OK damn it, I'll start a firestorm of posts-Survivor comments?

Couldn't happen. The producers have to come up with a script before the game starts (when tribes merge or are shaken up, when various challenges take place, etc.), so they can't subtly rig the game to help one player or hurt another. Otherwise, they leave themselves wide open to a lawsuit in which a losing contestant can claim they ratfucked the game. They did get hit with a lawsuit after the first game. in which Stacey (a lawyer) claimed the producers nudged her tribe to boot her and keep Rudy, who proved to me one of the most popular players ever. The producers fended it off - it wasn't the biggest headache that game produced, was it, Mr. Hatch?
If they decided midstream to go from a Final 2 to a Final 3, Becky (a lawyer) would have a helluva case. Instead of getting shut out in a F3, she could've possibly beaten either of those guys in an F2 (Ozzy made some enemies, and she let Yul be the front man when it came to boots even though she made some of the calls, like booting Jonathan - they should've broken up the Adam-Parvati duo first, but that's another story).

 

There's no way that Yul deserved to win. All of that crap he did was silliness. Everybody on his team agreed that they needed to bring Jonathon back. The only reason he did it was because he had the idol, which was mostly the result of good luck.

The fact is that Yul rode Ozzie's coattails as much as the others. He never would have survived if Ozzie hadn't kept the team off the chopping block time and time again. Ozzie, my friends, was the greatest player in the game's history. Nobody compares. There were a few good competitors in the past, but nobody dominated they way that Ozzie did. If you think otherwise, you clearly didn't notice his dominance. His swimming skills won at least three immunities for his team. His balance won a few more. And he even showed mental acuity. He had everything one needs to win, and he deserved it so much more. The guy is a waiter. Yet they gave the money to a lawyer. Even if everything else is split 50/50, that simple fact should have swayed the jury.

Yul was a great player, but he shouldn't have won. Let's remember, though, that he got Jonathon's vote, and that guy is clearly batshit insane. Then he got another vote because he voted off Jonathon.

 

Yul did all the work to get Jonathan to switch...Jonathan was riding the fence hard, and Yul approached him wonderfully, had the balls to show him the idol (knowing at that point, he was still the enemy) and then give him the option of choosing who to boot (Nate).

That was, by far, the moment the turned the whole game around. That was it, and it's not even close.

Ozzy was a phenomenal player, and his constant competitiveness and all-out greatness during the challenges was a sight to behold. He also put food in everyone's bellies.

Like I said, in an Ozzy-Yul final, there is no wrong choice. Yul was the mastermind that probably got Ozzy into the final three, though.

 

Not only was Yul a lawyer, he worked for Leibermann at one point, his college education included Harvard AND Stanford. Like, hell, the guy will be a millionaire in 10 years ANYWAY. Ozzie was the most dominant player in some time if not all time, and he got 100K for it. They never said what third place got. It used to be 50K

 

Parvati gets wood sprouting.

 

The only thing that irked me was Adam trying to get one of the four to flip. Yul comes over and says stop it. It sounded like he was a little whiny when he did it to lure Jonathan away. But this was by far the best season in many years and the best players did make it to the finals.

 

You present a convincing argument for Yul. I agree that it was his work that brought Jonathan over. But that whole showing of the idol was based upon his luck in finding it. Sure, other people had a shot to find the thing, but the fact is that some didn't. I'm not sure, but I believe Ozzie never even had an opportunity to grab the idol. Another thing that makes me like Ozzie is that he stayed true to his team. As you may recall, his butt was on the line when he won that immunity the other night. Had it not been for that, he likely would have left the game. But he stayed, and then he actually declined Adam's proposal of bringing out the idol. That seemed to indicate that he wasn't interested in booting Yul, that he was comfortable in facing the jury against Yul.

 

Yeah, I hear you there. I thought for the first 15 tribal councils, Yul was flawless in what he said. Never said anything but the right thing.

He started to slip a little bit at the end, mentioning that bringing Jonathan's hat might have had strategy behind it, whining about Adam trying to stir the pot, etc. etc.

Overall, though, he was the man. Smartest person Survivor's ever had.

 

I've been watching online and I LOVED the fact that the council looked bored to tears as Sundra and Becky tried to start a fire. And they had to go to matches. And Sundra ran out of matches! Talk about your choke jobs!

 

'I will say, having watched the ending, that I think Ozzie should have won. He worked HIS ASS OFF. Yul just fuckin' sat back and chilled knowing that he had the idol and could protect himself at any time. Ozzie was the brawn. Yul was the brains. Surving is a game of brawn, not brains. etc. etc. blah, blah.

 

Yul couldn't have gotten to the final without Ozzie and Ozzie couldn't have gotten to the finals without Yul. Yul needed Ozzie to win the challenges and Ozzie needed Yul to be the brains behind the operation. As someone else said, getting Jonathan to flip was the turning point.

There was no wrong way to vote among those two... I thought Ozzie was going to win, but I have no problem with Yul winning...

 

Without Yul, Ozzie would have been booted early.

They each needed each other. Perfect ending would have had them splitting the money.