James “JT” Thomas won a unanimous decision made by the voted-off members of the jury on Survivor last night to claim the $1 million dollars.
The final four was surprising. Taj, Erinn, Stephen and JT were left at the end. After JT barely beat Erinn in a construction a puzzle, he won immunity. I think at that point, everyone thought Erinn was the next to go. Erinn talked to JT and convinced him that Taj was a bigger threat than she was. How she was able to convince him of that, I’m not really sure… especially considering Erinn nearly beat JT in that challenge.
Voting off Taj could have been a serious mistake. As Taj said herself, if Erinn went into the finals, that’s who would have gotten her vote. If Erinn had somehow gotten into the finales, the majority of her tribe was on the panel, and she might have been able to convince them she was a true “survivor”.
As it turned out, that didn’t happen. In the final challenge, balls were dropped in a device that made them go down different wire paths. They had to catch the balls as they fell out out of two chutes. The balls alternated between the two. Oh, and they had to do it with one hand tied behind their backs. As the challenge progressed, more balls were added. Erinn was the first to go, followed by Stephen. JT was the winner.
Side note…. was it just me, or did it look to anyone else like Stephen used the hand that was tied behind his back to save on of the balls before it hit the ground?
Erinn did her best to put some doubt in JT’s mind and tried to convince him to vote her into the finals. That would have been a serious mistake. Taj said she would have voted for Erinn. I think Coach probably would have voted for her as well, because in his eyes, JT would have broken the “warrior alliance”.
Lots of tough questions during the finale tribal council, making both JT and Stephen feel uncomfortable. JT admitted afterwards (during the wrap-up show) that his apparent shock at being “betrayed” was a bit of acting, and that he and Stephen are still good friends. JT even suggested that they go into business together, which really surprised Stephen. Stephen’s initial reaction was “no”, which I think meant “no, it’s your money, do what you want with it”.
The rest of the tribe might have been able to be convinced that Erinn should win, just because of tribal alliances. One thing they didn’t show last night was a show of hands about who would have voted for Erinn, which would have been nice.
JT also won an additional $100,000, awarded by Sprint, for being the most popular “Survivor”.
Congrats to JT!
Next Survivor airs this fall – in Samoa!
How did you think last night’s finale went? Did the right person win?
is out already!