Survivor Winners at War Season 40

[starvenger]

A million after tax probably takes a large chunk off your mortgage. I don't know if that is what Tony did but I think it's a smart (albeit boring) use of the winnings.

 

[declansdad]

I wanted Tony to win the whole time, until Nat came into the picture. And I think in the end, she deserved it, wow was she a powerhouse. But I do love Tony, he had me laughing the whole season. And how about his gorgeous house!! I do wish it went to a winner that actually needed the money, he looks like he's all set (on a cops salary he's doing pretty well, although we don't know what the wife does). Very happy for him.

I don't think she deserved it at all. She survived the Edge from the beginning but she didn't have to worry about a large part of the daily game play. She only made it to the final because of the perfect storm of returning at the end with an idol and then finding another.

 

[gometros]

There are two, one with everyone still left in the game and the other is with the voted out contestants. I get them on my twitter feed or else Id provide a direct link but once you find one the other should be linked.

If anyone has the link, could they please post it here? Thank you.

 

[gometros]

I don’t know if any of them actually “need” it. They’ve all won a million dollars in the game before. His house may be where he spent some of his previous a Survivor winnings.

I don't know how long he's lived there, but Allendale is right over the Jersey border from me and it's an upper class neighborhood, so his house is probably in the upwards of high six figures.

 

[gometros]

SO what do you all think would have happened if Sarah won the fire challenge? Who wins, Natalie or Sarah? My guess is Natalie. Sarah still gets Ben and Tony's votes, but she wasn't impactful as Tony was.

 

[starvenger]

I don't think she deserved it at all. She survived the Edge from the beginning but she didn't have to worry about a large part of the daily game play. She only made it to the final because of the perfect storm of returning at the end with an idol and then finding another.

Well that was the entire point of the Edge. A large part of why Chris won EoE was because apart from Devens, the remaining players didn't have enough of the vaunted resume to make a strong case to win, and Chris snuck in there.

If Natalie manages to get rid of Tony, then you have a similar situation. And you can say that Natalie didn't deserve the victory, but she was first eliminated, was probably the most malnourished of the contestants, and was still inarguably the strongest person on the Edge, and did everything she could to make it back in and make it into the final three. That makes her deserving of a win, if Tony wasn't still around.

SO what do you all think would have happened if Sarah won the fire challenge? Who wins, Natalie or Sarah? My guess is Natalie. Sarah still gets Ben and Tony's votes, but she wasn't impactful as Tony was.

Natalie wins, and it probably isn't close.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Disappointed Tony won. I wish we would have got a reunion show.

 

[starvenger]

I didn't miss having a reunion at all.

But if you look at it, Jeff basically ignored most of the contestants, he gave props to everyone for a great season, he talked about things (like his garage, which btw had terrible acoustics) that had nothing to do with the season, and he during the spot where we'd get a preview of the next season, he talked about how they didn't have a next season ready yet. So all the elements were there, except everyone was on a zoom chat for a hot minute instead of on a soundstage.

 

[monkeydawn]

UGH....This was THE YEAR for an in person reunion special.

A REAL reunion show, yes. What weve gotten lately, nope. The format last night was just fine for me. The only thing I missed were the live exit interviews that have recently been scattered in. But there are better, more in dept interviews with the final 6 on line, both video and print formats.

I run across all this stuff on Twitter so no links. The print interviews are EW (again, sorry) ICR where the video interviews were from.

One of the best if not the best Final Tribal. I liked how the jury were positive instead of the sour grapes stuff.

I agree.

I’m okay with that result (as always, based on the editing).

Me too. Honestly I would have been OK with anyone of the final 4 winning and Denise.

I am thrilled that Tony won. I had feared the exiled would feel a bond with Natalie and throw lots of votes her way. Tony upset people when he voted them off, but since Natalie was voted out first, she never ran the chance of offending people in the same way, which was to her advantage. I am happy that Michelle received no votes.

It seems like Natalie did offend a few people on EOE, Rob mentioned it. So maybe not the same as voting them off level of offense but when you are tired and hungry and dealing with others that are tired and hungry, I'm guessing offenses come easily to

Very happy Tony won! I must admit I was a little teary-eyed a few times this episode. What a sweet bond between Sarah and Tony.

I usually dont cry at Survivor. The loved ones visits never get to me. Ok, maybe a little this year. But when the EOEers were explaining Survivors imact on their lives I was a mess. And it wasnt the only time last night.

I wanted Tony to win the whole time, until Nat came into the picture. And I think in the end, she deserved it, wow was she a powerhouse. But I do love Tony, he had me laughing the whole season. And how about his gorgeous house!! I do wish it went to a winner that actually needed the money, he looks like he's all set (on a cops salary he's doing pretty well, although we don't know what the wife does). Very happy for him.

