LAST EDITED ON 05-15-16 AT 05:56 AM (EST)

AWWWWW...Thanks so much, suzzee!

It's nice to know Board dwellers (other than Kingfish and Michel) appreciate the efforts.

Since you asked, here's my take on that pathetic display: The challenge was supposed to be a race but why even include the run through the jungle if the players had to wait for everyone to toss their bags before they could retrieved the ones that missed the targets? It looked as dumb as those scenes at the end of the Amazing Race where all but one team has checked in and we still see the last pair go through the roadblock or detour even if it means nothing. We just saw the most exciting 2 minutes in sports last week in Kentucky while Cambodia showed us the most boring 5:30 minutes! Jeff gave Joe a lot of credit for what exactly? Being the slowest?

1- Aubry: Her constant questioning is very interesting because it shows the multiple layers of the game. Everyone can be useful but everyone can, in turn, be the person that brings you down. Joe was the rock solid foundation of Aubry’s game, the one person she could trust but now that he is gone we heard her already thinking of the next plan. In a way, her hesitations about her final 3 partners remind me of Kim’s own questions regarding Sabrina and Chelsea. Kim strongly considered voting out Sabrina because she was so nice and she considered going to the end with Alicia and Christina. Aubry’s own doubts could just as well be exaggerated because I think she wins if she makes the FTC.

A Final 2 is always tricky though and it’s rare that you can do like Hatch and let the others make the final decision with the assurance that you can still win. Aubry could be in that position but it will depend on her presentation to the jury. I think she will want to win that challenge in order to make the decision once more. That could easily backfire because it certainly will cost her one vote. It’s hard to defeat someone with a good social game but this episode showed us that Aubry’s social game may be even better than Michele's. Aubry only needed a few well chosen words to draw Tai back into her pocket. Neal, Joe, Nick, Jason, Scot, Tai and even Debbie at one point, had great things to say about Aubry so, with a good final presentation, she should get those votes.

2- Michele: Making it to the final episode with practically no blood on her hands is quite an accomplishment. Her social game has been excellent as we saw when she found a way to work with Tai. She let him walk all over her this time because she's come to realize that he isn't a threat. However, that will change when they hear it will be a Final 2. Tai would be the perfect goat to take in a final 3 because no one but Debbie would vote for him but it's risky to let him compete in the final 3 immunity. He could win it and take her seat away. Michele would need to have a rock solid understanding with Tai for a Final 2 deal but she'll have a lot of work to do to accomplish that. Who would trust Tai at this point? Well, if they manage to get rid of Aubry at F4 there is a chance Tai would side with Michele over Cydney.

If Michele wins an immunity or two, it will show the jury that she wasn't carried to the end even if she didn't make big moves. That and the fact that some jury members aren't too enamored with her rivals, she could become Sole Survivor.

3- Cydney: In many ways, Cydney would be the most deserving winner. She lost her ally in the vbery first episode buyt she adapted wonderfully. First, she usurped Jennifer's place in the Brawn alluiance (Scot admitted in interview that his biggest mistake was to let Jason convince him to boot Jennifer) Then she flipped the game around on the guys by first booting Nick and then helping Aubry boot Scot and Jason. She's played very well but siding with michele is a huge mistake. Against Aubry, she could match game move with game move but matching game move against friendship is much tougher. Michele has friends on the jury, Cydney and Aubry have victims...

Tai: The season started as a Cambodian version of "Everyone Loves Raymond" with Tai playing the leading role and it's ending with Tai looking as the guy who couldn't get more than one or two votes against anyone left. Funny that he himself said he wasted his advantage. Did you hear that part, Aruba?! He has shown time and again that he is has uncomfortable in front of Jeff as he is in front of an attractive woman so how could he plead his case with any conviction?

Removed from the game - Joe: How convenient. They let Joe have his day and then removed the one player that could ruin the finale. Was it in his contract?

