Episode 10 (Finale)

The final three took a collective breath.  They had outlasted 9 other fierce competitors and had made it to the end of the game.  It would take a well thought out argument to the jury in order to win the title of sole survivor.  Each of the three reflected on their time in the game and how they had made it to this point.

Steve made a curious move at the last tribal council.  He revealed that he was the one to vote for Angela to tie the votes up at 2-2.  His intention was always to vote Josh out in the revote.  But his aim was to cast a vote for Angela in the hopes that he could convince her that Meredith had been the one.  This was a savvy strategy which could cast doubt and cause a loss of trust among the girls.  Unfortunately at this stage of the game, the final three, it would make no difference whether Angela and Meredith were best friends or arch enemies.  Steve went on to express that he was shocked that he got this far.  He was convinced that winning the final immunity challenge had saved him.  As he prepared his arguments to the jury he predicted that Meredith would be tough to beat and ultimately be declared the winner.

Steve gets his thoughts together

Angela too had no idea how she got to this point.  She knew that she was a hair away from being voted out several times as she received votes at almost every tribal council.  She was having trouble coming up with what her argument was at the final tribal council.  Her rough draft was that she was most likeable having been told so during the "Shell Game" challenge.  As she worked out more reasons to make her case she took in the relaxing view of the water.

Angela reflects on the game

Meredith was stoked to have made it this far.  She knew it would be tough but thought it would be possible.  She was just living the dream.  Now she knew was the time to speak up and fight for the win.  Knowing that the jury likes to hear the truth and not a lot of fluff, she tried to anticipate questions she could be asked and how she would respond.

Final three baby!

The final three arrived at the final tribal council and took their seats.  Very soon after, the jury processed in.  Jim.  Melissa.  Christine.  Nicholas.  Amanda.  Diana.  Dennis.  Larry.  And a salty looking Josh who had been voted out at the last tribal council.  The jury cast an intimidating sight just a few feet away from the final three.  Whichever of them handled the pressure of owning up to their game would stand a great chance to be named the sole survivor.

The jury eyes the final three

First each of the final three would be allowed to make an opening statement.  After this, each of the jury members would finally be able to address any or all of the final three with a question or a statement.  Once the final jury member had said their piece, the final three would be given one last opportunity to speak in the form of a closing argument.  After this, the jury would vote.  This time you want to see your name on the parchment.  The jury would soon be voting for a winner.

Steve, going to comedy in his opening statement, said that his strategy was to grow a beard and get naked but that went out the window quickly.  He learned how to play the game on the fly.  Though he admit that he doesn’t exactly know what the jury is looking for, he will try to answer all of the questions to the best of his ability.  Steve pitched the argument that he did not have much blood on his hands as he was never the one to call the shots.  He did apologize to one unnamed juror that he said he screwed over.  He said that his gameplay could be described as either slimy or scrappy...whatever you want to call it.

Opening statements are made

Meredith thought she played a great game.  She knew that she came in as the underdog.  She was worried that she would be the first one to be voted out but instead decided to take matters into her own hands.  She made bonds with many of the castaways.  She played really hard and aggressively.  She had a hand in voting out every single one of the jury.  Meredith said that she wanted to win bad.  She found an idol but never needed it, not even when she was forced to play it.  She noted how she had only received one vote to this point and was proud to be here.

Angela began by saying that despite having votes at every tribal council she had made it.  She was a big threat but she defied those looking to get rid of her and was now sitting here in the final three.  Like Meredith, she noted that she had a hand in voting out everyone on the jury.  She also claimed to have a measure of control over the way that each vote went.  She played a hard game overcoming nerves, near death experiences in the swimming challenges, and surprised herself by winning a super physical running challenge.  She had fought the hardest to be here.

