Survivor: LJ Idol Reunion - Part 11
Jun. 22nd, 2021 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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therealljidol And so we come to the end.
gunwithoutmusic and halfshellvenus had made it to the end together. It was a beautiful story of friends who stuck together and who grew their bonds deeper because of Survivor: LJ Idol.
They enjoyed their final Survivor breakfast together. They had their Rites of Passage. Now they just had to go to the final vot... oops. :D
I'm glad there were two Survivor fans at the end, so they could appreciate (or "appreciate") what I did at that point in the game. Had the end been 3 "most LJ Idolers" I wonder what the response would have been to that moment.
The final Survivor breakfast and Rites of Passage are iconic moments. BUT they almost always come before the final tribal council.... note I said "almost always", because if you go back to the very first US Survivor season (Borneo), they woke up, ate that final breakfast, did the torch walk, and then completed in their final immunity challenge. This was a throwback to Old School Survivor.
Whengunwithoutmusic talked me into doing this special event, I knew I needed an endurance challenge at the end. Obviously, I couldn't make you stand on a small platform as waves crashed down on you in an iconic battle to the finish. But I *could* make you write... a lot... over an extended period of time. Idol has it's own history of endurance competitions, but never quite like this. Honestly, I loved how this element worked and want to bring this into the main competition.
I knew there would be someone asking "what if someone tries to game the competition and doesn't really WRITE anything, or just puts random words on the page and calls it an entry", which is why I built in the idea that the other competitors could "challenge" an entry.
I went into this week thinking that gunwithoutmusic had this. He was going to win the final immunity challenge, and take flipflop_diva to the final tribal council and fight it out. I wasn't sure where the numbers were going to fall, but thought since she had played her game so close to the vest and he was more "popular" of a figure, that he had the edge. Barring something completely unexpected, he had this game in hand...
*Cue something unexpected*... he CHALLEGED HIS OWN ENTRY.
Honestly, the move was so unexpected that I really wasn't entirely sure how to proceed. So I emailed his remaining competitors to see what they thought of the situation, and I talked to him about it more... my bottom line being was this a "I didn't really like this entry I wrote/it's not my best" OR was it a "My hand slipped. This is disqualifying." In the end, he felt that his hand slipped...
I disagreed then. and now. It wasn't his best work. But I've seen people turn in worse under better circumstances and do quite well with it.
But in the end, we are our worst critics, and in this case, our own executioners.
***
Halfshellvenus had been counting herself out in this particular challenge since the day it was announced. But one thing I've learned over the years, is that the louder she is grumbling about something, the less likely she is to ever let go. The sheer stubbornness was the X-factor in this challenge. She does not give up. The only way to get her out of the challenge would have been a real life incident, or carrying her out on a stretcher.
gunwithoutmusic had the speed to get things done quickly, and my thought process (and apparently a lot of others) was that he would be hammering out entries and just overwhelm the competition. Which had a chance of working... maybe... if it had gone on for another week or so with the three of them.
Flipflop_diva - I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what her stamina was like. She had never been this far in the competition before. She was always one of those writers that I really enjoyed, but for whatever reason, just never got the attention I thought she deserved. Hopefully this special event has helped to change that for the future. The fact that she was hanging on for so long... only to fall at the very end...
Halfshellvenus ended up taking her to that final tribal council - paying flipflop back for the decision to keep her safe at the final 5.
That final tribal council came down to a single coin flip. One of the jurors couldn't make up their mind, so they flipped a coin to make halfshellvenus the winner. So it's difficult to say either of the finalists "did anything wrong" with their game.
Then, there are the jurors who decided not to vote. I wasn't surprised. There's a reason why I ask twice as many Gatekeepers as you end up seeing. Because most of them say "Yes" and about a quarter to half of them don't end up showing up. :D There were actually only a couple of them. But they may have impacted that final vote. Maybe halfshellvenus would have won easily. Maybe they would have voted flipflop_diva.
I said earlier that I felt that the decision to take flipflop was a "thank you" for the gift of the idol. I'm sure it will be argued that it was about friendship, and the alliance, and fighting it out to the end between the last two left in that endurance challenge.
But let's take those one at a time - friendship. Halfshellvenus was friends with them both.
Alliance - her original alliance had been with bsgsix, but she'd been in a tribe with gunwithoutmusic the longest. Plus they'd been tighter in the previous Idol season.
Fighting it out - that's the only one where I can say "OK, that might have played into it". :)
But since this is all hypothetical - pretending that the same number and combination of jurors cast votes at the end... this is how *I* think the scenarios play out. Your mileage may vary - so tell me why I'm wrong! :)
Gunwithoutmusic wins immunity. He brings flipflop_diva. Gun wins.
Gunwithoutmusic wins immunity. He brings halfshellvenus. It's really close. Based on what I was hearing from the jury, gun wins.
Halfshellvenus wins immunity. She brings gunwithoutmusic. Even closer than the other scenario. I still think he has the votes to win. BUT it's going to be really close.
flipflop_diva wins immunity. She brings gunwithoutmusic. Their games were so tightly bound since the merge, and given the Survivor-precedent of the guy getting credit for shared moves, I think Gun probably ends up winning.
flipflop_diva wins immunity. She brings halfshellvenus. I think she gains a small edge for winning that challenge and may have changed at least one vote. I think flipflop wins.
Going into the vote though - I was expecting halfshellvenus to walk away with it by a large margin. I think the final tribal council arguments actually ended up really helping flipflop_diva's case.
What did YOU think of the final tribal council? What did you think would happen?
