Grant’s elimination in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 13 brought us down to the final four: odds on favorite Boston Rob Mariano, young girl pairing Natalie Tenerelli and Ashley Underwood, and no prayer of getting a vote crazy person Phillip Sheppard. Those girls are the main obstacle to Rob finally winning a million dollars on his sixth attempt, and we have seen him robbed right at the finish line before (The Amazing Race 7 comes to mind). The other twist is that it’s still anybody’s game because Grant Mattos, Matt Elrod (and God), Mike Chiesl, and Andrea Boehlke all have the opportunity to return back to the game. If it’s somebody from the Zapatera tribe (now down to just Mike), many of them have made it clear they intend to make personal decisions and are bitter that they got themselves eliminated.
Since Probst only read three Grant votes, that leaves open the possibility in Grant’s mind that perhaps Rob did not betray him.
When Grant arrives on Redemption Island, Andrea is not happy to see him. Now she’s got three formidable challenge opponents to get past if she wants to earn her way back into the game.
Rob’s gut is telling him Ashley has to go. Still.
Matt has, apparently, decided that God is no longer punishing him, letting him live in a special place for the past month. Don’t tell him God has bigger problems than who wins or does not win Survivor.
It’s time for the final duel, in which one person will remain and reenter the game. They will place their foot on one end of a balancing board. On the other end is a ceramic vase. When the vase falls, they’re out of the game. They’re all still in it at 20 minutes. Then still at 40 minutes, in yet more pain. Shortly after 40 minutes, Grant is the first person eliminated, good news for those watching, if perhaps not the best news. Matt is the next person to fall, finally being eliminated from the game in his eleventh duel. If there’s anything Andrea can win, an endurance competition is probably her best hope. Mike is out, and Zapatera is dead. Andrea returns to the game.
Andrea’s strategy to get back in is to form an alliance with the girls. First, she says the others on the island called the girls Rob’s puppets, then she says multiple people are thinking about voting for Phillip. She admits this is all random stuff she’s making up that may or may not be necessarily a lie. This is just what Ashley was hoping for. Now it’s a question of which way Natalie swings.
For today’s challenge, they’ll race across a balance beam collecting a series of bags containing numbers, which they must place in order from 1-100. Typically I’d look at this as a girl’s challenge to win because if you don’t have balance you may as well not bother, but we know Rob’s got good balance, too. Rob is the first one to complete the first 10. Andrea and Ashley are behind him. Natalie’s in fourth not far behind, while Phillip’s out of it. Ashley and Rob finish their second bag containing 20 pieces at the same time. Rob falls behind on the third bag of 30 pieces, and Ashley is the first back with the fourth and final bag. Rob loses a lot of time on the third bag, and while he and Andrea are about tied for second, the outcome here is obvious. Ashley wins immunity.
Not what he would have wanted for sure, but now Rob’s target shifts to Andrea. Since she proved herself in the recent endurance competition and has spent some time with the Zapatera tribe, she may not be the worst person to get rid of.
Rob’s not at all worried, but he should be. Andrea and Ashley both want him gone. Natalie promises Ashley that her vote is going toward Phillip next time.
When Rob returns from fishing, Phillip gives Rob his full report of how the girls were talking in the woods. Phil has this conversation with Rob openly, while Andrea’s sitting right there. Rob thanks him for his info, and welcomes him to day 37.
Andrea reiterates what she said earlier at tribal council. The other two girls haven’t done anything yet. In turn, Rob points out why they don’t want to be sitting next to her at the end either.
In spite of his earlier joke that he would take the hidden immunity idol home as a souvenir, that’s just not a smart move. With this being the final tribal council in which the idol can be played, Rob does indeed play the idol he’s been sitting on for quite some time. Better safe than sorry.
Votes
Rob (does not count)
Andrea
Andrea
Andrea
Andrea had a logical argument that was ultimately moot whether it worked or not because Rob had an idol in his back pocket. She has been voted out again, talking about how the girls should have done something to prove they were playing the game. Which would have accomplished what? Same result regardless, only at least now they can say they had Rob’s back so he doesn’t try to get even.
When they get back to camp, Rob promises the girls he’s taking them to the end.
Now we head right for the final challenge. They will race through a giant maze, collecting four bags of puzzle pieces. They will use those pieces to solve a word phrase. A maze is anybody’s game, though I think we can count Phillip out as usual. Rob gets the first puzzle bag, and Ashley follows him to get hers. Phillip also has his first bag. Natalie’s a bit lost and in last place. Ashley and Rob continue to follow each other to their next set of pieces, and Phillip continues to run neck and neck with them. Ashley continues to follow Rob around, keeping both of them in first place. Know what would have been smart here, challenge designers? Higher maze walls that you can’t see over. Rob’s got his final bag with Ashley still behind him. Phillip’s got his third bag. Natalie remains lost. As we head into the puzzle, Rob has about a 10 second lead on Ashley. Ashley has two of the four words when Rob suggests working together. They both pretend to not have anything yet, but both are getting close. Rob wins immunity.
