LAST EDITED ON 01-10-13 AT 03:22 PM (EST)

>3- She had no say in
>Mike and Lisa's decision to
>boot Abi so it was
>only luck that got her
>passed that TC. Maybe a
>better player would have realized
>that earlier and made the
>alliance with Penner and Carter
>for example. Or with Abi
>and Pete. I see Denise
>and Malcolm siding with Lisa
>and Mike as an error
>in judgment that only turned
>out right for Denise because
>Mike and Lisa made a
>bigger error.

You could argue that Denise had 'some' say here - she made herself likeable in a way that Stupin/Lisa were willing to keep her around over a reprehensible Abi, even when they knew that keeping Abi was the better play.

Consider this: Lisa, in particular, and Skupin both developed a relationship with Penner and they still voted him out. They didn't do that to Denise.

Bottom line... it's Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, and Denise did these better than Stupin/Lisa/Malcolm and anyone else. Ergo, she played a great game. You rail on her 'following' Malcolm but we were shown strategy sessions between these two and it *is* a valid strategy to let someone else be the lead in order to potentially take the bullets if any were to come. Plus Denise was the one who cultivated relationships with the Kalabaws (Malcolm was over on the Tandang tribe, so naturally Denise didn't do any 'following') that allowed her to get votes from the Kalabaws plus she scored more votes from Tandangs on the jury than original Tandangs Stupin/Lisa did in order to win. Whether she followed or not, Denise made the relationships work in order to allow her to win, so she is a very deserving winner.