Survivor Finale

Well, as much as we were rooting for Amanda to win, we were okay with Parvati winning Survivor Micronesia: Fans Vs. Favorites. We did NOT care for Natalie and her "stone-cold _itch" (her words) personality. And Cirie has been on our hit list ever since she got everyone to vote Yau Man out. Cirie's strength was in figuring out who was a better player, and then gunning for them -- which didn't endear her to us in the least; she plays a totally self-centered game.

We really admired Amanda's game. She desired to play a more honorable game this time and accomplished her goal very well. Ans she and Ozzy are so dang adorable together. I was surprised by so many on the jury (Alexis and Natalie, to name a few) saw her as being superficial because of her former profession as a beauty show contestant. Alexis' comments about laughing at Amanda when she was in tears over voting our Cirie were so annoying! Their mistrust showed what horrid people they really are -- and I had hoped to think better of Alexis than that. She was just angry over being voted off instead of Amanda when Amanda presented the immunity idol. (Sour grapes, imho -- and our favorite part of this season was that particular upset!)

Parvati played a smart game. She perfected the art of the blindside and managed to win over many of the people she blindsided, with the exception of the guys -- Ozzy and James were having none of it. She played smart, played both sides fairly well, brought in others when she needed them, and played with a terrific strategy. The fact that two of the strongest players, Jonathan and James, were forced out of the game by injuries certainly helped her on the way. Parvati had the perfect balance of numbers, luck, alliances, personality, and strategy made her a winner. We still preferred Amanda because we felt she played a cleaner, more honorable game, but we were okay with Parv winning. As long as the winners were not Natalie or Cirie -- we would have been throwing things at the TV screen if they had been even in the Final Two (which I was glad to see back actually).

The blindsiding and really unintelligent moves of this season were unprecedented. Ozzy finding the immunity idol and not playing it whehn he needed to. Jason making the identical mistake at the very next Tribal Council. Jason's finding of Ozzy's fake idol and believing it was real was classic! Of course, the most foolish move of all was Eric's giving Natalie the immunity necklace and then being voted out when he did so. Those girls must have messed with his head so much for so long that he just couldn't figure out which way was up. Literally.

Well, this season was exciting. The idea of having the Fans vs. Favorites was sheer genius, even if they brought back several of the most annoying "Favorites" like Johnny Fairplay (gag!), Eliza (Miss Bug-Eyes), Jonathan (who annoyed everyone, including us!), and, to some extent, Ami. Some of the Fans were far more annoying than the Favorites, however. I was rather glad to see them go rather quickly. The combination of seasoned veterans with star-struck Survivor fanatics created an intriguing dynamic for this season. It was a good outcome of outplaying, outwitting, and outlasting. And both Amanda and Parvati did the best job, Amanda playing a more quit and reserved game while Parvati was more "out there," changing up the game as needed. Their alliance started on the first day and they took it all the way to the end. Well done, ladies!