Sandra says her plan was to let others strategize and just go along with whatever it took to get to the next three days. Is planning not to plan a valid plan?

"I like being wrongly accused."

Host Probst goes straight to the missing fish. Here we go. But Christa says she doesn't care that Sandra left her out to dry, and they're still friends. What fun is that?

Tijuana says she voted for Lill because she answered her question better, and Sandra saying Lill helping vote out each person on the jury made it look like Lill had a better strategy. That's an interesting point, but I still don't agree with it. Sandra was the lesser of two losers.

Why did Lill pick Sandra for the final? "I used my heart more than my head," the runner-up admits. She repeats her distaste for Jon's lifestyle and confesses she didn't think she'd beat either person because of her Outcast status. Jeff asks the jury who would've picked her over Jon, and Rupert, Sandra, Christa and Darrah raise their hands. Obviously things would've been completely different (Jon would've blown either person away before the jury), but I agree Lill would've at least had a shot at the million.

Jeff points out that in five of the seven seasons, the person who won the final Immunity lost the game. For those keeping score at home, the two exceptions are Jenna and Brian, the previous two seasons' winners.

JP confronts Ryno for focusing on the Scout angle, saying it shouldn't matter in the game. Andrew sides with Ryan, saying he can lie all he wants because he's an just electrician. Trish says you can separate one's personal life from the game, and I agree with her. Survivor is a mind game that involves deception, like poker, chess, or pretty much any sport (acting like you're going to throw home before trying to pick off the runner at first in baseball, or running play-action in football).

The point is, using mental misdirection in a game doesn't make someone a bad person. If you're a Boy Scout leader or, in Vecepia's case, openly religious, you can still play to outwit someone and not be a hypocrite. And Jeff agrees with me so it must be true.

The crowd chants for Rupert as Jeff introduces "one of the most electrifying Survivors ever." Rupert gleefully yells back to the audience. He says he was afraid people would think he was just a crazy guy. Well, he's right. Before the show started, visitors to the official site overwhelmingly predicted Rupert would be the first person voted off. Gotta love judging a book by its cover.

Andrew says Rupert played a great physical game but he shouldn't have trusted Jon. Rupert agrees and says he should have sided with Andrew, Ryan and the Morgans. In hindsight it's probably true. He definitely should've found a way to dump Jon after the merge.

There IS such a thing as too much Rupert.

Then they talk about Rupert's self esteem. I love the guy, but enough already. We call this foreshadowing for a future season.

It's Jon's turn and the crowd boos him. He says he wanted to be the most hated Survivor ever. Jeff asks, "If I see you on the street are you kind of that--kind of a jackass?" Jon says people tell him they want to kill him, "and I give them the finger, then they cheer."

Now it's time to let him have it for the lie. Naturally, Grandma is there, and she's quite young. Jeff says they had called Jon's family to offer their condolences. Oops. Jon says, "Maybe for All-Stars my grandpa will die." Groaning and booing from the crowd, probably because they can't stand the thought of seeing him on TV again.

So what do the other players think? Christa calls the lie "absolutely brilliant." Come on, Christa, go after someone. But even Lill, who buried her mother just a couple weeks ago, says she has no problem with Jon because she wants the same understanding regarding her lies. Wow, that's pretty big of her, and after my comments above, I suppose I have to agree. It doesn't mean we can't hate Jon for being a sexist egomaniac though.

Jeff asks if Jon and Nicole have gotten together since they returned home. She says no way. He then says he heard rumors about Burton and Michelle but she denies it. Either Jeff got some bad info and is wasting our time, or the lying continues.
[Edit: Andrew was talking about Jon when Jeff asked about romance so I incorrectly thought Jeff was still talking to Andrew. The camera didn't show he was actually talking to Jon again. That would explain Nicole's obvious disgust. My apologies to Andrew. Thank you Leslie for pointing that out.]