My understanding about the RC is you only had to wait if you were unable to hit your five targets with the initial 15 attempts. I thought whoever hit their five targets first with their initial 15 tosses (or less) wins the challenge regardless of where the other competitors were at that time. So that’s why it would make sense to race through the jungle and try to be the first to hit the five targets with the 15 beanbags. When Aubry, Cydney and Tai all failed with their 15 attempts it did open the door for Joe. But if Joe does not hit his last two targets with his last two beanbags, everyone scrambles to retrieve their bags and Joe would have no chance of winning despite your claim of Production letting him win.

Making it to the final episode with practically no blood on your hands is a trademark of riding coattails. Jenn made it to the final episode in S10; Becky made it to the final episode in S13; Dan made it to the final episode in S21; and many more like them who rode coattails. I would regard neither of those finishes as "quite an accomplishment." If we do have a F2 and Michele wins BOTH of the final ICs, she could make a case, but it will not reverse the fact up to now she was carried to the end game. As for “finding a way to work with Tai” Michele did not have to search long and hard to “find a way.” Actually there wasn’t a whole lot to find at all. As a clear case of attrition when the three went off to their reward it was blatantly obvious the two left behind were on the bottom so the prospect of working together was putting on the ‘ole headlights while driving at night.

Cydney made an initial decision to align with the strongest physical players. We heard her say that loud and clear in the Premier. So when her racial bonding with Darnell didn’t pan out, gravitating toward Jason and Scot was not so much of a “wonderful adaptation” as much as what she wanted to do all along. And Jason/Scot were all too happy to bond with the bodybuilder over Jenn or the other tribemate skinny enough to slip through a keyhole.

Tai was the one responsible for ending Jason and Scot’s game...at least 10 times more responsible than Cydney/Aubry. Playing the vote advantage at the F6 TC was the best attempt Tai could make to allow that advantage to work. It was game circumstances beyond his control that essentially “wasted” the advantage. Had he not made that attempt at the F6 TC, with Joe’s subsequent removal from the game, it would have been REALLY wasted. Like I stated in my list this week, when Aubry watches the episode with Neal’s medivac she will realize it was NOT a bad break for her...such will be the case for Tai. When he watches the season play out, he will realize he personally did nothing to “waste” the vote advantage.

Funny for someone who’s social game is atrocious, who will be unable to plead his case at FTC, who is uncomfortable around most of the castaways this season...the other remaining players do NOT want to sit next to him in the Finals. If half of what you say is true then the girls in the game are complete idiots to not want to bring someone along who “couldn’t get more than one or two votes!” OH, that’s right...I forgot...it’s probably in their “contracts” to do that. Like DUHHHHH, what was I thinking???

They could simply have GIVEN the 5 players 15 sandbags each and the result would have been the same but WE would not have wasted 5 minutes of our lives. But the editors had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the episode because there wouldn't be a TC.

By the way, did you notice how the rules are so flexible that they can't really be called rules anymore. Caleb gets removed from the game but we still go to TC. Neal and Joe are removed from the game and we don't have a TC. They don't have rules, they have arrangements.

The big difference between Michele and the coat riders you mentioned is that no one here was in Michele's original alliance. Yes, Becky followed Yul, yes Amber first and Natalie years later, followed Morono to the end but they were aligned from the start. Michele had to move from her original alliance with Anna and Julia to one with Nick and Jason and now with Cydney and Aubry and she has done so without ruffling feathers. That isn't easy to do.

Cydney could have reacted poorly at Darnell's elimination and she would have ostracized herself. Instead, she kept her calm and let the other two girls hang themselves. Giving Jason a chance to get the idol also helped.

Of course, Scot and Jason would have remained in power if Tai hadn't flipped but contrary to you, I give the credit to the person who is able to manipulate someone into screwing his own game over the one that screws himself. Aubry found the words that pried Tai away from the big guys.

Did you fast forward the part where Aubry realized that she'd have better shot at going to the end with Tai than with Cydney? Players don't always realize how the jury will react but it's easy to tell that they don't respect Tai anymore.

I’d prefer they run to retrieve their beanbags giving the competitor who performed the best in the first stage of the challenge an advantage of hitting their targets first. Only NOW can we say the result would have been the same knowing the first three who retrieve their bags the fastest all failed in their initial attempts. Talk about your quintessential Monday Morning QB. Actually it was Aubry/Cydney/Tai who s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the episode because they were unable to accomplish what Joe ultimately did.

