Survivor Redemption Island Reunion

The Survivor Redemption Island reunion started right after the announcement that Rob had won (receiving every jury vote except Ralph's, who voted for Phillip). In the reunion, Jeff talks to the Survivors about what had happened during and after the game.

Rob the Winner

Rob said that he was nervous playing the game at first, because everybody else had all the power in the game (although they didn't know it). He said that loyalty determined how he decided who was going to be in his alliance. Jeff remarked that his following was practically "cult-like". I agree with that assessment. I don't think that I have ever seen so many people blindly following another player in any of the previous 21 seasons.

When asked why nobody had ever tried to rebel against Rob, Ashley said that they had never flipped against Rob because they knew that Rob had an idol, and when they had the opportunity to create an all-girl alliance with Andrea, Natalie, and Ashley, he was probably going to play it. She also said that she was scared to turn against him.

Natalie said that she probably would have thought about turning on Rob if he didn't have the idol. She knew that he would have played it in the final four. My thought is, why didn't they vote out Phillip instead?

Andrea said that she felt that Rob had taken the time to get into relationships with other people. If she played again, then she would check in on people more. Many of the previous winners of Survivor also used relationships to propel themselves to the top. Tina Wesson, who won Survivor Australia, is a good example of this.

Rob said that he had chosen to ally with Phillip because Phillip would have been loyal to him if Rob had shown him some loyalty, especially since he had come from a large family and had been on his own since he was pretty young.

Jury Comments

Julie felt that she regretted what she had said to Natalie a little bit (Julie had said that she would have been sad to be Natalie's mother because of the way that she followed Rob around like a servant). She commented that she wanted to shake them and tell them to create a female alliance.

Grant said that Survivor, in some ways, was a direct reflection of who you were. There was a line between playing the game and what you would do to win. I would agree, to a point. Russell Hantz and Matt Elrod are perfect examples of different playing styles that reflect what is probably going on inside.

Matt made Survivor history three times. He was the first person to be blindsided twice in one game, spent the longest time on Redemption Island, and had won ten out of eleven duels. "God does what He wants to and I have to be respectful of that," he commented. He mentioned that he had been lonely on Redemption Island. His friends' hearts had been breaking for him, but they were happy about how he had been able to talk about God throughout his time in the game.

When asked if there was a relationship going on between Andrea and Matt, Andrea said that Matt was cute, and that she thought he was cool, but they didn't live in the same place, so a relationship probably wasn't going to happen.

Mike said that Survivor helped him understand his purpose and helped him become closer to God. He said that Survivor was a challenge; the difficulties that he had gone through in the military were different than those that the military went through.

Phillip: Secret Agent?

Jeff asked if there was a method to Phillip's madness. Phillip said that being the most villainous person would help him get to the end. Phillip said that on the street, just about everyone loved him. Phillip said that he played with integrity; he wasn't willing to give up his integrity for a million dollars. Most of the people that played the game with him and that were sitting in the audience disagreed. Phillip apologized for calling Steve a racist earlier in the game, and shook his hand.

Phillip did serve in the military in the past. Jeff had someone that had worked with Phillip in the past, who was an active federal agent. She had gone to a training academy with him, and she said that he was an outstanding student. He had not worked with her after they left training, but she thought that he had probably done a good job.

Finally...

Russell Hantz said that leaving Survivor was one of the hardest things that he had done in his life. He wondered if Rob would shake his hand this time; Rob was willing. When Jeff asked about throwing a challenge to get rid of him, Russell responded by commenting that throwing a challenge to get rid of him was the equivalent of throwing away a million dollars. When Jeff asked whether he would play again, whether he should consider calling him back for another season or keep his number, Russell told him "keep my number."

The Sprint Player of the Season was close. Between Boston Rob and Matt, they took 76% of the vote. It was 40% to 36%, with Rob edging out Matt.

Grant got married about a week after he came back from Survivor. He proposed at the airport. David said that he was dating Carolina Eastwood, who had been on Survivor Tocantins; their relationship was going really well. He proposed to her on the air. She tried to get him to stop, but she said yes. "You guys really like blindsiding me," she commented. I think that she was shocked.

Jeff didn't seem to have any time to catch up on the early boots like Francesca, Christina, or Krista

The next season of Survivor will be in the South Pacific (how generic is that), and there will be 16 new players, with an additional two returning players seeking Redemption.