Was there a moment in that final tribal that helped you make up your mind on who to you wanted to win?
gunwithoutmusic and halfshellvenus had made it to the end together. It was a beautiful story of friends who stuck together and who grew their bonds deeper because of Survivor: LJ Idol. They enjoyed their final Survivor breakfast together. They had their Rites of Passage. Now they just had to go to the final vot... oops. :D
I'm glad there were two Survivor fans at the end, so they could appreciate (or "appreciate") what I did at that point in the game. Had the end been 3 "most LJ Idolers" I wonder what the response would have been to that moment.
The final Survivor breakfast and Rites of Passage are iconic moments. BUT they almost always come before the final tribal council.... note I said "almost always", because if you go back to the very first US Survivor season (Borneo), they woke up, ate that final breakfast, did the torch walk, and then completed in their final immunity challenge. This was a throwback to Old School Survivor.
When
gunwithoutmusic talked me into doing this special event, I knew I needed an endurance challenge at the end. Obviously, I couldn't make you stand on a small platform as waves crashed down on you in an iconic battle to the finish. But I *could* make you write... a lot... over an extended period of time. Idol has it's own history of endurance competitions, but never quite like this. Honestly, I loved how this element worked and want to bring this into the main competition. I knew there would be someone asking "what if someone tries to game the competition and doesn't really WRITE anything, or just puts random words on the page and calls it an entry", which is why I built in the idea that the other competitors could "challenge" an entry.
I went into this week thinking that gunwithoutmusic had this. He was going to win the final immunity challenge, and take flipflop_diva to the final tribal council and fight it out. I wasn't sure where the numbers were going to fall, but thought since she had played her game so close to the vest and he was more "popular" of a figure, that he had the edge. Barring something completely unexpected, he had this game in hand...
*Cue something unexpected*... he CHALLEGED HIS OWN ENTRY.
Honestly, the move was so unexpected that I really wasn't entirely sure how to proceed. So I emailed his remaining competitors to see what they thought of the situation, and I talked to him about it more... my bottom line being was this a "I didn't really like this entry I wrote/it's not my best" OR was it a "My hand slipped. This is disqualifying." In the end, he felt that his hand slipped...
I disagreed then. and now. It wasn't his best work. But I've seen people turn in worse under better circumstances and do quite well with it.
But in the end, we are our worst critics, and in this case, our own executioners.
***
Halfshellvenus had been counting herself out in this particular challenge since the day it was announced. But one thing I've learned over the years, is that the louder she is grumbling about something, the less likely she is to ever let go. The sheer stubbornness was the X-factor in this challenge. She does not give up. The only way to get her out of the challenge would have been a real life incident, or carrying her out on a stretcher.
gunwithoutmusic had the speed to get things done quickly, and my thought process (and apparently a lot of others) was that he would be hammering out entries and just overwhelm the competition. Which had a chance of working... maybe... if it had gone on for another week or so with the three of them.
Flipflop_diva - I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what her stamina was like. She had never been this far in the competition before. She was always one of those writers that I really enjoyed, but for whatever reason, just never got the attention I thought she deserved. Hopefully this special event has helped to change that for the future. The fact that she was hanging on for so long... only to fall at the very end...
Halfshellvenus ended up taking her to that final tribal council - paying flipflop back for the decision to keep her safe at the final 5.
That final tribal council came down to a single coin flip. One of the jurors couldn't make up their mind, so they flipped a coin to make halfshellvenus the winner. So it's difficult to say either of the finalists "did anything wrong" with their game.
Then, there are the jurors who decided not to vote. I wasn't surprised. There's a reason why I ask twice as many Gatekeepers as you end up seeing. Because most of them say "Yes" and about a quarter to half of them don't end up showing up. :D There were actually only a couple of them. But they may have impacted that final vote. Maybe halfshellvenus would have won easily. Maybe they would have voted flipflop_diva.
I said earlier that I felt that the decision to take flipflop was a "thank you" for the gift of the idol. I'm sure it will be argued that it was about friendship, and the alliance, and fighting it out to the end between the last two left in that endurance challenge.
But let's take those one at a time - friendship. Halfshellvenus was friends with them both.
Alliance - her original alliance had been with bsgsix, but she'd been in a tribe with gunwithoutmusic the longest. Plus they'd been tighter in the previous Idol season.
Fighting it out - that's the only one where I can say "OK, that might have played into it". :)
But since this is all hypothetical - pretending that the same number and combination of jurors cast votes at the end... this is how *I* think the scenarios play out. Your mileage may vary - so tell me why I'm wrong! :)
Gunwithoutmusic wins immunity. He brings flipflop_diva. Gun wins.
Gunwithoutmusic wins immunity. He brings halfshellvenus. It's really close. Based on what I was hearing from the jury, gun wins.
Halfshellvenus wins immunity. She brings gunwithoutmusic. Even closer than the other scenario. I still think he has the votes to win. BUT it's going to be really close.
flipflop_diva wins immunity. She brings gunwithoutmusic. Their games were so tightly bound since the merge, and given the Survivor-precedent of the guy getting credit for shared moves, I think Gun probably ends up winning.
flipflop_diva wins immunity. She brings halfshellvenus. I think she gains a small edge for winning that challenge and may have changed at least one vote. I think flipflop wins.
Going into the vote though - I was expecting halfshellvenus to walk away with it by a large margin. I think the final tribal council arguments actually ended up really helping flipflop_diva's case.
What did YOU think of the final tribal council? What did you think would happen?
Was there a moment in that final tribal that helped you make up your mind on who to you wanted to win?
