Once Randy and Corinne were voted out, I stopped thinking in terms of "good vs. evil."

It would make sense for Sugar or Bob to take Matty to the final two with them, wouldn't it? I think he has made more enemies. It would be great if Bob just kept on winning immunity and wins the whole thing.

At least Sugar didn't call Crystal an alcoholic.

No matter how you slice it, taking Crystal out now basically makes Sugar lose to anyone left in the game. Why play for second place, when you've been so thorough in your alliance flipping and continual decimation of the other alliances now?

Also, Matty is a douchebag. First of all, he flips on Crystal and Kenny in favor of Ace and holds a grudge about it for twenty days because Crystal and Kenny found a way to oust him. Maybe Crystal handled it badly by yelling at Matty, but someone had to. She and Kenny rightfully pointed out about the voting and that Matty had written both of their names down. All Matty did was stare blankly because he knew they were right.

As a Crystal fan, I hated this episode. As a Survivor fan, I hated this episode because one of the most underrated strategic contestants ever will lose because her emotions got the better of her at an inopportune time. I'm talking about you, Sugar!

Schoonie, will you be recapping the reunion show, as well?

Probably, yeah. If there's not enough material for a whole recap, I'll at least to a photocap or something.

Oh, judging from Sugar's awesomely underhanded gameplay, she's probably already figured out how she's going to get rid of Bob AND keep his vote AND get him to convince all the others to give her their vote too.

What's funny this season is that even the people playing the 'evil' side (Corinne and Randy especially, but the smug yuppies Marcus and Charlie as well)were somehow convinced that they were the 'good guys'.

In Sugar's defense--she voted out Ace because she believed Ken's lie to her. Or at least, she pretended to believe that. Hard to know with her, since she surely understood that Ace was a huge liability for her.

I'd be satisfied with a Bob win though, he has definitely kicked ass over all of these people--mentally, physically and psychologically. And I like it that he never ever shows his hand, not even to the cameras.

Such a weird season. I hate the concept of "good" and "evil" in the game of Survivor. I mean, people like Crystal and Corinne probably have anger-management issues in real life too, but I imagine they're a lot more chill if they've eaten something other than rice for four weeks. Making a character judgment under such extreme circumstances is kind of lame.

Plus, Crystal's abrasiveness might have been annoying to live around, but the fact was it also made her a great person to sit next to in the finals. They only had three more days. This was definitely the point in the game where someone's bad attitude changes them from a liability to an asset.

Of course, if Sugar was doing this as part of the "slaughter the goats" strategy (as perfected by Cirie at the Courtney boot), then that would be fine. It was a brilliant move, and it did have some strategic benefit for her. It's the justification for it that has me perplexed.

Not to be too philosophical, but it's a really interesting part of the human condition that whatever side a person is on, they seem to think it's the "good" side, I agree. If there's one theme to take from this season, it's that people are inherently inclinded to anoint themselves in this fashion all too quickly.

What I meant was that people like Corinne and Randy were self-identifying themselves as bitches, assholes and otherwise implementing an 'evil' strategy -- and yet somehow seemed to believe that this meant that they were still on the 'good' side and deserved to win.

Which makes no sense at all.

But yeah, the whole 'good' and 'evil' thing is just beside the point in a game where you really need to lie and backstab in order to stay alive.

Hey Itchy, we don't know that Ken lied to Sugar. All we saw on the show was that he told her that Ace was saying that he had Sugar wrapped around his finger. And he did say that a few times to different people. Matty was the one that accused Kenny of lying about Ace. Now, that's not saying that Kenny didn't lie, but we don't know for sure. And if I recall correctly, Kenny didn't admit it in the confessional (the lying) like he did when he orchestrated the Charlie vote out.

