“Survivor 47” finale recap: A victory a year in the making

First things first. Happy birthday, Sue! 46 years old! I mean… 59 years old! And how amazing that it happened on the same day as final Tribal Council, and she was sitting there at the very end. I’ve never had a Survivor finale fall on my birthday, but did have one land simultaneously on Mother’s Day and my wedding anniversary, and let me tell you, that was not a fantastic coincidence as far as my wife (and the mother of my children) was concerned. Still working my way out of the doghouse for that one.

But I suppose it was a bit of a bittersweet birthday for Sue, as she was completely shut out of both the edit and the vote there at final Tribal. ZERO VOTES! You would think somebody would at least throw her a sympathy vote to avoid becoming the latest member of the Stephen Fishbach Zero Vote Club. Where you at, Gabe? Explain yourself, Caroline! You totally left my girl hanging!

Even worse, Sue was mostly a bystander as Rachel and Sam dueled it out at final Tribal and garnered pretty much all of the attention and questions from the jury… even though Sue only got one less vote than Sam! Some people simply have no respect for birthdays anymore.

But let’s put some respect on the name of the latest — and according to Domenick Abbate (whom I recently smoked in fantasy football), greatest — Survivor winner. Rachel.  Here’s a fun story, and it has to do with the picture below. Take a look.

Related: The Survivor 47 final 4 speak!

So, that photo above of Rachel was taken out at Survivor, except it was not taken at Survivor 47. Instead, it was taken at Survivor 46. Rachel was an alternate for that season, so we met out in Fiji in 2023. I actually do interviews with the alternates each season just in case something happens and they end up in the game. Which is why I interviewed Rachel for 46 out in Fiji (and also interviewed Tiyana before Survivor 45.).

As we spoke, it was clear Rachel was a massive fan of the show, and yet here she was that close to getting on Survivor, yet not quite getting on Survivor. And it started to dawn on me: Here is this huge fan out here the day before the game begins, and this may be the closest she ever gets to actually playing. Not only that, but since they took her phone away, she has no proof or evidence that she was ever even out here having a Survivor experience.

So, being the big softie that I am, I wanted to make sure that Rachel at least had a visual memento of her time in Fiji in case she never made it on the show. So I told her we should take her photo, just in case. Look, I am far from a professional photographer, but I channeled by inner Robert Voets anyway and had Rachel stand with the water and an island in the background to give the composition some of that natural Fijian beauty. Little did I know then that I was snapping the pic of a future Survivor champion.

A year later, that is exactly what she became. Rachel did not play a flashy game like Tony, a super deceptive game like Boston Rob, a flirty game like Parvati, a stealthy cutthroat game like Dee, or a supremely social game like Kenzie. But she did everything well and was a terrifically well-rounded player with no apparent weakness. She was respected both socially and strategically. She won lots of challenges (Jeff Probst may have mentioned something about that). She didn’t only acquire idols and advantages, but maximized how and when they were used. And she employed her Shot in the Dark wisely, as a test to gauge other players’ reactions as to whether she needed to use her idol. Smart.

So what’s not to like? A very deserving winner, to be sure. And the jury agreed, handing her a 7-1-0 win, with only Kyle voting otherwise, for Sam. And let’s talk about Sam. He didn’t win. In fact, he got smoked. That’s not a surprise judging by the way players were talking about Rachel for the past few weeks. But man, did he kill it at that final Tribal Council.

The editors did all they could leading into Tribal to add suspense and make us think Sam had a shot. They showed him talking about how “My story is rootable, something the jury is going to want to get behind.” They aired a clip of jury member Sierra talking up Sam’s game. But it all felt like a feint. I wasn’t convinced. Then, Tribal Council started. It wasn’t that Rachel was doing anything poorly at all, but Sam presented his case with confidence and gusto, and had smart arguments at the ready.