Big J asks Darrah if she thinks Jon is more attractive now that the game is over. "He's not appealing at all," she coldly replies. Now that's more like it! In case anyone cares, Darrah's not modeling and is studying to be a dental hygienist.

We got a dancing accordion guy and the word scramble Challenge was created by a 14-year-old fan of the show who's in the audience. Osten the quitter says he has no regrets.

Jeff asks about the Outcast twist and Shawn didn't like it at all. Obviously, since he was the first to leave because of it. Andrew says he wishes he would've welcomed Lill back instead of alienating her. Duh.

Trish says she wouldn't do anything different. I can't remember two things she did.

Hate away.

Next season, as we all know, will be an All-Star edition. But we get no preview and still don't have an official cast list. However, we now know the season premiere will be right after the Super Bowl on February 1. Mark your calendars now!

And that's it. Very tame and quite disappointing, to be honest. No one yelled at Jon and Jeff didn't attack Osten's manhood. Blah.

Stephen sent me a news article entitled, "Man Jailed for Declaring Parents Dead 40 Times." He asks if the German convict gives me any thoughts about Johnny Fairplay. "It would be entertaining to see someone bring fraud charges against him." There you go. Since no one was willing to stand up to him at the reunion, we'll ship him off to Europe and lock him up. Objection sustained.

So ends Survivor season 7. It was a very interesting season with lots of twists and some Survivor firsts. For example, Sandra was the first woman to win an odd numbered season. But also, slightly more important and embarrassing, Sandra became the first winner to not win any individual Challenges. Not one. She wasn't even taken on any of the Rewards.

In fact, as we went into the last Immunity Challenge, not one of the final three had previously won Immunity. On the one hand it looks like they're unworthy finalists, but on the other hand, Sandra, Lill and Jon were vulnerable every three days after the merge but dodged the vote each time.

So how did they do it? And how did Sandra outlast them all? Looking back at the entire game, it's a fascinating collection of blunders and gaffs.

From the start, Drake was dominant and Morgan was worthless. The orange tribe lost three straight members and showed no signs of life. But then Burton, Shawn and Michelle convinced Drake to throw the next Immunity Challenge. The plan backfired as Burton ended up getting the boot, ironically (based on the game's future) due to Jon's swing vote. Drake would go on to lose the next two players to even the playing field.

Then came the Outcast episode. Shawn and Osten exited while Burton and Lill returned. We have the merge and Burton got Lill to turn on Andrew, followed by Ryno. Once again the Drakes had control, lead by Rupert, Christa and Sandra.

But that's when Jon struck. He buddied up with Burton and the two of them rounded up Lill, Tijuana and Darrah to oust Rupert. The Morgan/Outcast/Jon alliance now had all the power.

But that's when Jon talked to loud. Sandra and T eavesdropped on his plotting with Burton and suddenly Tijuana was ready to join votes with Sandra, Christa and Darrah.

Sandra lost her way to winning.

Next came the most curious move of all. Jon caught wind of the plan to vote out Burton so he told Sandra and Christa that Tijuana was going to turn on them as soon as Burton was gone. For some bizarre reason, they believed Jon and voted out Tijuana. The big stick was now carried by Burton and Jon. They quickly betrayed Christa and Sandra and removed the blonde.

Jon and Burton had Lill in their hip pocket. All they had to do was calm her frazzled nerves and they were golden to the final three. But they got cocky and wanted to enjoy a Reward together. With reality smacking them between the eyes, the three women joined forces and dumped Burton for the second time. Team Estrogen was calling the shots.

But Satan Jr. worked his magic and turned Darrah and Lill on each other. He and Sandra sided with Lill and our unlikely trio emerged. Lill won the first Immunity between them and you know the rest.

With the torch being passed that many times it's amazing the whole dang island didn't burn down. It just goes to show you don't have to be smart to win Survivor, you just have to be not as dumb as the person next to you.

As soon as the All-Star team gets announced we'll bring it to you, and analysis will begin on Survivor 8. I can't wait.

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