I said the same thing about what a nice house on a cops salary. LOL

Still confused as to why Ben encouraged Sarah to vote him out!!!!

Oh, I get that. Just seemed crazy to me that he wanted to give up his chance to win 2 million so his friend could build her resume!!!!

Per his interview...Ben knew he stood no chance of winning. He wasnt thrilled with the idea of facing the jury for the slight bump in pay he'd get from 5th to 3rd place. He prioritized his mental health and friendship with Sarah over that bit of extra money.

Good for him and that small exchange and then him talking about it after the game has turned me around on him. In my rewatch I noticed a few snarky comments that made him come off as petty and mean but if he has that kind of introspection in him then he's obviously not all petty and mean.

As for Michelle, I felt that getting no votes in this season was not a mark of disrespect, but one that gave more respect to how Tony and Natalie played. In a new player season without Tony and Natalie sitting beside her, I could see Michelle winning. It is super hard to play from underneath and not look like a goat, but Michelle accomplished that. She should be proud of that.
*snip*
Which was a poor take, because what if Natalie had lost? She'd be the one that gave up immunity to make fire and got booted instead. She'd end up on a list with Erik for "dumbest moves while holding individual immunity". Guaranteed shot at 2 million? You take that shot and let someone else fight for it. I still think Chris was dumb for doing it on EoE, but I understand why.

I agree about Michele, I hope she can see it that way. She seems in good spirits.

I also agree about Natalie. You dont give up immunity unless you know that only some freak incident can keep you from winning fire and she was far from that level of confidence. I do wish she had taken Sarah and let Michele and Tony battle it our for fire. I think Michele would have won that and it would have gotten her some votes and maybe the win if the right questions/ conversations happen at final tribal.

I don't think she deserved it at all. She survived the Edge from the beginning but she didn't have to worry about a large part of the daily game play. She only made it to the final because of the perfect storm of returning at the end with an idol and then finding another.

Well, she did make all of those things happen.

SO what do you all think would have happened if Sarah won the fire challenge? Who wins, Natalie or Sarah? My guess is Natalie. Sarah still gets Ben and Tony's votes, but she wasn't impactful as Tony was.

I think if Sarah wins fire, we would have seen all 3 get votes with Natalie pulling out the win.

 

[Starwarsfan2]

Boston Rob is usually really spot on with his commentary. I agree with his take that Natalie would have played a perfect game if she had managed to get Tony out, but since she didn't, he was the only one that could beat her, and he did.
Best season ever. No losers, all winners.

 

[The Mayor]

Tonly was definitely the hands dow winner but im shocked Michelle didn’t get any votes. I believe she should have been a close second to Tony. Natalie didn’t even have to play the real Survivor for 30+ days so how can she have Outwit, Outplay, Outlast on her resume for playing the actual game so little?? Michelle had to fight for her life everyday it seemed and if she hadn’t teamed up with Natalie then Natalie would have been screwed. At least when Chris came back from EoE he had the balls to take o the fire challenge to advance to the final three.

 

[RUDisney]

I'm happy with Tony winning. Although, I'd also be happy with Natalie winning. Both of them really did well in this season. Michelle outlasted, but she didn't outplay and only outwitted a little.

 

[monkeydawn]

Tonly was definitely the hands dow winner but im shocked Michelle didn’t get any votes. I believe she should have been a close second to Tony. Natalie didn’t even have to play the real Survivor for 30+ days so how can she have Outwit, Outplay, Outlast on her resume for playing the actual game so little?? Michelle had to fight for her life everyday it seemed and if she hadn’t teamed up with Natalie then Natalie would have been screwed. At least when Chris came back from EoE he had the balls to take o the fire challenge to advance to the final three.

The way Ive seen it explained is that the couple of people that wanted to vote for Michele didnt because they were scared that pulling those votes from Tony might lead to a Natalie win and they didnt want an EoEer to win. This was filtered through Michele so I dont know if Nick and Wendell would explain it the same way.

 

[starvenger]

Tonly was definitely the hands dow winner but im shocked Michelle didn’t get any votes. I believe she should have been a close second to Tony. Natalie didn’t even have to play the real Survivor for 30+ days so how can she have Outwit, Outplay, Outlast on her resume for playing the actual game so little?? Michelle had to fight for her life everyday it seemed and if she hadn’t teamed up with Natalie then Natalie would have been screwed. At least when Chris came back from EoE he had the balls to take o the fire challenge to advance to the final three.

EOE isn't traditional Survivor, true. It's basically a brutal side game that allows you to get back into the main game. But it was still a PART of Survivor. And of the EOE residents, she exerted about as much influence on the main game as was possible. She certainly outwitted, outplayed and outlasted everyone there.

