Survivor Nicaragua - FINAL results!

With his back against the wall and against all odds...

Fabio dug deep to win the final three immunity challenges.  So by surviving a tribe where the majority alliance was going to vote him out at the first opportunity, he also wins the hearts of the jury with a close vote of 5-4 over Chase and Sash, who got no votes.  I thought Fabio was a goner at the final immunity challenge - his coins looked like they were going to fall over any second, but Sash clumsily dropped his last coin on his stack instead of placing it.  Fabio was all smiles the whole rest of the show after that.

There were a couple of crazy finishes in the pool.  First of all, only 13 entries had Fabio, including Tara P's #2 entry at the bottom, so she earned too many points and lost last place to Rene Sr.  Don also jumped from 6th to steal 4th place prize!  And for the first time ever, there's a tie:  Jacquie and Muriel will split the combined total of 2nd and 3rd place prizes.  Here's the summary:

• 1st, $245:  Shawna, who controlled 1st place from the start, and has won $275 over the last 12 seasons.
• 2nd, $85:  Jacquie, who snuck up the rankings late in the game, and is a first time winner.
• 2nd, $85:  Muriel, who snuck up even later in the game as a result of having the first contestant voted off, and has won $195 since joining the pool 5 seasons ago.
• 4th, $50:  Don, who has sucked in each of the previous 3 seasons since joining the pool, is a first time winner.
• Last, $25:  Rene Sr, who stole last place in the last episode, and has won $80 in the last 12 seasons (not on the plus side yet!).

The next season of survivor starts in February and is full of second chances!  We'll see how that turns out.  Have a great holiday everyone!

Jay

Survivor Nicaragua - week 13 results

Family Episode

Was Fabio ever upset when Chase won the reward challenge and didn't take him and his mom along.  I haven't heard the term "man" used so much, but I was very impressed at how well Fabio did at the blindfolded immunity challenge.  I'm always impressed by how well they can do those kind of touch-only memory challenges.  I think this was the first time ever that an alliance actually admitted they were going to backstab one of their own to their face.  I liked how Jane doused the fire that she made in retribution.

At tribal council, Jeff revealed the alliance of Chase, Sash and Holly and their future intentions.  I love when that happens because it hardly ever does.  What was frustrating this whole season is that everyone realized who was in power too late to have the numbers to do anything about it.  This season's cast of contestants are the dumbest so far.  Jane couldn't even rally Fabio and Dan to vote the same way to save any of their butts, so Jane's gone.

Only 6 entries in the pool had Jane.  There's a big battle for the top 4 prizes, and Tara P still has a good grip on last place, as long as Fabio doesn't make it to the end.

Sunday is the finale.  There will be 3 tribal councils so points will be awarded to remaining picks 3 times, with the winner getting double points.  Don't miss it!

Jay

Survivor Nicaragua - week 12 results

"Here are the members of the jury... and the two quitters." - Jeff Probst

Loved when I heard that!  NaOnka and purple Kelly two shouldn't even get to be on the jury.  It would still work out.  Also loved the naming of the chicken Kelly-Nay.

This episode had a lot of strategizing going on, but not enough from the alliance of Benry, Fabio, and Dan to keep Sash on their side.  One of those three should have guaranteed going to the finals with Sash instead leaving him feeling like he'd be a fourth wheel.  Although Chase did stupidly fail to bring Sash with him to the reward, he did make up for it by promising to take Sash to the finals which won Sash over.  So after Sash won immunity, the new alliance in power of Sash, Chase, Holly, and Jane blindsided Benry at tribal council.

In the pool, 26 entries had Benry, including Tara P's #2 pick at the bottom and now it looks like she has a good chance of winning last place.  Muriel moved up from 7th to 4th and is the only entry left with 5 picks.

Next week is the last two episodes!  Happy snow-shoveling tomorrow,

Jay

Survivor Nicaragua - week 11 results

Quitters!

I think this was the only episode to cover only one day, and to do that, there was a lot of video of contestants talking.  Talking about quitting.  Namely NaOnka and Purple Kelly.  Only 11 more days to go and they quit in their own pathetic ways.  It was a Survivor precedent - Jeff Probst called a special Tribal Council to give the two girls one last chance to change their minds and to my surprise both of them didn't.  The 3 members of the jury were furious that these two just gave up their spots in the game, and I'd be furious too.

In the pool, 3 entries had both NaOnka and Purple Kelly, including Shawna at the top, who is in great danger of finally losing her clutch on 1st prize.  Tara's #2 pick at the bottom is also in danger.  Sharlene jumped the most spots (7) to 21st and Rachel dropped the most spots (8) to 30th.

I was hoping NaOnka would go out under someone else's terms, and as a hard-hitting blindside.  This is truly unsatisfying.

Jay