Survivor: Winners at War, Finale "It All Boils Down to This" Breakdown

"Hope y'all are ready to party!"

-Ben Driebergen

Wow...what an episode.  I think that is the best finale of any season of Survivor.  I've never had such a wild emotional roller coaster ride.  It's one of the best episodes of the entire series and gave us the most emotionally satisfying winner ever.  I still can't believe it actually happened and that it wasn't just a fan fiction.  Anyway, let's take a closer look at the gameplay starting with the Final 6.

Who Played Well:

Michele and Natalie both did a great job.  Natalie won her way back into the game and Michele won Immunity and they played Ben, Denise, and Sarah like a fiddle by making them believe Natalie did not have an Idol.  They should have targeted Sarah instead of Ben or Denise, but it was still a solid round of play for them.

Tony was the only person who had the correct read on Natalie, but no one would listen to him, which was extremely frustrating.  He also saved himself with his Idol.  If he didn't play the Idol, he would have been a very likely target in the re-vote.

Who Sucked:

Ben and Sarah were dead wrong in their read of Natalie and Sarah nearly (and should have) went home because of it.  Had they split the vote, Ben would not have needed to play his Idol.  He also should have turned on Sarah and Tony instead of going after Natalie.

As for Denise, she probably should have turned on Sarah and Tony instead of going after Natalie, but that's all I've got for her.

Verdict:

The Best Player of the Final 6 is Natalie Anderson for winning her way back into the game, fooling the majority into putting all of their votes on her, and for saving herself with her Idol.

The Worst Player of the Final 6 (not counting the person who was eliminated) is Ben Driebergen for being fooled by Natalie and for refusing to turn on Sarah and Tony.

Now, let's move onto the Final Five!

Who Played Well:

Natalie found herself another Hidden Immunity Idol, but I don't know why she targeted Ben.  She should have gone after Sarah for sure.

It was actually a really good move for Sarah to get rid of Ben instead of risking being Idoled out of of the game.  I also loved how she clocked the Idol hidden in Natalie's buff.

Finally, Tony won Immunity and saved himself, but he did end up on the wrong side of the vote.

Who Sucked: 

Michele didn't do a whole lot here, but, like Natalie, she should have targeted Sarah instead of Ben.  It would have given her a better chance to win.

As for Ben, obviously his goal was no longer to win.  If it was, he obviously shouldn't have told Sarah to vote him out and he actually should have turned on her.  Going to the end with Michele and Natalie was his best bet, but I still don't think he would have won.  I read his interview with Dalton Ross where he said he knew he wasn't going to win and didn't feel like getting torn to shreds by the jury.  He decided to put his mental health first and try to help his friend win.  I can absolutely respect that.  Everyone needs to lay off Ben.  He's been through enough and doesn't owe you anything.  Everyone dragging him on Twitter, seriously, fuck off.


Verdict:

The Best Player of the Final Five is Sarah Lacina for spotting Natalie's Idol and eliminating Ben.

The Worst Player of the Final Five is Michele Fitzgerald (again the person eliminated is not eligible) for voting out Ben instead of Sarah.  Natalie at least found an Idol.

Now to the Final Four.


Who Played Well:

I only have Tony here for winning the Fire-Making Challenge against all odds.


Who Sucked:

Natalie may have won Immunity, but she needed to pull a Chris Underwood and take on Tony in fire-making.  It sounds like by chickening out, she lost Boston Rob's vote.  I don't think it would have won her the game (I certainly hope not), but it would have helped.

Michele really didn't do much in this round.

As for Sarah, she played a really solid game and she's a Top 5 player in my opinion.  If it wasn't for the fire-making challenge, I think Tony would have been voted out and Sarah would have won the game.


Final Three:

That was an excellent Final Tribal Council.  Michele, Natalie, and Tony all did a great job and really owned their games.  Tony making everybody laugh so much with his stories about his game is how I would like to perform in the Final Tribal Council.  I was beyond stoked with Tony's win as he is my all-time favorite winner.  I believe he is the best to ever play the game and he earned this win in spectacular fashion.  I wish Michele had beaten Natalie and I am upset four people chose to give their votes to the first-boot, but Tony won and that's the most important thing.


Verdict:

The Best Player of the Season has to go to Tony Vlachos.  He played the first two-thirds of the game very calmly and learned his lesson from Game Changers.  Then in the last third he sprung into action in an epic way and bulldozed his way into the end.  I still can't believe this is real life.

The Worst Player of the Season has to go to Ben Driebergen.  He had too many social game issues with Rob, Adam, and Jeremy and I don't understand why he refused to turn on Denise, Sarah, and Tony.

And that's it.  I don't know when season 41 will happen, but this episode was so fantastic it will hold me over for a while.