Michelle, as I previously noted, plays an underdog game, and with strong games from Tony and Natalie, it's hard to give a vote to her, and it's not a dismissal of how she got there. Rather, it's an acknowledgement that Tony and Natalie had some really strong games.

And the truth is that with a 3-person final tribal, someone almost always gets the shaft with no votes. In fact, I took a look, and including this season, they have done 25 seasons with a 3-person final tribal, and the third place finisher has gotten a grand total of five (5) votes. Five! I don't know if this is an indication that the 3-person format does not work, but as long as we get 20 person seasons, we're still going to get them.

 

[starvenger]

Some interesting bits from Natalie's TVLine interview:

TVLINE | Boston Rob called you out for not competing against Tony in the fire-making challenge. If you had faced and beaten Tony, do you think that would’ve won you the game? Do you have any regrets about that?

I think if I sat with anybody in the final five, besides Tony, I would’ve won. Who knows? If I went to fire and beat Tony, I would’ve won hands down. But at the same time, if I was a guy and came back from Extinction and did what I did, would guys like Boston Rob vote for me? Maybe. You can also tell the reactions of people when I won the battle back. Boston Rob, Wendell… none of the guys besides Ethan and Tyson came up to me and hugged me. You can tell immediately. It was a weird feeling, because I would’ve rooted for anybody. I was rooting for Tyson even though I wanted to get back in, but it was different for some people. It’s hard to tell and it sucks to have to play those scenarios out in your head, but I would hope it didn’t affect the way people voted. But there was a little bit of hate coming from the Edge, which is the opposite of what it should’ve been, in my perspective. The jury dinged me for not being as social or as nice toward the end of my Extinction journey. And I said it: I couldn’t be the social, nice Natalie that I was at the start, and focus on myself and want to win.

TVLINE | Sarah talked a bit about the gender bias on Survivor and how women are treated differently from men for their game play. What are your feelings on that?

From my perspective, Sarah was doing way more work than Tony to maintain certain relationships, she just never wanted to sit in the driver’s seat of that alliance. I literally gave her the opportunity to make fire because I wanted her to put the nail in the coffin and sit in the final three with [us]. But I think I put way too much faith in her hands; I thought she was way better at fire-making. I digress.

I agree with Sarah’s statement. I do think women get scrutinized for dominant game play, where men are praised for it. I played my first season like a “dude” and thank God, the jury recognized it as an asset and was proud of that. Everybody said we weren’t gamers and [the season] was full of dummies, yet they still appreciated my game play in a way that winners should have. But this season, it didn’t turn out that way. I was kind of disappointed with that in the end.

I thought about it while I was playing the Edge. Should I really crush these guys on challenges when I don’t have to? I didn’t have to go out there and dominate the dudes the way I did, and I didn’t have to be as aggressive in my challenge approaches, but that’s who I am and I’m not gonna change how I approach a physical challenge to soothe the egos of some guys around me. Maybe if I thought about the $2 million I should have, but it’s just so hard for me to go through those motions. It does suck that we have to think about things like that, because I could see it in the guys’ eyes when I would whoop their asses in challenges. You can just tell they were not OK with it and were maybe not used to it. I was just so unapologetic in how I approached that kind of competition setting. But hey, I can’t change who I am.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I don't know how long he's lived there, but Allendale is right over the Jersey border from me and it's an upper class neighborhood, so his house is probably in the upwards of high six figures.

It seems to me, Tony may have invested in real estate with his previous winnings. He told Jeff that because of the Corona Virus, he still had mortgages on his "properties" but people weren't able to pay rent. So yeah, a million dollars, even after taxes can take you far if you know how to invest it.

 

[declansdad]

Well, she did make all of those things happen.

She didn't have to worry about a huge part of the game, the everyday interaction and game play within the tribes.

 

[declansdad]

Some interesting bits from Natalie's TVLine interview:

Sounds bitter and she fails to realize that she doesn't project as a nice person.

 

[FigmentSpark]

She didn't have to worry about a huge part of the game, the everyday interaction and game play within the tribes.

I agree. She didn't have to worry about being voted off. She only had to worry about jury votes and it sounds like she didn't worry all that much about them, either.

 

[starvenger]

Sounds bitter and she fails to realize that she doesn't project as a nice person.

If you read the entire interview it (and her EW interview) doesn't read as bitter at all. It's informational and shows a lot of self awareness. I posted that part because it provides an interesting questions regarding women and the endgame.

I agree. She didn't have to worry about being voted off. She only had to worry about jury votes and it sounds like she didn't worry all that much about them, either.

I don't think she did once she started preparing for the challenge. Seemed like a calculated risk, and maybe that pays off if Sarah beats Tony in fire making. (Ron Howard voice) It didn't.

Tony played a solid, visible game and that was gonna get rewarded in the end, EOE bonding or no.