Victory came through a combination of luck, youth, good looks, good nature, and true grit.
And another season of Survivor enters the record books. It was an entertaining season, I’d wager, because of a healthy mix of highly strategic and “villainous” players. Now, I didn’t say the strategies employed were all that amazing or useful, but it was fun to watch alliances form and crumble while this season’s cast seemed to particularly have a rough go of it from the elements on a rain-soaked beach in Nicaragua over 39 days.
I think Fabio’s eventual victory, handed to him by the jury back in Los Angeles after a tight vote with Chase (Sash, the third finalist, received no votes), reflects the nature and tone of the season. While many self-appointed leaders and backstabbers-in-chief came and went, he was “smart” to “play dumb” and stay a bit under-the-radar as, well, the good looking dumb guy. But he was also young and tough and resilient enough to withstand rather harsh conditions with a smile (and, importantly, not annoy some highly annoy-able competitors in the process). And finally of course when there were only a handful of players left in the game and there was nowhere to hide, he pulled off an impressive string of three immunity challenge victories.
The final immunity challenge was something that I found to be a bit silly and quite frankly low budget: the four final contestants were faced with balancing a sword on a shield which was placed on ground. Then each player was tasked with placing a succession of different-sized coins on the sword’s handle. I’ve noticed that the final challenge tends to be more of a “single shot” affair as opposed to an elaborate series of obstacles and large set pieces. Perhaps this is due to the crew winding down its activities as opposed to theatrical choice.
In any event, Fabio sealed his entry into the final vote (for “Sole Survivor,” a term I’ve always found a bit odd) with his victory in the sword/shield/coin challenge, which led to the inevitable round of scheming and whispered conversations over who was getting booted at the bitter end. Because Fabio was the obvious target had he failed to win the final immunity challenge, it was amusing to watch the other three (Chase, Sash, Holly) scramble, hustle, and sweet talk Fabio over to their respective cause. Dan, a guy who flew so low under the radar that he appeared to sleep under it at times, was eliminated early on during the two-hour broadcast after (surprise) he failed to win the elimination challenge involving (laughable) questions about Nicaragua and puzzle assembly.
As is often the case with Survivor (and most competition-based reality shows), the editing during the run-up to the final vote led us to believe that Fabio was on the verge of casting his elimination vote for either Sash or Chase. So of course when we got to the final tribal council, it was Holly who was forced to present her torch for a final Survivor: Nicaragua snuffing.
Back on the beach, the three finalists enjoyed a classic Day 39 breakfast as they pretended to be friends while privately scheming strategy on how to work the jury over to their side for the $1 million prize. I’d argue that Fabio’s decision to move against Holly in the final elimination vote was smart in that she was the final woman left in the game (and thus jury members such as NaOnka or Purple Kelly may have been sympathetic to her cause) as well as the final member of the “older tribe” (which may have pulled votes by way of Marty or Jane).
Nonetheless, it was clear during the jury’s questioning of the finalists (always amusing as it’s really a forum for eliminated players to rant rather than truly learn information that will aid them in their voting decision) that Chase had a healthy contingent of supporters. His “wishy washy” nature was called into question, however, and he admitted that the game drove him crazy as it presumably went against his honest nature. He expressed as much making heavy use of “y’all.” Sash meanwhile slid into the Russell role of the person who was expert at making his way to the final vote but with no real support from the jury once he got there.
And that left Fabio (or Jud Birza, his real name), who at the age of 21 won the game of Survivor and its $1 million grand prize through a combination of luck, youth, good looks, good nature, and true grit.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.