Jeff Probst kicks the finale off...from his garage. Just another bizarre layer to add to the season. He hypes this up as the best season ever and thanks all the players, who are on a
Brady Bunch-style split screen from their own homes.
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| A tangled web: choke now and it's all for nothing |
Onto the game then. The final five arrive to watch the EoE return challenge, which is the same one as season 38: ropes, then a table maze. Parvati, Yul and Wendell all get to skip the first part. Natalie has three advantages, meaning she can skip the dig and have her rope bridge partially done too. However, the challenge starts and she gets stuck on the ropes. Wendell is first to get out, whilst Rob and Sophie catch up to Natalie. Natalie gets through and onto the bridge, same as Yul and Parvati. Wendell gets his done, as Natalie has to rehook. Wendell gets a ball and just needs one more. Natalie and Tyson both get a ball. Natalie wins, and is back in the game...she can't quite believe it.
Probst asks the losing players to wrap up their story. Kim says she didn't have to be perfect. Tyson says he doesn't need Survivor anymore because he's a dad. Amber says she was here for Rob, as Rob praises her toughness. Ethan mentions how his Survivor winnings actually funded a drug that saved his life. And now they're all off to the jury. There's a poignant feel to it as you sense a lot of them are finally closing the book on their journeys.
Natalie arrives back at the camp she left day 2 and the other players have questions for her. Natalie relishes the fact she can tell any story she wants, and immediately blows up Tony's game. Tony tries to convince Sarah that Natalie can win if she gets to the end. Sarah's main takeaway is she needs to get her story out there because she's not getting enough credit, which she thinks is because she's a woman.
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| History repeats itself |
The immunity challenge sees them having to tackle three different obstacles to collect bags, going down a giant slide each time, and then finishing with a three-tier puzzle. Ben is first to get a bag, then Tony. Michele is slowest but is doing the hardest one first. Ben gets all his bags first, and Natalie is sprinting to the top when she gets hers. Michele is last but has done this puzzle before. Michele gets the first tier, then Natalie and Sarah get it. Michele then completes it to win immunity again.
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| Michele finds a friend at last |
Tony is nervous that Natalie might have an advantage. Tony wants to vote Denise out to be safe, but he won't budge and is still stuck on Natalie. Natalie tells Michele that she does have one and they plot to make Tony think he's getting the votes so that he plays his idol. Sarah is absolutely insistent that Natalie doesn't have anything despite Tony's pleading, even delusionally suggesting that her 1-day relationship with Natalie would be enough for her to tell her.
Tribal council and the jury are finally looking fresh. Ben is worried Natalie might've made friends on the Edge of Extinction. Sarah says she's thankful she got a heads up that she needs to retool her game. She then talks about the gender bias and says she can finally stop being hard on herself for
Game Changers now. Jeff admits his male bias, as Sarah says she wants the last name treatment now.
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| Waiting for their fate to be decided |
Natalie plays her idol, as Tony shouts "I knew it" and plays his. Ben plays his too, and cancels Natalie and Michele's votes against him. We now have no votes and must revote between Denise and Sarah. Since everybody else is immune, it'll come down to a fire challenge. But the girls decide not to force a tie, and Denise goes out unanimously. In her exit words, she says she's happy she's still the Queenslayer at least.
Tony is annoyed he wasted an idol as Ben apologizes for not believing him. Tony gets a headstart on looking for the next one but he doesn't get it in time and now everyone else is searching. Natalie is the one who gets it, and Ben and Tony start to get very concerned when they realize they haven't found it.
The immunity challenge is to make it through water obstacles and unlock sandbags to throw on a table. Michele hits a roadblock with the beam as everyone else goes past her. Ben lands the first bag and comes very close to getting a second. Tony gets one and it's a race between the two guys, which Tony wins.
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| Tone flew over the cuckoo's nest |
Natalie wants to try and get Sarah to vote out Ben and goes off to the water well where Tony is in his spynest. Sarah spots the idol in Natalie's buff and she comes clean. Tony gets the intel he needed and hilariously flops down complaining about how long he was up there. Tony and Sarah plot to get Michele out now, and Michele sees it coming. Ben tells Sarah he is willing to give her permission to vote him out so that she can have a big move without Tony. Sarah is touched, she doesn't want to do it, but knows she has to do something to separate herself. I can't believe this best-of-the-best season has a virtual quitter at final 5.