When Caleb was medivaced it was still early enough in the season when they could afford to eliminate two castaways in the same episode. There was NO way at that time they knew they would have an unprecedented THREE medivacs this season. The three removals from the game had to have fouled up their format and scheduling some; or at least enough to not want to eliminate two players in the same episode MULTIPLE times this season. Take this past episode for example: If they went ahead with a TC after Joe’s removal we would have went into the two-hour season Finale with three castaways?! For the fans who don’t spoil it for themselves, we’d be saying WTF will they do for two hours when we ALREADY have our F3 FTC???

Yes, the coattail riders I mentioned did have original alliance mates to carry them past the merge...which brings us to a much BIGGER difference between Michele and the coattail riders I mentioned. Michele had the uncanny great fortune of not getting her torch lit at TC until the second half of the season! And PLEEEEASE don’t even think about crediting anything other than her good fortune of being on the right tribes at the right time.

OK, I’ll see you halfway on Cydney. Although I’ll still contend casting a female bodybuilder on a Brawn tribe with Jason and Scot darn near guaranteed her advancement to the merge, I guess she could have gone nutso over Darnell’s boot even though she only knew of his existence for a grand total of three days. And you do make a good point winning the guys favor by helping them find the idol.

The primary reason Tai was pried away from the big guys was because the big guys themselves made him feel like a second class citizen. He would have turned on them regardless of any “found words” from Aubry. Not quite sure why you want me to “fast forward” because I stated in my list that Aubry in fact named Tai as part of her F3 this past episode. I also stated I believe Aubry will come around in the Finale and realize sitting next to the castaway who owned this season could be risky. Should we have a F3 FTC she should come to that realization sooner than later. If we have a F2 FTC I could see her wanting to keep her meatshield in the game to guarantee her a F2 spot.

LAST EDITED ON 05-16-16 AT 10:12 PM (EST)

I think that you're a lot like me and you much prefer Survivor's golden age to the reheated formula that we've seen for the last 20 seasons or so. The main differences between the early seasons and today is that the scenes involving Jiffy have taken more and more space in the alotted 44 minutes. The challenges and Tribal Council now take up about half the show when they used to take about a quarter. Therefore, I'm not being a Monday morning QB when I'm saying the challenge could have been shortened greatly to make the episode less boring. I've been saying it for about a decade!

Yes, it was easier to add a TC when Caleb was removed but then they didn't have a TC when Swan was medevaced before the merger in Samoa. I think that was episode 5 where Caleb was taken out in episode 4. So I maintain that they make their decisions to suit their pusposes. A game needs rules, not arrangements.

I'll agree with you that Michele didn't do a thing to help her tribe win any of those pre-merge immunity challenges but that in itself could have been a disadvantage. Everyone else had been to TC and they had a good idea whom they could trust. Michele was an unknown quantity and could have been targeted just for that. The players of Tandang never went to TC before the merger and they were completely in over their head facing savvier players. In a similar fashion, only going to one TC hurt Galu who didn't know how to stand united against Foa Foa. Since the merger, Michele has adapted and jumped from one alliance to another so maybe we can agree that she isn't a coat tail rider but a public transport commuter: She needs to take the train, the bus and walk to make it to the end!

As for Tai, why don't we let the players and the jury decide. I'm pretty sure that they will keep Tai if it's a final 3 because he isn't a jury theat but will remove him if it's a Final 2 because he could take away someone's seat. No matter, I don't see him having a chance to win. Of course, you'll claim bitter jury if he loses but Tai has been responsible for losing all his sympathy capital.

I didn’t call you a Monday Morning QB because you commented on the length of the challenge...it was because you stated the result would have been the same if they didn’t have the run through the jungle rewarding the players retrieving their bags first giving them a quicker shot to hit the targets and win. The only way you could have known the result would be the same is to have watched the RC completely play out.