With that, it was time for the jury to begin their questioning.  Jim stood up and asked Steve to explain his game in three words since the two had not crossed paths in the game.  Steve responded with "I’m f'ing clueless."  He then asked Meredith to be honest and tell him if she was in Angela’s pocket the whole game.  No, she said.  She had made independent decisions.  She had her own hidden immunity idol.  She also never received votes.  She didn’t even have to win a challenge to be here.  Meredith strongly and clearly said that she was no one's puppet in this game.  Jim then said that Angela was his only true ally during his short stay in the game.  But he wanted to know what her plan was had he stayed in and moved forward.  Would she have continued to work with him?  She said she would have kept him around.  Maybe not until the very end because he might become too big of a threat. But she had made no plans to turn on him.

Jim addressees the final three

Next, it was Melissa's turn.  In a Survivor first, she had not a single question or comment!  Saying that she had already made her decision she declined her opportunity to speak.

No thanks!

Every season there is the juror who asks wacky irrelevant questions.  In Survivor: Branford, that distinction belonged to Christine.  She wanted to know what kind of cake Angela would make if she was attending her mother's 65th birthday party.  After some thought, Angela said she would make a white cake with buttercream frosting.  Christine then turned her attention to Meredith.  Noting that she had been stung recently on the belly by a jellyfish, she asked her if she would pee on her to relieve the pain.  Meredith first said that this was myth but nonetheless agreed to do it.  Christine then ordered Steve to get naked if he wanted to win.  He asked if she was serious which she assured that she was.  As he reached for his shirt he wanted to know if he had her vote guaranteed if he went all the way.  She said absolutely not as Angela has her vote.  Steve immediately erased any considerations from his mind of pulling this stunt.

Questionable questions

Nicholas was up next.  Sticking to his roots, the semipro hockey player asked Steve: Lemieux or Gretzky; Why and relate it to Survivor.  Steve thought and went with Lemieux, because Gretzky is not good at leading a team as an owner.  He knows that a core strategy to Survivor is that you need to make the right alliance with the right people.  Nicholas then asked Meredith if she had to build a sandcastle at rocky beach how would she do it?  Meredith said she'd make a sand castle or tower out of the rocks.  His final question was to Angela.  Given a choice would she rather run a marathon or swim 200 yards?  Angela wanted to know if he meant successfully which he confirmed.  Though she said she'd die either way, she elected to go with the marathon noting that water is terrifying.

Nicholas gets the info he needs

Amanda stepped up and offered congratulations to all of the final three.  She was quite frank with her bad news for Steve.  Unfortunately she said there was absolutely no way he’ll get her vote since she had no respect for his game.  She wanted to know if Meredith was ever intending to align with her.  Meredith said that she thought it could have been a good move but decided Amanda was too big a threat and too cutthroat and had to vote her out.  Amanda complimented Angela on her social game. She wanted to know how Angela, down 3 to 5 at the merge managed to make it through.  Angela outlined that she and Meredith were solid.  They had planned to align with Josh and his allies.  Though she worked with him, she was nervous the whole time about Larry.

Amanda makes her voice heard

Diana took the floor.  She asked the same question of everyone.  If you were on the jury who would you vote for of the other two?  Make a case. Steve said Angela because she’s been barely surviving at votes and skated through.  Meredith said Angela because of their similar game and her loyalty.  Angela said Meredith for same reasons. 

Diana questions the finalists

Dennis came up and wanted to know why not to vote for the others and offered bonus points for making them cry.  As Steve began to answer, Dennis cut him off and said that wasn't his real question.  He accused Steve of fiddlefarting through the whole game.  He then asked him what was his biggest regret and move in the game.  Steve said that his regret was that he was convinced he was about to be backstabbed at two different points in the game.  Taking action, he backstabbed first but really didn’t need to.  He made some bad reads.  His biggest move was voting for Diana instead of Angela as he made that decision himself after the chaos of that tribal council.  That move shaped the rest of the game.  Dennis wanted to know from Meredith what was an idea that she came up with on her own.  She said that it was when she suggested to Angela that they needed to get rid of Josh. Angela was asked the same question and responded with when she voted for Larry at the tribal when Dennis went home. The purpose of that vote was to hedge herself against being the one voted out.

