I have decided to upload this episodes blog on the day of the finale because I still feel as though the finals should be about the remaining five people in the game.
For many Coach fans, like myself, this episode was bitter sweet. We could to see some classic Coach scenes when he feigned weakness, his monastic approach to Exile Island, the grueling endurance challenge and his farewell (for now). The saving grace, as many true survivor fans would know, is that Coach will return for an All Star season and he is currently on screen on Survivor: South Pacific.
Coach is unwell, or so he claims to be. His back is supposedly hurt and his asthma is affecting him. Is he putting on a weak façade to deflect attention of him and make him be perceived as a less physical threat, or is he truly weakened after being out here for more than a month?
Jt wins the reward (yet again) and selects his number one ally, Stephen to accompany him at the hotel. He then chooses Coach to go to Exile, and sparks fly between Coach and Erinn when Coach’s monastic approach ticks Erinn off as she believes he is making excuses or trying to create the impression that his stay at Exile will be worse than hers or anyone else’s. Clearly, everyone in the game thinks that Coach is faking it- as Taj puts it: “had he won, the warrior would have been back”.
Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Coach’s unbreakable, ‘god can’t touch me’ and invincible approach to Exile, combined with the renaissance/monarchal background music was spectacular. Not forgetting his tales of the amazon and his honorable gameplay, this is why Jeff wanted Coach back so many times.
At the reward, JT and Stephen reaffirm that they will be in the final two together. Is this a good move? Both these guys have played a really strong game and both are deserving of being the sole survivor. Is one of them making a fatal move? Will something happen to sever this bond? Or will one of them make a deadly error and cost them a shot at the million dollars?
Coach returns from Exile for the immunity challenge and plays up the how hard it was on him. True or not, it’s a good strategy, because if people think you weak and that they can beat you, they wouldn’t be too concerned with voting you out for the time being. Coach could also be building up deranged personality to be a ‘goat’ in front of the jury for the final vote. I disagree with many people who believe that nobody in their right minds would vote for him to win, because if he can show the jury how he made it to the end with minimal lies and backstabbing, he will gain enough respect to win.
Taj delivers another quirky line- “Any 37 year old man that thinks he is a dragon slayer belongs in a mental institution.” This kind off echoes onto the perceptions of new players, such as Rick from Coach’s latest season, who says: “I have never seen a dragon slayer before, there aren’t any dragons”. Clearly, not everyone enjoys the persona that Coach has sculpted.
Back to the current game- this is one of my favorite immunity challenges. It tests pure willpower to stay in this game. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), Coach and JT are the last two standing. Coach questions JT’s loyalty and asks him why he wants to beat him so badly for immunity. With a final battle cry, Coach slips and falls to the ground and is attended to by the remaining tribe mates, and JT wins immunity yet again. Coach did a great job. Despite having a back injury, he puts up a good match against Jt- clearly mind can overpower matter. (***Spoiler Alert- JT will go up against Parvati Shallow in the exact same challenge in a future season- who will be the last person standing?***)
Does Coach know that he is in trouble? This blog won’t be complete without Coach’s pre-exit poem, which bored the jury…
“With friend and foe we march to the battle plain;
Some to seek success, others to seek fame;
We play with honor for the love of this game;
And with armor or without, we will toil in vain;
So that someday, someone, somewhere, will remember our name…”
At tribal, JT does not vote for Coach. This puts JT up a few notches in winning the Jury vote, and supposedly makes him look more loyal than Stephen, despite him formulating the plan to send Coach packing. Will this come back to haunt either Stephen or JT? In all honesty, if JT wanted to save Coach, he would have convinced Stephen to vote off Erinn. I believe that JT knew that Coach was going home, and decided to try and look good in Coach’s eyes by not voting for him…Stephen is not the Evil Wizard (as Coach puts its), in my opinion, maybe JT was the Un-noble Warrior? I can’t help wondering if this is foreshadowing what the jury will decide…
Sadly, the hidden immunity idol was not played…but be warned, in the next to seasons, the idol will definitely shake tribal council…
Well, it was certainly hard to write this blog without making it all about Coach- because this episode was all about him! Goodbye Coach, for now. He certainly will have a lot to say during his comments as a juror.
The blog which I will post for the finale in a few hours will be spilt into three parts…