Awesome recap, Schoonie! I'm looking forward to tomorrow and dreading it at the same time. Kenny is my favorite but I'm afraid he has screwed up at this point. A lot will come down to the immunity competitions, methinks. Should make for some good watching. But if Matty wins, I will never watch Survivor again! Ok, that was a lie. Vote me out at tribal for it. :p

I'm pretty sure Kenny did directly lie to Sugar. He didn't just say that Ace was manipulating her; she knew that, and was going along with it. He said Ace was actively trying to get rid of her, which he wasn't at that point.

Survivor is good no matter who wins. If Amazon and Pearl Islands can be as awesome as they were while being won by Jenna and Sandra, I'm sure Gabon could survive a Matty win. I'm definitely rooting for Bob, though.

Ok, I haven't been a Survivor viewer since Season 3 (just skimmed through some of the horrific fans/favs season online), but since when did we start making morality judgments on people who are playing the game - which is damn near impossible to win without some form of lying (bad) and backstabbing (even worse)? The people who play this honorably (by non-game standards) usually lose right? In other words, you can't use civilized rules in a jungle setting. People like Colby (remember him?) lost when he could've won because he cared what people thought of him in the "real world". Forget that. Sign up for Survivor and plan on surviving the game, short of doing something that will get you jailed back in the "real world". Seems to me that contestants who judge another contestant for being "bad" really means the "bad" person is better at playing the game. Sour grapes make delicious whine, Matty.

Sugar or Bob for the win. :)

FYI Schoon: Susie is Ms. Under the Radar, aka Ms. Must Have a Giant Rabbit's Foot in Her Pocket.

Oops, excuse the bad noun/verb agreement.

Hey BlahBlah,

Matty IS NOT the only person doing that. I mean, like Schoonie said, Sugar clearly isn't as "good" as she thinks she is. And what about those idiots on the jury? Its obvious you don't like Matty, but don't just single him out for something that a large group of people are also doing. And I love how you say the "bad" people are the ones better at playing the game. Have you seriously NOT looked at the jury? They all had no idea they were going. Doesn't seem like good game play in my mind.

Btw, Schoon, I love your recaps of this season. Almost as good as the show.

Yea, that would've been funny to have a collage of Crystal's challenge performances. I still can't believe that this wasn't all a grand scheme to convince people she sucks at athletics. How can an Olympic gold medalist at a track and field event suck this bad? Thank you, Crystal, for inspiring me to try out for the Olympics. :)

If you haven't already, check out Crystal's visit to Ponderosa on CBS. I laughed my ass off when she mentions the ONE challenge she did well on.

For anyone who wasn't sure that Corinne is a horid bitch, her yuck personality is on full display in her Ponderosa videos, especially in how she pulls some Mean Girl shit on Ponderosa newbie Crystal. HATE her!

And when is Marcus gonna come out? Charlie is totally his soulmate.

I'm still reading your recap...

LOL@ "douchey mohawk"

This is where the Ponderosa videos come in...
FYI: Randy and Corrine totally had a sleepover moment where he let her cut his hair into that douchey mohawk right before Tribal Council. And Charlie and Marcus HAD A FASHION SHOW TO PICK OUT TRIBAL COUNCIL OUTFITS THAT WOULD LOOK GOOD TOGETHER - like an annoying high school couple. Please tell me someone else saw these videos. They are hilarious.

Either Marcus is a closet homosexual or the most metro-est metrosexual I've ever seen in my life.

...And done!

Sugar and Bob have played the best strategic game. Bob completely rules because he played an excellent physical and mental game, managing to keep himself from being booted when he was considered both a Challenge threat and a "disposable" alliance member from very early on by the Onions and the Fang alliance.

Sugar is just EXCELLENT at reading and manipulating people. It's so hard to tell when she's being genuine (I think her "you have a big piece of my heart" speech to Bob was total fakery).

To me, both Bob and Sugar deserve the $1 mil for different reasons.

Sugar:
1. Was smart enough to play the dumb-blond role to mastermind most of the blindsides, and even smarter for not hogging the credit for it. She knew who to align herself with and when to cut the alliance. Too bad the leader of the Onion alliance - Corrine - hates Sugar with a passion. For that reason, I think if Bob makes it to the Final 2 or whatever, he's getting majority of the votes.