His strongest moment came when he painted Rachel as a one-dimensional player who leaned on competitions and luck to get to the end. “It was immunity and an idol in fries that got her to the end of this game,” he told the jury. And when Rachel responded that his path was easier because people were not targeting him, Sam was able to deftly counter that he was voted for the most times out of anyone in the final three, and was voted for at four different tribals and received 10 votes. He also connected again later when he promoted how he “Found multiple ways to get to the end without winning immunity necklaces or buying the right item at the auction.”

It was a strong line, but in the end, the stronger all-around game won out. And even though Rachel won in a rout, it still felt like a close race there for a few minutes, right down to the pained parchment decision-making by folks like Sierra and Gabe. Maybe it was just skillful editing, but it worked. I actually started to wonder, if only a bit. And that added a little welcome uncertainty into what seemed like an inevitable march to the title after last week’s episode.

Two quick notes before we move on to the rest of the finale recap: First off, after men won 12 out of 15 seasons (including six in a row) from season 26 through 40, five out of seven new era Survivor seasons have now been won by women, including the last three. Make of that what you will. Secondly, it's too bad the finale kind of fell victim to CBS' scheduling whims. Because the network wanted a 14th episode and producers therefore decided to split the finale into two installments, we kind of all knew Rachel (who was also an expert fire-maker) was going to win before the episode even began. That surely sapped some of the drama from the endgame, which is a shame. On the other hand, I don't want to be the guy complaining about getting even more Survivor. Okay, let’s get into the other big moments of the Survivor 47 finale.

Related: The Survivor 47 jury speaks!

One last puzzling situation

There were so many stages to this final immunity challenge that I’m pretty sure five turtle doves were somehow involved at some point. But none of it mattered, of course. Because the second we saw the puzzle at the end, we knew who was winning. Sure, it was fun watching the back and forth as the contestants did stage after stage and we watched Sam go from first to worst and back to first, but it all ended where we knew it would, with a Rachel victory.

I do want to give a special shout out to Teeny, who struggled mightily attempting to cut the rope, just as I did while testing out a season 46 challenge. (Note to future players: There is a specific angle you need to chop from or else you will sit there looking like an idiot in front of everybody. I speak from experience.)

Rachel’s victory put her in elite company, which was shouted out by Probst almost as many times as I have shouted out Milwaukee’s Best in these here virtual pages over the years. Rachel joined Kelly Wiglesworth, Jenna Morasca, Kim Spradlin, and Chrissy Hofbeck as the only women to win four individual immunity challenges in a season.

And unlike two of those women, she had just won the game. There’s a shot after Probst called it where you see it all over Rachel’s crying, muddy face as she stares at the completed bat. That was the face of victory. She knew it, too.

Related: Survivor 47 finalists reveal how they want to handle the jury (exclusive)

To fire or not to fire?

I can’t tell you how happy I am that Rachel felt absolutely no need to put herself into the fire-making competition after already earning her spot in the final three with the challenge win. It’s one of the things I dislike most about the fire-making, that it somehow delegitimizes winning the final immunity challenge. “I don’t think knocking Sam out directly is going to elevate me in any substantial way,” Rachel explained. Hallelujah! And thankfully, the jury clearly agreed. (Let’s hope future juries are just as wise and don’t punish people for not taking part in that ridiculous exercise.)

The challenge winner did not hesitate in telling the group of her decision, which was that Sam and Teeny would square off at fire and have an opportunity to fight for a chance to lose to Rachel at the end. And thank goodness she did, as it led to this A+ back and forth in the water:
Sam: “You’re going to let me make fire?
Rachel: “Yeah.”
Sam: “Alright”.
Teeny: “Oh, f--- you.”
Sam: “I’m down.”
Teeny: “I’m down too. I have no choice. You don’t need to be like that.”
Sam: “Like what?
Teeny: “Arrogant.”
Sam: “I’m not arrogant.”
Teeny (imitating Sam): “You’re gonna let me make fire.”

Now, look — I’ll be the first to admit that was not Teeny’s strongest Sam impersonation. You would think it would get better the more they did them, but this one somehow got worse! Although, to be fair, as far as we know, this is the first time Teeny has impersonated Sam in front of Sam, which, one might assume, could lead to some performance jitters. Plus, this impersonation took place while 90 percent submerged in water. Teeny did not have the full range of emotion or gesticulation they employed in their on-land imitation that set the bar for all imitations to come. Let’s cut them some slack, is what I’m saying.

