the reunion show. The whole thing is just engineered so that Probst didn’t have to explain why Brandon Hantz wasn’t there, as though “we didn’t invite the guy who dumped everyone’s food in a game where we near-starve the players” isn’t obviously justified. It would have been nice to have everyone (but Brandon) up on stage and Probst say “Hey, sorry guys, we goofed bringing that guy back. But you won’t be seeing Hantzes again." It’s far less humiliating than being forced to take out your retainer.

Time to talk with Dawn. Zero votes and a lot of crying. Here’s a long montage of Dawn crying! “Explain it to me,” says Probst, “because no one else was crying.” Well, not all the time. Dawn explains that it is unique in the game to her. She says had to go against her character by voting out people she was very close to, and it was very stressful and wearing. She especially talks about when she voted out Corinne [close up on Corinne – the only close-up of the bottom nine of the night. Sorry guys, but one of you should have written an e-book] and from there she lost stability. I think this is probably true, but I also think it’s why Dawn chose the wrong strategy to win Survivor.

Probst asks about all of the social media outrage after Dawn voted for Brenda. Dawn agrees that it was “devastating.” Probst talks about how television has changed since Survivor began, because now you can write to people you see on TV and even get an instant reply back. And because Survivor contestants are mostly such fame-whores, they all have Twitter accounts. Dawn says “I knew who I was,” but she got “thousands of messages.” She has shut down her Twitter and Facebook accounts because she “didn’t want to deal with all that negativity.” Can’t say I blame her, really.

Probst says that all this stems from the Brenda vote, and how Brenda found Dawn’s missing teeth... and Dawn turned around and bit her in the butt with them." Now we have Brenda, who is appearing via satellite. How does she feel about Dawn’s decision? “It was very real. I did not think I would play so hard with my heart... circumstances made me feel so close to Dawn, unbelievably close, I really thought it was mutual. That feeling of being betrayed by her really really hurt.”

What do you want to say to Brenda, Dawn? Dawn “legitimately hates that it caused, I mean had I known that, it was a deep hurt. I regret it.” Probst interjects that most people felt what happened between Dawn and Brenda went outside the game and was “woman to woman, I got your back." Dawn says she owns the decision, but also wants to apologize. “I do hate that I hurt you, I do appreciate that you helped me save my game.”

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