Survivor: Heroes v Healers v Hustlers ended last night with a very suspenseful, entertaining finale where Jack of All Trades Ben Driebergen, the 12th best winner in history, won in a 5-2-1 vote over ultra-strategic and challenge beast Chrissy Hofbeck and social player Ryan Ulrich. The editors did the best job since way back in Season 13, over 10 years ago, Survivor: Cook Islands, of making two of the finalists (Ben and Chrissy) look like they each stood an equal chance. There were rumors of a 4-4-0 tie, there were super fans saying Chrissy would win, yet in the end Ben won fairly decidedly. So, why?
#3 Devon's loyalty vote
Don't get me wrong. By no means do I think Ryan played a bad game. He was quite good pre-merge by kindling his relationship with Chrissy and helping to steer their alliance pre-merge. However, if we're being honest, Ben and Chrissy both played WAY better games than Ryan. Ryan's one vote was from one of his closest allies, Devon, and Devon even admitted that it was a loyalty vote. Had a loyalty vote not have been cast, I think it's safe to assume Devon's vote would have gone to Chrissy for her social connection with him, as well as the fact that they were more similar players to each other than Devon was to Ben. That would have made it a somewhat closer 5-3-0 vote.
#2 The healers votes
In addition to Devon, as just discussed, the healers Desi, Cole, and Joe (all Ben votes), as well as Dr. Mike (a Chrissy vote) had some of the most impactful decisions. If we're being honest, JP's vote was locked in for Ben because they started the game together and were best friends and JP respected alpha male play, Lauren's vote was locked in for Ben (another gameplay respect vote), and Ashley's vote was locked in for Chrissy (girl power vote). So A LOT did come down to the healers. Dr. Mike voted Chrissy because he respected her challenge wins and epic strategy, but the three pagonged healers (the "underdogs" of Desi, Cole, and Joe) respected an underdog which Ben most certainly was. He reminded them of themselves and he succeeded, they didn't, and they respected the heck out of that, so awarded his game style over Chrissy's. And that's what it came down to. As Chrissy admitted on the red carpet she and Ben were both such great but such different players that it came down to whose game play the jury respected, and specifically, the "swing votes" of the healers, and they respected Ben's play more.
#2 Chrissy's social game
There are three key elements to a Survivor game. Strategy, social, and physicality. Ben didn't lack significantly in any of them (the argument can be made he lacked physically but he actually probably would have won several challenges if Queen Chrissy hadn't been around), where to a large extent Chrissy did lack socially. Aspects of her social game (getting to know everyone) were awesome but her overall "energy" and "demeanor" were off-putting to the jury. Desi and Cole both spoke poorly of her in exit interviews, and they were two of the biggest swing votes (if they had both voted for Chrissy instead of Ben it would have been a 4-3-1 vote FOR CHRISSY). Yes, Chrissy played an AMAZING strategic and physical game, and by no means was horrendous socially, but she made some major mistakes in that department, and I don't care what ANYONE says, it DID cost her.
#1 Ben Driebergen
This is what it all boils down to. The other three points all show how if it had gone differently Chrissy may have been able to beat Ben. However, take Ben out of the picture and replace his Final 3 spot with any of the other players this season, and all of a sudden Devon's loyalty vote, the healers' jury power, and Chrissy's social game no longer matter. Chrissy wins decidedly. She was that good. Sa la ve, that's not how it worked out, and Ben was in the Final 3. And yes, if everything had gone differently, maybe Chrissy could have beaten him, but the fact is Ben is SO GOOD at this game, that he was destined to win if he made it to the end. And if he had lost to Chrissy I would be writing an article twice this long about why Ben lost.
SUMMARY: Chrissy played a great game. She dominated physically, strategically, and had enough social graces to win in almost any Final 3. However, a combination of factors including Ben's incredible game, hindered her chances. Nonetheless, for understandable reasons, the 5-2-1 vote was a bit misleading, and we truly had the strongest Winner + Runner-Up combination since Yul and Ozzy in the Cook Islands. A fabulous end to a good season. Oh, and side note, we got all this Chrissy/Ben FTC excitement in the first place because of the awesome new Final 4 twist!
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