finale

  The tribe has spoken and Lauren is the winner of Survivor Samoa!

At the start of the Final Tribal Council, the final three castaways give their opening statements to the jury.  Mick makes a point that he played the game initially in a losing tribe, but always maintained his dignity by refusing to use people as pawns.  Natalie states that she overcame tremendous odds based on her physical and emotional ability, and is truly grateful to everyone on the jury for getting her to the finals.  Russell, however, presents an entirely different approach to his opening statement, claiming that he made huge strategic moves from the beginning of the game and had a large hand in voting everyone out.

The members of the jury then take turns questioning the final three castaways in an effort to determine who is the most deserving of the million-dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor.  Jaison questions each of the final three about what they truly do for a living in the hopes of exposing that Russell is secretly the owner of a multi-million dollar oil company.  “I’m a business man,” Russell vaguely states.  Shambo attacks Mick for playing a “feckless” game, and accuses Natalie of being a coattail rider.  “Natalie, Mick…no way on God’s green Earth you’re getting my vote tonight!” Shambo declares.  Brett stumps Mick with a bizarre request to describe what a “bro date” with him would entail to see how invested he was in Brett as an individual.  Kelly lashes out at Natalie for always calling for help at every turn.  She then drills Russell for being a dishonest person, to which he replies that, in his real life, honor, integrity and loyalty are the most important things to him.  The questions continue as Monica, Dave, Laura and John examine the final castaways.  Erik delivers an emotional speech, tearing into Mick’s lack of leadership skills and Russell’s unethical game.  He brings Natalie to tears when he praises her ability to make it to the top, naming her the most deserving of his vote.

With this, the nine members of the jury cast their votes, and with 7 out of the nine votes cast in her favor, Natalie White, the 26-year-old pharmaceutical representative from Van Buren, Arkansas wins the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize of SURVIVOR: SAMOA.  

Quote of the week from the CBS Early Show: Hantz said, "I don't think she deserves it. That's my opinion. I don't think the world thinks she deserves it, because she didn't even get in the top three for fan favorite. So... "

Sitting next to White, holding an oversized check for the $1 million, Hantz interjected, "You know, when you play a football game, and you're the quarterback to the football game, I'm throwing all the touchdown passes, right? She wasn't even on the field. She was my cheerleader."

Watch the video from the Early Show here.  Read the full story here.

Survivor 20 premiers February 11, 2010.

Survivor season 20 is being called Heroes vs. Villains. Calling Survivor season 20 Heroes vs. Villains should lead Survivor fans to believe that it is definitely going to be an interesting cast. While the Survivor season 20 cast has not been officially released, there are already a ton of rumors out there about who might make it on to that cast. A Heroes vs. Villains season sounds like a good vs. bad interpretation, and could lead to some really great challenges.

By deciding to have the 20th season of Survivor be something special like this, CBS and the Survivor producers have made a really smart decision. Not only will this bring back some of the biggest fan favorites from over the years, but now it will present some very interesting wrinkles that could draw in more viewers. Those additional viewers should really help to increase the ratings for Survivor season 20, and now fans can sit back and guess about who will make the Survivor season 20 cast.

It was already announced that Survivor season one winner Richard Hatch won't be back because he couldn't get out of his probation (he went to jail for tax evasion) and that rules him out from season 20. It has also been rumored that Russell will return from Survivor Samoa to once again compete for the million dollars, but none of these rumors should really be believed until we get the official release from CBS telling us who will star in the Survivor season 20 Heroes vs. Villains.

The 20th season of Survivor was filmed back-to-back with Survivor Samoa in order to save some money on the production end of things, so it is probably ready to be shown already. They also filmed Survivor season 20 in Samoa, so it will be interesting if they use some of the same locations, or if they have a completely different set for some of the all-time greats from Survivor.

So as we head towards Survivor season 20: Heroes vs. Villains; who are some of the contestants that fans would like to see competing in the 20th season of the show? Do you want some of the really evil players? Was there a really nice guy you want to see back for another chance to win?  Please feel free to leave your comments and thoughts about Survivor season 20.

For a sneak peak at the men rumored to be on the show, click here.  For a sneak peak at the women rumored to be on the show, click here.