2. Managed to do this all while being away from camp in the Sugar Shack for most of the game

3. She's average in every part of the game except social and worked the hell out of that skill. Reminds me of how Richard Hatch won

4. Randy's blindside was GENIUS!

Bob:

1. He's old and nice, but still made it this far.

2. He rules at mental and physical challenges

3. Continuously made the best strategic choices for his position. (How does a challenge monster escape being booted post-merge?)

4. He managed to play the game with the least amount of lying and backstabbing(!). (Funny how he has outlasted most of the people who considered him a pawn in their endgame)

If Matty or Kenny wins, I'm gonna shoot my TV.

Sluttywhore, I agree with you that booting Crystal now wasn't a good move for any of them. Of the Final Six, she is the least liked by the jury (see the cold shoulder treatment she gets at Ponderosa vs. Randy's welcome party).

Sugar better hope she goes up against Susie or Kenny in Final 2 (or3).

Very funny recap. Favorite line: Um...if you're James?

JustJesse, I never said that Matty was the only one making good/bad judgments. I said "sour grapes make delicious whine, Matty". Matty is whining...just because he's losing.

Also, how is it "obvious" that I don't like Matty? I actually like Matty. :) I think he means well and is a sincere person, which is why he walks around so confused about how to play this game. He's someone I could hang with as a friend. On the flip-side, I love Sugar's game but wouldn't hang with her as a friend. While I appreciate the skill, it scares me how good she is at conning people. The only person on this season I dislike is Corinne. She acts like a spoiled, bratty princess with a superiority complex. And even with her, she has her moments where she makes me laugh (mostly on Ponderosa behind the scenes stuff).

It's obvious that SCHOON doesn't like Matty. lol

JustJesse, I just re-read your comment.

"And I love how you say the "bad" people are the ones better at playing the game. Have you seriously NOT looked at the jury?"

What are you talking about? I never wrote that...

"Seems to me that contestants who judge another contestant for being "bad" really means the "bad" person is better at playing the game."

Looks like to me that you did.

I didn't like Crystal on the show, but in the Ponderosa clips on CBS she seems very chill, like she was in that one episode when she was part of Kota. Maybe it really DOES just take more food to keep her happy. She's certainly cooler than Corinne, Marcus, and Charlie, who have decided to give her the silent treatment.

And Marcus makes the ridiculous statement, "You can't say it's just a game and expect me to forgive you for turning on me." He says this to the cameras, not to 6'3'' Crystal's face, natch.

And actually, yes, she can expect him to forgive her, because it IS just a game. He's the idiot for not doing it. If he had some problems with her, he should try to talk to her and work them out, not put his fingers in his ears and pretend she's not there. I can't believe I once liked that guy.

And then Randy confronts her about how the winner of this season, "Will be a loser." And Crystal, awesomely, goes, "For what? Outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting us?"

Some people do admit that they're evil--remember that Evil Doctor guy on Big Brother. If they just go ahead and admit it, then they can enjoy it. Mwah-ha-ha.

I think the worst winner of Survivor was that used car salesman guy that had been an actor in porn films. He was a slick one. And it was so obvious that he was going to win from fairly early on, cuz everybody was drinking his Kool-Aid.

I agree, it IS a game. A high stakes game. It's like bluffing at the World Series of Poker--it ALWAYS pisses people off if they fall for it, but sometimes ya gotta do it.

I do think it was a mistake to vote off Crystal for two reasons. One, is her "lack of popularity" and two, is that a guy really needed to go, since they are the only threats in the challenges. Oh, also, this puts Ken in a corner--that could be a plus or a minus.