The question now remains what it’s been all season: who does Rob want to get rid of?
Getting rid of Phillip would be very simple and require no work at all, but nobody’s going to vote for him, so keeping him around basically brings us down to a final two rather than a final three. Ashley, however, might actually get some votes. Can’t imagine why, but let’s just say she at least has better odds than Phillip.
At the last minute, Rob goes to Natalie to tell her of the plan to get rid of Ashley, who keeps asking Natalie whether Rob has mentioned her being in danger, but she does not reveal that anything is happening.
Votes
Ashley
Phillip
Ashley
Ashley
With 3 votes, Ashley has been voted off the island.
Natalie says she played a great social game and was loyal to her alliance. Phillip thanks Boston Rob (aka the mastermind) for getting him this far.
Andrea tells Phillip he’s weird and wants to know who he really is. His answer is that she’s right. She doesn’t know who he is, but she’s had 39 days. She calls Natalie’s relationship with Rob borderline creepy, and asks why she turned on her best friend. Really? Andrea eventually gives up her fight, not getting an answer she wants from either of them.
Ashley is sick of Phillip, so she’s going to speak, and he’s not going to comment. Of course he will, and she can call him pathetic all she wants, but her telling him he can’t talk is equally pathetic. She’s also not happy with Natalie because she betrayed her friendship. You’ll get over it. Don’t play Survivor if you can’t. Speaking of which, she doesn’t like that Rob deceived a lot of people. Okay, are you done whining yet?
Grant asks Natalie and Rob about their alliance. Rob explains that he agreed to take Natalie to the end if she listened to what he told her, and he got rid of Grant because he thought he was going to kick his ass.
Ralph and Natalie never talked. Can’t blame her. Phillip likes Ralph’s work ethic and thinks he’s funny and a decent man. Well, that was unexpected.
Matt asks Rob where the line’s drawn. Granted, this is the same guy who thinks God cares about Survivor (he doesn’t), so maybe it’s not just a game to him.
Julie doesn’t think any of the three played a respectable game. Oh, and it was respectable to throw a challenge for the sake of getting rid of one of your own for no good reason? She doesn’t want to hear any answers from any of them, merely wanting to lecture them. Phillip tells her he didn’t come out here to get her respect. Just to kick her ass. Well said.
Mike asks whether they learned anything about themselves. Natalie learned that she’s stronger and more capable than she thought she could be. Rob says he needs to stop playing games, and this is the last day he will ever play. Phil learned he could stand on his own.
For a change, Steve congratulates Natalie for making it to the end, rather than ripping into her for being Rob’s carpet. He also congratulates Rob for being a warrior and having lasted 117 days in this game. As for Phil, however, he’s a shameful, sorry man. Hard to say I blame him after that stunt midseason where he brought race into a place it didn’t need to be.
David merely wants to talk to the jury. Rob controlled everything and everyone. A little ruthless but brilliant. Having played the best strategic game ever, Rob should get their vote.
I think we all know who should win this game, though a bitter jury casting a thoroughly questionable vote is never out of the question. The question is whether it will be a clean sweep, which we find out it will not be, as at least one person (Ralph) has sent a vote Phillip’s way.
Votes
Rob
Phillip
Rob
Rob
Rob
Rob
The Survivor: Redemption Island winner is Rob Mariano. Fourth time’s a charm. Well deserved. Jeff says that was as close to a perfect game as he’s seen.
Russell tells Jeff to keep his number. He’s not entirely opposed to coming back, no matter how much he dances around the issue.
Phillip apologizes to Steve for playing the race card. And he really did train to be a federal agent. Whether he made it or not is still anybody’s guess.
The Sprint player of the season with a $100,000 prize came down to two people who dominated the voting with 76% of the vote between them. Boston Rob against Matt. With 40% of the vote, Boston Rob’s total for the season is up to $1.1 million. How the hell did somebody else manage 36%? Kudos for lasting so long in exile, but it’s not like Matt actually did anything in the game, having been voted out twice in the span of three votes.
David hooked up with Carolina Eastwood from Survivor: Tocantins. Now would be as good as time as any to propose to her then, whether they’ve only known each other for a few months or not.
Still a top 20 show even with the move to Wednesdays and up against American Idol (a show that has not aged nearly as well 10 years later), Survivor will be back again in the fall. Redemption Island will return in Survivor: South Pacific, and 16 new contestants will be joined again by 2 returning players.