Survivor Results: The Final Reckoning

I hope everyone enjoyed the final episode as much as I did. While I think we all wanted Cirie to win, the fact that they went down to a final 2 made it a more satisfying end to a very exciting season.

The jury questions were strangely flat and boring. I don't remember ever seeing less discussion about who deserved to win, and no one even talked about whether Amanda or Parvati had played a stronger game.

Parvati's victory showed that, even though she embodies her surname of Shallow, she was probably just a little more fun to be on an island with. I thought that she performed well in front of the jury, and showed flashes of charisma that probably carried a vote or two.

I think Fans vs. Favorites was a great idea, and gave us the perfect mix of old characters and new (most of whom we grew to despise, but still).

Anyhow, you can find a discussion of the episode anywhere. But how did we end up in the pool? Who won? Who lost? Who lost badly?

Here are how the points were lost and won over the course of the last episode:

Event.................................Matt..........Carl.........Dawn........Kim........Paul
Natalie's Boot....................-23.............-15............+9..............-6.............-9
Cirie's Boot.........................-28.............-24...........-21.............-28..........-12
Final 2 bonuses....................+10.............+0............+10...........+30.........+10
Amanda's 2nd place finish..-13.............-25...........-12............+15..........-41
Final 1 bonuses.....................+0.............+0.............+0.............+0...........+0
Parvati's 1st place finish.......-29.............-45...........-42............-12..........-12

Since there was a second unexpected immunity challenge, I counted everyone's immunity picks for each of the two contests (not that this impacted the score in any significant way).



So now, the final final standings for Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites...






1st Place: SOLE SURVIVOR FAN (The Richard Hatch Award)
The Sole Survivor Fan knows how to pick 'em. Like Richard Hatch, the SSF has managed to stay one step ahead of the pack. Whether it's assessing a player before the game starts, sensing which way the wind is blowing amongst the game's many alliances, or measuring the likelihood that a team will win immunity, the SSF knows how to play the game (from the couch, anyhow).



First place and The Richard Hatch Award go to

Kim

Final episode scoring: -1
Final Score: 520
The Summary: Kim really mopped up in the final episode. She went into the finale leading, and sailed into an enormous lead.
How she did it: Kim benefited enormously by consistently placing Amanda and Parvati in the top three over her 3 sets of picks. Before the season began, Kim went out on a limb and decided that the girls would get together to form a female power alliance (in her version, Ami led the gang). When the second set of picks were due, she made minor adjustments, but since the female alliance still looked like a possibility, she largely let them ride. By the time the third set of picks came up, everyone was leaning towards an all-girl finish, and everyone's last set of picks looked a lot like Kim's. Kim had predicted Amanda to get second place in all three sets of picks, which basically put the game away for her as she racked up 45 bonus points that no one else got.


2nd Place: SURVIVOR FINALIST FAN (The Colby Donaldson Award)
The Survivor Finalist Fan played a strong game to be proud of, but somewhere along the way, something as slight as a single wrong decision cost him or her the victory. In Survivor: Australia, Colby Donaldson made the mistake of taking winner Tina to the final tribal council, which cost him the million dollars. Luckily for the SFF, her wrong decision cost nothing more than bragging rights.

Second place and The Colby Donaldson Award go to

Dawn

Final episode scoring: -56
Final Score: 429
The Summary: Dawn entered the finale in 4th place, but her second-best finish allowed her to beat out Carl and I for the second spot.
How she did it: When the third set of picks came in, Dawn was leading the pool. But her stubborn faith in Ozzy and James wound up costing her big. What really came through for her in the end was picking up some bonus points on both Natalie and Amanda. Dawn had a very different set of picks from the rest of us, but zigging when the rest of us zagged paid off for her, on balance.


3rd Place: JURY FAN (The Rob Cesternino Award)
The Jury Fan is a player who gave the game a good shot, but just couldn't figure out a way to make it to the end. Rob Cesternino was famous for his strong game play, but he ultimately failed to make it before the jury in Survivor: Amazon (or the All-Stars). The good news for the JF is that with a little more savvy next time, he might be able to finish higher.


Third place and The Rob Cesternino Award go to

Matt (me!)

Final episode scoring: -83
Final Score: 428
The Summary: I came into the finale gunning for the lead from third place, but when the dust cleared, I lost second place to Dawn by one lousy point.
How I did it: It was a pretty terrible finale for me, pool-wise. I never had much faith in the unlikeable Natalie or Parvati, and I had Cirie pegged to go out earlier than most. This wound up costing me a lot of points, and I didn't hit much in the way of bonus points to balance it out. While I'm happy to make it to the jury, I would have loved to have made that one change that would have put me in second.


4th Place: PRE-MERGE FAN (The Bobby Jon Drinkard Award)
The Pre-Merge Fan failed the Survivor Pool on almost every level. Bobby Jon was famously frustrated time and time again in challenges, despite having a ragingly competitive streak in his nature. Similarly, the PMF made bad choice after bad choice, and failed to crack into the upper echelon of Survivor fans. At least he's no quitter.

Fourth Place and the Bobby Jon Drinkard Award go to...


Carl

Final episode scoring: -109
Final Score: 405
The Summary: Carl was a strong third place when the finale started, but nothing much seemed to go right for him, as he suffered a worst-in-the-pool 109 point loss.
How he did it: Things couldn't have gone worse for Carl. He was the only player to pick up zero bonus points in the finale, which means he hit no elimination perfectly, nor did he get any Final 2 points. He also lost more points on Parvati's win than anyone. Better luck next time, Carl!


5th Place: QUITTER (The Osten Taylor Award)
There's no lower place on the survivor totem pole than the person who didn't show up to play, and The Quitter should really be ashamed of him or herself. Some players quit because their bodies are injured, and some quit because they have loved ones on deathbeds back home, but Osten Taylor quit for no apparent reason other than he really wanted a hot shower and a hot meal. Like Osten, the Quitter needs a strong performance in another season to even think about getting some respect.

Fifth Place and the Osten Taylor Award go to...

Paul

Final episode scoring: -64
Final Score: 398
The Summary: Paul made up ground in the finale, but came up just 7 points shy of escaping ridicule until Survivor: Gambon.
How he did it: Paul had decent picks for the finale, and actually did better than anyone at predicting when Cirie would go out. But his first two sets of random picks just didn't make enough sense to carry him through. He occasionally scored big through his randomness, as when he picked Cirie, Parvati, and Natalie to all finish in the top five (in his second set of picks), but the weight of some clearly bad choices drug him down into the dirt.



I hope everyone enjoyed participating in the pool enough to come back next season. I know it always adds a little to the pleasure I take in the show. I might revamp the scoring to make it a little less complicated next time, but I am definitely open to suggestions.


Matt