Okay, let’s break down that final four twist in the Survivor finale. It came down to Chrissy, Ben, Devon and Ryan, and whoever won immunity was also given a secret advantage. Chrissy had an EPIC win, and found out that the advantage would be that she could choose ONE person to bring to the final three, therefore leaving the other two to battle it out in a fire-making challenge. The tribe had been trying to vote Ben — a huge threat to win — out for the last THREE votes, but he was able to find hidden immunity idols to save himself every time. So, obviously, the plan for the final three was still to eliminate Ben.
Chrissy knew that her best chance at doing that would be to have Devon go up against Ben in the fire-making challenge because Ryan didn’t stand a chance. She shared the secret with Devon, giving him time to prepare and get mentally ready. Meanwhile, Ben didn’t find out about his second chance until tribal. However, he was still able to pull out the win before Devon could even get a spark going. I am generally a fan of these epic Survivor twists that keep coming season after season, but I have to say…I truly hated this one.
I applaud Ben for finding immunity idols when he needed to. He stayed up ALL night looking for them, and he deserved his spot in the final four. However, the only way he deserved a chance in the final three was winning that last immunity challenge…and he simply didn’t do that. It’s like the opportunity to win $1 million was just HANDED TO HIM! Sure, he had to successfully build the fire under extreme pressure, and that was obviously impressive, but he shouldn’t have had that second chance.
Then, for Ben to go on and win the game…just feels so forced. You have to admire Ben’s story: He’s a family man who was in the marines and suffered through years of PTSD. I respect him to the utmost degree for fighting for our country and going through everything he went through. But it’s like the producers just wanted him to win so bad that they gave him any opportunity they could until the last minute! They even had to put together an entire package of all of Ben’s moves just to prove to viewers that Ben deserved it.
Devon earned his spot in the final three — he made a huge move when there were five left by voting Mike out, saving himself and aligning with Chrissy and Ryan. Ben did not earn his spot in the final three — he had to win that immunity challenge, and he didn’t. That’s how the game works, and it feels like a whole new twist was made up just to get him to the end. I am not discrediting the amazing moves Ben made earlier in the game, but when it came down to it, he simply did not deserve that spot.
Of course, I’ll always be a huge Survivor fan, and this twist could go a totally different way when it returns next season (Jeff Probst already promised it will). But in this case…it really just sucked.
HollywoodLifers, what did you think of the secret advantage twist on Survivor?!