I'm a Survivor Junkie.
I got hooked from its 2nd season (Australia) and I never looked back.
And I want to talk about my favorite season..
Survivor Samoa (next to my other favorite seasons: Australia, All Stars and Fans vs.
Favorites).
Basically, the entire show was ran by Russell...
this small but dangerous guy was able to manipulate and turn things around...
making this an interesting show to watch.
The last time I saw this great TV moment for Survivor was the season of Fans vs.
Favorites where Parvati won (with Amanda as runner-up).
If you remember, the word 'blindside' was a common activity on the weekly tribal council, which was dominated by the girls.
Wow! Now back to Russell...
If Russell do not like you, you're out, plain and simple.
And despite the disadvantage of his team in terms of numbers when the merge happened (Foa Foa only have 4 members vs.
the 8 members of Galu), he was able to swing it and his team slowly gained advantage over the other tribe.
Thanks to his alliances who remained loyal to their team...
Natalie, Mick, Jaison and Shambo and helped him overtake Galu.
And thanks to his extraordinary knowledge of the game, he was able to find 3 immunity idols without any clues! Russell is actually a very successful businessman.
He don't need the money and as he revealed in one of those 'interviews' during the show, he just wanted to show the world how easy it is to win in this show.
But he was too cocky and ruthless.
And he was just way too much to handle and listen too..
..
Did you see the final episode where he was telling Natalie and Mick that he'll win the show? Too much...
just too much.
It got to his head and with this, Russell also got the ire of most of the jury members who eventually decided to give the title of Sole Survivor to Natalie.
Too bad for Russell but he will remain in my book as one of the greatest player Survivor ever had.
Oh I like 'Oh my word' Natalie.
She actually got lucky in forming an alliance with Russell (well actually Russell had a lot of alliances!).
But she was one of the few (together with Jaison, Shambo and Mick) who never got the ire of Russell thus she was spared in the tribal councils.
She's been told that she got that far by serving as Russell's coattail but coattail it is! That's a strategy in itself.
She was underestimated but also worked her way under the radar.
Did you watch the episode where Eric (the first jury member) was voted off? It was Natalie who convinced the members of the other tribe to vote him off instead of her co-Foa Foa tribemate Jaison.
She was too safe but that was a strategy in itself and it worked to her advantage.
Eric's message to her during the final episode almost made me cry hahaha..
..
Aside from Russell, Natalie should have been included in the latest season of Survivor, Heroes vs.
Villains.
But she'll remain as one of the fave Survivor winner.
Woot woot!