In one of the biggest moves of the season, Jon refused to believe that Natalie could possibly be lying to him, leading to his demise in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 12, despite having an idol in his pocket. That brings us down to a final five of Natalie Anderson, Missy Payne and her daughter Baylor Wilson, Jaclyn Schultz, and Keith Nale.
Disregarding how annoying she was both earlier in the season and on both seasons of The Amazing Race, I have to admit Natalie has surprised me as a mostly strong Survivor player. I’m not sure I can see the logic in why any of the others should beat her.
For the challenge, they will be attached to a rope while assembling a bridge, then use sandbags to knock down blocks. Reward is an advantage in the next immunity challenge. Probst wants Missy to sit out again. Natalie and Keith make their way to the bridge first. Keith completes the bridge first as Natalie falls behind. Natalie pulls up to the tossing station, but she’s a long way back. Keith wins reward.
Everybody has been to Exile but Missy, but Keith gives her a pass. He sends the person most outside the group, aside from himself, Jaclyn.
Keith’s advantage is to practice the challenge for as long as he wants until he stops. The challenge requires him to transfer balls through a series of obstacles using spoons.
As it is not a physical challenge, Missy will compete in this one, and she has reasonable odds. Keith is struggling at first, but his advantage seems to have paid off because he is the first person to transfer one ball (of three) to the other side. Then he gets his second. Then his third. Keith wins immunity. That was a pretty stupid challenge. Or at least the advantage was stupid. Nobody else was even remotely close. There’s a difference between giving someone a hand and making things completely lopsided.
Keith has immunity, and Natalie has a hidden immunity idol. That means either they continue what they started last week and get rid of Jaclyn, or they break up the last remaining couple.
Baylor has a favor to ask Natalie. She would like her to play her idol for mom. Well, that is pretty pathetic. If Natalie, Baylor, and Missy all vote the same way, they control the vote. Based on what logic would Natalie then burn her idol on Baylor’s mom? Blood is thicker than whatever Baylor and Natalie have. It just doesn’t make sense.
Yes, Natalie plays her idol, as she must do unless she wants a souvenir. No, she does not play it for herself. No, she does not play it for Missy because that would be stupid. Rather, she plays it for Jaclyn after confirming she voted the way she told her.
Votes
Jaclyn (does not count)
Jaclyn (does not count)
Jaclyn (does not count)
Baylor
Baylor
With 2 votes, Baylor has been voted off the island. Somewhat gutsy move but ultimately very smart. With a desperate Jaclyn on her side, Natalie was able to control the outcome with or without Keith, completing the very necessary task of getting rid of the last set of blood.
The final immunity challenge is to race down a giant tower, go through obstacles, collect puzzle pieces, run back up the tower with them, head back down, and grab the last pieces before heading back to complete the puzzle. Missy will sit out, and this is exactly the reason for keeping her around as they have, whether they have done so for this purpose or not. One less person to compete against.
Keith is the first to return to the top with his first three bags, followed by Natalie. Natalie is the first to grab all five bags with Keith behind her. Jaclyn’s been behind the whole time but is within striking distance considering the puzzle. She sure is taking her time getting there, but Jaclyn is the first to complete the puzzle. On her way down, she falls instead of sliding down the pole, but she recovers. There’s one more step, however. They need to match up the numbers at the bottom of the tower with the ones at the top. Natalie’s right behind her, but Jaclyn is correct on her first guess to win immunity.
So now here’s Jaclyn’s decision. Does she get rid of the strategist, or does she get rid of the challenge winner? Missy’s not even a consideration. With all the big moves Natalie has made, she needs to blindside her. It’s a jerk move… but necessary.
Votes
Keith
Missy
Keith
Keith
With 3 votes, Keith has been voted off the island. I’m pretty sure they just handed this game to Natalie, though I’m not sure either of them could have beaten Keith anyway. Sure, Natalie may have potentially made some jurors angry, but as long as she is not dealing with an excessively bitter jury, she’s got this in the bag.
Missy’s thing was loyalty (until she voted out Jon). Jaclyn, along with Jon, was the dominant/swing vote throughout much of the game. Natalie outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted, and if they were so smart, they should have gotten rid of her last night.
Jon’s question is for Jaclyn. What move was she responsible for? She got rid of Josh.
Keith asks Natalie how she feels about lying. I like Keith, but oh, get over it. They all duped you, and they actually played the game.
Alec asks Natalie her biggest move, and she responds voting him off. He then has Missy talk about how she was the mom in the game.
Like Jon, Baylor just wants to talk to her loved one. It’s an emotional moment, though it doesn’t contribute much.
Josh asks Jaclyn whether she is there because of herself or stronger players. She talks about her and Jon. Forgetting her earlier answer, he asks what was solely her move, and she responds getting rid of him.
Wes lobs them a softball, asking what it was like playing with their loved ones.
Jeremy just says Natalie is the best, and they need to give her credit.
Reed loved watching Natalie’s gameplay. He would like to hang out with Jaclyn some time. And as for Missy, she’s not the mom. She’s the wicked stepmom. One of the harshest (if true) speeches in jury history and completely unnecessary considering she can only get one vote.
Votes
Jaclyn
Natalie
Jaclyn
Missy
Natalie
Natalie
Natalie
The Survivor: San Juan del Sur winner is Natalie. The right person won. Missy was never going to win, regardless of how bitter some jury members may have been. Though Jaclyn had some good arguments why she should win, they would have just worked better against Keith than Natalie.
This a weird jury, though. When polled, they say they would give Keith the win over Missy and just toss Jaclyn a single vote or two or, well, they seem confused.
Natalie acknowledges that her over the top and unprovoked attack against John toward the beginning of the season was not strategy and in fact nothing more than just her blowing off steam because her sister was gone. They are now friends and can joke about it.
As for Jon and Jaclyn, they are engaged now and realize their fighting was stupid.
Survivor will of course be back again next year for season 30. Survivor: Worlds Apart pits white collar, blue collar, and the no collar rebels against each other. The show will premiere February 25 right before The Amazing Race 26 (don’t get your hopes up… it’s going back to Fridays right after that).