A lot of analysts are writing all of the information indicating Rudy as the winner as a red herring. Is it possible that we are falling for an even more ingenious red herring, though--i.e., the best lie is the truth?

MB knows that, due to the publicity all of the other dupes/false alarms have gotten in the past, NOBODY is going to trust info coming from CBS. In fact, any information that "seems to good to be true" is going to be taken with scrutiny or even dismissed. An example of this lies in the analysis of CBS editing in determining castaways to be voted off the past several weeks...one of the primary determinants that has been used has been who CBS editing makes the likely victim, then label that person safe.

Wouldn't it be the ultimate ruse, then, if CBS purposefully leaked the actual winner, within this climate of distrust? We would have the best clue possible in our hands, and not be able to do a thing with it! Imagine the evil glee inherent in seeing the frame-by-frame analyzing survivor community, that has produced so much with so little, holding in its hands a commercial frame of Rudy with #1 Survivor imposed over it, yet so in the dark as to not be able to determine that it is a wink from the producers.

Look at it this way: in today's information age, CBS had to suspect that the winner--Rudy--would eventually leak out from some source or another. What better way to dilute this impact than to flood the market, so to speak, with the identity of the winner? In the same cauldron as so many other deceits and sleight of hands, this information would just seem another red herring...

In any case, I suppose we'll all know in a day and a half...