Dennis is not fiddlefarting around

Larry came up and said that even though he'd been with them since the beginning he didn't know what differentiates Angela and Meredith in the game.  Angela said that she had to overcome getting votes all the time which Meredith didn't.  She also said that she had to fight hard to avoid dying (or at least embarrassing herself) in challenges.  Meredith responded that she overcame not knowing anyone before the game and still making it this far.  He wanted to know from Steve what song represented his survivor journey.  Steve thought and responded with "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.  Liking this question, he then asked Angela and Meredith to answer too.  They both said "Survivor" by Destiny's Child.  Larry smirked as they had the same answer and didn't differentiate!

Larry grills the final three

Josh stepped forward and said that an accurate summary of the final three's games were that they almost used strategy but it didn’t pan out.  He wanted to know besides getting him out, when any other strategy was involved.  Steve quickly folded and admitted that he did everything Josh said. Meredith said that the she and Angela decided together that after Dennis was voted out that Josh would be next and then either Steve or Larry.  It didn't go exactly that way but she had made it to the final three with who she wanted.  Angela echoed this and said the whole postmerge went exactly as she was hoping.

Josh brings the heat

Suddenly, Melissa now had a question!  She wanted to know if Angela's true gameplan was to take Meredith to the final three because she’d be easiest to beat.  Angela denied this and said that Meredith was a great and loyal ally.  Still stung over not finding the hidden immunity idol, she wanted to know from Meredith where she found it.  Meredith explained how she found the idol in a hole in the rock wall near the Totoket beach.  Finally, Melissa asked Steve what was his favorite challenge.  He quickly said that it was the one that he won.

A change of heart

With that, concluding remarks were made with a lot of the same points during the jury questioning being repeated.  After a vey interesting final tribal council, it was time to vote!

The jurors made their selections, with some immediately putting pen to paper while others really pondered their decision.  The final three gave each other one last look before the votes were revealed.

The jury watches the reading of the votes

The first vote was for Angela.  Meredith then saw her name written down.  Steve was open mouthed as he saw that someone had voted for him!  The votes stood at 1 for each of the final three.  Steve offered for a three way split of the title of sole survivor but no one said anything.  The next three votes came down the same way; one for Angela, then one for Meredith, and one for Steve!  We were again knotted at 2 votes each.  On cue, Steve once more offered a split of the win.  Neither of the other two accepted.  The 7th vote was opened and shown to be for Angela.  With a dramatic pause, the next vote was also for Angela!  The last vote (which was for Angela) remained folded in the urn.

By a count of 5-2-2 Angela was named the winner of Survivor: Branford!!!!!

Angela is named the sole survivor!

As the jury clapped and Steve and Meredith offered their congratulations, Angela just sat glued to her seat with a huge smile on her face.  She had battled from being on a losing tribe to being outnumbered and the merge and also fought through receiving multiple votes at most tribal councils!  But she had done it!  The 23 year old professional daredevil was your winner!

Team Angela

                                

Team Meredith

Team Steve

Special Bonus Clip
In honor of the winner of Survivor: Branford, here is a special bonus video clip!
(may not work on mobile, only on pc)

Thanks to all of the castaways, our executive producer/host, and casting director/blog writer and all those who followed our 24 hour journey!

See you next summer?!

Survivor: Branford

Episode 9

With Larry’s removal from the game, Steve felt that he had lost his closest ally.  Yes he and Josh had been working together for quite a while, but he thought he could trust Larry just a little bit more.  And yes Larry had betrayed Steve at the last tribal council by voting for him, but upon reflection Steve appreciated the strategic move that he played.  It seemed to be a tall order to break Angela and Meredith apart at this time.  But Steve knew that had it not been for a well-timed hidden immunity idol, Josh would have been voted out at the last tribal council.  He felt slightly more cheerful at the fact that the girls might want to try this again now that Josh had used the last of his defenses.  The final three might just include Steve after all!  And since he thought that Angela and Meredith had the same story to tell to the jury, he could be a popular alternative option to vote for in the end.

One of the final three?