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| Falling on his sword |
At tribal council, Sarah says she has learned to forgive herself. Ben details his growth. Michele hopes she can work her way in but hasn't been able to do that yet. Natalie is unsure of what to do with his idol but plays it on herself. Ben is voted out, blindsiding Tony, and hugging both Sarah and Jeff on his way out. I guess it really was important for him to prove that he could make alliances this time.
We cut straight to the final immunity challenge, which is putting balls in a track. Tony is first out, then Sarah. Michele and Natalie get up to 6 balls which has never been done before, and some of the saves Natalie is pulling out are insane. The frantic race ends with Natalie victorious. She can't believe she went from first boot to final 3.
Tony and Sarah are pretty sure it's gonna be them making fire and they're all practicing, even Michele, who is pretty good. Natalie knows it's best to get Tony out, but doesn't want Sarah beating him and getting the credit. Tony is getting flustered, and Sarah likes her chances of beating him.
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| Playing with fire |
At tribal council, Natalie says this moment is what kept her going on Edge of Extinction. Tony says he has no preference for who he would face, but Sarah says it would be fitting if the cops shoot eachother. Natalie says she considered doing it herself but doesn't feel confident giving it up. In the end, she takes Michele to the end and says it's time to break up that alliance.
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| Tony starts bawling |
Sarah and Tony both get a flame going and as Sarah's licks the rope, her win seems inevitable. But it goes out and she has to rebuild. Tony then gets a big one and is able to snatch the win to the sound of claps from the jury. Sarah is OK in defeat and says there's no-one she'd rather have take her out. though she wishes it could've been Cops R Us in the final 3 together. Jeff sends her off with "Lacina, the tribe has spoken".
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| Jersey rules |
The final 3 give one last holler as they eat the final day breakfast. Michele says she's closed a wound from feeling like an undeserving winner. Natalie recognizes her journey has not been traditional, but that she played the best Extinction game she could. Tony says he wants to prove he's one of the best players ever, and is hoping he can be the King to Sandra's Queen.
Despite claiming "stage fright", Yul is the one that kicks off final tribal council by outlining the outwit portion. Denise asks for their biggest missteps. Natalie says getting voted out first obviously. Michele says she built great 1-on-1 alliances but nothing bigger. Tony says he didn't have any and played the game he wanted to play. Ben vouches for Tony's loyalty, but Jeremy disputes that. Natalie talks about painting the picture she wanted from the Edge. Rob accuses Natalie of isolating from the EoE people. Tony mentions the spynest, which gets a lot of laughs and Adam is eating it up. Michele mentions having to reintegrate and adapt. Ben gives a hat tip to a fellow controversial winner.
Onto the outplay section, Natalie lists all the advantages she sent into the game and how that was her way of influencing the game. Tony and Michele talk about how important their immunity wins were. Rob asks why didn't Natalie take out Tony herself in fire, and she says it was about making the alliance eat itself. Tony and Michele talk about the EoE twist. Tony says he only got bad things from there, whereas Michele saw it as a positive since she got advantages.
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| Standing ovation |
For their final statements, Natalie says her game was not the hand she thought she would be dealt but she's proud she overcame the target she had from coming back in the game thanks to Chris. Michele says she worked hard, made relationships and played the best game for her. Tony says he was leading votes and nobody ever put his name down. The jury all give them props and a big clap (well except Sophie).
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| Courtesy of COVID-19 |
Time to cast the votes. Rob's is a message to Natalie, saying she should've taken Tony out ("I said if you got back, you had to play perfect...you almost did"). Parvati votes for Natalie, and so does Tyson. Nick's sounds like it could be for Michele, but we don't see it. Ben gives another to Tony. After Jeff collects the urn, we transition back to Jeff's garage for the vote-reading, where the final 3 are watching on video call. Jeff encourages them to bring in their families to witness it, and we get a fairly expected landslide win for Tony (Natalie got 4, Michele got 0). We wrap it up somewhat anti-climactically for such a big season, with no reunion, but I guess you gotta make do with what you have. None of this changes that Tony is the King now, a epic winner for an epic season.
STAR OF THE WEEK: TONY VLACHOS
I wrote Tony off pre-season, but he somehow pulled it off. He laid low in the beginning to take the target off him and when he got a chance to go full Tony, there was no stopping him. Tony is a force of nature, there's nobody that works harder and he's a fitting representative of the ultimate champion showdown.
