Survivor Redemption Island Finale

As the Survivor Redemption Island finale began, Grant arrived at Redemption Island. Andrea said that she wanted him to show up the least, because he would make the duel a lot more challenging. Andrea felt like she was going to be the underdog.

Rob felt bad about having to send Grant to Redemption Island, but he saw him as a huge threat. In the previous episode, Rob wanted to get rid of Ashley; he still felt that way.

Redemption Island

The four people on Redemption Island received a note that they would participate in their final duel. Before they left, they all said a prayer, leaving everything in God's will. Matt participated in every single duel in this game, spending 29 days on Redemption Island and winning ten of the eleven duels; this will probably be a record that will last for the rest of the time that Survivor is on the air.

The challenge was to place one foot on board balanced over a fulcrum, with a vase on the other end. They would have to keep the vase steady, because as soon as the vase tipped over, they would be out. The last person to have a vase on their board would win. The players stood on one foot, with the other foot on the balance board, for 40 minutes before Grant dropped his vase. He became the fifth member of the jury. After an hour of standing in that position, Matt dropped his vase and became the sixth member of the jury. Mike dropped his vase next. Andrea won the challenge and was able to rejoin the people that had blindsided her a couple of tribal councils earlier.

Back at Camp

Andrea felt a little awkward coming back to camp. She wanted to stay in the game. Andrea told Ashley and Natalie that the people that she had talked to on Redemption Island wanted Phillip to get the money (which was a lie). The two girls considered teaming up with Andrea to get rid of Rob.

The Survivor Challenge

For the challenge, the Survivors would walk across a balance beam. Along the way, they would pick up a bag of puzzle pieces, containing numbers. After they walked across the beam with a bag of puzzle pieces, they would put the numbers in the bag in order. The first bag contained the numbers 1 through 10; the second, 11 through 30; the third, 31 to 60; and the fourth, 61 to 100. They would have to walk across the beam every time they went to pick up a bag. There were a total of four bags. If they fell off the beam, they had to go back to the beginning of the balance beam and start over.

Ashley was the first person to finish her third bag. Andrea and Rob got their fourth (and final) bags last. Rob stacked his tiles up to make things go faster, but Ashley was far ahead. Rob started to catch up, but she finished about one number ahead, winning immunity for the second time in a row.

The First Vote of the Survivor Finale

Rob took Ashley, Natalie, and Phillip aside and told them that Andrea would be the next person to be voted off. They seemed to diligently obey, as they had for the rest of the season. Ashley didn't want to go after Andrea; they figured that Rob wanted to keep Phillip around until the end, but they wanted him gone. They pinky swore to vote Phillip out next. Phillip noticed that they had been talking, and Phillip tattled to Rob, in front of Andrea. Phillip decided to go for a walk with Rob.

While Rob and Phillip were off in the woods, the girls decided to talk. Andrea suggested that they get rid of Rob, or perhaps Phillip, next. The girls thought that it would be really risky to go against Rob.

During Tribal Council, Andrea said that voting out Rob would be a strategic move. Natalie agreed that he was a threat, which made Rob's ears perk up. Rob had the hidden immunity idol; Natalie and Ashley had seen it earlier in the season. The question was, would he play it? He did. Rob played the hidden immunity idol. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The girls were still enamored with Rob's charm and were his lackeys... while they knew he had the hidden immunity idol, they could have chosen to vote out Phillip, but did not. Andrea was booted out of the game.

The Final Immunity Challenge

After they returned from Tribal Council, Rob promised the girls that he would take them to the end. This is Rob though. He does whatever it takes to win.

For the final challenge, the Survivors would race around a maze, looking for puzzle pieces. After they found the puzzle pieces, they would race up a pyramid and use the puzzle pieces to complete a puzzle. The first person to solve the puzzle would win immunity.

Rob and Phillip were the first two people to find puzzle bags. Rob, Ashley, and Phillip found their second bags at about the same time. Rob was the first person to find the third bag, and was followed quickly by Ashley, who seemed to be chasing him around the maze. Rob and Ashley found their fourth bag while Phillip found his third bag. Meanwhile, Natalie had only found one bag. Rob got to the top of the pyramid first, followed by Ashley. During the puzzle stage, Ashley looked like she was getting ahead. Although Ashley looked like she was about to win, Rob caught up and passed her, winning immunity.

Rob looked ecstatic after winning. This will be his second time ever making it to the finals. The first time that he made it to the end was when he went to the end with his future wife, Amber (who ended up winning over him).

