“The winner of Survivor: Cagayan… Tony,” Jeff Probst announced after counting the votes to conclude the 28th season of the biggest reality show on TV — Survivor. Tony is hailed the Sole Survivor and takes home the One Million Dollars against Woo in a landslide vote of 8-1.
Now that the competition wrapped up, it’s time to look back what lead to Tony’s victory and ask “Did the right winner win the game?”
The Penultimate Tribal Council (A Very Unexpected Vote)
Woo won the final immunity challenge, sealing his position in the Final Two. But in a very surprising twist, he chose to vote out Kass instead of the threat Tony. What’s the reason? Because Woo wanted to have a tougher competition in the final tribal council.
But did Woo really make a One-Million-Dollar Mistake? Definitely, yes on his part. But for the sake of the season, it wasn’t really wrong to take a more deserving player to the end.
This season has a good reputation of so many blindsides and backstabbing. If Woo ended up winning the game, he’s not a good representation of how great the season was because he only backstabbed just once. It took him until the final five to make a move on his own, which is voting out his former ally Trish. But it’s also hard to consider him the mastermind of that blindside, because if it weren’t for Kass he would never ever realize that Tony wanted him to be eliminated.
The Final Tribal Council (Grill Tony and Him alone)
Now it’s time for the Final 2 to face a not-so-quite-bitter jury.
Just when you thought that the jury would just give away their votes easily to Tony, think twice because most of them only criticized his lying tactics without giving any credit to his strategies.
You should find it very unreasonable to bring up the issue that Tony swore to his badge that he would never ever vote Sarah out. But wait! Didn’t Sarah swear on her badge too and break her promise too? She planned to vote him out, believing that he had no hidden immunity idol.
Moreover, Jefra said that she wasn’t bitter. But when she started to talk to Tony, she actually sounded bitter. Can somebody explain to her that she didn’t play the game and that’s the reason why she was the one got played?
Then, we had Morgan praising herself again that she was an attractive woman. Yes, she was silly, but she was really a funny girl.
Tony explained that they’d tried to backstab him first before he backstabbed him. But if there was one person who should be angry with Tony, it was Trish who had been loyal to him throughout her days in the camp. Tony always swore to his wife, to his baby, and to his father’s grave. But you know what? Words are just words, especially if it only came from your mind and not your heart.
Kass Deserves a Better Recognition
Before we recall the final jury speech, let’s talk about Kass first. If she didn’t flip, imagine how predictable this season could be. If Kass didn’t flip, Tony would never ever have a chance to plan blindsides because he would be in the minority. If Kass didn’t flip, Spencer would never ever be called the underdog who we’ve come to love.
Kass is the core of dramas in the camp. She’s an agitator, strategist and a great player. No one can ever deny that she’s one of the instruments why this season is great.
Spencer’s Speech Says it All
Like always, Spencer saved the day. He was the only one who gave credit to Tony’s gameplay and made a good argument of why Tony should win the game. He delivered one of the best speeches of a jury member in the whole Survivor series.
Spencer compared Woo’s strategic play to a behavior of a dog. Woo was the dog and Tony was his master and Woo would do anything to woo (pun intended!) his master. Spencer didn’t ask Tony a question but instead faced the jury and said:
“Love him or hate him, he played his ass off out here… Why do you think Tony found three idols? It’s because he looked more than everyone else combined. Tony was behind any strategic decision. He blinded his alliance of what’s going around in the game, like a puppet master… Tony played with a ferocity this game very rarely does see. So when you put a pen on the parchment tonight. Vote for the only guy sitting there that actually played this game and played it in a way that honors it.”
Reading of the Votes (Surprisingly, it’s not 9-0)
Before Jeff Probst read the votes (and was unexpectedly not wearing his usual fashion statement every reunion show), we’d got to see Spencer voting for Tony, and then Tasha voting for Woo without giving any reason why she was voting for him. She clearly didn’t listen to Spencer at all. So what’s the logic behind Tasha’s vote? That’s a new Survivor’s biggest mystery.
First Vote: Tony
Second Vote: Woo (Thanks, Tasha!)
Third Vote: Tony
Fourth Vote: Tony
Fifth Vote: Tony
Sixth Vote: And the winner of Survivor: Cagayan… Tony
The other three votes were not read, because Tony already got the majority votes.
Did the Right Winner Win The Game?
No doubt about it.
Tony was the mastermind of many blindsides this season. Moreover, he was an idol-buster who found three hidden immunity idols. One of which is an idol with a special power. It’s also worthy to note that he found that special idol without a clue and just by digging in the landmarks around the camp. Though he could no longer use that special idol, he used it to cover up a great lie that he was allowed to use it until the final four; hence sending Spencer who could potentially win the game because of the bitter jury.
With all these strategies well-planned and well-executed, Tony is undoubtedly the castaway who played the best game and made the standards and how the future castaways should play the game.
Indeed, it takes a great cast to have a great season of Survivor. Survivor: Cagayan is one of a kind.
So what’s your take on this season? Do you agree with the winner? Drop your comments below and answer the poll (multiple answers are allowed.)
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