Whereas I completely adore everybody within the ultimate three, I feel one thing Jeff stated to Maria is making this sport’s ultimate levels irritating for me. He stated that the laborious factor about being too good is that it makes you a goal. What finally ends up taking place is there are three mediocre gamers on the finish as a result of all of the C college students maintain getting collectively to assassinate the glory roll. What we’re left with is a considerably unsatisfying conclusion to a really bonkers season. That stated, it does really feel good to see {that a} good individual lastly completed first, regardless of standard knowledge.

Because the episode begins, it’s simply after Maria will get her hand caught within the cookie jar, the cookie jar being making an attempt to vote out her key ally/America’s Largest Taylor Swift Fan. She tries to inform Charlie that everybody was telling her all day they might vote for him, however she received bamboozled by Kenzie, Liz, and Ben. Charlie, in fact, is aware of that is bullshit as a result of he’s been working with them simply as carefully as Maria, which reveals that his “shut no door” concept of gameplay was an enormous asset.

Going into the problem, Maria is the one to beat, and she or he’s additionally competing to be the primary feminine contestant to win 4 particular person immunities, a report that this 47-year-old mother very rightly deserved. The problem is a bunch of obstacles adopted by a puzzle, however in a twist, the puzzle isn’t the top; it tells the gamers a sequence of clues to allow them to determine the mix, and as soon as they determine that out, they win. Kenzie must be reminded of this when she finishes her puzzle and throws her palms within the air like she has simply landed a landing.

Kenzie and Maria are each engaged on the puzzle, and Kenzie is pulling forward. We then see Liz do one thing that’s virtually extraordinary in a Survivor finale. As Kenzie is making an attempt to determine the combo, Liz reads her puzzle and figures out that Kenzie must depend the holes in a plank from a a lot earlier impediment. Liz voluntarily goes again, will get the plank, counts the holes (incorrectly at first, I would add), and primarily helps Kenzie simply edge out Maria. Kenzie all the time wins the reward, and when Jeff asks who she needs to take, she says, “I’m torn between Liz and Ben.” She’s torn? Who does she suppose she is? Natalie Imbruglia? She doesn’t get to be torn; Liz actually gained the problem for her! Fortunately for her, Liz tells Kenzie she’s allergic to pasta, so she ought to take Ben as an alternative.

It’s clear that since Maria didn’t win, she’s going residence and, regardless of how many instances they inform her it must be a praise that it took two of them to beat her, she nonetheless doesn’t actually consider it. Maria goes round camp telling everybody that Ben is a big menace, that it looks as if he hasn’t been taking part in the sport as a result of he’s been taking part in this tremendous stealthy sport, and he’ll annihilate all of them within the finale. Um, the rationale it looks as if Ben wasn’t taking part in a sport is as a result of he wasn’t. This man wrote down his greatest buddy’s title as a result of he was drunk on pizza, and Maria thought she was going to persuade individuals he was a secret mastermind? Please. I really feel like if she had achieved this to Kenzie and Ben about Liz, she may need had a greater likelihood, however she was actually doomed. The next tribal council is extra like a funeral as a result of everybody is aware of that Maria’s sport is deader than the folks that little child noticed in The Sixth Sense. (Spoiler alert!)

The ultimate problem is great — it must be referred to as Demise Plinko. The gamers must throw a ball up a pinball-esque rig, and whereas the ball is rolling down, they will clear up a puzzle, however they must throw the ball again once more earlier than it hits the underside, or they get a penalty whereas their ball rolls down a really gradual entice. They do an identical problem each season on Large Brother, besides the puzzle normally falls aside if you happen to don’t hit a button in time. Anyway, it is a nice ultimate problem as a result of it checks all types of nice abilities that aren’t energy or endurance, which I feel are belongings which might be wildly over-indexed on this sport anyway.

As a result of it’s one thing that’s laborious for everybody, then anybody can win. Nonetheless, it’s a bit of surprising to everybody, together with Ben, that he’s the one who takes the necklace. However as quickly as he will get again to camp, he begins agonizing about who he’ll ask to make hearth within the ultimate 4. He is aware of he needs Liz gone as a result of he can’t beat her, however meaning he has to determine whether or not to place up his day one brother from one other mom and Dumb and Dumber alliance member or Kenzie, the lady who has helped him via night time terrors each time the solar goes down. He finally decides that Kenzie and Liz ought to make hearth.

