Woo! It's Tony!

Tony!

As mentioned last time, Spencer had to win immunity or he was going home. He was too big of a threat and would have won for sure had he gone to the end, right? That's ok, he's totally going to be on the next all-star series. Don't feel bad.

He didn't win immunity because Kass - of all people - won it in a completely crazy come-from-behind victory. She was WAY behind the other three going into the puzzle portion of the challenge and then completely blew them all away - even Spencer.

Oh, yeah, rewinding a bit (I get so excited!)... the Survivors' family members arrived for a visit and got to hang out for a while and watch them compete in the challenge. We all love the family visit, right? Do you cry a little bit? Come on, now. You do. Kass all of a sudden seems like a real person when her husband is there. Woo's cousin (who, like Woo, says very little) is there, along with Spencer's sister and Tony's best friend. The teariest part came when Tony was talking about expecting his wife, but then seeing the friend instead and being so disappointed not to have his wife there and then talking about having to leave his 4-month-old daughter and etc, etc.  Sniff... sniff. It's great TV because we see them for months on end as characters and then having the family there makes them real all of a sudden. Bloggers everywhere are suddenly nicer. True story.

As another aside, Kass made some pretty interesting points during last night's episode. She's monumentally disliked by the jury members and she talked about how - if she were to make it to the end - she'd have to appeal to them based on being the only woman left and that she got there by playing super hard (true). Playing super hard gets you labelled a bitch if you're a woman, yet if a man does it - say, Tony, for example - he's an amazing player. Granted, people were pissed at Tony too, but they still gave it to him in the end for playing the better game. Do you think they'd have seen it that way if it were Kass vs. Woo at the end?  I'm not so sure.

It's a moot point, because once Kass did not make it to the final two.

Backing up.

Spencer was clever in noticing that it was likely going to be a final two instead of a final three this season. I liked it better. You? I have always hated the final three. It takes too long with the jury, plus it's always between two of them anyway with the third person just there as filler. Two is better. So, Spencer appealed to Tony by saying look, if I go home and you're left with a final three and you don't win immunity - either Woo or Kass is going to take the other one over you.  That was a good prediction, but Tony took the risk, as he always did. The risk paid off, though not for Spence.

So once it was down to Tony, Kass & Woo, there was one more immunity challenge. It was super close between Woo & Kass, but Woo pulled it out.  Then he had to choose who to take to the final. It was a tough choice. You'd think he'd automatically pick Kass, right? But Tony's play was to appeal to Woo's sense of honour - that he'd played the game one way the whole way, and he shouldn't change it up now. I don't know what I would have done in the same place. It's easy to say you'd pick Kass too and the jury later said that Woo would have won over Kass (again, is this sexist, or was she really that annoying?) But, I think it was the right play to make. He made a great argument for playing his own game - yeah, he didn't play as hard in the sense that he made giant moves like Tony, but it's still a strategy to play under the radar and be social and not make enemies. As much as I'm not a fan of the "honour and integrity" thing as the be-all and end-all of this game, it is a strategy that has worked for people. And it looked like it was going to work for Woo. People were HARSH on Tony - especially for the swearing on his badge/wife/daughter/mother/father's grave stuff.  He was a little flapped and looked panicked, but was pretty good actually about saying, you know - I'd never do that in real life, but this is a game and yeah, I'd do anything in the game to win. Two totally opposite strategies that could equally work. (As an aside, in the reunion show, Sarah said that she pretty much can't stand Tony because he apologized to her at first about the whole 'swear-on-my-badge' thing, but then apparently went on Twitter to be mean to her.)

Where was I? Right... I thought Woo was going to take it. He came off pretty articulate, and not so, "Whoa, Dude!" like you'd expect. Everyone was super harsh to Tony. Then Spencer gets to go last (how do they come up with the order, anyway?) and he basically tells the jury that they should not be bitter and vote for Tony because no matter how you look at it, Tony played the better game. So, did Spencer win it for Tony? Maybe. What I do know is that Tony is still a bit of a weird guy. BUT, he played a hell of a game that - as we mentioned before - was reminiscent of Boston Rob, but on the first try vs. the fourth. Even Jeff said he was impressed how many people came out to play this time. (Jeff, btw, had to apologize to Spencer for apparently telling him there's no way in hell he'd win. He still didn't win, but he earned Jeff's respect. Now, how is it that Jeff can think that about Spencer when a guy like John Cochran won? There have been a LOT of very unlikely winners. Jeff?) (Oh, can we mention as well that when Tony & Woo got the last breakfast, they wondered if they were perhaps eating "beef bacon?" Lovely.)

I also know that Woo - for all his kinda "dumb surfer-dude" personality was a true class act. Never once did he seem down about his loss, but just kept congratulating Tony and shaking his hand. He said he played it like he wants to live his life, and good on him. Woo's a good man. I think I'd even like Kass in real life. And I hope I never get on Trish's bad side.

I also enjoyed that Morgan referenced the fact that she's pretty and her breasts during her jury comments. Awww, she's pretty.

I think I enjoyed that they kept going over to "Jeff in LA" during the finale too. Though, really, a bit of a time waster. There was no "walk of remembrance" this time, speaking of time wasters. Way to go, Survivor, you're finally catching on. It only took 28 seasons.

Send me your comments! I'd love to hear 'em.  And thanks for reading and putting up with the late posts. Finally, if you know anyone at CBS, tell them I'd happily write this stuff for them. On time. I promise. See what you can do.