Survivor Finale Thoughts

Thomas Leffring, Writer

Well as I made my stats article a few months back we are now approaching the last two episodes, where we see the last 5 eliminations unfold, who comes back from the Edge and my thoughts on each of the 7 still in the game. We will go over it all. 

 

Also If you have a few favorites please share who in the comments.  I will break this into two parts, the 7 players left, what they have, and then my thoughts on how the 7 will perform.

 

Denise Stapley 

6 Fire Tokens

 

Tony Vlachos

1 Immunity Idol

3 Fire Tokens

 

Sarah Lacina 

3 Fire Tokens

 

Michele Fitzgerald 

1 Fire Token

 

Nick Wilson 

3 Fire Tokens

 

Jeremy Collins 

1 secret advantage (50/50 coin)

1 Fire Token

 

Ben Driebergen 

1 Immunity Idol

0 Fire Tokens

Although people on edge also have advantages or coins it’s not nearly as notable. Only really worth mentioning, Natalie Anderson currently has 8 Fire Tokens and Rob has been holding onto an Immunity Idol.

 

Now keep in mind the following part is my thoughts on each player and their chances of winning, at the end of the day I could very well be wrong. That being said, here are my thoughts of everyone’s game so far.

 

 

Denise Stapley 

Denise is a huge wild card for me, her entire game is her coming in and out of power. Starting off she built a close bond with Adam which proved to not be the best call since Adam likes to talk to people and act sneaky. In the end, when the whole tribe turned on him she still tried to save him.
Despite this, Denise is well liked in her tribe, has won 2 immunities and has built good connections throughout the season. She also currently has 6 tokens which she can use in the end in a smart way, she could really control the endgame.

But no doubt her claim to fame or her best move was the 8th tribal of the season where she took two time champ Sandra down in the best way possible. Denise got Sandra to give her the idol Sandra had for 1 coin before tribal, and 1 coin afterwards. Then she used her Idol she had already with the idol she got from Sandra to make she and Jeremy immune, canceling all the votes except her vote, she sent Sandra home with her own idol. Best move of the whole season!

Overall I say she’s got some work to do but she could really pull it off.

 

 

Tony Vlachos

Tony is exactly what he was like in his winning season, he’s playing like a madman and it’s insane to watch. Going through the first half of the season he laid low, mostly due to his reputation and how people perceive him as hard to predict and untrustworthy. But it was around final 9 in the last two episodes that he threw himself into power.

At final 9, the whole tribe turned on Jeremy as he left his alliance to fend for themselves at final 10. This caused many members of that alliance to outcast him to no return. And at the final 9, it seemed like his end, he was going home. But Tony had other plans, he knew they were splitting the votes in case of an idol play, and went to the outcast of the tribe and formed a counter attack and got Sarah’s number one ally out Sophie in a 4-3-2 vote.  

Then at final 8 he manages to find Sophie’s rehidden Idol, and manages to cause enough chaos at the final 8 vote to send Kim home. Tony’s main thing against him is despite him backstabbing Sarah, he still wants to work with her, which I’m not sure is a great Idea. 

 

Overall Tony can beat anyone in the end right now but the thing is I don’t think he can get to the end.

 

Sarah Lacina 

Sarah has had a pretty solid game, mainly being on the right side of the numbers for most of the season. Early on in the season she sneaked into the other camp to recieve a steal a vote while everyone was sleeping. Then later on she used it to get Tyson out and for a moment she seems to be set up to control the rest of the season with her ride or die Sophie. 


But thanks to the final 9 blindsides done by Tony, she now is put in a spot where she has to try and trust powerful players while trying to get them out. She also has been trying to manipulate Tony and really guilt tripping him about blindsiding her.


I think she could win but her social game isn’t fully there and for me it’s just hard to route for her.

 

Michele Fitzgerald 

With all respect to Michele, I really don’t think there is any way she can win. Her game had a lot of potential early on with her being in a majority and even her calling some of the shots. Then the swap happened and it was revealed that she had dated Wendell but they had broken up. This is when I think people were routing for her and more so against her “kinda rude ex”.

But then she started working with him, from a game point this didn’t make a ton of sense and from a social aspect it was so dumb. To make matters worse, when everyone was trying to vote him off she defended him and tried to save him, it just was really weird to watch.

 

She then at the merge bought the 50/50 coin, which again was good for her. She then gave it to Jeremy this last episode because she wanted him to stay but was also voting for him.

 

I don’t think she’s the worst player left in the game but I just can’t see her winning.

 

Nick Wilson

So Nick was just here, that is the best way to put it. I really can’t see Nick winning simply due to the fact that he hasn’t done as much as anyone left in the game. Starting off he was targeted a bit on his old tribe because he was a new winner and no one knew who he really is. Then at merge he was a part of one or two big blindsides but he was never the main guy who made those moves. He hasn’t won any challenges either. 

The biggest thing that happens to him is he keeps coming into conversations out of nowhere without building really any bonds.

I will be shocked if he wins because he just hasn’t shown that he deserves it.

 

 

Jeremy Collins

Jeremy is probably one of the most likeable guys out on the show, he has a way that makes him this likeable firefighter and father of 5 that makes it hard to not route for the guy. However, that being said, he made a move at final 10 that has put him on the outs. This move was him using a Safety without power advantage to let himself leave tribal without voting. Because of this his alliance was at a disadvantage and they lost Tyson. This made him become the number one target and made him hated by several of his allies.

He would have been a dead man at final 9 if it wasn’t for Tony, and Tony is the main reason this guy is still in the game. He has lost control of his game and has had to rely on others to get him through the game. He was given an advantage that was supposed to play but didn’t, now it’s up to him if he wants to give the 50/50 coin back to Michele or just keep it for himself.

Overall, I don’t get why everyone is gunning for him; he’s not the best player out there, but he’s not the worst either. I could see him winning, but the people he’s with (mainly Tony) he will lose to. But don’t count him out.

 

 

Ben Driebergen

Well Ben’s game is really good at some moments and really bad at others. To start he was similar to Michele because he had a great start with him being in majority, calling some shots, and he took part in getting the threat Rob out. Then going into merge opened up more connections and arguably he was playing one of the best social games at final 10. But then he got petty, he started to close doors and only in recent episodes focusing solely on getting Jeremy out. 

Overall it’s not like he can’t win but compared to others in the game it’s hard to see him winning, but you never know.

 

I know that Edge players could come back and of course any of them could end up winning, but they don’t show enough in the episodes for me to fairly judge what their chances of winning are, but I have reasons to think that many of them could win if they got the end. So that’s about it, make sure to tune in for next week’s finale episode of the best allstars season ever done.