Post by Brian SmithPost by Brian SmithTonight's episode is titled "The Last Stand" and it comes from a
comment Rachel made. In one of the sneak peek videos we see Rachel
looking up at the tars and then the camera zooms in on her eye. It's
such a strong tell that she wins that it might be a brilliant fakeout
on the part of production.
There's a promo where the jury looks shocked about something. Assuming
it's game-related, I could see the jury being shocked if Sue wins F4
immunity and then puts Sam up against Rachel in fire. If that happens,
it'll be a million dollar firemaking challenge.
More later...
Rachel LaMont wins S47 7–1–0. I'm not surprised Kyle voted for Sam.
More after the After Show.
This was an exciting finale. I expected Rachel to win but didn’t think
it would play out the way it did. I loved the two-hour finale. Hopefully
CBS will allow them to end with two two-hour episodes going forward.
Immunity Challenge
Lots of momentum changes in this challenge. I thought Sam was going to
run away with this challenge until he unexpectedly couldn’t throw the
rope up to bring down the gate. This part of the challenge seemed
designed for him. He went from first to last. Then at the phrase part of
the challenge I was surprised at how fast Sam solved it and regained the
lead. I thought he was going to win the challenge as he seemed to be
going quickly figuring out the upside-down bat puzzle. But Rachel was
too good and came from behind to win immunity.
Back at Camp
When they were all in the ocean cleaning off, Teeny asked Rachel if she
could talk to her. Rachel did us and the editors a huge favor when she
said she would just say what she was going to do. She said she was going
to reward Sue’s loyalty and put Sam against Teeny in fire. Teeny wasn’t
happy because she thought she was going to get destroyed. Sam said he
barely touched flint the whole time they were playing and that he did
not practice before coming out. Teeny didn’t believe him.
Rachel wanted Teeny to win so she coached her on how to start a fire.
Teeny went from not being able to start a fire to starting one with no
problems. Sam sucked until he re-read the letter he got from his dad.
Then he went out into the jungle and started a huge fire the first time.
F4 Tribal Council
The firemaking challenge this season will go down as a classic and kind
of sketchy as far as I’m concerned. Teeny got her fire going very
quickly. Rachel was openly coaching her the entire time. Teeny’s rope
was on fire but would not snap. Sam took forever to get a flame going
but when he did his fire grew quickly. Then a burst of wind took Teeny’s
fire away from her rope and somehow lifted Sam’s straight up. Sam won
and Teeny was heartbroken. She had a very classy departure. It should be
noted at the start of TC, Teeny said it was all on her for her poor
relationship with Sam. She came off looking very good tonight.
Final Tribal Council
The jury had some very good questions at FTC. It might have been the
edit, but I thought not much was directed at Sue. They seemed to be
giving Rachel a lot of opportunities to confirm she was the best player
this season. Sam was very impressive. When he told the story about his
six-year-old self, I thought he had a chance to win. But Rachel
countered with an even better story about her husband.
FYI, Day 26 was Sue’s 59th birthday which she revealed to the jury. I
didn’t sense that any of them were too surprised to find out she’s not 45.
As I stated earlier, Rachel won, getting everyone’s vote except for
Kyle’s. To me it felt like Kyle would never vote for a woman unless he
had to.
After Show
I wish this had been longer. Mostly because I really enjoyed this group.
--
Brian