Some reality shows you can FF through all the drama and there is something redeeming at the end--a a cool bike at OCC, a nice dance on Dance Moms, etc. Estee is right--the hand behind the Survivor series is getting heavier and heavier in it's manipulations. WHY won't anyone listen to the fact that instead of vapid, hardbody eye candy and recycled losers what would make this show better would be one season of a full complement of players who are savvy strategists and not "characters". Instead of the usual slate of achetypes, take a chance on some smart players with a balance of social and athletic skills who can write their own story.
The "shocking" revelations at Tribal Council are brought about through sometimes hours of questioning aimed to tease out based on producer observations of what is going on in the game. Those confessionals that form our feeling about a characters skill and likability are not spontaneous sound bytes from the players but are orchestrated and directed. The players responses may be unrehearsed, but each of those speeches are the response to a question from a producer just out of camera range engineered to elicit a certain type of response and edited to reflect they desired response if the subject's reply isn't close to what they are looking for. (I spent a day escorting an Oprah Winfrey crew and saw that technique first hand.)
Yes, tonight has an engineered ending that even my 90 year old mother-in-law can predict. I would be nice to see a field of real players and a season that is a challenge to spoil.
Enjoy the final. I'll be watching it on DVD tomorrow morning.