Survivor 45 Finale "Living the Survivor Dream" Gameplay Analysis

 "Have you heard my Tony impression?"

-Jake O'Kane

Wow, what a roller coaster.  I was honestly expecting a pretty straightforward finale without a ton of tension.  I thought Dee had this locked up and it wasn't going to be close.  While I ended up being right about the winner, there was actually a ton of tension in this episode.  It was much closer strategically than I thought it would be as well as at the Final Tribal Council.  Plus the emotional journey for Jake really made this an engaging finale.  I loved it and it's a great ending to an awesome season.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked!

We'll start with the Final 5.

Who Played Well:

Jake came up with a very clever way to win the Advantage for the Immunity Challenge.  He didn't end up winning Immunity, but I do want to give him credit for how he remembered the combination.  It reminded me of Stephen Fishbach in Tocantins.  I also like his attempt at putting on a show for the Jury with his Idol.  Jake needed to take a big swing here.  It didn't work, but I appreciate the attempt.

I don't blame Katurah at all for switching her vote to Julie.  Jake was being cagey and not telling her everything, but I don't blame Jake for that either.  If he gets that genuine reaction from playing his Idol on Katurah, it looks good for his game.  Unfortunately, it made Katurah nervous and she did what she had to do.  Switching to Julie makes a 2-2-1 tie more likely to go in Katurah's favor on the revote.  I think Julie would be more likely to go home on a potential revote than if it was Katurah vs. Dee.  In that case, I think Katurah would have gone home over Dee.  It was a tough spot, but I think both Jake and Katurah did what they had to do.

Finally, Austin won Immunity and took out Julie, which was the best move for him.  Plus I like the way he handled Dee after she voted out Drew.  I do wish he started plotting to take her out at Final 4, but he can only do so much.  

Who Sucked:

While Dee did a good job of getting back on the same page as Austin after the Drew vote, I really don't like that she wasted her vote on Katurah.  She needed to get on the same page as somebody.  If Katurah hadn't switched her vote at the last minute, Dee would have been out of the game and we'd have a different winner for Survivor 45.

As for Julie, she needed to get over her obsession with taking out Jake.  She really should have gotten on board with the plan to take out Dee, her biggest threat.  No one else went after Jake.  She wasted her vote at a critical moment.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 5 goes to Austin Li Coon for winning Immunity, patching things up with Dee, and taking out Julie.

Worst Player of the Final 5 goes to Dee Valladares for wasting her vote on Katurah and nearly being voted out in the process.

Now, on to the Final 4.

Who Played Well:

Dee managed to win Immunity and made the right call in choosing Austin to go to the end with her.  It prevents him from getting a moment of glory that would put him over the top.  Putting Jake and Katurah in was the right call.

Jake may have broken the Immunity Challenge, which isn't great, but at least he won the fire-making and got himself to the end.

As for Katurah, just practice making fire relentlessly before going out on Survivor.  That's all I've got.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 4 goes to Dee Valladares for winning Immunity and taking Austin to the end.

I don't have a Worst Player of the Final 4.

Let's finish this off!

Final Tribal Council

Dee did a stellar job at Final Tribal Council and answered everyone's questions well.  She wasn't afraid to argue with Austin and saved her silver bullet; that she did tell Julie about the plan to take her out, until the opportune moment.

Austin also did a great job.  It was a really neck-and-neck Final Tribal Council until the very last moment, which was reflected in the vote.  Unfortunately, he put too much trust in Dee and she pulled the rug out from under him in front of the jury.  The expression on his face was priceless.  Dee was more able to separate her emotions from her gameplay and that's why she won over Austin.

As for Jake, he tried his best and never gave up.  I hope he plays again.  He did what he could, but the fact that nothing ever went his way was too big an obstacle to overcome.  It's very similar to Owen Knight in 43.

And that's it!  The season had a bit of a rough start with the two quits, but once we got rolling at the merge, this season was a blast.  We got a worthy winner in Dee, some excellent blindsides, a Top Gun montage sequence, and some great characters in Jake, Drew, Emily, and Bruce.  Can't wait for season 46!