The best part of Thursday night's finale: my love story stayed intact and I got the Anela/Nicole ending that I wanted.
The worst part: that
Smash didn't win of course.
After the show I drowned my sorrows in Vodka thinking about what he could have done differently and now, in the cold, hard light of day, I'm able to articulate it.
He should have pointed out all the ways in which he'd helped Nicole get to the end.
This was her key argument when it came down to it - how he was there because of her challenge wins, which was true.
But it was also true that she was there because of how loyal he'd been to her, strategically and emotionally. He became her new Marisha after Marisha had been eliminated. He didn't win a challenge for the alliance but he did a whole lot too.
Most importantly, he should have mentioned how he diverted the vote and saved her when Kiran was gunning for her.
If he'd stuck with Kiran on that particular day, Nicole wouldn't have made it to the end. This was equivalent to her final two challenge win.
But he didn't use any argument that involved "look at what I did for Nicole to get her here" and although it cost him votes, it made me root for him even more.
Unfortunately he was just too enthusiastic about Nicole winning. He kept nodding when she mentioned something positive about herself and while it was sweet, I wanted to reach through the TV to stop him.
Even though he wanted to win, I got the sense that he didn't too, as if deep down he felt he didn't deserve it and I think it impacted on everything.
I reckon it's why he lost by an eight to one vote and why he took his loss so well, out of respect for Nicole.
The Reunion Show with Jeff Panagiotopoulos
I was relieved that they didn't do a totally virtual Reunion Show because it sucks to see everyone on blurry screens, alone in their homes.
It was only Mike and Qieän who were virtual and it didn't matter because Mike was too annoying to have been in the action anyway.
I almost rolled my eyes off my face when he tooted his own horn like that. I can't remember what he said exactly but he clearly thought he was more popular amongst fans than he was. Tell yourself whatever you need to Mike.
I was equally irritated by those *
place advertiser name here* body guards who were supposedly protecting "the winnings". They belong on Big Brother to protect the housemates from fans who want to rip their eyeballs out and not on Survivor. It was a real problem stylistically.
And let's not overlook the issue of Wardah who was the only notable castaway who didn't get to say a thing! I was shocked.
I understand what a problem she is but you don't just cut someone out as if they didn't exist on the show. I was actually curious to hear what she'd say next and found the production's handling of her extremely petty.
As for the rest of them... Renier's clearly found a new calling as Renny G, with his Kenny G do. All he needs now is a sexyphone.
I thought it was appropriate that Chappies won the Jeep because he did a lot to entertain us on the show and made sacrifices. All those sleepless nights stuffing his face with slime had to count for something because no-one wants to do that.
It's clear that Santoni still worships him as much as she did previously, if not more with all that touchy-feely she did with him.
If you've also been wondering about her psychedelic outfits... turns out the online store she owns is a fashion store. I've just been browsing it - here's a link:
kwaitokoeksister.com.
Interesting how much attention many of them gave to their fashion choices on the jury. Anesu also went all out and Amy too - she even tortured herself by putting an earring through the most tender part of her ear. I hear the pain of that is extreme and goes on for weeks, if not months.
Amy, who was much too forgiving of the production for that awful double jeopardy fate elimination. She basically took responsibility for her ousting, saying she didn't have enough social collateral to save her and Renier.
True on one hand but also wrong on another because one person's fate should never be forced on another.
Overall everyone cleaned up quite well and didn't look as extremely different as they usually do on these occasions.
The only person to change substantially was Shaun who inflated and deflated between jury duty and the Reunion Show like bubble gum. He took it well and won major plus points by sticking with Anela.
Who will hopefully be in All Stars with Kiran. There are a couple of them who could return for another season. Who would you like to see again?
Until then, The Tribe has Spoken and Nicole has a million bucks to blow. Will she still have any of it in 10 years time?
If you need-want more Survivor money chatter, check out this interview I did with our very first Survivor winner Vanessa Marawa in 2016, 10 years after she won:
Where is she now? Vanessa Marawa