Winners win: Survivor 47 Finale Recap

With that, Survivor 47 is wrapped up and we’re left with an extremely deserving, rootable winner who played one of the best games in the New Era and a pretty impressive game overall. Congratulations to Rachel LaMont — southeast Michigan legend — and a commendable effort to Sam Phalen at tribal council. Sue, congratulations on being 59.

Batter up

Once again, with her back against the wall, Rachel stepped up to the plate and delivered a home run. Despite Sam reaching the final stage before her, Rachel caught up on the three-dimensional hanging bat puzzle (which, out of all the 3D puzzles, was my favorite) proving her seemingly inhuman dominance on puzzles in order to get the win.

With that win, she claimed her fourth individual immunity of the season, tying the women’s record and joining the ranks of some all-time greats. For Rachel, the other contestants, and the audience sitting at home, this is the point we all pretty much know Rachel will be the winner of Survivor 47. But we still have to finish it out, I suppose.

Death, taxes, Teeny experience a crushing moment in Survivor

They say there are only three constants in this world. Teeny proved once again the most consistent is the third one. 

After coming back from the challenge, Rachel tells Sam and Teeny they will be making fire. Sam plays some mind games to get in Teeny’s head, acting confident while saying he’s never made fire. It wasn’t a bluff, and Sam was awful at fire. Rachel coached Teeny and it was looking good. In a moment of desperation and internal strife, Sam pulls out his letter from home, which gives him the push he needed to keep trying. At this point, it seems like the editors are trying to make it seem like it could be close, but Sam truly looks outmatched at this point.

At tribal council, the expectation appears to be the reality. Sam cannot get a spark, and Teeny has a roaring flame. Teeny’s flame is up against the rope, dancing across the frayed twine. Each moment feels like we’re just waiting for Teeny’s rope to snap, while Sam is desperately trying to get his kindling started. Then, the wind shifts — quite literally, the wind shifted, blowing Teeny’s flame lower and away from the rope. Sam’s fortunes change with equal influence, his kindling ifnites, then his sticks, and with another addition of kindling and twigs he flame is being blown up into the rope. Teeny pleads with Rachel on what to do. Both flames are tickling the twine, and then it snaps — Sam’s flag goes up and he bellows in celebration.

Teeny is left in tears as the jury jumps and hollers in surprise. This moment encapsulates Teeny’s story on Survivor and puts the final punctuation mark on the internally self-driven feud between Teeny and Sam. It also encapsulates Sam’s journey, constantly being down but finding a way to barely scrape by. It’s a raw moment of emotion, and it’s the best forced fire making moment I’ve seen.

Sue’s 59th birthday bash

Rachel, Sam, and Sue have a celebratory final day on the island — a day that also happens to be Sue’s birthday. 

The main thing I want to talk about is the Fallen Tributes-esque thing they did. I believe it’s called the Jury Speaks segment. But it was good to have. I prefer Fallen Tributes, but this is better than nothing, and it helps create some tension going into Final Tribal Council. I could imagine if it were a less obvious FTC, this could be even more useful to drive the narratives the producers want. That being said, the editors did a good job making it seem like Sam had a chance to at least force a contentious vote.

Final Tribal

The two headlines from FTC were Sam’s strong performance and the sheer undeniability of Rachel’s game. Sam, knowing internally he played the less impressive game, hinges his argument on chocking Rachel’s moves up to luck, leaning on her unimpressive voting record, and claiming he’s been the real one playing from the bottom with a target.

This approach, honestly, was really good. He went from a 1% shot to closer to a 10% chance to win based on that showing. Not great odds, but that’s a 10x return! Rachel, alternatively, could have owned her game better (because it was so good!). 

Regardless, in the end, Rachel’s strengths were winning when she needed to, using an idol perfectly, and navigating the merge from the bottom. She was the top target for three votes in a row, and with two individual immunities and an idol, plus the final immunity challenge win, she survived. She built a jury coalition, and she was as loyal as the game allowed. That earned her a 7-1 win, with Kyle as the only dissenting vote.

Final thoughts + Hot takes

I’ll leave my final thoughts on Survivor 47 and a few hot takes I have from the season here. Overall, I think this was my favorite season I’ve seen in the New Era. I think the gameplay far exceeds 46, and the unpredictability vaults the entertainment value over 45. I think the pre-merge was excellent. We had the Andy breakdown, Rome’s villain persona, a great blindside on Anika, and the Kishan montage turned into Genevieve play against him. I could’ve done without all the vote losses, but the players carried the game well. 

The early merge hit a bit of a lull due to its predictability, but it picked up late. We had some great underlying stories — Andy’s journey, Genevieve’s emotional connections and lack thereof, Rachel’s sneaky play, Sue’s loyalty and hate for Kyle, Teeny’s constant failure to launch, and Sam’s constant playing from the bottom juxtaposed to how he ran the game at Gata.

The season ended predictably, but sometimes it should. At the end, Tocantins was predictable — so was Cook Islands — it doesn’t mean the season as a whole is bad. Sometimes a great winner deserves a coronation, and Rachel is that type of winner.

Now, here are some (possibly) hot takes:

Andy is the top pick for season 50

To me, this is exactly who Jeff wants. Positive, a good story, entertaining confessionals, and a high level of gameplay acumen. He’s a shoo in, and will be the first call for the season.

Survivor 47 will have the most contestants on season 50

Now, I just called out Andy, but I think this season will have the most players of any season for season 50 (barring any returner seasons). Yes, out of every season 1-49, this one will have the most of any original cast. Some of the older, more iconic, seasons’ contestants will be too old. Jeff and CBS will want to highlight the New Era. And there are many, non-toxic, entertaining, strong players from this season to choose from. I could see returns from Andy, Genevieve, Rachel, Sam, Gabe, and Anika (yes, Anika). 

Sam and Genevieve lose to Andy

This is a hypothetical scenario. But, if Rachel gets voted out because she doesn’t have her idol, or Sam goes and then Rachel, Andy wins. I think Rachel on the jury plants the seeds Andy would have needed. It would be an upward battle to gain respect, but without two of the three other threats, it would be clear Andy had the most agency left in the game. The jury shows they respected strong gameplay moves, and Andy had that. He could claim Operation: Italy over anyone else, proving his ability to dupe others. He could present his game as a fight back from a vulnerable position. While Genevieve would be a difficult out, I think Andy’s game would be able to subjugate hers, showing the only reason she was in the game was his plan and ability. 

Fire making is good, the round the idols expire is the issue

There is no issue with fire making. By the time they get down to four, with players who know exactly how the game is played and are very meta-brained, the best player will be removed unless they win immunity. That would be okay if the final challenge was based on willpower, like the old endurance challenges, but the way they are formatted now are not about who wants it more, and more about specific skillsets. However, there needs to be more opportunities to capitalize on social game without idols, advantages, and gimmicks playing a part. I would move the cutoff for when those items can be played earlier in the game. People should be playing purely with social capital before reaching fire.