Day 27: Favorite Final 2/3
Survivor 39-Day Challenge
My favorite Final 2 is most definitely Parvati and Amanda from Micronesia (2008). Extend that to a Final 3 and include Cirie and it’s still my most favorite Final 3.
I’ve already discussed Parvati and Cirie in length on separate previous posts.
Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie formed an alliance early in the season, around the time Fairplay was already out of the game. Cirie was the swing vote between two alliances then, and decided she’d be in good company with Parvati and Amanda.
Parvati and Amanda formed a tight twosome right off the bat, having been associated with Ozzy and James as the couples alliance. Both used the flirt card to tuck their way under the guys’ wings, Ozzy and Amanda taking it a little farther than allyship. Such association made their partnership stronger, more so than with the guys they’re flirting with.
These three ladies controlled most if not all of the votes of Season 16. Cirie pushed the Yau-Man vote successfully to forge in her alliance with the couples. After the swap, Parvati sat pretty well in the switched-up Airai, albeit in jeopardy still with Jonathan and Eliza around the corner targeting her. Luckily, she made another connection with Alexis and Natalie, the fans who also happened to be allies. With the nuAirai winning all the immunity challenges post-swap, Amanda and Cirie’s strategic chops were sharpened over at the nuMalakal.
Okay, that might be an exaggeration because the dysfunctionality of the nuMalakal tribe made it easy for Amanda and Cirie to control their post-swap tribal councils; beginning with blindsiding Joel who wanted to get rid of the weaker players, which Cirie was very wary of. And then Chet volunteered to be voted out. Tracy’s vote was ultimately a numbers disadvantage while Ami was a repercussion of Ozzy’s power-drunkenness.
At the merge, Amanda, Cirie, and Parvati were still on the same page (except for the Ozzy blindside of which Amanda was left out). And now, through Parvati’s post-swap deal, Natalie and Alexis were added to form the now infamous Black Widow Brigade™ alliance. For sure, this Final 3 controlled the post-merge of the season. The Eliza vote was easily orchestrated and probably would be associated with Parvati because of the tension between the two ladies. The Ozzy vote was all Cirie and Parvati. The Jason vote, and even the James almost blindside, was all BWB.
And Amanda kicked it into high gear on the Alexis blindside. One of her highlights was playing a hidden immunity idol to save herself. It was amazingly an ironic twist of fate as Alexis, the winner of that cycle’s reward challenge (the family visit), was the one who sent Amanda to exile island. Of course, Amanda would be searching for that idol as a safety net since their target, Erik, was on an immunity win streak. Amanda was socially adept being able to volunteer to go to exile island without arousing suspicion from the BWB alliance, and also socially aware that she’s a huge target at that point. She found out at exile that the idol was hidden under their tribe flag back at the camp.
With Parvati’s help, Amanda was able to get the hidden immunity idol and eventually was able to pull one of the biggest moves of the season and take out Alexis.
And of course, the Erik blindside was literally all BWB.
This Final 3 is one of, if not the strongest Final 3 of the series. I mean, everyone could win among those ladies. Ironically, Micronesia is Cirie’s and Amanda’s best individual game in all of the seasons they played, and they both lost to Parvati, whose best game isn’t Micronesia (it’s Heroes vs. Villains). However, Parvati did something underrated this season which is the catalyst to her win, especially when it surprisingly became a Final 2 for FTC. What is it? Pulling in Alexis and Natalie as part of her game, expanding her options come merge.
Ultimately, it was a Final 2, and it’s a win for Parvati, the Goddess of Survivor, deservingly so. But, if it was a Final 3, I don’t know. Anybody from that threesome could win, honest to goodness. That’s how strong that Final 3 is. It could’ve been the first win by plurality (3–2–2) of the series, by Amanda or Cirie; that close of a turnout.
Runner-up: Final 2/3, Survivor: Tocantins – The Brazilian Highlands
