After such a riveting season, I am sad it’s almost over! M-Net - let’s do another season sooner rather than later……pretty please?
Of course I am sitting here going, hmmmmm, so why didn’t my season let the final 3 pitch to the jury? DARN!!! #justsaying
Anyway, right off the bat, I must say that for me as a player, it’s a no-brainer to try and sit next to David in the finals. It could be risky if the jury views that as a weak move. Shouldn’t you want to beat the best of the best? It’s a gamble either way I suppose. That’s why I love this game - it’s SO tricky!!
So the final contenders had some tough decisions to make about the tail-end of this journey and I can tell you that even though it may not appear that way on TV, it is one of the most stressful times on the island.
After David contemplated yet another flip, the final four were off to their last challenge. I can confirm that competing in an endurance challenge at the end of this game is painful.
In my season, we ended up standing on a very slim pole in the middle of the ocean for just about 3 hours. NOT FUN! Your body is exhausted, we had not eaten in about 6 days and because the end is in sight, you just want this whole shebang to be over!
We had sunshine though. I cannot begin to imagine how much worse this season’s final challenge was. To battle for 3.5 hours in the middle of a rainstorm cannot be easy. As the last woman standing, Buhle OWNED that challenge properly. She barely moved and her eyes were piercingly focused. I congratulate her on a well-deserved victory.
I found the negotiations at the challenge slightly odd. After 2.5 hours or so, Graham was knocked out of the challenge and shortly thereafter he decided to start making deals. Somehow he managed to keep himself off the chopping block!
The deal was simple: David grants us his blessing to vote him out because he believes he doesn’t have a shot at winning. Look, I understand why David felt this way, especially when Mark said in not so many words that he would not give David his vote. Granted. BUT how do you get to the final 4 and then decide you have no chance of winning?
David’s response to his competitors was to basically run with a plan to eliminate himself. You have to buy a lotto ticket to stand a chance of winning. His chances may be slim to anorexic but stranger things have happened. For instance, I think Buhle may have shot herself in the foot a bit.
I found Buhle’s little grudge against Sivu to be quite silly to be honest. The two of them progressed to this point in the game as a team. She wouldn’t have been there without him and vice versa. A 2-person alliance in the game of Survivor is a gift and often times much stronger than a 5-person alliance.
I agree with her saying that he is most certainly the stronger player but the reason she gave for her decision i.e. not knowing about an idol that he had for all of 5 minutes on day 2, might have cost her the million rand.
She ended up with a tie on her hands and SIvu won in any case so her little tantrum did not pay off. Instead she has now given Sivu something to add to his jury speech - Buhle is disloyal. She turned on a very likeable alliance partner and I think she just gave the jury even MORE reason to give Sivu their vote.
Therefore, in my opinion, this is a 2-person race. It’s going to boil down to Graham and Sivu. I must admit that I was not a fan of Graham’s little rant with Sivu. I am not stating this as a fact but let’s say that Sivu had a strategy to garner the sympathy vote from the jury, then more power to him!!
Graham, if you also have a sob story that you feel has not been highlighted to the jury, then why didn’t you take the opportunity to lay that on the table as well? I think it’s wrong to knock someone for talking about their background especially when answering a question that Nico asked. Graham - love you man but that was NOT a good look!!
Having said all of that though, I honestly think that Graham played the best game strategically and he deserves the title of Survivor.
Graham has played this game from day one with even-tempered strategic brilliance. Outwit, outplay, outlast - that’s the mantra. Graham did it better than the rest so my view is that the jury will appreciate that as staunch fans of the show. Good luck G - I’m pulling for you!
Who do you think will become SA’s newest Sole Survivor??????