Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers Episode 13: Fire Represents Your Life

We've reached the finale and I can't ever remember another season that was still this up in the air. Ben has fought with his back against the wall for a while now, Dr Mike survived the decimation of his whole tribe, Devon has played a great under the radar game, Chrissy has been a major strategic force. Even Ryan has a case if he can get out of Chrissy's shadow.

Slo-mo makes everything cooler

After the latest vote, Chrissy considers it having worked out since she wanted Ashley gone anyway. Mike compares Ben to the villain in a horror movie who keeps coming back. Ben is already looking for another idol that nobody else believes exists...God, they're gonna get owned again. He even takes a trick from Tai and wets the water well, but no luck. But then...he finds it. His third idol of the season. Are you kidding me?

Chrissy tells Ben she misses him and wants to be friends again, but she's only doing it in case he wins immunity. Ben doesn't buy it and is hoping he can use his idol to send her home.

Tits out for immunity

The immunity challenge is to jump and grab a key in the water, make it over a balance beam in the water and unlock a puzzle where you have to get colored balls to line up in spokes in the correct order. Mike takes the early lead on the physical bit (what?), with Devon right behind him. He loses time doing the locks, though. On the puzzle, it's Chrissy, who had the slowest start, that suddenly looks the most confident. Rightfully so...Chrissy wins immunity again.

Getting the last laugh

Chrissy also wins a reward meal, that she takes Mike and Devon on. The three of them tear up the table looking for an idol clue before digging in, but they don't find it. Once Chrissy mentions the defunct superidol, Mike suggests using it to trick Ben by pretending she just found it. Back at camp, Ben is going off to "get water", and Chrissy shows him the idol and tells him to stop wasting his energy. As Chrissy and Ryan laugh at the con they just pulled off, Ben is laughing because he's one step ahead of them and they actually just made his job easier. Mike also has a hilarious faceplant that underscores Ben's claim that they are not smart. But Devon sees that Ben has given up and it doesn't sit right with him, so he's considering throwing his vote onto Mike to protect himself.

At tribal council, Ryan says he's just glad they survived the chaos of the last vote and made the final 5. Probst asks what we're all thinking: how did they all let Ben get away to find the idol? Chrissy flashes her fake, as Ben accuses her of gloating and continues to play off like he's leaving.

Could be a million dollar move

We get to the vote, and Devon deliberates for a while over what to do. After Ben plays another idol to shocked gasps, he ends up glad that he voted for Mike, as it's now a tie between him and the Doc. On the revote, Chrissy and Ryan decide to keep Devon and send Mike home. Jeff sends them back to camp with the promise of a twist still to come.

Ryan confirms with Ben that he's the first player to ever play three idols in a row. Ben has no more Ben bombs to drop though, and knows it's win or go home. The challenge is to stack blocks on a wobbly frame to spell Heroes, Healers and Hustlers. The winner also gets a note that tells them about the final twist. Ben and Ryan spell Heroes first, but Ryan falls spelling Healers. Ben has a healthy lead now and thinks he has it...but his "U" is upside down, meaning he has to fix it, which makes some fall over. Soon Chrissy is in the lead with Ben right behind her. Ben goes for it, but his blocks topple as he's putting down the last one. Chrissy wins the final immunity, and Ben is absolutely devastated.

That is NOT an advantage

Ben is still hurting as he gets back to camp, as Ryan and Chrissy wonder which of them will be a millionaire. Ben asks Chrissy if there's any chance of him staying, and Chrissy promises to hear him out. She then opens the note and sees Ben might have a chance after all: the twist is that she can take one person to final 3, and then the other two battle it out in firemaking. Upon hearing this, she fills in Devon on the news, knowing it is up to him to stop Ben. Devon is actually happy, as he's hoping it's gonna be another thing to put on his resume. He sneaks off to practice and his flint breaks - not a good omen. But instead he sees this as a sign that he needs to be calm and zen.

At tribal council, Chrissy gets a round of applause from the jury when they see her 4th immunity win, equaling the female record. Ben says the upside down "U" is gonna haunt him, but feels he tried his best. Chrissy then reveals the contents of the note on Jeff's request, shocking Ben that he has a lifeline. Chrissy takes Ryan to the end, leaving Ben and Devon to battle it out.

Devon gets burned

The duel commences, and Devon is attacking his flint the fastest, with Ryan and Chrissy rooting him on (the latter pretty openly). Ben gets a fire first, and manages to keep it going long enough to win. Not the result the rest of them were looking for. Devon is out, without even being voted out. Damn, did he get screwed.

Chrissy and Ben watch a sunset together on day 39 as Ben goes to make the last mark on the tree. Ryan knows he has a tough task ahead of him but plans to just make shit up to make himself look better if he has to. Chrissy thinks she still has a good case as she was a strong challenge performer. Ben is ready to battle and plans to go in "humble, but confident."

If the new FTC gives us more fights like this, I'm sold

Final tribal council starts with the discussion of who outwitted. Desi tells Ryan she thinks people just took him to the end because he wasn't a threat. Ryan details some of his moves and takes credit for forming the seven. Ashley disputes his social game though, saying he had no relationship with her. Joe praises Ryan's gameplay by calling him a puppetmaster, and tells Ben his social game was horrible. Ben agrees, admitting he doesn't have much experience with people even in his real life. Chrissy proves she had a social game by telling Joe a fact about himself. Cole blames Ben for putting a target on his back, but Ben says it was nothing personal. Ryan disagrees and says Ben had a vendetta against Cole.

On the topic of who outplayed, Cole praises Chrissy for her challenge wins and blasts Ryan for being useless at camp. Ryan responds that he knew that would not be his forte so he didn't want to put himself out there, which the jury don't really buy. Joe says he's impressed that Ben found even more idols than him, and Desi asks why everyone else let Ben find them, which Chrissy admits was a failure on their part.

We close up with everyone making an argument for why they outlasted. Ryan says he made connections and had more deals than anybody else in the game. Ben gives a short final statement, but Joe isn't satisfied and tells him to fight more. He then talks about how he was always fighting, and that he wants to win for all the veterans out there. Chrissy talks about how moms are heroes and says she hopes they can feel good about her representing the season since she kicked ass.

Now it's time to vote. Lauren votes for Ben, Devon votes Ryan and Ashley votes Chrissy. Nobody's getting goose egged tonight! We switch to the studio, where Ryan is still wearing a turtleneck and Ben looks very nervous. 1 vote for Ryan, 2 for Chrissy and Ben gets the rest. Well it'd been said multiple times that this guy was gonna win...but I bet nobody expected it to be like that.

STAR OF THE WEEK: BEN DRIEBERGEN

Ben took advantage of the tools in front of him, though there's no denying the final 4 twist leaves a bit of a bad taste and puts a pretty large asterisk on his win. Still, he obviously won the jury's respect and there's something to be said for how he never gave up.


NEXT TIME ON SURVIVOR: It's all new players, but you'll still see some blasts from the past in Ghost Island, where the castaways will be forced to contend with cursed items now infamous in Survivor lore. Can they avoid the same fate as those that came before them? It's a really goofy concept, but I feel like a superfan might get a kick out of it.