I think this is one thing the producers did well - considering the world today. At the time of the final tribal, they had no way of knowing what would the future would hold and in hindsight, that was a smart plan. While it did feel like an extended tribal council, it was better than a Zoom reunion - or no reunion.
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I was surprised. I had thought Xander had it locked. Until this episode I had no idea people didnât really like him (as compared to liking Erika). There was so many clips of Xander calling himself the biggest threat and not a lot of others talking about him.
The after show/reunion show is always pretty lame in my opinion. I completely understand not taking a chance at being able to hold it in the future and just going with them there.
Also, no loved ones visits I understand, but they could of had letters from them?
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I didnât watch the after show yet, but was STUNNED (in not the best way) at the winner. NO VOTES FOR ZANDER???! Did the jury not remember the first 3rd of the season when he dominated with so much? He must have got zero votes or Jeff would have put him in the mix announcing. Erica was fine but definitely came from behind or I agree, very poor editing.
I sure hope the jury didnât get too caught up in wanting a woman winner. Of course I want variety in winning - but an earned win.
Zander is quite a guy for 20 years. His positive attitude, handling of himself and his clear compassion for others was quite remarkable. He balanced all that so well while still keeping a desire to win.
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Not to be pedantic, but after three people misspelled, itâs âXander.â
As for the final vote, as we learned from Australian Outback, who you choose to bring to the final is an important part of gameplay. One could argue whether itâs better to bring the one most deserving vs the one you can beat. They outcome may have been different if they made a different choice.
I mean we knew Liana hated him, how many clips did we get of her saying this, but I assumed Evvie would vote for him as his pal
Lol, I totally knew it was Xander - the power of CC spelling suggestion!!! It was a gamble taking Erica for sure. I would have thought Heather was a no brainer. It was a bit of strategy that he thought giving Erica success in fire making would give her a bigger resume - a strategy that didnât pay off. As you say, that was his gamble/mistake.
I think I am just most stunned that it appeared NO one voted for Zander/Xander. As I said I didnât watch the after show though and maybe they revealed all the votes there.
Side note, I also had to chuckle that I thought Ricard looked WORSE on the jury physically than he did when he was playing! Maybe I just like his hair in a ponytail. Something about him with his hair down and his polo buttoned to the tippy top seemed out of character!!!
Throughout the episode, they showed Xander as a sure thingâin his mind, for sure! Not sure if that was just the way they edited it when Erica snuck by for the win! It was her story of always being underestimated.
I am sure weâll see Xander again!
As for Ricard, I thought the same thing: he looked deflated. I thought maybe he had been counting emotionally on Xander giving him the idol after he revealed his back story and although he knew that wasnât realistic, once his chance to win was gone, he had plenty else to think about with his baby about to be born. And his jury commentary on Xander may have led jury members to take another look at Erica.
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Clearly I do really like Xander but I thought it was pretty touching when he won that last immunity challenge and asked if he could hug Jeff. (call me a softie!!!)
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There was a lot of reflection about growing up and learning from this experience from all of the cast members. I donât know if that was the edit or if they were looking for a certain type of cast member this season. They mentioned several times that Xander was young. Maybe there was more immaturity, rubbing people the wrong way that we didnât see. I didnât see DeShawn as overly emotional or having a temper tantrum. To me, if felt like Shan was more emotional than Deshawn. I think Jeff tried to correct it a bit with his comments.
Has anyone watched all of the Ponderosa videos? Sometimes discussion about game play comes up at Ponderosa that influences the juryâs opinion. I havenât watched all of the videos but the bit that I did watch showed Shan and Liana still bitter and wanting to talk about the game at Ponderosa. If Shan was upset with Deshawn and Liana was upset with Xander and they kept harping on it at Ponderosa, maybe that is why Erica won.
Could be. I watched a few Ponderosas - the ones that the CBS app offered up. I thought it was odd that they didnât have all of them. Shan, Danny, Tiffany, maybe one more.
Always love this show even as a late-come watcher (maybe the last 8-10 seasons?). A bucket list item would be to watch them all!!
It seems that season 42 has already taken place. Look forward to seeing it.
Yes. It was filmed in May/June. They have filmed 2 seasons back-to-back for a number of years
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I totally agree. Shan seemed to cry and breakdown quite a bit.
I was mildly surprised with Erikaâs (or Ericaâs) win, but with the jury Q&A it became obvious that Erica would win. I was also surprised that Xander received zero votes.
I know itâs Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but I was telling my family on the couch that he should have made Erica and Heather do the fire challenge. Even if Erica had won the fire challenge, I didnât think the win wouldnât add much to her resume. I mean, youâve been there for 25 days, you should be able to start and maintain a fire for heavenâs sake.
Did the jury forget that he faked out Liana with her âadvantageâ of asking the âDo you have an idol?â question to Xander too? I mean Liana even made a joke about it right before the jury voted. Xanderâs fake idol was classic.
Who would have thunk that Xander was a chubby kid? I also liked Danny, the ex-NFLâer who seemed like an âaccidental tourist.â He seemed like he was just kinda hanging out and having fun.
I think Xander and Ricard will play on a future season.
That depends on whether a $1,000,000 is important to ya. 
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I also was very surprised that Xander got no votes. I thought it would be a tight race, not a runaway. The more I thought about it, it did make sense that Erika won, but still not clear why he got no votes. Xander seemed to have decent relationships, yet did not get the jury to understand his game play.
Erika also got lucky with her team, the hourglass, and finding the advantage. Without that very big advantage, Ricard most likely would have won and she would have been out. Interesting to wonder who would have won if it was Heather, Xander and Deshawn at the end. Overall, good season although not a fan of some of the new twists.
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In any scenario, Ricard would only have won if he won immunity to make it to F4. Otherwise he was always the logical elimination at F5
Even then, it might not have been a given. Itâs tough to ascertain with the editing, but he seemed a bit salty at the reunion. If that was apparent throughout the competition, it likely would hav been a turn-off for the jury
Yes, he did seem noticeably off at the reunion. He even said he was having a hard time processing the loss.
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I meant he would have won that immunity challenge. Impossible to know if he would have beaten Xander on the last immunity challenge or if not, if he would have made it to final three (either being taken by Xander or winning the fire challenge).
I think Ricard would have won even against Erika, but who knows.
I think he was salty because he lost by seconds due to the advantage (which was pretty big, not minor).
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I read an exit interview with Danny a week or two ago, whenever he was voted off, and he said no one was worried about Xander as a threat because none of them respected his game. That really surprised me at the time. I donât understand why they didnât like his game, but it makes the vote make more sense.
If you watch the jury and you hear what people say about him, a lot of people did not respect the game that he [Xander] was playing. A lot of people thought that when he stepped out of the challenges that it was for show and it wasnât because he really cared. So as the game goes on, youâre like, âThis guy is not an issue. Why are we worried about the idol? A lot of people want to go sit at the end with Xander so they can explain how they played a better game than he did.â
Australian Survivor: Blood vs Water started Sunday night. The Aussies get 3 episodes per week and the game this season lasts 47 days. Sandra Diaz-Twine is competing with her daughter, Nina, who seems even more formidable than her mother.
But the reason I bumped this thread is the host now calls the teams into a challenge with âCome on in.â No discussion about should they drop âguys.â Itâs just gone.
Oh, and they still use an opening montage.
This will tide me over until Survivor 42 premieres 3/9.
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We are a Survivor family and I had forgot that my kids told me I should watch this Australian season - apparently they put on a good show??