I am so glad that Rob finally won Survivor. I agree about the Redemption Island part and having so many people still around near the end.
While I still love this show, I am getting a little tired of the sweet young things in their bikinis. But my only real complaint is that the players don't get really dirty enough or really starved the way they used to. Everyone got so filthy and skinny in Africa and the Outback -- those were the days!

SKK: A friend and I were talking earlier today, too, about how it's been such a long time since there was an engaging female cast member on the show and how frustrating that is.

I like RI for the first part of the show, but it should have ended the episode before people became jury members. Bring back the one person out of two from RI and play it straight from there.

The challenges this season seemed to be so similar. I can only presume they received a really good deal on tiles and puzzle pieces. The challenges for Final Four and especially Final Three were good, but how many tile breaking things were there? I also don't think they had any where people going up against each other in mud and getting down and dirty. Sure, someone could and has gotten hurt, but it's SURVIVOR!

I love God but I refuse to ask him to help me win or talk to him about how I'm doing this for His glory. You want to glorify God - go work in a souop kitchen or on a mission trip. I agree that you are very, very lucky if Survivor is the hardest thing you have ever done, but then again, most of them are very young.

I don't mind the sweet young things nearly as much as I mind the sweet young things that are lazy and don't do anything to keep themselves in the game except ride someone's coattails. Of course, anyone who shows a brain and gumption gets voted off and not just on this season...

I AM glad that Rob won, even if it was because his tribe was dumber than a bunch of rocks most of the time. He could have been voted off very early, just like Russell was, but he wasn't and his personality, at least as shown on the show, was engaging so maybe team Dumb Rocks didn't think he was a threat...? Whatever, glad he won.

Thanks for starting this thread, Sarah.

SKK.

I liked the concept of Redemption Island, I think they can tweak it to make it better.

I think most of the boredom with this season, was the way, Rob was able to managed the entire tribe[s] to carry out his wishes and pull all the strings. Made it very predictable, and the only drama was Crazy Philip and his antics.

My last comment: Only two months and Big Brother is back! YIPEEEE

Can't share your joy at Rob's win, considering he is a professional reality show contestant and is married to a millionaire. There was one contestant this season who was in jeopardy of losing her house to foreclosure, and had a family to support. Survivor is tired and finished. People have been asking for a season in a cold-weather climate for years (the only twist that would be interesting) and they refuse to do it. So I refuse to watch any further.

This is exactly how I felt. Thanks for posting.

Redemption island sucked with lame challenges. The hardest "duel" was a game of memory and balancing on one foot.

With 4 people competing near the end it didn't even matter if you tried to win your Redemption island duel..

And 4 people competing ISN'T a duel .. and duel is one vs. one ...

Redemption island challenges should have been REALLY physical.

They kept saying how hard it was ... meanwhile it looked like a cakewalk this season.

RI would have been more interesting and fruitful if the ultimate RI challenge winner was let back in the game 1 player sooner and was given automatic immunity for the first tribal council. THAT would have been more interesting

Roman, no offense, but if I were in danger of losing my house, I would not be going on a game show, out of the country and any possibility of working/finding work for 39 days plus whatever travel and other time might be involved on the chance that I MIGHT win enough to save the house. People who come in 3rd or lower reportedly don't get very much money so that's a really, really big gamble...

Rob used a skill he had to win; Julie didn't have close to his personality or ability in this game. Besides, once taxes are taken out, it's not close to being a million!

A cold-weather Survivor. Can you imagine? The tribes are dumped off in the Montana wilderness in January and their first task is to build a cabin with a fireplace? Then they have to kill a moose with a sharpened stick, for food? Half the cameramen filming the action freeze to death during production?

There are two things that should always be held in warm climates: Survivor and the Super Bowl.

Everybody complains that nobody did anything to stop Rob but it was because Rob did not allow anybody to do anything and plus the girls knew he had the immunity idol . Plus Rob plays the social game perfectly . He doesn't bark out orders or get into conflicts , and everything he says is just common sense . Take anybody else who has been on the show 4 times , they still wouldn't win it . Only Rob has the qualities needed .

If there is one thing to complain about is the editing and not allowing the viewers to know that the girls know Rob has the idol . That is really criminal .

Otherwise Redemption Island would work . As Jeff has said , 90% of the time if someone like andrea comes back the three girls would team up . In this case Rob just maintained the perfect control and picked the best allies in Philip and Natalie who were so convinced the only way to make it to the final was to just follow orders .

SKK: That's a good point -- no one did anything because of Rob's skillful play. However, it made for fairly boring viewing a lot of the time. I still can't believe, though, that it took this long for someone to come up with the "buddy system." Impressive.

I suppose anyone coming into this game is very naive if they imagine the alliances they make are more than temporary. That said, I didn't take much pleasure in watching Rob betray Grant or Natalie dump Ashley. Rob was so full of himself... a quality that made me yearn for his demise. Am I alone?

Very well written. It would have been much better if the winner from redemption idea gets an automatic spot in the final. That would definitely rack up the tension and dynamics in the tribe.

Fabulous commentary. Rob played beautifully. No one else seemed to show up. Bizarre that the producers picked so many religiously affiliated folks; it seems to have been far more humanist in the past. Interesting choice! Curious if that will impact their casting choices in the future.

I have never been more disappointed in any reality tv show than Survivor RI. Is Rob really a genius or are his tribesmen brain dead? Sadly, I have to say it's the latter. I was pulling for Matt or Mike to win, but in this game, evil always wins over good. It's too bad Rob didn't end up on Zapatara, because his ass would have been thrown out a long time ago, in which he wouldn't have a loony and a bunch of brainless, naive bimbos to gain complete control over.

I think this just goes to show that, hidden idol's need to be turned off sooner, probably around 6 people left. They're just way to powerful in those last few stages of the game, it kills everything.

Also I'm pretty disappointed to hear that they're bringing two more people back next season. I think this season proves that that's a bad idea, Boston Rob ruined the show, from an entertainment perspective. Everyone's too afraid of him to do anything.

I'm also getting tired of the challenges, i understand that they're trying to make them more fair to people of all ages and sizes, but the minor-physical-task-followed-by-a-puzzle challenges are getting really old, and you can really only do 1 or 2 of the endurance challenges before they get tedious. Physical challenges are just more fun to watch.

I agree the Redemption Island twist didn't work very well because both Matt and Andrea were immediately targeted as soon as they came back in the game. While Rob did play pretty much a "perfect" game, it made the episodes very predictable. Although I give Rob credit for controlling his tribe which Russell was unable to do. I'm also not crazy about the three vs. two finalists. One finalist always seems to be a non-factor receiving no votes. Natalie was this season's example.