NAT!

Oh yes she did!  Natalie is the winner of Blood vs. Water - season 29. I'd like to say I called it, but I don't think I did. I actually thought it would be Jeremy or Josh for sure, until of course, they were voted out. It was the way Natalie handled Jeremy's voting out that made me think maybe she's got a good chance. Calm, cool, collected - rolling with the change and formulated a new plan that included both revenge for her sister, for Jeremy and a million dollar cheque for herself. And it was well-executed. As someone who has actually watched the show before (ummmm... Keith, take note), Natalie knew that the jury would respect big moves and good game play. The thing is - a lot of people - the Russells and the Tonys - think that that's ALL you have to do. You have to time those big moves right so they don't bite you in the ass later. And you have to have a good social game so that the people you voted out not only respect you for game-play but also for being a human. This is where Missy lost out. Reed called it (more on that in a bit.)

I thought Natalie had lost a couple of times. First Keith - that sneaky ol' spitter - won the reward challenge which gave him an advantage (practice) at the immunity challenge, which he then won as well. It looked like Jaclyn was going to go home with Missy, Baylor and Natalie being tight. But our Nat is a smarty pants. She played her immunity idol for Jaclyn, saying to Jaclyn, "Did you vote for who I told you to vote for?" (which she later says she doesn't remember doing, but uh, that's a totally wicked move in itself that tells the Jury that only Natalie is in charge of this particular big move.) Jaclyn and Natalie vote for Baylor, who likes Nat so much that she just praises her for the good move. Even Missy's not too mad and they hug it out back at camp. Natalie knows that putting one of them on the jury makes sense - they're dangerous together, they're a good story together and neither one of them is going to vote for her anyway on the jury because they'll vote for each other. So it's not like you're going to lose a jury vote by turning on your bestie. Brilliant.

Then it looked like Nat would lose when Jaclyn staged an amazing come-from-behind victory in the final immunity challenge that looked like it was a race between Nat and Keith only. Never underestimate the power of the puzzle to be a place to catch up at challenges. Jaclyn, you'd think, would take Nat to the end because she'd saved her butt the night before. But Jaclyn's pretty smart and she knows that Nat is a pretty wiley competitor. But Natalie convinces her that Keith is actually the biggest threat and he gets the boot.

Seriously, though, what a run from a guy who really didn't look like he's make it past day 3. Overall, I think I liked Mr. Duck Dynasty a bit more than I didn't like him. The spitting made me laugh (Jeff even asked his wife about this later - and yeah, she said he pretty much does that all the time.) Keith earned a lot of respect and as it turned out (as revealed at the reunion show) would have won at the end had Nat been voted out instead of him.

So, Jaclyn, Missy and Nat were our all-female final three. What I liked was that even though I thought Natalie had played the best game & deserved the win - it didn't look that cut and dry. It was hard to say whether the loyal mom card Missy was playing was working or not, and there seemed to be a fair amount of respect for Jaclyn's honesty. All three ladies were strong, had compelling stories and really, had a good chance.

It was a bit of a dull jury Q&A, though, right? I mean, there were no really interesting questions. Some congrats and a couple of "What was your biggest move that you did by yourself" questions (especially for Jaclyn, which is a bit insulting sort of, in that everyone assumes that Jon had to be the brains behind all their decisions... and then we can talk about whether it's a detriment to play as a couple - after all, Natalie played the whole game without her Twinnie and won). The most interesting comments came from Jeremy - who told the jury to vote for Natalie (YES!) and from Reed, who called Missy a wicked stepmother because of the way she treated people outside of her alliance while at the same time trying to play supermom. Truly, I think Reed called it and in the reunion show I LOVED that he didn't apologize. He did say that his comments should be taken in the context of the game only and that he's sure that Missy's a perfectly nice person in real life. Of course it made Baylor cry - that girl could stand to toughen up a smidge. (Uh, that's what happens when your mom defends you every time you hit a speedbump.)

The reunion shows are also pissing me off lately. They're spending way too much time chatting with people in the audience and not with the Survivors. With the exception of a couple of quick chats with the families (we chatted with Keith's wife, but not with Natalie's/Nadia's parents? Ummm... what?) and also I enjoyed the little boy who designed a challenge through the Children's Wish Foundation. Otherwise, get out of the audience!  Jeff didn't talk to many of the Survivors at all. Nothing from Nadia. Nothing from dad & daughter Kelly & Dale. Nothing from awesome Val on awesome Jeremy making it to the jury. Nothing from Drew on being a dumbass and throwing that challenge. Not surprisingly, nothing from Julie on quitting. I think that one is good. Quitters shouldn't get any screeen time. The rest, though, deserved a bit more.

Now, on to February and the next installment: White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar!  Ha!  Brilliant work, Survivor producers. I'm in. Like I wouldn't be anyways, but very much enjoy that they're doing something new for the 30th season. Bring it on.