So Sam and Teeny then got to practicing, using those knives that were disturbingly left for them stabbed into a tree, as if Jason Voorhees had suddenly swooped in John-Cochran-in-Game-Changers style for no apparent reason. While Rachel helped Teeny master the art of fire (simultaneously locking up a jury vote if they did not prevail) Sam was struggling. Evidently, Sam was not lying to Teeny when he said he had never practiced and never sparked a flint. In fact, he told us he had only even touched a flint once in 25 days, leading me to ask: HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?

I understand the way Survivor works. Certain people take on certain duties around camp and if someone else (like, say, Sue) takes on fire duty, then you go do something else. I also understand that you don’t want to come off as a fire expert because that incentivizes people to get rid of you before you even get to the final four. But to never try even once? Remarkable.

It was around this time when Sam lit his first fire… and that fire was within! After reading back a Loved Ones letter from his dad that was no doubt five million times more motivating than any halftime speech ever given by Matt Eberflus (“Whatever you do, don’t cover the tall guy on the Hail Mary play”) Sam went back out and practiced some more and finally got a flame. But could he do it when it counted?

Related: Jeff Probst promises a 'real battle' at Survivor 47 final Tribal Council

Rope-a-dope

I may be the president of the final four fire-making hater society, but I have always acknowledged that even though I think it is a severely flawed game mechanic, it has provided some insanely dramatic moments over the years. The fire-making is why we got the only Survivor tie vote in history with Wendell edging out Dom, and there have been other incredible moments as well, like the emotional Tony vs. Sarah face-off in Winners at War, Jesse’s emotional exit on season 43, and now the Sam vs. Teeny duel that tuned the entire jury into one big Eliza Orlins exaggerated facial reaction. (I don’t care. I still don’t like it, LOL.)

This one was crazy, and as far as I can tell, Teeny did not lose to Sam. Instead, they lost to wind. Probst even mentioned this himself, noting during his play-by-play that “Now the wind is blowing Teeny’s away from the rope and Sam’s into the rope.”

So even though Teeny appeared to have a flame well before Sam, it just would not stay centered under the rope. And this is not the first time that has happened. Back on Survivor 41, Heather Aldret was undone by the wind when she lost to Deshawn Radden, even while appearing to have the higher, longer-burning fire. “I did have the higher, most consistent flame,” Heather told me then. “But I don't know if you could see it, but the wind was blowing so hard. I felt like I was in a little wind tunnel, and it was pushing the flames back. It was actually blowing in at me! I had to keep backing up because it was gonna burn my face.”

Thankfully, Teeny did not get their face burned off, but they could definitely sense it slipping away as Mother Nature sided with Teeny’s all-American quarterback nemesis, while all they could do was look on in horror while gasping frustrated exclamations like “Come on!” and “Noooooooo!”

“I do think that moment will haunt me for the rest of my time on earth,” Teeny told us after having their torch snuffed… also once again snuffing my chances of correctly picking a winner at the start of the season. (What else is new?) But I want to say something else about Teeny. I’m sure there are people out there who didn’t like Teeny being so hostile in spots to Sam for being the charismatic, popular alpha jock type, but I don’t really get why. After both of their outbursts, Teeny was very clear in explaining how their issues with Sam were way more about their own internal issues and coming to terms with being comfortable in their own skin than anything Sam did.

How many times have we heard someone on Survivor slam someone and place all the blame at the other party’s feet while taking no responsibility for their own prejudices and bias? Yet, here was Teeny doing exactly that and explaining their issues through a much larger prism. They explained it quite well at their final Tribal, dubbing the rivalry “one-sided” and admitting “I’ve projected insecurities onto him.” That is a rare display of self-awareness on a show that often lacks it. And when Teeny ended by explaining that “Losing to the big handsome jock, it’s just another part of the story that I’ll have to deal with,” they were talking about much more than the game. All that said, I will be rewatching Teeny’s tantrums and impersonations on a continuous loop until season 48 starts, because while I may profess from time to time to possess high-minded ideals, I am, at my core, a child.

