Know-It-Alls Recap the Survivor Blood vs Water Finale

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Tyson Apostol is the newest Survivor champion, defeating Monica and Gervase by a 7-1-0 vote to win Blood vs. Water. Rob begins the show by asking Stephen if Tyson’s victory was “Spradlin-esque”. Stephen thinks it was, both in the way that Tyson knew how to restrain himself early and also how to dominate late in the game – everyone thought they were aligned with him, which basically allowed him to choose who he wanted to go to the end with. Rob thinks it’s a top 10 performance by a winner, and would put his win in the same sentence as Boston Rob’s on Redemption Island, Brian Heidik from Thailand, and Tom Westman from Palau – while they might have differed in their early games, all were pretty much unstoppable from the merge. Stephen agrees with this assessment, but thought the “lucky moments” that require a Survivor victory were much more evident in Tyson’s game (the white rock, in particular) than some of those other winners, which Rob thinks is fair.

Rob asks Stephen if he was ever in doubt that Tyson would win tonight, and both were fairly sure of that outcome. Stephen says he was slightly nervous at the final tribal council when Monica was getting most of the questions and opening up to the jury, but realized she basically blew up her game by the time she got to the “haven’t you guys ever met a nice person?” line. Rob feels that Monica was never really trying to win the game – she had so many chances to flip and always entertained them that she just ended up being a tease, to both the players and the jury. He was especially confused as to why she would string everyone along regarding siding with Ciera and Tina to vote out Gervase to the point that Tyson felt he had to give his idol to Gervase. He says this pisses off the jury, and Stephen agrees, saying it only adds to her reputation of being wishy-washy and annoying.

Rob also thought Gervase really dropped the ball tonight at the final tribal council. Neither he nor Stephen felt he had a compelling argument for the jury about a Plan B he had ready for going to the end without Tyson, considering how likely it was Tyson would win immunity challenges in the end of the game. Rob brings up Vytas’ bitterness by insisting on keeping his promise to Tyson that he wouldn’t vote for him, which confused Stephen as he saw Vytas as one of the season’s most duplicitous players. Rob felt the punchline to Vytas telling Tyson he definitely wasn’t voting for him needed to be him actually voting for Tyson, saying something like “I can be duplicitous too”. Rob and Stephen also discuss Tyson answering Aras’ jury question by saying that Monica should win over Gervase. Stephen felt this was good strategy, as he was likely trying to support the player he thought was less likely to beat him. Overall, the Know It Alls felt this was a very good final tribal council performance for Tyson.

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At the live reunion, loved ones were seated together and Rob and Stephen both thought this was a good choice. Stephen felt it made for a much easier flow of conversation, and that grouping people together let Jeff get to more people. Rob points out that the format of the reunion led to a live show where, save for Marissa, everyone got to talk and nobody was left out, which ultimately makes it successful. Stephen touches on how weird Jeff Probst frames people, especially when the only type of person he likes is someone who is extremely sincere and emotional. Jeff really latched on to the brief moments where Tyson was very sincere and heartfelt about his win, and Stephen compares Probst to a vampire who feeds on human emotion. Stephen also submits that because it was a fairly predictable finale, they were really digging for conflict the whole night and didn’t really get it. This leads into a discussion of Jeff’s segment with Colton, which made Rob want to tweet “#coltonsegment Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…”. Both felt Jeff was clearly looking for something very specific and Colton wasn’t biting. Rob also thought Jeff waited too long to address Katie and Tina’s family tragedy, considering how recently it happened, but he and Stephen acknowledge that it’s a hard thing to work into the show.

Rob felt that a bit too much time was spent on Cochran, asking if there were any Survivor fans that hadn’t heard since May that he would be writing for “The Millers”. Stephen counters that it was probably fewer people than we might imagine considering millions of people watch the show. He and Rob both thought the taped segment with Will Arnett was funny though. Stephen and Rob were also in agreement that the Kat segment, with her references to her recent physical changes, was extremely awkward. Rob wonders why she would bring that up at all, and Stephen thinks she might have been feeling slightly insecure and wanted to get ahead of any criticism. Rob felt that to the unaware, it probably came across like Hayden made Kat get a boob job and the jokes just didn’t work.

At the end of the show, Jeff teased next season’s “BBB” twist, which to Rob’s disappointment will not be “Survivor: Better Business Bureau” or the much anticipated “Survivor: Robs vs. Johns”. The twist for Season 28 is Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty, and Rob mentions that Jonny Fairplay used to call Rob all the time and tell him they would do a Brains vs Brawn season. Now it’s finally happening, the Know It Alls try to take a very early glance at the new season. Stephen and Rob discuss that making a distinction between the beauty and brawn tribe must mean that in addition to not being smart, the beauty tribe must also be really weak in challenges – “vapid airheads,” Stephen predicts. They both think this will make for great Survivor comedy, however.

To wrap up the season, Stephen and Rob take your questions about the finale and reunion show. What’s the future for mentioning your Twitter at the Survivor reunion? Which pair was the most successful overall this season? Would Monica have ever had enough tears to get the jury to vote for her? And what’s Rob and Stephen’s final verdict on “Hayden Moss, Survivor player”? Plus, you won’t want to miss the big reveal of who you voted as the Rob Has a Podcast Fan Favorite Player of the Season – it’s only on the season finale of Survivor Know It Alls!