Well, we made it. Another Survivor finale. Survivor 44 has been an…interesting season. It didn’t start off great. Not terrible, just nothing all that exciting. Then it got bad. Real bad. Like, worst of all time bad. And then things started to pick up. Production stopped meddling. The awful twists and advantages went by the wayside. The players were allowed to play. And – shocker! – the show improved! Funny how that happened. Let’s get into the grande finale.
Va Va
The final five arrive at their new island. Because this is still a thing, even though it never has any impact on the game whatsoever. But whatever. After Heidi’s idol play at Tribal, they’re all thinking it will be rehidden. The Tika 3 talk at the water well about how one of them has to be the one to find it. An idol at the final five is the worst time to have one (from a viewer’s standpoint). Force the players to survive a single pure round. Just one. No Shot in the Dark, no idol, no advantage. Nothing. It’s not asking a lot!
Lauren views Carson as the biggest threat and starts working on Yam Yam and Carolyn. Carolyn is open to the idea, and has been. She thinks Carson would be completely loyal to her, which would play to her advantage if she were to jump on the plan to vote out Carson. But Lauren also knows there’s a distinct possibility the Tika 3 sticks together, making her the potential consensus vote if she doesn’t win immunity.
Final 5 Immunity
For the Final 5 immunity, they race through a huge three-level obstacle course, collecting keys along the way. Once they have all their keys, they unlock a chest containing a monkey fist rope. They use the rope to drop a ladder, climb the ladder to the top of the platform, where the final puzzle awaits. They’re also playing for a trip to the Survivor Sanctuary.
And to no one’s real surprise, because it was a puzzle at the end, Carson wins. He gets to choose one person to bring with him on the reward, and chooses Yam Yam.
Reward/Pre-Tribal
At the reward, Yam Yam and Carson discuss the possibility of voting our Carolyn. Yam Yam knows she’s played a strong game, that her goofy persona could be masking that, hiding her threat level. But Carson is leaning towards Lauren. She’s won a couple immunity challenges, plus he says she’s built strong relationships and likely has lots of friends on the jury (would have been nice to see some of that!).
Back at camp, Lauren tells Carolyn that Yam Yam had suggested her as a potential vote at the last Tribal. Carolyn thought Yam Yam was loyal to her, so this might shake things up in her mind. When Yam Yam and Carson return, they notice the vibe feels off. The other three aren’t talking to them or making any efforts to even pretend to try to work with them.
Even after their talk with Carolyn, Lauren still doesn’t feel totally confident that Carolyn is on board to vote Yam Yam, so she goes back to idol hunting. We don’t receive confirmation either way as we head into Tribal Council.
Final 5 Tribal
Lauren has a really emotional Tribal Council, which effectively negated any tension in the vote. While she has lots of positive things to say about her time in the game, but doesn’t spend any time trying to save herself. She could have been painting Yam Yam as the massive threat that he is. You gotta at least go down fighting! It became obvious the way Survivor edited this Tribal, but Lauren didn’t find an idol, and she’s voted out 3-1-1, with Yam Yam and Heidi (from Yam Yam) each receiving a vote. Yam Yam with the smart vote, feeling secure enough that the other three were all voting Lauren, allowing himself to put a safety vote on Heidi in case Lauren were to play an idol.
Final 4 Immunity
The final immunity challenge is Simmotion. Carolyn is the first to drop, at two balls, followed by Yam Yam shortly after adding the fourth. Carson drops, giving Heidi the win and likely securing her place as a zero-vote finalist. Except. After Jeff gives her the necklace, Heidi says she will be seriously considering putting herself into the fire challenge. I’m going to resist the temptation and not go into why the fire challenge is so dumb. Once we actually get to the challenge, though, is another question…
Pre-Tribal
As is, Heidi has a 1% chance to win the game (should be 0%, but nothing is ever 0% in this game). Her *only* opportunity is putting herself into the fire challenge. It wouldn’t make her the favorite, but it would at least give her one last thing right at the very end that she could point to.
Yam Yam and Carolyn seem to be by far the two strongest fire-makers, and by all accounts Carson is hands down the weakest. Yam Yam has one last chance to show what a great person he is, as he actually helps Carson with his fire practice. He is just such a pure soul. It is truly heartwarming, but…this is Survivor! This is a game for $1 million! Go back to being a good person in two days! We’ve talked about this a bunch on Talking Llama.
Casting has been such an issue in the “new era” of Survivor, with the types of people getting on the show. The types of people in the sense that casting seems to only be looking for these “good” people. It results in too much sameness on the show. Cast some assholes! Put some people on that fans can actively root against. Add a little drama!
Just to be clear, though, this isn’t a shot against Yam Yam. Do I think he should have let Carson sit there and suffer? Absolutely. But Yam Yam is Yam Yam. There is always a place for players like him in the game. I just wish it didn’t feel like there was only a place for players like him.
Final 4 Tribal Council/Fire Making
Heidi puts Carolyn in to the Final 3, before naming Carson as the first person to go into the fire challenge. Then for the moment of truth, and she puts herself into fire against Carson, sending Yam Yam into the Final 3 with Carolyn.
Heidi wipes the jungle floor with Carson, even with him building a pretty good fire of his own. Heidi sets a new record for fastest fire ever made. While this does boost Heidi’s chances just a little, if there’s any justice in the world, she still doesn’t stand a chance against Yam Yam and Carolyn. Hopefully this will help put a rest to the idea that the Final 4 immunity winner should put themself into the fire challenge.
Final Tribal Council
This was an annoyingly positive Tribal Council. Compliments everywhere, positivity everywhere. Not once did we see a juror really dig into any of the final three. I’m not saying they have to be mean, but challenge them, push them. Do something!
And then we get to the votes.
First vote is…Heidi? Sure, one vote, whatever. But then, continuing the apparent tradition in the new era of Survivor, the next 7 votes are Yam Yam (the fourth consecutive 7-1 win, exciting…). How does Heidi get a vote and Carolyn doesn’t? Who cares, though, because for the first time since Winners at War, I am *thrilled* with a winner!
If you don’t know by now, I love ranking things. Even if it’s just for me, I can’t help myself. And Survivor44 is going to be tough to rank. As I mentioned in the beginning, this season had some of the all time worst game moments in the show’s history. But it ended strong, capped off with a satisfying, worthy winner.
And that will close the book on Survivor 44. Sending this off during the island reunion, because, well, it just never works as well as the live reunion. Just playing the odds that I won’t miss anything.
