by Gina Scarpa

 

On tonight's season finale of Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains, we pick up after tribal council, when Sandra (unnecessarily) played a hidden immunity idol and Rupert was sent to the jury. At camp, Russell expressed his anger with Sandra for not informing him that she had an idol. Since when does everyone need to report to Russell? One of the reasons I love Sandra is because she calls Russell out of his BS when almost everyone else is afraid to. She tells him that since he never told her about any of his idols that she didn't feel the need to tell him about hers. Fair enough.

 

The first immunity challenge of the night comes to us from Survivor: China, in which players have to stack plates on the end of a metal rod and keep it steady. If the plates fall, they're out. Sandra is the first to go, followed by Jerri and Russell. Only Colby and Parvati remained and Colby fans everywhere held their breath, hoping that he could pull of this win and gain a little Survivor street cred back. Nope. His plates crash to the ground as Parvati wins her second immunity in a row.

 

It seems that Colby is the next to go, which makes no sense since Russell is wide open to be taken out. There is no scrambling, there is no hustling. Colby surrenders and accepts that his torch will be snuffed later that night... or so it seems. When he catches Russell alone, he makes one last plea to stay, suggesting he get rid of Sandra so that he can help vote out Parvati next. Russell chooses to pass on the offer and, at tribal council, Colby becomes the 16th person voted out of the game.

 

Time for the final four to pay their respects to the players that came before them, and honor their memory - as if they died or something. At least I get to catch a glimpse of some of my all time faves, Tom, Stephenie, JT, and Boston Rob.

 

The four remaining players head to their final immunity challenge. Hard to believe we're already here! It's a Survivor maze, where the players are blindfolded and will have to use their hands to read symbols that will lead them to four necklaces, spread out throughout the maze. The first to collect four wins. Parvati and Russell grab their fourth necklaces at the same time and race to the finish. They slam into one another and wrestle their way out of the maze. In the meantime, Jerri also finds her fourth necklace and finds herself within inches of Parvati, Russell, and the idol. Russell grabs it first and wins! That was definitely one of the best endings to a challenge ever.

 

Parvati is left wide open, with no protection, and the other three are just waiting to write her name down and get rid of the biggest threat to win this game. At tribal council, Parvati tries to say that she's been protecting Russell throughout this game then backtracks a little and says they've been protecting each other. Just when you think Parvati is headed home, Jerri is blindsided and becomes the final member of the jury. I think I speak for all of us when I say: WHAT?!

 

Sometimes, the final three or final two celebrate together back at camp before the last tribal council where they face the jury. Instead, Sandra burns Russell's hat. That was pretty awesome.

 

In front of the jury, Russell, Parvati, and Sandra make their opening speeches to plea for votes. Sandra pushes that she played the last part of this game alone, Russell says that he played the game hard and apologizes if he offended anyone, and Parvati claims to have used Russell (and called him "her pet", ick) in order to make it to this point.

 

Finally, the jury gets to talk back, ask questions, and hold these three accountable for the way they played the game. Colby asks Parvati what strategic moves she made to further her game and she cites playing the two idols. Coach calls Russell a very little man, Parvati a warrior in challenges, and Sandra a coattail rider. Sandra tells Amanda how hard she tried to get Russell out but it just never panned out. She couldn't get the heroes on her side. Courtney basically makes a case to the jury to vote for Sandra, based on her tremendous loyalty.

 

JT asks Russell if he did a good job of preserving the votes and he answers that he thinks people will respect how he played. Danielle asks Russell if he'd change his game and he says he doesn't regret anything, nor would he change anything. Does anyone notice that Russell isn't nearly as cocky during this tribal as compared to the final Samoa tribal? He stands up for his game but he's not rude about it.

 

Jerri, whose undecided in her vote, asks Russell why she's not sitting up there with them. He tells her that she had too many friends on the jury. Parvati jumps in and says that he wanted her vote and that's why he voted her out. Oof, that hurts his game. Candice tells Russell that he told dirty lies and compared Parvati's loyalty to Russell to a spouse in an abusive relationship. Her vote will be based on how you treat people. Rupert apologizes to Sandra because the heroes always slammed the door in her face when she tried to work with them.

 

Once the votes are cast, we're transported to the live finale in New York City where Jeff lets us know the results.  Here are the votes: Parvati.  Sandra.  Parvati.  Sandra.  Parvati.  Sandra.  Sandra.  Sandra.

 

SANDRA IS THE WINNER!

 

Final Survivor thought: Did anyone else feel like the reunion turned into an episode of Jerry Springer at times?  I LOVED IT!

 

Stay tuned to RealityWanted this week for stories from the live finale in New York City from Survivor: Samoa cast member and RealityWanted writer Ashley Trainer and RealityWanted member and Make Me A Supermodel finalist Sandhurst Tacama Miggins!  

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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