Like it or not, many viewers want to see the challenges more than to sit through 40 minutes of MTV Real World in a jungle or on an island. Even though I’m a fan of the challenges, personally what I could do without is Jeff not being able to keep his flipping mouth shut for even two seconds during the challenge! So point well taken that DAW Jiffy ruins the challenges by hogging up as much limelight as possible.

Swan (who was medivaced in Ep. 6) was the SECOND medivac of that season. When the first medivac Mike was removed from Samoa they DID move forward with a TC much like what was done this season after the first medivac Caleb. As I stated, it’s the subsequent medivacs that may tend to foul up scheduling and season format.

Not doing much to help your tribe win challenges is EXACTLY why it is an advantage for those coattail riders post-merge. By appropriately NOT being perceived as a threat is precisely what allows them to be carried along. One could make the argument Michele had even more of an advantage by having her choice of coattails to ride that dropped by her feet after the merge. As for lack of first half season TCs being a disadvantage, it sure didn’t hurt Koror aka Tom Westman in Palau.

If Tai loses to Michele and/or Cydney, you’re darn tootin’ it will be at the hands of a bitter jury. Against Aubry it would depend on what transpires and what the Jurors say at FTC. If Aubry is seated at the Finals and most of the inquisition is positive toward her, then I would be less inclined to cite bitterness.

I don't care at all who won the reward or who would have won if they had eliminated the race through the woods so my complaint isn't about the result which is what Monday Morning QBs do: If the coach hadn't called a pass on the one yard line, our team would have won the SB.

I'm saying the challenge design was dumb and the IRONY is that the result would have been the same if they had removed the race. It was a simple waste of time as if they already knew they needed to stretch the episode.

So one rule for the first medevac and a different rule for the next? That's unfair because one tribe could lose two players in the first instance when the other won't later. Rules should be rules.

Sandbagging challenges is actually a very smart way to play the game. So we could say that Michele outwitted everyone by making herself appear as a non-threat when, right now, she is just as likely as anyone left to win those next few challenges. After all, Outwit comes before Outplay! You win challenges only when you need to win them and then people like you think you're not a threat. That's incredibly smart in my book and that's exactly how I'd play.

As for Koror, they had such a weak opposition that they didn't have to worry about post merger TC. Those Ulong models/actors quit one after the other. Yes, only Jeff officially quit but Ashlee, Kim and Ibe all stopped trying before being voted out... That's practically half the tribe.

You may not care who wins challenges, but I (and probably many other fans) do care who wins challenges that have become an integral part of the game. Without them we wouldn’t be watching a 32nd season. And I really don’t see a game format as dumb if it’s designed to have a first part rewarding the competitor who finishes that part first to have the first chance to hit their targets and win. When that format was designed they didn’t know the first three who finished the first part of that challenge would ALL fail to hit the five targets with their 15 tosses.

You could have a season all planned out beforehand and implement all the “rules” you want, but having MULTIPLE medivacs in any given season will throw a monkey wrench in the equation.

Let’s not shovel the slop now and insinuate Michele was purposely “sandbagging.” LMAO. That’s such a lame cop out. So a professional sports team that totally sucks...sucks SO bad they finish with the worse record for the season. OHHH but they really didn’t suck...they “sandbagged” to get the first draft pick next year and drafted a franchise player who leads them to a championship a few years later. So let's backpedal and as a meager attempt at self-preservation say they “outwitted” the other teams before they “outplayed” them to an eventual championship. You may consider that incredibly smart but that’s BUSH LEAGUE and would NEVER be how I would play it.

Ulong was not weak as much as Koror was incredibly strong…thanks to Tom Westman. Yes, other solid performers were on Koror as well but they were clearly led by their MVP Westman. Led SO much to a point they diminished the will of their opposition. Solid teams with strong leaders will do that. It was reported Jeff had a tendon completely torn off his ankle bone that needed to be surgically repaired when he left the game. Today that would be a medivac (i.e. let’s remove Neal from the game because of a boo-boo on his knee *SNORT*)...back when they didn’t cuddle the castaways as much as they do now, the player might have to remove himself from the game.

After the reunion show I'll be able to tell you who won.