Survivor Samoa Reunion Show

During the Survivor Samoa Reunion show, Natalie said that her key move was to vote out Eric. Russell, obviously upset, said that her key move was to ally with him. He told Jeff that he thought that he had played the best strategic game in history. He offered Natalie $10,000 to give up her title to being sole Survivor.

Eric mentioned that winning was arbitrary, and that it didn't always matter who won, but how you play the game. Jaison said that Survivor was like real life; that there were people that tried their best to be team players and help others, and there were people like Russell that didn't want to be team players and just wanted to win the game. Jaison pointed out that in real life, people hated people like Russell, but on Survivor, they thought that it was okay. Russell, being the jerk that he is, thought that it was ridiculous that Jaison was upset that he had burned his socks. He got a sock out of his pocket, acted like he was going to give it to Jaison, and threw it in the fire.

Jeff asked Shambo how people reacted to her now, and Shambo said that she was getting a lot of positive responses from lots of different people. She said that even old people responded positively to her now, and she didn't understand it. Jeff asked about her hairstyle, and she said that she couldn't remember how long she had had it. CBS posted a picture of her from 1986, when she had already been sporting a mullet.

Shambo said that both she and Laura were strong, independent people, and that they had clashed as a result. Laura thought that Shambo might have felt threatened by her, because Shambo was an ex-Marine and she was a grandma (even though she's a 39-year-old grandma), and if others said that she was the strongest, Shambo might not have felt good about that.

Dave said that the Survivors were a lot like family to her. Brett mentioned that the final immunity challenge cost him a million dollars, and "fate took its course." The other Survivors said that they definitely would have voted for him if he had made it to the final three. Brett thought that watching the video again was a little sad.

They showed footage of Russell Swan collapsing on day 15. Russell was glad to be there, and that he didn't know how bad his condition was out there. Russell said that he was livid that Jeff had sent him home. Russell said that when he and his wife Caroline had been watching the video, she screamed "you're dead!" and he argued with her that he wasn't dead, he was here. Russell had had a near death experience, that the sky was blue, everything was great, and he was going to take the game. In reality, he was going heavenward.

Natalie said that she wouldn't give up the title for money. Russell upped his offer for the title of "Sole Survivor" to $100,000, but she turned down the offer, and said that the title is priceless. Russell said that his girls' whole school loved him. He had looked for each idol for a long time. Russell didn't have any regrets in how he played the game, even saying that he had a "dumb a** girl's alliance". Jeff said that a dumb-a** girl beat his a**. Jeff went to the audience to point out Melanie, Russell's wife, and asked him why she married him. She said that he was charming and was a great guy. Maybe money had something to do with it too?

The top nominees for Sprint Player of the Season were Russell, Shambo, and Brett. The Sprint Player of the Season, winning $100,000, was Russell.

Mike was doing fine after getting medevaced off the show. He had lost 65 pounds. Survivor brought Ashley closer to her father. Monica said that Survivor was an amazing experience and she didn't regret anything. Yasmin said that she forgave Ben for the things he said about her. Betsy said that her four kids were proud of her. Marisa said that she was strong and wouldn't have played differently if she had to it all over again.

Heroes vs. Villains will debut on February 11^th. I plan to be there with recaps of all the episodes. I hope to see you there!