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