As a substitute of recapping that excruciating hearth face-off, and whereas I’ve Daddy Moneybags Vulture III’s soapbox, I wish to put up why I hate the finale format of Survivor generally. To start with, the fire-making problem sucks. Liz isn’t good at it, not as a result of she hasn’t practiced or achieved all of it seasons, however as a result of her wrist ligaments are too massive, so she has clompy wrists. (How does Liz, on a fundamental human stage, perform day by day?) That Liz ought to go residence due to nothing apart from that and never the results of one thing she stated or did is bullshit. I’ve stated it earlier than, and I’ll say it once more: it’s “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast,” not Outkindle. To boil somebody’s total sport down to at least one talent — one talent that’s important for survival, sure, however not important for the sport — misses the entire level of what we’re doing right here. The sport must be about technique, relationship-building, and, sure, bodily challenges. Fireplace highlights none of those. You may as properly ask two individuals to lip sync for his or her lives prefer it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Additionally, the selection of sending two individuals to fireplace may nonetheless break a winner’s sport. What if Liz gained after which beat all of them? Ben’s victory at Demise Plinko would imply nothing. That’s why I hate that the largest choice is at ultimate 4 slightly than ultimate three. The last word selection is successful an immunity problem at three and bringing one different individual to the top. I miss the drama of that; I miss there being a selection between two very completely different video games slightly than, as we’ve seen the previous couple of seasons, a selection between one completely different sport and two video games which might be mainly the identical. I don’t suppose that Survivor wants to return to what it was once, however I feel producers ought to examine the present endgame. What sort of winners is that this iteration producing? Is it doable to do higher?

So, sure, Kenzie beats Liz, who provides us quite a lot of hilarious sass on her manner out. (“Booooo. Tomato, Tomato.”) The ultimate three is Charlie, Kenzie, and Ben, who’re all wonderful individuals, however I wouldn’t say they’e wonderful gamers. I feel each Liz and Maria had been higher and deserved to be there, however their targets received too massive for the brand new period. Oh, and whereas we’re speaking about format modifications: I really like how ultimate tribal is structured to be extra of a dialogue, the place individuals can simply chime in and make factors. That’s why I’m going commando; I prefer it free-flowing. That stated, it looks as if this season, apart from Q misremembering his personal sport and every part that occurred on the seashores, we’ve reverted again to the “one jury member, one query” format of earlier seasons. (Kenzie’s spotlight is when Q is misremembering issues, and she or he says, “Guys, this is what I needed to work with. I deserve this win!”)

Not one of the ultimate three do a superb job promoting their video games or their overarching methods. Charlie is the one one who has a philosophy: by no means to shut a door, maintain himself protected, and all the time maintain a bit of little bit of energy. Ben cops to not actually having a lot of a sport and being “a little bit of a goat for just a few votes” however highlights how he made mates with everybody and stayed beneath the radar, listening to everybody and understanding the place the facility was mendacity so he may facet with it. Kenzie is mainly simply like, “I used to be good to all of you. Don’t vote me out.” I child Kenzie, who I really like. She has a fantastic reply for Tiff about how she satisfied Tiff and Q to maintain her buddy Ben as an alternative of Tim as a transfer she actually owned. She additionally owns that her social sport was her strategic sport, one thing that many within the “new period” don’t need to hear.

Finally, Kenzie will get probably the most votes, which is unsurprising as a result of she has mates on that jury, particularly Tiff, who appears to be rooting for her as quickly as these three sit down. Although she won’t have had the flashiest sport or made any loopy blindsides, Kenzie is a very deserving winner. Gentle abilities are sometimes missed on this sport, as is getting back from a deficit on the merge. Kenzie has stated abilities and managed to stage a comeback when she was down — that’s nearly as good of a sport of Survivor as anybody has performed. And I hope she doesn’t shut down the salon now that she’s wealthy as a result of I’d positively are available for a bang trim.