[Macie Lightfoot]

Finally watched the finale and it was blegh. Like, the way Ben won aside, I think the worst part of the finale was ****ing Probst? The amount of times he talked about THE GAME IS ALL ABOUT SOCIAL POLITICS despite the fact that the winner literally tanked his social game at like final eight and only stayed alive due to Allison Grodner's warped funhouse of riggage and twists has now infected another show... give me a break. Like yes, the game used to be about social politics, but at this rate we're going to have episodes where tribes don't even communicate with one another because they're just digging for idols and advantages and whatever other bull**** is out there. The show is becoming more difficult to follow because there are now so many moving parts that are just suffocating and you can't keep track of who has what, who knows about what, and how long it's in play. God, not to mention the fact that Jury votes are becoming less and less about what people actually do on the island and more about people trying to metacognitively vote for the person who they think will be perceived by the public as The Deserving Winner. That's actually been another trend that's been lingering at the surface for a while that I don't think I've really talked about, but so many Jurors on shows like Survivor and Big Brother are forfeiting their personal Jury vote and using it as a vote for The People -- like, regardless of what Juror X personally thinks about Ben's game and Chrissy's game and Mike's game, Juror X ends up voting for Ben at least partly because he was an underdog and voting for him will make Juror X look the least bitter and more favorable. I don't know, that ****'s gross, just vote for the person you want?

I actually did enjoy this season though, but I am a little terrified about what's to come. Again, so much of modern Survivor is clearly a response to Michele's win in Kaoh Rong, and the overabundance of twists in order to stifle social game is just becoming absurd. Like, we are literally about to have a season whose premise is to right the wrong of previous idols and advantages and twists that people have failed to use correctly. Just let that sink in. But again, Jeff won't hesitate to scream at you that it's still a game all about social politics.