Survivor Branford: Season 2: Episode 10 (Finale)

After the dust had settled from the previous tribal council only three castaways were left standing. Dennis, Jim, and Mark had done all that they could do! They had each traversed through the game to reach the final tribal council. The usual immunity challenge was replaced by a lunch feast! The three dined on hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, and drinks. The mood was light as no strategy was left to take place. Relief was also in the air as it had been a grueling 24 hours packed with 9 immunity challenges and tribal councils (all of which Dennis and Jim participated in). There was only one task left for the remaining castaways and that was to get their thoughts together for what they would be saying to the jury.

Mark congratulates Dennis on making it this far

Dennis felt that he had made quite a few enemies in the game and that final tribal council would be an uphill battle. He was not expecting Angela's vote given her threat made right before the previous tribal council. Dennis just hoped that she wasn't going one step further and rallying the jury to vote for Jim. He felt that all he could do was to come clean about everything he did in the game and hope that people respected that.

Dennis daydreams about being named sole survivor

Mark felt good about his chances going in. He thought back and stated that he had to fend for himself for almost all of the game and distanced himself from pulling off blindsides and getting mixed up with hidden immunity idols. He would leave those things for Dennis the challenge threat and Jim the schemer. He was counting on Rob's vote but would he get enough others? If nothing else, Mark was happy for the experience.

Mark isn't fully content yet

Jim knew that final tribal council was the time to tell it like it was. He figured that Dennis would be the biggest threat to his chances of winning the game and sought out to show what made him different from his long time ally. He felt it was time to own his game and didn't want to have any regrets about something he thought of saying after it was already too late.

Jim hopes to have a good final tribal performance

The final three came in and took their seats. They got as comfortable as they could as the jury began processing in. Danielle, Steve, Rachel, Rob, Amanda, Autumn, Josh, Angela. In a final and unfortunate twist to the game, Meredith was still recovering from the Shoulder the Load challenge and was unable to attend. She made it known beforehand who she would be voting for. Amanda volunteered to cast Meredith's vote for her.

The jury can't wait to have its say

Jeff welcomed all to the final tribal council and allowed each of the final three to make opening statements.

Dennis promoted the fact that he had played both sides in the game and as a result had the most knowledge. He claimed to know every time which way the vote would be going. He mentioned that he helped to shape the final 7 and final 5 votes as a result of knowing that immunity idols would be coming out both times. He said his goal was to be completely honest and hoped that it wouldn't lose him more votes than it would gain.

Dennis explains his game

Mark took the jury through his journey to the end. He reiterated that he had it pretty easy in the pre merge and talked about how things had evolved into a pairs game. He noted how he won immunity at final 8 to save himself and also how he was constantly on everyone's radar yet managed to make it through. He concluded by saying that he spent a lot of time making relationships with his fellow castaways and that he's really enjoyed the experience.

Mark says what's on his mind

Jim remarked on the fact that despite being a returning player, it might as well have been his first time since he had been the first voted out in the previous year. He talked about how he did all that he could in the early parts of the game in order to not let history repeat itself. He admitted to using Dennis as a shield post merge knowing that if votes were made against his side, Dennis would be likely to field them. He stressed that he played a clean game and that he made it clear to everyone where he always stood.

Jim is animated

Now that it was the jury's time to speak, things were about to get very interesting. Danielle came forward first and said that she only needed one piece of information to base her vote on. She wanted to know what the favorite animal of each of the final three was. Jim noted that he didn't really have a favorite animal but went with a tiger to answer the question. Mark thought that a platypus was the animal that best represented himself. Dennis admitted to being scared of most animals but liked the peacefulness of a manatee. Mark tried to throw shade on Dennis by saying that manatees play it safe...just like Dennis did in this game. The jury ooohed and Dennis shrugged it off thinking that Mark had no idea what he was talking about.

Danielle has first crack at the final three

Steve came forward next and prepared to address the final three. Noting that it only took a little lie to get him out of the game, he wanted to know from Jim and Dennis what they thought the biggest lies they told in the game were. Jim said that he didn’t really think that he lied at all but chalked up his biggest lie to when he agreed to work with Angela at the final four. He thought that in doing this, it was the last step it would take to get to the final three. He didn’t say anything about his idol because in his mind he never was asked about it and never lied; it was just an omission. Dennis said that his biggest lie was telling Amanda that he was on her side when actually he knew that she was about to be idoled out of the game and he was doing nothing to stop it. He said that by positioning himself in the middle, it would force him to have to deceive one side. Steve noted that Mark played a similar game to Steve’s the previous year. Steve noted just floating along was not a winning strategy in the end and wanted to know why Mark should be rewarded by doing that this time. Mark played up his social game and his two immunity wins by saying that though his voting may have been erratic at times, he did what it took to survive all the way to the end.

