Colonel Eel said:
I think Burton and Jon underestimated the girls - and lost themselves the game. Jon was convinced that he had them all wrapped up but they weren't as stupid as first thought. Sandra played the game for herself - and managed to show the girls exactly what was going on - which in the long term helped her considerably.
Yeah, I absolutely agree. As I reflect upon the Sunday episode, and the strategy Burton and Jon employed by inviting each other to indulge upon the reward depending upon which one of them won the challenge was a very poor alternative. If I recall correctly, they strongly believed that they were the lone strategists remaining in the game (i.e. the leaders), and that the women were followers. How pathetic they were! The moment Burton invited Jon to share his reward I knew they were screwed.
I was overjoyed to see Sandra being named the 'ultimate survivor' for Survivor - Pearl Islands. It is such a remarkable effort to make it through the entire duration of the game, and to not have a single vote directed against you. Sandra's clever tactics, and her ability not to get into the 'bad books' of any of the contestants by staying relatively quiet and assisting in alliances in which it would prevent her from attaining votes at tribal council, and thereby progressing further in the game was an intelligent move.
She played the game rather inwardly, and in the end, it is paid her dividends, as she was not caught out with manipulation and lies and being as deceptive as others.
My inclination from the final four was that if she managed to make it through to the final two, she would poll strongly among the votes presumably because of her rather intelligent tactics (no matter who she was up against). I could not comprehend why the remaining contestants believed that Lillian would be such a threat if she were in the final two against them.
As others have already mentioned, Lillian made her position worse after responding to each of the questions she was confronted with to answer, which did not help her cause at all. However, I thought it was a lovely gesture that she decided to compete with Sandra for the 'ultimate survivor' title (who in my opinion was more deserving than Jon).
As for the 'Outcasts', the only major dilemma I had with this was the fact that they were absent from the game for a few days and had a second chance to claim the title and the million dollars on offer. However, part of the strategy to actually succeed in becoming the 'ultimate survivor' is that you have to have the ability and the mentality to progress further in the game, despite the many twists. Obviously, there are both pros and cons.
