by Gina Scarpa

 

Going into tonight's finale of Survivor: South Pacific, it's hard to imagine a scenario where Coach or Ozzy don't win this game. You would think, especially considering last season, that new players would be wary of veterans coming back into the game. That being said, in order for Ozzy to make it there, he'll have to defeat Brandon in what looks to be the best duel of the season.

 

The duel is, of course, a stamina challenge and is as straightforward as it gets: hold on to a pole as long as possible. With only ¼ inch of wood to support their feet, there's a whole lot of shifting and moving on Ozzy's end to get comfortable, while Brandon stays in the same position for a long time. Eventually, the pain becomes too much and both start moving until Brandon slides down the pole and falls off. He put up a damn good fight but the Challenge King survived two weeks on Redemption and returns to the game.

 

I'm still scratching over my head as to why Coach is determined to take Ozzy to the end with him, even offering him an immunity idol or necklace to get him there. Either Coach is crazy, lying, or has an ego bigger than I ever thought possible. Any guesses?

 

The first immunity challenge of the night asks players to build a house of cards with one hand, while holding a handle that controls the balance of the playing board with the other. Albert and Rick quickly fall out of it, while Sophie runs out of pieces and has to start over. Coach's stack crashes to the ground, leaving Ozzy all alone... until he runs out of pieces too. When Sophie's crashes to the ground, she yells at Albert to give up and help her pick up her pieces. Unfortunately for her, it's an individual challenge. Ozzy makes some risky, CRAZY moves to get to the top and wins immunity again. Is there no stopping him?

 

Going into tribal, Coach lobbies to get rid of Rick, saying he's a threat to win this game. HOW?! Ozzy makes a pitch to get Sophie out of the game to Albert, who seems on board with that. At tribal, Ozzy tells the world that Coach promises to take him to the end and calls Sophie a brat, making her cry. I could have sworn that meltdown would've been her demise but Coach, who sent Rick packing, saved her.

 

Coach and Ozzy patch things after Ozzy outed their plan at tribal and before you know it, it's time for another immunity challenge. Players have to race through an obstacle course to retrieve puzzle pieces and solve their puzzle first in order to win. Albert literally just follows Sophie through every obstacle, slowing them both down. Ozzy gets a nice lead, but Sophie makes a comeback and wins immunity when it matters most. Do you hear that sound? It's Ozzy's game coming to an end.

 

Of course, he's not going down without a fight and asks Coach to let it get to a fire making challenge with Albert at tribal. Coach can talk all he wants about honor, noble warriors, and all that other crap - he has no interest in actually sitting next to the best... because he'll lose. At this point, I'm predicting Coach loses to Sophie.

 

Noticeably missing from tonight's finale is the walk the final three players take to remember those that were voted out. Did you miss it?

 

At the final tribal, Albert highlights his social game, Sophie points out immunity wins and strategic gameplay, and Coach that he's happy he has a piece of every single person on the jury. Coach and Keith got to know each other?

 

Ozzy is total sour grapes, and Jim forces them to say why the others shouldn't win (but Albert actually makes a good point saying he brought Coach here, not the other way around). Dawn throws a lame question out, asking Sophie to say why she aligned with Coach and Albert, though her answer does make me laugh when she compares Coach to a young girl.

 

Rick lashes into all three for lying to him and stabbing him in the back, Brandon asks Coach why he wrote his name down and receives only compliments in return, and Whitney calls Albert "sleazy". Edna has no questions but just points out that religion was used to manipulate everyone and when Keith asks about the idol, Sophie shocks Brandon by revealing that the "pretended" to find the idol with him after they actually had found it.

 

Cochran closes things out by saying that he was once a fan of Coach but feels lied to and like he overused the word "honor".  He does, however, open the door for Coach to have the last word - and a heartfelt, honest word at that about trying to play the game the right way but getting lost along the way in his quest to win.

 

We're magically transported to L.A. and we're live as the votes are read.  They go as follows: Coach. Sophie. Coach. Sophie. Coach. Sophie. Sophie. Sophie.

 

SOPHIE TAKES DOWN THE DRAGON SLAYER AND WINS SURVIVOR: SOUTH PACIFIC!

 

Check out the red carpet interview with the Survivor South Pacific Contestants

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

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