Meredith and Angela felt pretty comfortable in the game.  Their final three deal before the merge looked to be as strong as ever.  Neither felt that the other was a huge jury threat and therefore didn’t consider turning on the other.  They knew that as a twosome it would be very hard to be broken up.  That would require Steve and Josh working together and not blinking as the vote went to a tie and possible tiebreaker challenge.  But Angela pointed out that Steve was with them last time to vote Josh out.  Unless Josh worked his magic, they felt ok assuming that Steve would side with them again.  As long as they stuck together they had a very good shot at making it to the final three.  Not only that but an inside track to decide who joined them.

Meredith and Angela walk and talk

Josh knew that he was in a tight spot but was giving himself options.  He felt that Steve owed him a favor for saving him at the first vote after the merge.  He also thought that Angela and Meredith could sometimes vote with emotion and he began thinking of ways to get Steve on their bad side.  Josh believed himself to be the biggest threat left in the game and knew that many times the best player was voted out right before the final tribal council.  He thought it was still possible to still finagle his way into the final three.  But realistically he knew that winning the final immunity challenge was the sure thing.

Josh knows what he has to do

Sangria arrived at their final immunity challenge to find four mallets and four piles of coins.  The challenge was called “Balancing Point” and was very simple.  Each castaway would hold the mallet behind the white line with one of their hands.  Then, with the other hand they would stack the coins on the end of the mallet one at a time when prompted.  After 10 minutes, each castaway would move their hand back behind the blue line making it harder to balance the tower of coins.  Once any of the coins fell off the mallet, the player would be out of the challenge.  The last castaway left holding their mallet and coins would win the challenge and be guaranteed a spot at the final tribal council with the opportunity to plead their case to the jury!

The castaways took their positions and the challenge was on.  Steve tried to make a joke but was ignored by the rest of the tribe.  Everyone knew how important this challenge was.  The fate of the game could be decided in the next few minutes.

The final immunity challenge gets underway!

After four coins were placed, Angela had a near miss as her mallet began to wobble.  Digging deep, she regained her focus and restored her equilibrium.  The wind began taunting the castaways with short bursts that swayed their arms from side to side.  Still, no one blinked.  As the castaways were told to place their next coin, no one took their eyes off their mallet.  Each would slowly and meticulously grab a coin with their free hand and gingerly place it upon their coin stack.  When it was time to place the ninth coin, the sound of coins hitting the ground pierced the air.  With a defeated look, Meredith was out of the challenge!  She could no longer bank on a spot in the final three by securing immunity.  She sat down nearby and began to stretch out the cramps in her arm.

The agony of defeat

The challenge was down to three.  Just a few coins later, the challenge had its next casualty.  As he went to place a coin, Josh’s stack practically disintegrated in front of him.  He was disappointed in his performance.  Noting the stacks of Angela and Steve, he called shenanigans on them as they had been straightening them after placing each new coin.  Unfortunately for Josh, this was never made illegal in the rules of the challenge and they were within their rights to do this.  Now knowing that he had his work cut out to make the final three, he sat down with his back to the challenge and began to run the scenarios through his head.

Disappointment etched on his face

Angela and Steve were left to show down for immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final three.  They each managed to place a couple more coins without a problem.  At this time, both Steve and Angela would be required to make the difficult transition in moving their hand down the pole of the mallet.  They would be allowed to use their other hand to assist.  Very slowly they steadied themselves and inched down towards the blue line on the pole.  Out of nowhere, Steve dropped his stack!  But Angela was not in the clear yet.  She would be required to complete the transition to win the challenge.  She slowly continued to move her hand toward the end of the pole.  But she too could not complete the transition!  As her coins dropped, Steve exhaled knowing that he would get a second chance to win this one.

Angela tries to make the transition

The challenge was reset to the point where the castaways were before dropping their coins.  Both managed to get their grip on the end of the pole which made balancing the coins much harder.  After just a few more were placed, Angela couldn’t hold it anymore and her coins clattered to the ground.  Steve held his position to ensure the win and even after he was announced as the winner kept holding the mallet as if to make a statement that he could do this all day.  With that victory, Steve would be guaranteed a spot in the final three!

