After 27 days, Survivor SA: Malaysia has finally come to an end. After all the wheeling and dealing, the hunger, the sand fleas, the injuries and intense excitement, it came down to a face off between Grant and Lorette. But not before Lorette won the final Immunity Challenge, the balancing act.
And OMG – wasn’t that balancing act brutal? Not actually the challenge itself, but the fact that it signalled the end of Mandla.
As he sat in the ocean and cried, I sobbed with him, feeling his pain and anguish.
What a terrible ending for him. After all that he has endured, I could not believe that it would like this for him.
In every equation for the final 3, he was there. It did not once enter my mind that he would fall off first. NOT ONCE. I was prepared for everything but not for THAT.
And if it wasn’t going to be Mandla that won Immunity, I was very glad that it was Lorette. It definitely made for a suspenseful final TC because no-one (not even Lorette) knew who she was going to take to the final 2
Amanda’s scrambling toward the end was hilarious. All that nonsense she was spewing about how sad she was that they didn’t get to know each other… blah blah blah, sealed her fate. Grant had the right idea. Don’t patronise her, leave her alone to decide. And it worked in his favour.
Whether she chose him because she thought she would win against him, I don’t know, but I suppose any one of them would have been a gamble.
I was praying for Amanda’s name to be read at final TC and I gave a whoop of delight when she was ousted.
And how awesome was the live finale? I lurved, absolutely LURVED Mark with his direct questions and snide remarks.
I kept looking out for Devilgirl in the audience but I didn’t get to see her. Although Ofunneka, Tati and the Idols crew was there.
It was great seeing everyone again and (I sooooo cannot believe it) Dick was looking nice wasn’t he? And then he went and voted for Lorette too. Why does he make it so HARD for me to dislike him?????
At the LF we got to take a look-see at all those moments we loved.
Hein and the FIRE STORY was so funny again. Seeing them all doubt him, him promising, the music; culminating in the fire off course.
And then he said that he deliberately didn’t make a fire immediately because he didn’t want to play all his cards in one day. THAT was a brilliant strategy right there.
I was disappointed that he didn’t reveal the whole truth about the 30-second challenge – but I think Marky was even more so. I want to believe that he fell asleep, because if he didn’t, then THAT MOMENT is when he gave the million buckaroos to Lorette.
The Rezki moments were hilarious too. All that self-righteous stinky goat bashing – and then DEVOURING the piece of rib offered to them as a gift. PRICELESS.
Were my eyes deceiving me or did I see Elsie and Rijesh holding hands? And then when they let go, their knees were pointed toward each other (body language) and Elsie kept grabbing his fingers…. was that just friendship???
And doesn’t he clean up nicely?
In actual fact, they ALL cleaned up nicely.
Lorette. WOW! She looks 10 years younger now that she’s off the island.
And then after all the fun and games it was time to announce the winner.
After a very Colin-like break, Mark read the votes and this is how it went down:
First vote goes to
LORETTE and it was from
DYKE !! Second vote goes to
GRANT and it’s from
ANGELA (and I was, like, WTF??)
Third vote was for
LORETTE and it’s from
MANDLA. And his whole reason was very sweet. I was in tears again.
Sorry, I need to digress here, MANDLA looked HOT! Plus, you can see he’s just such a genuine guy. I am convinced that if anyone had gone against him in the finale, there was no way they would have won.
OK, on with the voting.
The fourth vote goes to
GRANT and it’s
AMANDA. Again. WTF? I was surprised and amazed and then I got to thinking - ONE VOTE LEFT and it’s Angie.
And now EVERYONE knows how tight Grant and Angie were. So now I’m thinking, there’s NO WAY that M-Net would make it that obvious that Grant would win.
Or would they?
I think back on the question Angie asked him at the final TC.
And the question was – Was their relationship real, or was it just The Game.
And the way he answered, he admitted that it was an alliance, but it was very real. Angie kept asking about the RELATIONSHIP and he kept referring to the alliance.
SO, the camera pans to Angie and she’s smiling, and I can’t decide what she could possibly have voted.
And then Mark reads the final vote and it’s for
Lorette.
I was screaming with joy as hugs were passed around, and I listen to what Angie said and then I started to cry .Again (big baby that I am)
And for all that Angie moaned and bitched about how moral people were being on the island and how “kum ba Yah” everything was, then she does the noblest thing of all.
She votes for Lorette because she knows who will appreciate it more, who will spend it more wisely and who will benefit the most from it.
In that one moment, Angie had completely redeemed herself. Because although it seemed that she was completely heartless, she really isn’t, is she?
And that makes Lorette’s victory all the sweeter.
Because she did really play the game. She admitted that Mandla helped her every step of the way, but she also avoided being voted out quite a number of times.
She might not have lied or back-stabbed (much) but she managed to stay under the radar.
At the end of the day, yes, it is a game and how you play it is important. We understand that when it comes to reality games, anything goes. But to Lorette it was important that she play game as who she is. And if that includes having morals and principals, more power to her.
Survivor SA Malaysia was an awesome trip for us .We hated them, then we loved them, then we hated them again, but without these contestants the game would not have been the same. (and if I have to be honest I LOVE hating contestants because it gives us something to talk about)
The production, the entertainment, THE HOST, the ending….. everything was perfect and the producers could not have orchestrated a better ending than Angie voting for Lorette had they written the script themselves.
Thanks for the ride guys, I had a blast!
And CONGRATULAIONS Lorette! All that sweat and tears paid off.