Last night the 19th season finale of Survivor aired on CBS and a new Sole Survivor was crowned by a jury of his/her peers. In what was, yet again, a much talked about season of gameplay, Survivor managed to put on a show that was full of backstabbing, conniving, lying and other such unsavory behavior … meaning it was another successful season of gameplay — well, at least for one player:
Going into the finale ep last night, the players left were Jaison, Brett, Mick, Russell and Natalie. After the jump, find out who won the title of Sole Survivor and who managed to outwit, outplay and outlast the others to win the $1 million prize …
And the winner of Survivor: Samoa is Natalie White!
An out-of-work pharmaceuticals saleswoman is the winner of the CBS reality television show “Survivor: Samoa.” Van Buren, Ark., resident Natalie White won the $1 million prize Sunday night by outwitting, outplaying and outlasting an oil company owner and a doctor in the final episode. The 26-year-old White was accused by jury members of riding the coattails of Dayton, Texas, oil millionaire Russell Hantz, who finished second. She says she recognized early in the game that aggressive women were being eliminated and she had to maintain a low profile. Hantz was the mastermind behind most eliminations and was thought by some players to be a shoo-in for the win. Los Angeles doctor Mick Trimming was the third finalist.
It’s not very often that good prevails over evil in this world but last night, it happened. Natalie managed to beat the odds and win the title of Sole Survivor even tho Russell thought he had the game in the bag. I cannot even express how happy I was to see Russell‘s gameplay NOT be rewarded with the ultimate win. The man may have believed he was the puppet-master but in the end he was nothing but an arrogant jerk who couldn’t figure out the real way to win in the end. To see him sit there with tears in his eyes was precious, to watch him him beg for a chance to buy the winning title was just pathetic (to see him be denied was delicious). In a world where people with lots of money get what they want by using and discarding people at will, it’s so refreshing to see that kind of behavior come out on the losing end of a game like Survivor. Congratulations Natalie, no matter what anyone says, you did play the better game … you won, after all. In the end, no matter who tries to buy that accomplishment from you, they can never, ever take that away from you :)
[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]
Lets not forget that Natalie was the one who orchestrated the outting of Eric. That in turn made it easier for Galu to vote out their own people on subsequent tribals. I thought Russell played a good game and probably would’ve won if not for his arrogance. The question/answer part is what got him in the end. After all, the juries in the past did tend to vote on gameplay rather then niceness. He screwed himself in the end when it comes down to it. If only he had said “yeah i did messed up things to get here, but I had to” while showing just a tad of remorse for his actions I personally think he would’ve gotten the votes. Instead he went in there like “yeah, I screwed you, and you, and you, and I had a blast doing it so hahaha! I’m an ass but that was the plan so there!” He came off badly in the end where if he had just kept his mouth shut he might have won it all simply based on gameplay alone. BTW the use of “feckless” by Shambo had me ROFLMAO. I love it when seeming uneducated people use 50 cent words!(sorry about the rambling post lol)
Oh, and I think Russell is on Heroes and Villains. Woot!
One more post guys, I promise. Isn’t Natalie the first woman to win up against only guys? I think all the other woman to win was just up against other woman. (maybe I’m wrong)
To be fair, we are talking about a game where a million dollars is at stake. I always find it interesting when we sit at home and judge someone who manipulates, lies and strategizes to get the money, when any one of us would do the same thing in the same situation. Don’t kid yourselves – the “nice” players are still playing a game, too. You put money into it and I think you lose the opportunity to make any moral judgments. It’s a game, and there are no rules in how you win – except that you need to win.
I was SOOOOOO disapointed last night! Love him or hate him, Russell really revitalized the Survivor franchise, which has suffered lower ratings in the past few seasons. His gameplay was mesmerizing, and almost to the point of unbelievable! This year’s jury epitomized bitterness (with the exception of Brett and Shambo). I have no respect for Natalie’s gameplay, and I think she is just lucky that the jurors chose to vote personally instead of truly looking at who played the game the best. Granted, there are no rules or criteria for picking a winner, but I think that most fans (and even most players) of the game would agree that the person who best outwits, outlasts and outplays the others is the most deserving winner. That was NOT Natalie!
I love that all true Survivor fans know Russel should have won. Russel MADE this season of Survivor.
I have been watching every season since forever (or 10 years or whatever it is) and was SHOCKED that Russell didn’t win all 9 votes! I hated Russell almost the entire season, however, respected that he was completely successful by still being an openly jerky jerk! Not until the last jury member’s comment did I ever even consider that Russell could be in trouble.
Also, it was pretty awesome to watch him be all pouty like a little kid who didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas…can’t wait to see him next season go down in flames! :-D
I cannot believe most of these posts. Sure Russell was a hoot to watch and I would not have been disappointed if he had won; yet I was not disappointed Natalie won. I agree that the jury votes personally because they are people but any respect I had for Shambo or Kelly (not that I ever liked Kelly) was completely gone by the end of the show. People who have a temper tantrum at the remaining players are the sorest losers and for that reason I am thrilled they did not win anything. I wholeheartedly agreed with everything Eric said during his speech. Russell’s strategy was to run the show and in turn took blame for everything. Natalie’s strategy was to let Russell be the bad guy, be nice, quiet and make it to the end. What makes Russell’s better than Natalie? Nothing. I personally liked Eric for the Million but we see how well that played out. Like Trent said Natalie won and nothing we do or say can change it.
It seems to me that a HUGE component of the game is how you gauge the jury members’ dispositions and what each one will likely base his/her vote on. Some Survivor juries respect underhanded tactics (“you screwed me but that means you were better at the game so you have my vote”) and others feel personally slighted (“I thought you were my friend and you betrayed me so I won’t vote for you”). The point is not whether the jury voted “correctly” or not; the jury will vote the way they’ll vote and it’s up to the players who will eventually become the final two to decide what sort of personalities they’re dealing with and how their actions throughout the game will affect the jury members’ vote. It sounds like Natalie figured out that although being a jerk could get a person far in the game, this wasn’t the sort of group that would ultimately vote for jerks in the end so she was the better player where it counted. At the end of the day, the person who deserves to win is the one who gets the most jury votes, which she did. Congratulations Natalie!