Related: Survivor 47 star Genevieve Mushaluk sheds new light on Operation: Italy

Final Tribal thoughts

I realize I kind of did this whole recap backwards and already talked about the final Tribal Council and how much Rachel deserved it, and how well Sam did in defeat, and how much Sue just kind of had to sit there wondering why nobody was singing “Happy Birthday” to her, but a few other quick notes from final Tribal.

• I don’t know how it played with the jury, but I kind of love Rachel’s answer to Gabe’s opening query of “How do you think your game will be remembered?” where she said she did not come to have a Survivor legacy, did not care how she would be remembered, and just wanted to play Survivor. The reason why I think that unexpected answer was so effective is that by zigging to a question clearly set up to have players zag, she set herself up as someone that was going to answer the jury’s questions honestly and not just tell them what they wanted to hear (even if she secretly was).

• Can we take a second to acknowledge Sol busting out yet another shirtless vest look? What an icon.

• Check out Mike Holloway and Ben Driebergen catching strays at a Survivor 47 Tribal Council! This was actually a fantastic question by Andy. Super Survivor nerds tend to discount Mike and Ben as unsavvy players who merely succeeded thanks to a string of immunity wins and idol finds (or, Ben Bombs, if you will), so what Andy was essentially asking Rachel was, “If you don’t respect those kinds of wins, why should we respect yours?” Rachel parried this decently, talking about the final three deals she made with Sue and Teeny to highlight her more social and strategic side. Still, great question for Andy, made even more perfect by the fact that he spent time fixing his hair before asking it.

• Rachel took a risk when she talked about the personal accomplishments in her career and life, and how she hadn’t always owned those accomplishments. It was a solid point about having the freedom to promote oneself without sounding like a cocky jerk, but juries don’t always want to hear about one’s accomplishments off the island when competing for what might be a life-changing amount of money for someone sitting beside you. Thankfully for her, the move did not backfire.

Of course, after Rachel was announced as the winner, it was not over, as we still had to get to the final three losers’ biggest nightmare… also known as the After-Show!

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After-Show afterthoughts

You all know my feelings on the After-Ahow. Probst likes it because he says it is the most real and raw, before players feel like they have to react to how viewers react to what they saw on TV. That's fine, but I would counter that players are unable at the After-Show to react to anything that they did not see out on the island with their own eyes. The fun of the reunion is seeing players react to things they had no idea even happened or were said until they popped up on their TV screen. Plus, not all the players are even there! Also, we don't get to see what they look like six months later, which is undeniably fun. Okay, enough ranting.

I didn't catch any great moments from the After-Show… except maybe Genevieve saying "Be prepared to be on the bottom" (I told you I'm a child) and Andy filling up Teeny's champagne glass to the rim. I've said it before and I'll say it again… RELEASE THE DRUNK TEENY TAPES! I also thought Teeny articulated really well what a unique experience playing Survivor is. But there was no real high drama or high comedy in those final 20 minutes.

However, how amazing does this Survivor 48 promo look?! So freakin' good! Check out some intel on the season, as well as the teaser and the logo right over here. I was out there for filming on that one, and suffice it to say I cannot wait to see S48 kick off.

But before we get to that, we still have plenty of S47 business to conduct. If you missed my exclusive pre-finale interviews with the final four and jury, I heartily recommend you check those out for lots of insight. We'll also have an exclusive deleted scene from the finale, as well as interviews with Jeff Probst and the final four, so keep your eyes peeled for all of that (and also feel free to hit the comments below with your thoughts on the finale.)

Thanks to everyone for playing along, for yet another season of Survivor recap shenanigans. Your patronage and your kind words are much appreciated. Let's do it all over again on Feb. 26, shall we? I'll see you then with a piping hot scoop of the crispy

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