Rob realized that if he wanted to vote out Ashley, he would have to get Natalie on board. He thought that Ashley had to go, because Ashley had too many friends from Zapatera that were on the jury. Natalie wasn't so sure about voting out Ashley. It looked like she was thinking about actually going against Rob and voting out Phillip instead.

The Final Vote

In the end, Natalie decided to betray her friend and vote for Ashley. Natalie knew before going into the game that she was going to vote her out, but despite pinky swearing to her that she would let her know what was going on, Natalie lied to her friend. Ashley became the last person to join the jury.

The Last Day

On the last day, the final three Survivors had a feast to look forward to. They had tasty tropical drinks with strawberries, hamburgers, fruit, and more.

Phillip threw his pinkish underwear on the fire. Was his faded underwear just a part of his act? Was he just pretending to be crazy?

The final three did not do the "Fallen Heroes" segment, as they had been doing in every single season before. Perhaps that part of the game has now been taken out in order to make room for the Redemption Island aspect of the game.

The Final Tribal Council

As the jury members walked in to the final tribal council, if looks could kill, Ashley's look at her could have done it.

The players began Tribal Council by telling the jury why they should give their vote to them. Ashley argued that she played a good social game, was loyal, and would have been the youngest female winner of Survivor, so you should vote for her. It was a fairly weak argument.

Phillip started extolling Boston Rob in his argument of why you should vote for him. He said that he owed being in the final three to Rob, calling him the Mastermind. He wasn't making a good case for himself. If Rob had paid Phillip, he couldn't have made a better case of why they should vote for Rob instead of Phillip. Of course, promising someone else in the games your winnings is against the rules of Survivor, so that probably didn't happen. Phillip could have made a great case for himself if he had said that it was all an act and that he was not really as weird as he pretended to be, but that's not what he did. I have a feeling that he really is that weird.

Rob argued that he had spent 117 days over the last 10 years playing Survivor. He said that although he loved the game, he wanted to win so that he could bring the million dollars home to his wife and kids. As if the winnings from the three previous seasons of Survivor, Amber's million dollar win, two seasons of the Amazing Race, their televised wedding, and Rob's poker reality show weren't enough. The jury seemed to buy it though.

Andrea wanted to talk to Phillip first. She said that he was weird. She asked who the real Phillip Shepherd was. When she asked who he really was, he said that he was Phillip Shepherd, and if she didn't know who he was at this point, not to vote for him (that's the way to get her vote). When she asked Natalie about her relationship with Rob (which she described as "borderline creepy"), she said that she had never been camping before and Rob was helpful.

Ashley wanted Phillip to be quiet, but he decided to talk instead. Way to go after the vote, Phillip. "You sound like a little whiney child" he remarked. To Natalie, Ashley mentioned that she was upset that her friend never told her that she was going to be voted out. To Rob, Ashley said that she didn't know who Rob was, and wasn't even sure that she wanted to know.

Grant asked Natalie more about her relationship with Rob. Natalie answered that they voted him out because he was a threat. Rob seconded that comment, remarking that he didn't want to go to the end with Grant because Grant was more of a threat than the other players.

Ralph thought that Natalie couldn't do anything without Rob, and couldn't even make a decision without him. Natalie had never talked to Ralph, because she wanted her tribe to trust her. Phillip said that he thought that Ralph worked hard and was funny, and would have gotten along with him if they had been on the same tribe.

Matt told Rob that he was a duplicitous, manipulating, deceiving liar. Matt asked where the line could be drawn without his life falling apart. Rob said that this was the last time that he would play. Matt said that everyone that had been betrayed by him had a hard time understanding who he was.

Julie said that all three of the people in the finals should be humble, because none of them deserved to be there. Julie asked Natalie if her parents would be proud to be her parents. She said that she would have been sad to be her mom because of the way that Natalie acted like her servant to Rob. Julie asked Phillip if his sixteen year old son would be proud of the way he played, and he answered "to hell with you." Julie said that she hoped that Rob wouldn't treat his daughters like he treated Rob.

Mike said that he became closer to God as a result of playing on Survivor Redemption Island. He asked them what they had learned while playing the game. Natalie said that she became stronger as a person for playing. Rob said that he learned that he had played enough. Phillip commented on how he had been an outcast, yet worked his way through the service as a federal agent.

Steve just made comments. He congratulated Natalie, and said that he felt sorry for Phillip.

David didn't have questions, he had a comment. He said that he thought that Rob should win because of how he played the game and coerced everyone into towing the line with him, and that it was obvious who should win.

The Final Vote

The final vote was read in New York City. Rob received all the votes except for the vote from Ralph, who voted for Phillip.