I really truly believe that Sugar has played the perfect game so far, having gone to Exile and found the Idol, and been a manipulative individual that people think they can bend her to do their will, when she actually imposes her own will. But, the problem now is, she has taken out the most unlikable person because she hates how Matty is being treated. Well, Sugar, Matty turned on Crystal weeks ago by flipping with you and Ace. And, Matty started it, by bringing up the voting at TC. I just don't see how it benefits Sugar to have Matty in the game. But, I do think if Matty makes it to the final, he will more than likely win the million because Bob turned on both Kenny/Crystal and Randy/Corinne, while no one will respect Sugar's gameplay. Plus, Randy liked Matty, which will go a long way in the end. I understand that Sugar made a decent strategic move, but the strategy seems flawed on Day 36. It was a move you make on Day 9 or 12. Not now.

As always, thanks for the recap, schoonie!

I just watched the Ponderosa video with Crystal, and the thing that repeatedly went through my mind is...
How old is Corinne? Seriously, she acts like a child. Ugh. I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle her!
And the girlie man who said he was only being mean to Crystal because he was afraid his "friends" would turn on him....yeah...some friends.

blech. Good riddance to that group.
Crystal, on the other hand, seems like she'd be pretty cool to know outside of the food-less environment.

For the winner of Survivor, I'm pulling for Bob. He seems like a decent soul, and he's played this game well.

I like Sugar until this last episode. Crying because Crystal was "being mean" to Matty? Give me a break. She goes whichever way the wind blows, which helps in the game of Survivor, if you do it just right. But in real life? I don't think I could trust someone like that.

Kenny is getting way too smug. I can't wait until it comes back and bites him in the behind.

I have no real thoughts on Sue except to say that she hasn't really played the game. She's lucky everyone else was too busy fighting to notice her.

GO BOB!

Since I agree that Sugar is playing an excellent social game (has anyone ever gotten this far in Survivor with this type of skillset?), I'm going to give her credit for the time being and believe that her choice for Crystal is based on what she knows, and not just emotion.

Getting rid of Crystal instead of Ken makes sense-- Ken is a much safer bet for helping to get rid of Bob before the final. If it's puzzle challenge, Ken might be able to pull off a win -- there's no way Crystal can win any challenge, let alone the most important immunity challenge in the entire game. Suzie has also won a challenge in the past, and Matty usually gets pretty close before choking.

And they all know they have to get rid of Bob if any of them have any hope of winning, including Sugar.

It's probably a good thing for Ken that he's been deflated...it's going to help deflect attention from him as a threat. He's a gamer -- he's used to having multiple lives.

FWIW, this is the first Survivor season I've ever watched in real time (in the past I waited for the seasons to be finished to watch them, but TVGasm screwed that up for me by SPOILING last season's ending for me...shame on you for announcing the winner in the headline! I still haven't watched the season...). But it's been great fun watching this season AND reading the recaps and everyone else's takes on the goings-on.

If Corrine were capable of shame, I'd expect she's experiencing it now. In a recent interview she said that Crystal had gotten the most inaccurate edit and was being portrayed as the angry black woman and it wasn't true. This from Corrine!
IMO Sugar deserves the win but isn't gonna get it.

And, how am I just noticing the care Bob puts into making sure the three parts of his bowtie still read survivor?!

A few things:

1. I was wrong. I went back and looked at what Ken told Sugar before the Ace-hole vote out. He did say that Ace was going to get her idol and vote her out. He did definitely lie.

2. Now I love me some Sugar, don't get me wrong, but I wonder if her social manipulation skillset has anything to do with her lifestyle irl. She has been homeless since her dad died. She must have had to do at least some conning to be able to survive. And I don't necessarily mean to get money from strangers, but even maybe to get couches from friends at times. Oh, and apparently she just married director / cinematographer John Lands after dating for 11 days. Yeah, that'll last. I also hadn't realized that Sugar had been on some series like Gilmore Girls.

3. JustJesse, you twisted BlahBlah's words. What they were saying is that people see someone better than them at playing the game and give them the "bad" badge. That is not the same as saying that the bad ones are better at playing the game. And this is human nature. If you have some strangers come together to oh... win a million dollars. Chances are if one person is beating another, the loser isn't going to think they are a great person. Chances are they will think that person is a jerk. Not always... but lots.

