Survivor FinaleAs predicted here, Tom won the grand prize; he has to go down as one of the great Survivors of all time. Ian's resignation in the last immunity challenge ranks as the most startling moment in the history of the show. I can't think of another time when I've been more surprised by something that a Survivor contestant has done intentionally, and only Mike's fall into the fire on Survivor Outback was as out of the blue. That said, Ian did put himself in the situation with his stupid comment about not knowing what he would have done had Tom not won immunity.
I loved Jolanda's take on why the younger folks in her tribe voted her off and indeed the future of the worst tribe in the history of Survivor was writ large on the Western sky at that moment. She pointed out that they were young adults who were convinced that they knew better, that they didn't need leaders, they didn't need to work hard, they were the studs facing the old folks. And for the rest of their short season, they were the "that's good enough" tribe.
One thing that they do have to work on; the men just plain kick butt too much in the challenges, to the point where the only drama is which of the men will win. Ian and Tom finished 1-2 in virtually every challenge this season. I can't think of the last time a woman won immunity. Ironically, this factor may work against the men at times since the women aren't perceived as "threats".
Personally I can't understand the fascination with Steph. She's cute and she was a tough competitor, but she was also a central part of the worst tribe ever. She did give us one of the passionate moments of the show when she said that she knew she was a target the night that Janu decided to snuff her own torch. I guess more than anything else it's that we saw so much of her due to her tribe constantly losing. Unlike some Koror members she was in every tribal immunity challenge, and of course a heck of a lot of tribal councils.
I also didn't quite get the respect accorded to Bobby Jon as supposedly the only person who was never voted off. That's a bunch of hooey; under the same standard Jenn was not voted off either. Think about it--why did they have a challenge between Bobby Jon and Steph? Because they would obviously tie twice in a voting matchup, which is exactly what happened to Jenn. And it's fine to mention that Bobby Jon was a hard worker; he was also an exceptionally dumb worker. Remember him chopping down that tree and having it remain standing because the trees overhead supported the top part? I'd guess he doesn't do a lot of crossword puzzles in his spare time.
