I won’t say that this was the best season of Survivor, but it certainly ranks among the best. While the outcome was not terribly surprising, the finale was filled with suspense, beginning with Rachel coming from behind and winning the final challenge. Throw in an epic fire-making battle and the strong, bantering arguments from Rachel and Sam, and you have a very satisfying finale.  Perhaps my greatest joys of the season were the more articulate moments: Genevieve’s regrets about her decision to disconnect emotionally from her tribe mates Teeny’s reflection that her issues with Sam were about her own insecurities Sol’s realization that he had no idea what was going on in the game Rachel and Sam’s conversations about why they had not yet teamed up Sam’s rebuttal to Rachel’s claim that he was never targeted Rachel’s rebuttal that Sam couldn’t eliminate his biggest threat (her) Rachel explanation that she had everyone selling her game to the jury before she played her idol And let’s no...

I've said it before and will say it again, this has been an entertaining season! There have been so many blindsides and shifting alliances that every tribal council is filled with questions about who will go home.  On a double elimination night, Andy (Not Austin, retired) just couldn't help himself and set up his own demise. His effort to jury-manage Rachel looked more like ego; he didn't like being underestimated and needed Rachel to know how good of a player he was.  Genevieve was the right move for the remaining players, but I was sad to see her go. She is the only one who can challenge Rachel in the final tribal council.  At this point, I don't see how anyone can beat Rachel. Don't miss out on my world-premiere video near the bottom of this post! Takeaways  As they reflected on Andy's flip, I loved Teeny's realization:  "Andy's better at this game than we all thought, or we're all worse than we thought." Watching Teeny get sucked into A...

   Chapter 1:  Wow!  I can't believe their plan worked.  That was an incredible maneuver that resulted in one of the biggest blindsides in Survivor history.  This looked like an easy finish, with the alliance of five underdogs coasting to the finale, and now we have chaos.  And as we know, chaos makes for great Survivor television!  I'm giving a huge shout-out to the production team. Ocean's 11 is one of my favorite movies, and I loved that they turned the planning session into a Danny Ocean montage.  Chapter 2:  I am officially retiring (Not Austin) from Andy's name. He still annoys me, but he played that incredibly well and deserves credit for a huge turnaround in the game.  Chapter 3: On that note, this was an incredibly risky move for Andy (Not Austin, retired). Unless he thinks the underdogs will take him back, it is now a split tribe at 3-3. However, with Rachel's Block a Vote that needs to be played next week, it's really a ...