Steve gets the info he needs

Rachel replaced Steve standing in front of the final three. She wanted to know from each of them what was the one theme that tied together all of the votes they made in the game. Jim said that all of his votes were designed to surprise as few people as possible. By always indicating to everyone else where he stood, he thought that if there were ramifications after any vote he would never be the first target of the spurned people that were left in the game. Dennis answered that what he tried to do was play both sides and evaluate what the best move was before each vote. He knew that this would make him some enemies but with the tradeoff of having the power to influence the game perhaps more than anyone else. Mark said what he did was to outlast everyone else in any way possible. He was willing to vote with anyone he needed a number. Though this landed him in the minority several times, it helped him to build bonds with people that would eventually be on the jury.

Rachel addresses the final three while the jury looks on

Rob was next up and he did not have much to say. He simply stated that his mind was already made up and that he had all the information that he would need. Mark smiled at this news assuming that this meant that Rob would be voting for him!

Rob's decision has been made

Amanda took center stage next and was ready to take her crack at the final three. She first asked Jim if there was any time in the game that he would have voted for Dennis. Jim said that while Dennis was a big factor in his plans, especially to shield him immediately after the merge, if the move had to be done it would. Jim noted that if there was a scenario in which voting Dennis out would make the most sense for his own game he would have done it. Amanda then asked Mark if he was on the jury what he would have based his decision on for whom to vote for. Mark really liked the game he played and said that he would have voted for the person who emulated that best. He would have looked for who worked best with others and who had formed the tightest bonds with all of their fellow castaways. Amanda’s question to Dennis was why he decided to take her out instead of Angela given that they were both strategic threats in the game. Dennis responded by saying that real trust was built with Angela over her idol. He also thought that later on in the game he had a better chance of turning Angela against Josh than turning Amanda against Autumn.

Amanda questions the final three

Autumn got up from her seat and stood before the final three. She immediately ended any drama by saying that she was voting for Mark and that was that. But, she did still want to get to know the final three a little bit better and asked each of them what their favorite ice cream flavors were. Jim offered to buy Autumn an ice cream with his $1,000,000 (minus $999,880) winnings if she changed her vote to him. She entertained the offer and headed back to her spot on the jury.

Ice cream anyone?

Josh’s question came with a catch. He wanted each of the final three to say who they thought played the best game of anyone. The wrinkle was that Josh wanted all three to answer at once and at his count of three. If anyone failed to answer in time, Josh would not vote for them. At three Dennis said Josh, Jim said himself, and Mark also said Jim. Josh laughed as his idea of making everyone answer at once led to not being able to tell who said what. Dennis admired Josh’s game for doing a complete 180 in his second chance and playing very passively and truthfully. He sympathized with Josh because despite this he couldn’t shake the image of being a sneaky player. Jim repeated a lot of what he had already said to explain why he thought he played the best game. Mark was impressed with the chaos that Jim and Dennis brought with them into the merge and thought that overall Jim was a bit more strategic than Dennis and also believed that Jim was more sincere in his offers to work with Mark than Dennis was.

Josh is at the count of two

Angela was the final member of the jury to question the final three. She felt that based on what he said, Jim had made most of his biggest moves before the merge. She wanted to know what he did after the merge. Jim responded by saying that while in the pre merge he felt he needed to be active to survive, post merge it was the opposite. After bringing Dennis to shield him from the vote, he noticed that Saltonstall was itching to vote each other out and sat back and let it happen. Having an idol for protection if he needed it, Jim felt that he really only needed to exert minimum influence to keep himself in the game. He was never out of the loop and due to his passive stance, did not need to be out openly scheming and lying. Angela then called Mark out for voting for himself. She said that that was the ultimate cop out and was the best reflection of Mark as a player in this game. She did the opposite of Autumn and said that she would not be voting for Mark. Finally, Angela wanted to know why Dennis went with Jim and not her. Dennis said that Angela was way too big a final three threat. She was well liked and a good speaker. Pair that with a big idol play and the story of back to back final threes and he knew he had no chance to beat her.

Angela doesn't hold back

Jeff thanked the jury for their questions and allowed everyone to take a minute to digest all of what was said. Once everyone was ready, it was time to vote for the last time! All of the jury went over to the voting booth and cast their ballots for who they thought was the winner of Survivor Branford: Second Chance.

Jeff fetched the urn and prepared to read the votes that would change the life of one of the final three forever. The first piece of parchment he pulled out was a vote for Jim. Following this was a vote for Mark. Dennis needed not be worried that he would be the typical member of the final three that doesn’t receive any votes because Jeff revealed a Dennis vote next tying things up at 1 for everyone. The next vote was for Mark putting him momentarily in the lead. It was short lived as the 5^th vote was for Jim. Once again, Dennis knotted things up with his second vote. The suspense was growing! Jeff showed the next vote to be for Mark. With the urn almost now empty, Dennis received his third vote. It would come down to the last vote! Were we on the verge of a three way tie? Jeff turned around the last vote to show that it was for Mark! That would be enough to crown a new sole survivor. By a count of 4-3-2, Mark was named the winner of Survivor Branford: Second Chance!!!

Indeed a celebration worthy of being named sole survivor

Mark became emotional as he thanked everyone for helping him with his huge accomplishment. He received his prize money and needed to take a breath before he could decide how he would put it to use. As speculated before the game began, Survivor Branford: Second Chance lived up to and exceeded the original Survivor: Branford. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this weekend happen! Hope to see you back for Season 3!