This keeps coming up in the comments time and time again, so I'm going to deal with it really quickly: Once an episode airs, its outcome is no longer considered a spoiler, and we are not responsible for protecting you from the result.

Okay, I probably should have used a different word for it...except I'm not sure what that word would be.

It's just that for some of us there's a lag between when we can watch a show (in my case it's because I live outside the US, so I depend on the goodwill of others in making the episodes available).

Usually I can choose not to read a recap until I've actually watched the episode.

But in the case of last season's Survivor, the winner's name was given in the title of the recap--which was on the home page. So there was no avoiding reading it.

Just saying.

Means I won't be checking back into Tvgasm until Tuesday or so!

Itchy!!!! Thank you so much for addressing that situation about TVGasm ruining the ending of last season with the headline. I had been watching it on CBS.com and I was f-ing loving it and then TVGasm ruined it. I was angry for awhile and didn't come to the site. I know...Big woo, one person stopped reading for awhile. Who cares....

"This keeps coming up in the comments time and time again, so I'm going to deal with it really quickly: Once an episode airs, its outcome is no longer considered a spoiler, and we are not responsible for protecting you from the result."

Schoonie...That type of thinking is stupid. Movie reviewers dont put the endings of movies in their headlines. I don't think the reviews for CITZEN KANE said "Rosebud is his sled? Really?"

Wasn't the Survivor recap posted a good few days after the finale? By then the winner would have been announced on morning shows, websites, and any various other places. I live on the West coast so I can't go on the computer before hand because its usually posted on my homepage. We knew the winner of American Idol this past season before we even saw the finale. So my advice is either don't go on the net until you can watch the show, or deal with it!

The fact of the matter is, there's no way we can account for the viewing habits of absolutely everyone, and we can only do our best to account for the viewing habits of MOST people. That's the reason for the rule.

We want to make people happy as quickly as possible, meaning that the spoiler rule that keeps the most people happy is the rule we follow, which in this case means that things are fair game after they've aired. In this case, that means talking about something after it happens, because that's when people want to comment. We can't be like "Okay, class, has EVERYONE watched this?" because then we would never get around to anything.

With that said, I'll do my best not to put that actual name of the winner in the title or on the front page as a consideration. I can see how people wouldn't want spoiler information on the front page, and that makes sense.

However, lots of recap titles spoil things, somewhat. For instance, the Big Brother finale recap was entitled "Finally, the Republicans win something". From that, you can infer the winner. Where's the line? But if, say, Sugar wins, and the headline is "Sweet Victory", how is that any better? It's a difficult line to draw, because it falls in a different place for everyone, and we can't possibly account for that, which is why we have the rule in place.

Ultimately, it's up to you to remain unspoiled. I'm not saying don't come to the website, because we love our readers, but you might want to be aware that we can't possibly watch out for everyone's individual viewing habits, because we have thousands of readers and we need to take care of all of them. That's what's important to us. However, just be aware that by visiting a television website, you're going to be getting some information on, you know, television, even if it's not what you necessarily asked for. It's actually the MOST considerate thing we can do, not the least.

I'm just trying to explain why we do what we do. Hope everyone understands.

I see your point Schoonie (yours too JustJesse) and agree with you -- I mean, how were you to know I hadn't even started to watch the season yet? And of course it was only because I knew who Parvati was from the previous season, otherwise the name wouldn't have stuck in my head anyway. And now that I've discovered Tvgasm, I make sure I watch these shows right away -- all the fun of this site is reading the recaps AFTER I've already watched the show.

So I humbly withdraw my grumbling (didn't really mean to start an issue with that anyway).

A sled? Rosebud's a...a...sled?

