Survivor Showdown

Good Monday morning, one and all! I hope you all had as wonderfully festive weekends as I did. Only 7 more sleeps!!

To kick off the Week Before Christmas, here's your Survivor Finale recap:

Before I begin, I must apologize, because this recap is going to be incomplete, as I missed the first hour. By the time I tuned in, Adam was already on the jury, and the rest of the gang were already at the next TC, where Becky and Sundra were competing in a fire challenge to break a deadlocked vote.

I was terribly disappointed, as I had high hopes of Adam blowing this whole thing out of the water and making it to the final three (where I was positive he'd have the votes to win the whole damn thing). However, I thought Ozzy, Yul and Becky were all deserving of their places in the final three.

Now, back to that fire challenge I mentioned - the girls were given kindling, flint, and a machete to start their fires, which had to go high enough to burn through a rope stretched across overhead. It's the standard Survivor break-a-deadlocked-vote challenge, but apparently Sundra & Becky had never started a fire before, and they spent an hour just trying to get a spark, while the jury members and Ozzy and Yul all had a nap. Finally, Jeff allowed them to use matches, but that really didn't speed up the process. An hour and a half into the challenge, Sundra ran out of matches and was resigned to sitting there and watching Becky finally build a big enough fire to burn through her rope. The win put Becky into the final three with Yul & Ozzy, but both of those girls should be ashamed of their poor skills at starting a fire after 39 days on Survivor.

Back on the beach, Yul, Ozzy & Becky celebrated their Final Three-dom with a feast that was delivered by two Hawaiian chicks in grass skirts. I'm not sure how far away Hawaii is from Treasure Island, but I'm sure it was a long paddle for the poor girls, and those selfish Survivors didn't even ask them to join them for awhile to let them rest. Tsk, tsk. I know if Adam had been there, he definitely would have extended an invitation. Adam's smooth with the ladies like that.

At the final TC, the usual process unfolded of the Survivors making opening statements, then they were posed questions by the Jury. This was the first season that there were three people going before the Jury, but they might as well have just cut Becky anyways, because she drew very little attention from the Jury members. Most questions and comments were directed to either Ozzy or Yul. It seemed only fair, as the two of them really were the stars of this season, with Ozzy dominating physically and Yul a master of the strategic game.

Jeff grabbed the votes and then marched off to LA where a studio audience had magically appeared and all the Survivors had gained about 50 pounds, but that's what happens every year, so it's no longer a shock. I'm just really glad they've cut out that cheesy segment where Jeff hopes on a helicopter and flies in a matter of seconds from their tropical location back to the U.S.

Jeff began reading out the votes, and after eight votes, Ozzy and Yul were tied with one vote left. And that vote went to...........

drumroll please...........

YUL!!

While I was rooting for Adam all the way through, I really don't think anyone could argue that Yul and Ozzy were the best Final 2 this game had ever seen. Quite often someone ends up there that just rides coat tails, but both of those guys worked their butts off. In any other season, Ozzy would have been crowned king of the jungle, but unfortunately, he happened to be up against Yul, a guy who could probably convince anyone to do anything. I do believe Yul may be the best player to ever compete in Survivor.

Yul mentioned several times throughout the season, and again last night, that part of his reason for going on Survivor was to erase some of the sterotypical ideas people have of Asian Americans, and I can tell you that Yul definitely succeeded somewhat in doing so with me. Not that I've ever had anything against Asians, but I've often thought that I've never been attracted to Asian men. Even though I never included Yul as one of the Hot Young Studs on the show, I couldn't help but think he was a handsome dude, especially last night once he was back in LA and carrying some extra weight.

Ozzy didn't go home empty-handed, so don't go feeling sorry for him - he won the on-line poll to determine who was the most clever Survivor, and he received the keys to a new car. Other notes: Adam & Candice are no longer an item, JP is now a model (Hot Young Stud!!), Nate didn't sell out his race and he and "Poverty" had feelings for each other, "Poverty" is a model boxer (I always knew there was a reason why I hated her), Cao Boi is still talking to much (did ya catch the little shake of the head Jeff gave him when he tried to over-take the Reunion show??), Jonathan is still annoying and loud, and Billy was just caught up in the moment when he declared his love for Candice on Episode # 2, so Candice does not have to get a restraining order after all.

Overall, it was a fairly entertaining season, and it looks like Probst is taking us to Fiji in the new year, and I'm already looking forward to it!

Have a good week, everyone!!