Recap, Episode 13 (Finale)
And Then There Was One: Richard Richard Hatch. After 39 days of hard island living, the 39-year old corporate trainer from Newport, Rhode Island, won Survivor. For his troubles and toils, he takes home a million dollars, not to mention a Pontiac Aztek. Viewers may recall Rich's prediction on Day 1 on the island: "I've got the million-dollar check written in my name." The final three days of island living saw a nightly Tribal Council. The Final Four castaways (Rudy, Rich, Sue and Kelly) were narrowed down to three, then a final two. Fallen Comrades Sue was the first to go. Kelly won immunity at the Fallen Comrades Immunity Challenge, a competition in which the final four were quizzed on how much they knew about their former voted-off tribemates. Kelly knew the most, but Sue was a close second. In last place was Rich, ironic given that he's a communications expert yet seemed to know the least about his former tribemates; Rich, however, said he was not surprised by the outcome. With her third consecutive immunity in hand, Kelly was untouchable. Ultimately, after the first tie vote (between Rich and Sue), Kelly switched her vote to join Rudy against Sue. "Sorry," she said after voting off her former island confidante. Susan's Final Words It's been a blast. It was very, very much fun. I said it would be great if I could finish in the last four or five and I finished in the top four. Hey that's good enough for me. I didn't expect a whole lot more. Outside of the weather, and being cold when it rained at night, and the sand fleas this was a lot easier for me. To make my money doing this is easier than driving a truck to Chicago every day of the week. That's a lot worse than being out here in the bush. It was neat being on a team and I'm still on a team until this is aired. Meeting the people and playing the alliance thing, it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of interaction with people. I haven't had a chance to have lot of interaction with people in a long time. Because of my job I'm in the truck and driving all day. So thank you for letting me be here and if I had a chance I would do it again. Fire Walk With Me With Sue gone, it was left to Rich, Kelly, and Rudy to endure the rite of passage necessary to be crowned winner of Survivor. Starting at dawn, just hours after voting Sue off, the trio slathered their bodies in gray mud and then walked on hot coals. Finally, each had to place one hand on the Immunity Idol. The last castaway to remove their hand would gain immunity. As the equatorial sun rose higher and higher in the sky, all three maintained contact with the carved token. However, Rich removed his hand voluntarily when offered a snack of orange slice. At four hours and 11 minutes in, Rudy inadvertently removed his while shifting positions, giving the contest to Kelly, now with four consecutive immunity rewards in hand and a guaranteed spot in the final two. This sealed Rudy's fate. Kelly cast the lone vote at that night's Tribal Council, tossing Rudy off the island after 38 heroic days. The final tribal council would come down to just Kelly and Rich. The final votes would be cast by the seven-member jury of Sean, Colleen, Rudy, Sue, Greg, Jenna, and Gervase. Rudy's Final Words I never thought I'd come this far, because in the beginning you needed to be an athlete to compete. I got three votes, then I got two votes, then I got one vote and then they forgot about me. I figured I was right in the middle, where I wanted to be. Today was the first time I got a vote since a month ago. It was the fatal vote. I'm sure tomorrow Kelly will win it. Just like Jeff said, Richard stepped on a lot of toes. I might have given her a bit of competition, but she probably would've won it anyway. I think my military training helped with this. I've lived on islands before for up to ninety days. I knew what to expect. I didn't think it was going to be this easy. I didn't think they were going to give us food or water or anything like that. Once I found out about that, it was only a matter of doing thirty-nine days. My advice for anybody who plays this game is form an alliance and stick with it. Rousing Speech Though it's hard to pinpoint exactly which action won victory for Rich, Sue's impassioned speech to the jury will long be remembered as vital to the cause. Saying she "couldn't decide whether to vote for the snake or the rat ," Sue ultimately argued that the jury decide the way "Mother Nature intended it to be, for the snake to eat the rat." Greg, true to character, merely had Rich and Kelly pick a number between 1 and 10. Jenna asked an interesting question: If Rich or Kelly could choose two other castaways to be in the final two, who would they be? Rich picked Rudy and Greg; Kelly picked Sonja and Gretchen. In the end, however, it was just one vote that swung the game to Rich. But that was enough. He rose, and then calmly accepted the congratulations of Kelly and the jury. Kelly's Final Words There's not a whole to say. I got pretty far, of course I would liked to have won, but I didn't. It's not a big deal. I got down to the final two, and I busted my ass to get here. The only thing that got me down to the final two was me, I think. As far as tonight goes, the jury was pretty much as I expected. And as for Sue, she's thirty-eight-years-old and extremely immature. I learned early on in the game. I had befriended her; I trusted her and she betrayed me. She was lying to me, and was plotting against me from very early on. I realized that and I knew that. Therefore I decided not to trust her, not to be friends with her, not to be honest with her, for my own protection. I think she is extremely bitter that I got further in the game than she did. I think it was bad form what she did and what she said tonight. Everything she said to me was a complete description of how she acted towards me, and did to me in this game. I think it's pretty funny she's that pissed off, that bitter and that much of a bad sport that she had to resort to that. I just really wanted to get through this game as sanely as possible, and as true to myself as possible. I want to walk away proud. I didn't win, but I'm proud of myself and how far I got. I'm proud of what I did. SURVIVOR TRIVIA Muddy Buddy Rich has lived on a deserted tropical island for 39 days, been bitten by a million bugs, and likes to parade naked. A great irony to his success is an aversion to dirt. It turns out that in real life Rich is a neat freak, and avoids getting dirty at all costs. Celebrate? How did Rich celebrate his newfound wealth that night? After a few token sips of champagne, he took a long shower, slept in a bed, and caught a 6 a.m. boat back to civilization. Richard's Final Words I'm speechless. It's life changing, it's literally life changing for me. Mentally I'm beyond exhausted, but I'm beyond elated as well right now, so much so I'm shaken. There will be more emotion when I have my wits about me and I realize what really just happened. I really feel that I earned where I am. The first hour on the island I stepped into my strategy and thought, "I'm going to focus on how to establish an alliance with four people early on." I spend a lot of time thinking about who people are and why they interact the way they do, and I didn't want to just hurt people's feelings or do this and toss that one out. I wanted this to be planned and I wanted it to be based on what I needed to do to win the game. I don't feel I was diabolical. There were ethics in this game. There was morality and I think that is a big part of why I won. I don't regret anything I've done or said to them and I wouldn't change a thing. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/show/episode13/story.shtml