SURVIVOR REDEMPTION ISLAND FINALE: ROB MARIANO=THE BEST EVER

Jeff Probst said it best and its undisputable: Rob Mariano played the Perfect Game of Survivor and his performance this season will go down as the most dominating effort ever in the show illustrious history. The Survivor Redemption Island season is in the books and Boston Rob has finally won that elusive title after a ten year wait. It was a great season all around and there are a million things to get to. So without further delay, lets get to all notable moments and happenings from the great finale.

-First things first. I will concretely stand here and say to you all that Rob Mariano has proven once and for all to be the very best player in Survivor history. What he was able to accomplish this season goes beyond anything I ever could have imagined and his complete destruction of the game and the people around him will set the bar for the rest of the series' run. No one will ever approach that level of dominance in a single season ever and even the great villain Russell Hantz acknowledged the tremendous effort Rob put in by shaking his hand at the reunion show. Rob claims he is done playing and I have every reason to believe thats true since he has nothing left to prove. Here here to a Survivor legend and first ballot Hall Of Famer.
-The final of Survivor Redemption Island was a tremendous episode all the way around as it almost always is. The drama is unmatched by any reality show out there and its this episode that makes the show such a hit and is the prime reason for its longevity. The Redemption Island twist itself was not so great in my mind as it got annoying after awhile but overall, its did keep things a bit interesting as far as strategy was concerned.
-Regarding the final TC, Rob gave a great speech like I knew he would, while Natalie and Phillip dropped the ball as expected. The two of them really had no case in asking to be worthy of the million dollars and lets take a second to give a solid shout out to David who contributed quite possibly the best jury speech ever. Instead of talking to the three finalists, he went on to correctly note that Rob played the best game ever and that it wasnt even close. This was tremendous to see due to the fact that many times over the last few seasons of Survivor, we have seen bitter juries cloud their judgements on who should win the million dollars and who played the best game. This has always been the most annoying aspect of the game for me as some great players were denied the title based on sour grapes (Russell in Samoa, Rob in All Stars). It really started to look like that was going to happen again as Rob was getting reamed out by the jury which kind of shocked me. Whereas in All Stars where he acted like a jerk and was open about screwing people, this time around Rob played a cleaner game and did his dirty work behind the scenes which I thought the jury would respect. What really gets me is that these people dont seem to understand the concept of this game. Your not out there to make friends and even worse is that I can guarantee you that all of those jury members who railed at Rob for being deceitful and underhanded would have done the same things if they had gotten to the end of the game. Tough choices are a given and feelings are going to get hurt. If you dont like it than dont play. Ashley was the biggest loser of all when it came to this as she was giving Natalie the evil eye and going off on the friends and backstabbing thing. You cant win and be successful at Survivor if you cant do those things and if your not prepared to make those choices, than dont go. Damn.
-As far as Phillip is concerned in the final TC, he totally pulled a Clay and acted like a jerk to the jury which obviously will not get him votes. Honestly though I felt bad seeing the way he was treated and mocked. It reminded me of the nerdy kid in school who got picked on because he didnt act like everyone else and behaved in a non-conforming manner which made people uncomfortable and thus earned ridicule. Its the same concept. I loved the fact that Phillip was proven to tbe a federal agent and was shown to be an Army veteran. Most of these people in the game couldnt hold a candle to him as far as life experiences and so I felt for the guy. Ultimately he got further along than they did and so he should be proud.
-That leads me to Julie. You all know I loved Julie throughout the game and I was rooting hard for her. However her jury speech was claseless and mean spirited. Her attack on Natalie was terrible. As a mom she should realize that a young girl at her age in such a tough game was going to make some mistakes and she really didnt do anything that would make me not proud of her if I were her parent. That was way off. Also what she said to Phillip about his son was even more of a low blow. My philosophy is to never bring in anyone's kids into the equation and she crossed a big line there. That was just wrong and she looked like an idiot for it.
-Andrea was a big eye opener this season as she was a very tough competitor in challenges and it was amazing that she was able to beat Grant, Mike, and Matt in that last duel. Great job on her part and for what its worth, she was totally right in criticizing the girls for not making a move on Rob. She was the only one who spoke openly about making such a move and even though it backfired on her, at least she tried.
-Now that leads me to Matt. All along I thought he was surely going back into the game. After all he beat crazy odds to get to the verge of making the final five and so it was incredibly anti-climactic to see him lose out in that last Redemption Island duel. I felt like us as viewers were robbed of a great storyline there and so I was very disappointed to see that, even though I knew it would be at great peril to Rob to see him back in the game. Ultimataely thoughg I am also thankful that I dont have to write a heading tonight about the whether or not it was ethical of not to award someone a million bucks who was voted out twice. Let it be known however that had Matt gotten back into the game, he was going to win the dough. It was a given.
-Ralph voting for Phillip was hilarious and just about summed up how lost he was. I got to say thought that I was happy for Phillip to get that one vote after all the abuse he took and he had that over Natalie who got no votes.
-Wow Steve took a beating this season. First he was accused of being a racist by Phillip which thankfully the latter apologized for, and than he was called out by Russell for throwing the challenge. Yikes. Oh and Probst really ruined that whole scene as he interrupted Russell and Steve's banter and changed the topic. That had the chance of getting heated and Probst threw water all over it. Bad job.
-David getting enagaed was cringe TV. First of all I didnt even remember who she was and second of all she seemed like she was going to say no. She also was cursing on the TV which was real ladylike.
-Amber looked good as always. The two kids were adorable. Great family and that whole group was completely built on Survivor.

All right folks it was a great season and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Would love to hear what you have to say. Post below so we can exchange thoughts. Also keep checking back through the summer for all the latest info and news which will be posted as soon as I hear. Next season goes to South Pacific and we get two more returning players. My guess....and I have no info on this.....JT for his boneheaded move of giving the idol to Russell which needs to be redeemed and Rob Cesternino who is the best player never to have won. If I am right you heart it here first. Take care everyone and keep reading. Ciao.