I just finished watching the survivor-ponderosa videos and wow, what a bunch of whiny brats these losers are. well, except for crystal. I cannot stand corrine, or randy and company! I'm starting to think that maybe it's not their fault that they are so obnoxious and self-righteous, maybe they have seriosuly low IQ's and can't help but be 'special.' Look at corrine's logic: in the video she states that she's not talking to crystal because crystal didn't join her alliance and as a result she was voted out! Hello, you just said that cystal wasn't in your alliance to begin with! So you're mad at her because she didn't vote your way even though there was no reason to if you guys weren't allies from the get go! yeesh, I hope next season the caliber of contestants goes way up, instead of garbage picking players from the swamplands!

Soft flesh:
Completely agree with you, im really saddened by how petty those people are because they game didn't go the way they wanted. I fully expected that kind of behavior from Randy and Corrine because they are horrible, spiteful people; but i expected better from Marcus and Charlie. I guess Marcus has a little cause to be upset with Crystal because she promised she wouldn't write his name down and then, ya know...did. But he should be grown up enough to accept that it was a strategic move in a game.
I'm especially disappointed in Charlie who said the only reason he didn't talk to Crystal was b/c he didn't want his friends to be mad at him!?!?! wtf...this is a 29 year old college educated lawyer saying this!!! I really hope they both smarten up...but if lost a lot of respect for them now.
!!!Sugar FTW!!!

Bob for the win! He is my favorite survivor in a long time. I can't see him winning an endurance challenge though so we'll have to see how it goes tonight. Also I wish I had seen that Parvati won before I lost the last two hours of my life that season. I can't stand her and I think it was one of the worst wins ever. It's possible CBS is giving Sugar a very "friendly" edit. I despised her "good people" comment. I do think she's played an amazing game so far though and respect her for that. Social skills are very important in survivor, maybe the most important.

Thanks a lot for spoiling the ending of CITIZEN KANE. I haven't seen it yet!!!!

;)

Thanks Snootchy Bootches. I'm glad you understand my original meaning and said it better. :) I was commenting on the contestants' tendency to label the other contestants that "outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted" them as "bad".

Now that the finale is over...

I'm glad Bob won. I guess the "good" people prevailed. LOL Sugar is one of the few contestants I've seen who seemed to be smart but didn't always make the decisions that would help her become the winner. Booting Ken and Crystal basically made sure that either Bob or Susie would win instead of her. I wish she got the $100,000 as a consolation prize because Bob wouldn't have won without her. Why didn't he mention that? Probably still in shock. :)

Prettygoodyear:

Yea, Crystal seemed nice after the game was over for her. She is 6'3, so it probably takes a lot of fuel to keep her body running well - like how big men get grumpy and sluggish when they're hungry. :)

I don't judge her harshly because I probably would've snapped a lot earlier than she did. When I was younger, I was in an organization where our initiation rights was similar to Survivor. It was only for a week, and by the end of it I wanted to kill everyone. And there was no strategy involved or prize to worry about. Just starvation and physical exertion.

Ok, I'm catching up on everyone's most recent comments. Some good analysis here.

Snootchy, do you mean Sugar just married the director John LANDIS after 11 days? Of American Werewolf and MJ's Thriller video fame? WTF?! That's a great observation about Sugar's manipulative skills being honed by her - in Corinne's words - leech lifestyle. She does seem to know how to pull out the tears pretty easily. I wish I knew how to do that. I wouldn't have these three traffic tickets in a row...Crying ALWAYS works!

LOL@ReeseWitherspoon's Rosebud/Citizen Kane comment.

Now I'm mad at you for giving up the ending to Citizen Kane. Thanks a lot, you spoiler.
(So what if I'm 60-something years late watching the movie!)

Seriously though, I understand what itchy is saying because I just started watching this season after 10 episodes had already aired on CBS' website. And I went out of my way to catch up with real time so no one could spoil it for me.

I spoiled last season's ending myself while catching up this month when I started digging around on IMDB's Survivor contestants pages. It really takes the fun out of watching the season when you already know who's gonna win.

No not John Landis... she wishes! It is John Lands. Look him up on imdb. He is mostly a camera guy/cinematographer, but he has directed a few things also.