Survivor: Cook Islands Wrap

It’s been a week since the final episode of Survivor: Cook Islands. What stared with the promise of angst filled, competitive and thought-provoking editions, finished as one of the franchise’s most bland seasons.

So bland that I skipped the three episodes leading up to last week’s finale. I did catch up during the half-hour review that precedes the final episode. It seems that with Nate being sent away by Yul and Jonathon the week before, Candice became the odd person out and was sent packing. Then Jonathon had run out of options. That Parviti was sent home before Adam was a surprise, but not that important.

So as the final episode opened, there were five contestants, including one from each of the original four tribes. I didn’t expect that at the onset of the season, but it is interesting that it played out that way. In a previous season, they divided into four tribes, using age and gender as dividing lines. On that edition, the final four included one from each of the four original tribes.

It almost seems too good to be true. Still, there is nothing to be gained from chasing that tangent.

With Adam dropping out, that left no Caucasians to possibly win. That is a more interesting tangent. At one time there were four Caucasians and four Asians left. In the end all Caucasians were booted out and two Asians made it too the final four. Does that mean the Asians are stronger? I don’t think so.

Yul and Becky played a smart game. Jonathon tried to play a smart game, but panicked into several strategic blunders. Likewise, Adam and Candice played as if they just assumed the game would be handed to them. Parviti tried to play a game similar to Becky, which was stay tight with the ones you know and hide in the shadows. Unfortunately, she tied herself to losers.

Sundra had a good chance with the final immunity challenge. The final challenge was the boring balance and stamina challenge. They play this each year in different ways. Sometimes it’s holding on to a bar. Ozzy looked several times as if he was going to lose it, and Sundra looked like she could stand there for twelve hours without breaking a sweat, but ultimately, Sundra dropped.

That brings us to the fire making tie-breaker. Becky was smart not to take the immunity that Yul offered. Ozzy was steadfast that Sundra and Becky should do the tie-breaker. There wasn’t much suspense there. Instead we were treated to ineptitude.

Neither Sundra nor Becky can make fire. Even with matches, Sundra couldn’t do it. Remember previous seasons where the fire making tiebreaker was finished in about thirty seconds?

Finally, Becky won the tie, but was considered inconsequential by the jury. None of the jury members took her seriously in deciding who do give the million.

Yul and Ozzy were tightly matched. Ultimately, Yul made fewer enemies than Ozzy and came away the victor.

So, if you get the immunity idol, you will probably win the game. That seems to be the pattern since the game adopted the “Exile Island” feature.

Next season, the program will go to Fiji where the producers say the contestants will “battle more” and there will be two hidden immunity idols.

I’ve enjoyed writing about the program, but am disappointed with myself about not keeping up each week. I don’t think I’ll write about the show going forward, at least in this same manner. As busy as things get, it’s hard to say if I’ll get the chance to view the next season of Survivor.

I do hope the next season is more angst-filled, competitive and thought-provoking than this one. The reunion special showed people genuinely happy for Yul. There were no villains or even interesting characters (outside of Cao Boi). Not even a true romance (the whole Adam/Candice thing was just for show).

It’s possible that Survivor has “jumped the shark”. We’ll see how it reinvents itself next time.