I don't have the memory for previous seasons that some of y'all do, but I don't remember an instance where a seemingly-clear vote went so strongly in a different direction. Going in, I figured Mike was getting at least 6 votes. Although, last season, I thought Erika had no shot of winning going into the final tribal, so maybe I'm just bad at reading the room. But Maryanne is definitely the most likable winner to me in a while, so I was real happy to be wrong this time.
Some other notes:
- Jeff said during the reunion that he loves the do-or-die, so I fear that garbage is coming back.
- My memory for this show is bad, but I can't remember a time where an obvious zero-voter won the final immunity. Romeo basically got to pick the winner.
- Jonathan remained an ass til the end, trying to remove Maryanne's agency in the Omar move
- Does Lindsay win any final 3 other than Romeo-Jonathan? I feel like both Maryanne and Mike would have beaten her, but I could be way off. Either way, Lindsay ended up being one of my favorite contestants in a while, so I would be glad to have her come back some time.
Thanks to all for a great season of discussion, and to Myles for creating this space!
There’s lots to say about this episode, which I thought had the best final tribal in yeeeeeeaaaaars and also fingers crossed they maybe kill firemaking after it did the opposite of what Jeff put it there to do, but my main thing is this:
Where does Maryanne’s final tribal performance rank among the all time greats?
Before this my personal top three was the pretty standard Todd, Sophie, Chris D. Outside the top 3 but still great maybe Adam, Sandra HvV, Michele, JT, Hatch, Nick, Natalie W. I don’t love all those wins but those are the times where it felt like people really successfully worked the jury and narrativized their games in a meaningful way, even if it’s always hard to know if it really impacted the vote.
Final tribal tends to be mostly for us at home and very few votes are actually determined there, almost never enough to actually shift the winner.
Im sure it’s to some extent editing a narrative but from the jury speaks confessionals through actual final tribal into the aftershow, it seemed like the jury came in planning to vote Mike but open to being convinced by Maryanne and then were, in a big way, by her performance.
Now I admittedly haven’t watched Vanuatu in a looong while but I revisited China at some point semi recently and watched Sophie’s ftc on YouTube during the part of 40 where she was briefly dominating and I don’t feel like any of my previous top 3 tribal performances changed what was going to happen as dramatically as this (is being presented to us, anyway), and it certainly felt like she did an unbelievably exceptional job of telling her story and revealing the layers underneath her bubbly personality (similar to Sophie, the “young girl” strategy but with more ability to show control of the moves bc she was on her own when Sophie was in a dominant alliance)
So I’m wondering...was this the best FTC performance ever? I kind of think it might have been?
I glanced at Jonathan’s exit interview over on EW, and it basically got treated as, “Well, I’m sorry they felt that way, Mr. Dalton”. And if it’s true that the era of live reunion specials is over, then Probst will never have to worry about having to address it, as everyone will be too exhausted to bring it up.
This was definitely the best tribal in a while. I loved that the jury really tried to push for better answers, and that Maryanne actually made a mic drop strategy moment with the reveal of how the Omar vote would shake out and the only secret immunity idol. Maryanne made the right call not to save Lindsey, but should also could have emphasized how she played Mike to ensure Lindsey didn't get saved.
And I loved how throughout the finale we were being reminded that Maryanne was actually a super fan - knowing Simotion, etc...and it made the fire challenge less of a foregone conclusion even if she had been put in the challenge. I do think she owes a bit to Mike's inability to fully own his approach for the overwhelming nature of her vote, but she is the clear winner. Even so, you felt good for both Mike and Romeo winning those challenges 9n a personal level as a take away.
I don't have the memory for previous seasons that some of y'all do, but I don't remember an instance where a seemingly-clear vote went so strongly in a different direction. Going in, I figured Mike was getting at least 6 votes. Although, last season, I thought Erika had no shot of winning going into the final tribal, so maybe I'm just bad at reading the room. But Maryanne is definitely the most likable winner to me in a while, so I was real happy to be wrong this time.
Some other notes:
- Jeff said during the reunion that he loves the do-or-die, so I fear that garbage is coming back.
- My memory for this show is bad, but I can't remember a time where an obvious zero-voter won the final immunity. Romeo basically got to pick the winner.
- Jonathan remained an ass til the end, trying to remove Maryanne's agency in the Omar move
- Does Lindsay win any final 3 other than Romeo-Jonathan? I feel like both Maryanne and Mike would have beaten her, but I could be way off. Either way, Lindsay ended up being one of my favorite contestants in a while, so I would be glad to have her come back some time.
Thanks to all for a great season of discussion, and to Myles for creating this space!
There’s lots to say about this episode, which I thought had the best final tribal in yeeeeeeaaaaars and also fingers crossed they maybe kill firemaking after it did the opposite of what Jeff put it there to do, but my main thing is this:
Where does Maryanne’s final tribal performance rank among the all time greats?
Before this my personal top three was the pretty standard Todd, Sophie, Chris D. Outside the top 3 but still great maybe Adam, Sandra HvV, Michele, JT, Hatch, Nick, Natalie W. I don’t love all those wins but those are the times where it felt like people really successfully worked the jury and narrativized their games in a meaningful way, even if it’s always hard to know if it really impacted the vote.
Final tribal tends to be mostly for us at home and very few votes are actually determined there, almost never enough to actually shift the winner.
Im sure it’s to some extent editing a narrative but from the jury speaks confessionals through actual final tribal into the aftershow, it seemed like the jury came in planning to vote Mike but open to being convinced by Maryanne and then were, in a big way, by her performance.
Now I admittedly haven’t watched Vanuatu in a looong while but I revisited China at some point semi recently and watched Sophie’s ftc on YouTube during the part of 40 where she was briefly dominating and I don’t feel like any of my previous top 3 tribal performances changed what was going to happen as dramatically as this (is being presented to us, anyway), and it certainly felt like she did an unbelievably exceptional job of telling her story and revealing the layers underneath her bubbly personality (similar to Sophie, the “young girl” strategy but with more ability to show control of the moves bc she was on her own when Sophie was in a dominant alliance)
So I’m wondering...was this the best FTC performance ever? I kind of think it might have been?
I glanced at Jonathan’s exit interview over on EW, and it basically got treated as, “Well, I’m sorry they felt that way, Mr. Dalton”. And if it’s true that the era of live reunion specials is over, then Probst will never have to worry about having to address it, as everyone will be too exhausted to bring it up.
This was definitely the best tribal in a while. I loved that the jury really tried to push for better answers, and that Maryanne actually made a mic drop strategy moment with the reveal of how the Omar vote would shake out and the only secret immunity idol. Maryanne made the right call not to save Lindsey, but should also could have emphasized how she played Mike to ensure Lindsey didn't get saved.
And I loved how throughout the finale we were being reminded that Maryanne was actually a super fan - knowing Simotion, etc...and it made the fire challenge less of a foregone conclusion even if she had been put in the challenge. I do think she owes a bit to Mike's inability to fully own his approach for the overwhelming nature of her vote, but she is the clear winner. Even so, you felt good for both Mike and Romeo winning those challenges 9n a personal level as a take away.