You want a piece of this?

Now that he knew he was safe, Steve turned his full attention to who would be joining him in the final three.  Though he didn’t like it, he knew that it would be best to vote out Josh who was probably the biggest jury threat left in the game.  Given that everyone was on board with this at the last tribal council, Steve thought that just a quick chat with Meredith and Angela would be enough to set things up.  After that, Steve looked forward to a relaxing afternoon.

Without having won immunity, Josh knew that he would need to do something in order to avoid being the 4^th place finisher.  His only options were to vote for Angela or Meredith.  He was leaning towards voting Angela as she was likable and was seemingly leading Meredith through the game.  The problem was that he knew he’d never get the girls to turn on each other.  His best bet was to go to Steve and convince him to force a tie.  Steve had nothing to worry about having secured his spot in the final three.  Josh was confident in his abilities to beat either Angela or Meredith in a tiebreaker challenge.  In fact, he thought he’d be able to beat both of them at once if necessary.

They're plotting against each other

Meredith and Angela quickly got on the same page.  Their plan was to vote out Josh of course.  When asked, Steve accepted this plan.  The three of them wondered if this was too easy.  They knew what Josh was capable of but were unable to think of any way that he could foil this plan.

Steve and Angela observe a moment of silence for Josh

A little while later, Josh was finally able to catch up with Steve.  He asked Steve how it felt to be going to the final three.  Steve pretty much couldn’t believe it.  Josh then cut to the chase.  He knew it would be a hard argument to sell but he stumped for Steve to vote Angela out of the game.  He reminded Steve of how dirty a game Survivor is and the fact that the jury could be bitter.  In this case there was a good chance they’d just vote for the person they liked best…Angela.  He also reminded Steve that he had never steered him wrong and that he rescued him in the first vote after the merge.  Steve couldn’t deny these thoughts but still carried a funny feeling with him to tribal council.

Can Josh get Steve back on his side?

At tribal council, Josh quickly said that he was 100% the target.  But he was not ready to give up.  He thought that he had made a very compelling case to Steve.  The USC alum confirmed that Josh was convincing in his argument.  Seeing as he was safe, if it benefitted his game he could afford to force a tie and not suffer any consequences.  Angela who was now a little less comfortable tried to force Steve to see reason and bluntly told him that if Josh gets to the final three, he wins.  Meredith echoed this and added that her focus was just getting to the final three and not being as concerned as to with whom.  Beggars couldn’t be choosers after all.  Angela became even less comfortable that perhaps this was an indication that her closest ally was about to turn on her.  As the paranoia reached a boiling point, it was time to vote.

A tense tribal council

With no hidden immunity idols left to play, the castaways could do nothing but sit back and hear their fate.  The first vote was revealed to be for Josh.  If he was concerned, he didn’t show it.  Angela then received a vote.  The third vote was for Josh.  And after a torturously long pause, the final vote was shown to be for…Angela!  We had a 2-2 tie!  Josh couldn’t contain his excitement as he drummed on the arms of his seat.  Steve and Meredith shot daggers at each other with their eyes.

Meredith and Steve size each other up

The castaways agreed to partake in a tiebreaker vote before going to a sudden death challenge between Josh and Angela.  Steve and Meredith quickly cast their votes and returned to their seats.

The first of the two votes was for Josh.  And in a dramatic reversal, the second vote was also for Josh!  With that, he became the 9^th person voted out of Survivor: Branford and the final member of the jury.  With a “you guys are the worst” he left the tribal council area.  The final three was nothing but smiles and disbelief.  They had made it this far!  But now who would be able to convince the jury to name them the winner of Survivor: Branford?

One of them changed their mind!

So close but so far

Next time on Survivor:

-          Would Meredith, the biggest underdog in the game, be able to complete her remarkable journey?

-          Can Angela, always so close to being voted out, finally receive the most votes at tribal council…in a good way?

-          Will Steve, the last member of the Metacomet tribe who learned the game on the fly, complete his unlikely run to the top?