Coach. He says that it makes him proud to see people from the power alliance in the finals. Again, he's totally telling the truth, it's just not the alliance that he participated in. He starts talking about beliefs and he begins to get all long winded, but nothing will ever beat that Exile Island sequence from Thursday, and you guys know how it goes with him by this point, right?
When he finally gets around to his question, he wants an example from JT of a time when he was "a noble warrior" by putting others in front of himself while battling hard. I'm not quite sure what he was asking, to be honest. JT points out that he was noble and honest when Coach himself went home. "Even though I knew that you were going home, I didn't vote for you." How is that noble? It's actually a pretty empty gesture, if you actually have any loyalty to Coach.
Stephen? Same question. "I actually voted for every single person who went home, I never took the weasel way out (ouch), because I wanted to bear the moral burden of that. On the other hand...well, I don't want to say any more than that," he says, looking at JT. That was pretty ruthless, right there. Of course, he knows he has nothing to worry about because Coach is going to vote for him no matter what, so that's nice to know.
Sierra's turn. She tells Stephen she had a question for him but that he's kind of already answered it. She then proceeds to tell JT that he actually went to the final three with two of the weakest players, compared to Tyson or Brendan or Coach, so what does taking the strongest even mean? Way to call people twenty times stronger than you weaklings, Tears McGee. Hanging out in the Ponderosa with these people has done you no favors.
JT defends Stephen, telling Sierra that he's a very strong competitor, and in fact was the strongest of the Final Four. You will note that he said Final Four and not Final Five, because he's still working on Coach's vote. Nice work by JT, there. "Well, you lost a lot of my respect because you could have been with Tyson or Brendan," she says in response. Yes, because counting on your loyal friends to work with you up until the end is such a disrespectful course of action. He's just like Hitler! Sierra is missing the point in about nine million different ways, and it just looks really ugly on her.
Tyson. He asks JT if Stephen was an asset in getting to the final. JT, surprisingly, says that he could have gotten to the end without Stephen, but that it wouldn't have been as easy. Stephen looks hurt at this. "I really don't think that's true," Stephen says, because he has personally saved JT's ass at least once, since he could have gone with Brendan, Taj and Sierra to the end. Really, Stephen was set up better to get to the end than JT. From where I'm sitting, Stephen and Taj got hold of the idol first, Stephen and Taj created almost all of the relationships (except maybe the one with Coach), and then JT got to reap the benefits. I think Stephen might have a point, because JT could have been voted out way back when Tyson was still in the game, if Stephen had wanted it to happen.
Taj. She tells them both that she's crushed and betrayed at what they did to her, and felt that it was unnecessary. "JT, why are you telling Coach how you couldn't lie to him, but it was so effortless to lie to me?" That's because what JT betrayed Coach in the same way that the people who voted for him did, which is the same way he betrayed Taj. There's really no difference at all. Taj gets ready to cry, and JT looks guilty as he tries to explain himself. Since there really is no explanation and it's a game, he just tells her how hard it was over and over again. That's what SHE cried about!
« Daisy of Love: Lullabies To Dickmatize | Main | American Idol: Ham or Twinkies? »
Comments (12)
Well, I was really hoping that Stephen could have talked his way into the win, but he just seemed to go limp and let JT have it. I'm guessing they already had an agreement worked out there -- after all, Stephen gets the 100k for second place, right?
And the fact that people were falling all over themselves to lick up JT's droppings was part of his strategy -- which he pulled off really well. So he definitely deserves the win.
For once, I'm not dissatisfied with the winner. Although the whole season seemed kind of limp. Hopefully they'll toughen up the challenges for next season.
1 of 12 | Posted by itchy | Posted on May 20, 2009 5:13 PM
Although Stephen was a very good player in the game, he missed the essential point... you can't go to the end with the most-liked player in the game, whether you're in an alliance or not. And, if you're going to try and sell yourself to the jury, you can't sell yourself as a floater! You have to point out exactly what moves you made... DUH! He should have pointed out that he found the Idol with Taj, brought JT into their alliance, and protected JT from being voted out at certain points in the game.
I do agree that no matter what, what it comes to is that the juries (in the majority of seasons) only value physical brawn, no matter how strategic a game was played. If you're not the physical player, you have to actually make moves within the game that people will recognize as game-changing. Getting the people to vote out Tyson, while still keeping Sierra isolated was a master stroke and Stephen should have taken credit for it (since it WAS HIS IDEA!).
It was almost as if Stephen was playing for second place, which was my main problem with Sugar last season. If you really want to win Survivor, you have to play wire to wire. JT did, Stephen didn't.
2 of 12 | Posted by slutty_whore | Posted on May 20, 2009 5:46 PM
This was the first time in a long time I would have been satisfied with either person winning...until Stephen revealed he wouldn't have kept his word to JT. Then I was firmly in JT's corner.
3 of 12 | Posted by cattyfan | Posted on May 20, 2009 8:37 PM
Cattyfan, I don't think that is what Stephen said. He mostly said he wasn't sure. He only said he would go against JT when pressed because that was clearly the answer that they wanted to hear. I'm not sure why everyone gets down on Stephen for saying he would have to think about whether he would bring JT to the end. JT clearly had to think about whether he would bring Stephen to the end. The only difference is that we got to see what decision JT finally ended with but we will never know what Stephen would have done.
(I've not read the recap yet only the comments. :p)
4 of 12 | Posted by Snootchy Bootches | Posted on May 21, 2009 5:29 AM
Cattyfan, I don't think that is what Stephen said. He mostly said he wasn't sure. He only said he would go against JT when pressed because that was clearly the answer that they wanted to hear. I'm not sure why everyone gets down on Stephen for saying he would have to think about whether he would bring JT to the end. JT clearly had to think about whether he would bring Stephen to the end. The only difference is that we got to see what decision JT finally ended with but we will never know what Stephen would have done.
(I've not read the recap yet only the comments. :p)
5 of 12 | Posted by Snootchy Bootches | Posted on May 21, 2009 5:33 AM
Erm... that was weird.
6 of 12 | Posted by Snootchy Bootches | Posted on May 21, 2009 5:35 AM
congrats JT! and thanks for the recaps!
stephen was really portrayed as a whiney little byatch there at the end, which i'm not sure is off the mark. such a strange relationship he and JT have. bromance, fo sho.
pretty good season. sierra definitely acted like a 12 year-old all the way, proving why they hated her (b/c i had been wondering). coach was fun to watch.
looking forward to the recap of the reunion!
dax
7 of 12 | Posted by idax | Posted on May 21, 2009 9:03 AM
Schoonie - Great Recaps (again) all season. Always made my day.
On the forum side I have been plugging the Ponderosa videos. If you haven't checked it out, they actually did one with Stephen and JT showing up at Ponderosa after the final tribal council. It's worth watching because it gives a different perspective than the editing on the tribal council. Stephen and JT seemed pretty cool about the whole thing - not the drama that you might expect. It was a weird, but satisfying, "conclusion."
Thanks for all the recaps and look forward to next fall.
8 of 12 | Posted by Channel Dasher | Posted on May 21, 2009 9:16 AM
Thanks for the entertaining recaps. I always read them at ew.com and then head over hear for your vastly superior take.
9 of 12 | Posted by Emmyloo | Posted on May 21, 2009 10:07 AM
"The part of Debbie will be played by Paula . . . " BRAVO!
10 of 12 | Posted by willintherace | Posted on May 22, 2009 11:07 AM
Great, spot-on recap. I hope that Debbie and Sierra see this recap and realize how stupid their questions were.
11 of 12 | Posted by tv freak | Posted on May 22, 2009 1:57 PM
I just finished reading this. (I was on vacation.)
okay, okay, I wanted the whole thing to end in a big wedding under a tree. I didn't get that but this was almost as good.
First, Smitten and JT pledge their loyalty to each other. Then they have a fight. Then one feels betrayed. How is it resolved? In the end they end up together, side by side, [one in black and one in white (okay, yellow)]. The two of them looked like the top of a big gay wedding cake.
P.S. uh, the reason why Jeff seemingly hates Stephen is cause Jeff's jealous of Stephen and JT's "relationship."
I really enjoyed your recaps Schoonie and I look forward to the ones in the fall.
12 of 12 | Posted by Mr Dangerous | Posted on June 4, 2009 7:49 AM