. . . in Los Angeles with a live studio audience as Jeff welcomes us in and reminds us who's left before we return to the beach. A quick video recap of the season with all 18 White Collar, Blue Collar and No Collar tribes as we watch everyone getting voted out. We also get Jeff's review of the remaining five players with their own comments before . . .
. . . We join the tribe immediately after Tribal as they return to camp during the blue light special. Mike mentions that Stockholm Syndrome was in full effect as Rodney gets angry at Carolyn for not voting with the alliance. He seems to have forgotten that the alliance voted to get rid of Carolyn. Now that she knows where she stands it's time to give somebody a serious spanking.
Day 36, and it's time for a Reward Challenge. Race under a net to a table to slide tiles to a target then use a machete to carry the tiles to a table where they can sort the tiles to open a combination and raise their flag. The reward? Time with their loved ones as Jeff introduces Carolyn's husband, Mike's mom, Rodney's dad (lots of tears from junior), Sierra's dad (more tears), and Will's wife (and she's the one crying). It's like a breath of fresh air for the players. The winner will take their loved one back to camp and get an advantage during the next Immunity challenge.
Go! Everyone is racing under that net and Will is first, surprising everyone. Will, Mike and Rodney are taking the lead, then Mike pulls ahead with Will on his tail. Mike starts moving his tiles on the machete. Will is right behind but drops and heads back. Mike is moving his second stack. Will almost had it but dropped again. Sierra and Rodney are on the beam, but Sierra drops at the end. Will dropped again as Mike moves his last stack and begins working on the code. Rodney drops. Mike tries his combination as Sierra gets started sorting. Mike tries again but he's wrong and Sierra has caught up. Too late.
Once again Mike wins the reward and the advantage in the next challenge. Will is angry at himself and everyone is angry at Mike for winning again as Jeff tells everyone to get a last hug with their loved ones. Rodney once again fails at a Reward Challenge. Mike takes his mom, Deborah, back to camp for the night and she gets to join him on the hike to the Immunity Challenge in the morning where there will be an advantage waiting for Mike.
Everyone welcomes Deborah back to camp and Sierra cuddles up with Mike, which was kinda weird. Mom is talking up her boy before he steals her away for some one on one. Finally he has someone he can trust. He tells her about the other players and how he's lost all his allies but how glad he is that she's there and he loves her.
Day 37 and Mike and his mom arrive at the Immunity Challenge before everyone else and he gets to traverse the maze with his mom's guidance for 30 minutes to get a feel for where he needs to go. Unfortunately mom is a little maze-challenged and she feels she let him down. Not that Mike would ever say that, but she'll still feel it.
Time for the Immunity Challenge as the other tribe members arrive at the maze. It's centered in a giant colourful compass on the ground and Jeff takes back the necklace. Everyone will be blindfolded and must find four medallions in the four corners and then find the necklace to win the necklace and a one in four shot at winning the game. Everyone's is in the center and Jeff hollers . . . Go!
Everyone is moving really slowly, including Mike whose advantage may have helped as he finds his first medallion. Mike finds a guidepost station and heads out for his second medallion as Sierra gets her first. Mike gets his second as Rodney gets his first. Mike finds his third medallion and he only needs one more. Rodney stumbles into Mike and then stumbles into his second medallion. Rodney then tells Sierra where the medallions are to try and knock out Mike. Sierra gets her second as Will and Carolyn get their first. Mike finds his last medallion and now he's in search of the necklace. He's so close while everyone else searches for their second and third medallions . . . but they can stop searching.
Mike has found the Immunity Necklace and has once again won Individual Immunity and a spot in the final four. Way to go Mike. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I like the big galoot. He reminds me of an old friend I haven't seen in years. Time to cannibalize the alliance again and I'm thinking it may be time for the girls to side with Mike and take out Rodney.
When they get back to camp Rodney shakes his hand and says "appreciate it". Carolyn no longer has an immunity idol but she has a plan. Carolyn and Sierra go to Mike and are both thinking Rodney. Called it. Mike knows that he's not going home tonight but what about tomorrow? Sierra's a little afraid but she assures Mike she's with him and so does Carolyn. Mike likes this final three and Sierra just hopes nobody flips and writes down her name.
Mike ends up chatting with Rodney and let's him know that it's likely to be him or Will according to the girls. I'm not sure if Mike is just playing him but Rodney is definitely in a tough spot and says he'll vote as Mike tells him. Mike doesn't trust any of them so whichever decision he makes could be a million dollar mistake.
Time for Tribal as Jeff brings in the members of the jury. When Dan sits down and sees Mike with the Immunity Necklace he just shakes his head. Mike admits that he's the swing vote but he can't trust anyone. Both Rodney and Sierra have sworn their allegiance to Mike tonight but somebody is going to be in for a surprise, Sierra admits that it's time to keep people who deserve to be there. Will says that if Mike doesn't win Immunity tomorrow then he's going home. Time to vote.
Jeff gathers the votes and there's no HII to play so he reads the votes. The first vote is Sierra, Rodney, Sierra, and unfortunately Sierra. Personally I think that was a mistake because I think she deserved to be there more than Rodney, but maybe I'm distracted by a pretty smile. That said, she's been one of the few people to get close to beating Mike in challenges so maybe it was the right choice. We'll see soon enough.
Day 38 and it's time for another challenge. The last Immunity Challenge and Jeff takes the necklace back from Mike. They need to untie knots, open a gate, climb a tower, grab a key, slide down a water slide, go through an obstacle course to gather bags of puzzle pieces and solve the puzzle to be guaranteed a spot in the final three. Go!
Mike is through first, followed by Carolyn and Will. Mike is at the top and untying his key. Rodney gets his knots as Mike slides down and goes for his first bag. Will slides down, then Carolyn, then Rodney who made up a lot of time. Mike has his first bag and heads back up for his second key. Everyone else heads up as Mike slides down. Will is starting to tire out but he's still in it. Mike has his second bag and heads back up. Now Mike is slowing down as he goes up. Mike slides down as Rodney races up and Carolyn gets her second bag. Here comes Rodney in second place as Carolyn and Will are panting up the stairs.
Mike is working on his puzzle as Rodney gets his last bag. Will and Carolyn slide down. Everyone is now following Mike in their attempt to pass him. Mike is still in the lead but Carolyn is right behind him. Another piece for Mike as Rodney falls behind. Another for Mike, and then . . . His fifth Individual Immunity. Will looks ready to pass out and Rodney says "you're a better man than when you came in bro." Group hug and then Will and the others put the necklace around Mike's neck.
Back in Los Angeles Jeff takes us in to the green room to meet our Second Chance nominees, including five from this season. These are the players who America has voted to get a second chance at winning Survivor. Some have waited over 15 years for their second chance and the cast for Season 31 will be finalized and revealed after the final Tribal of Season 30 at the end of the Reunion show.
The final four March arm in arm back to camp, proud of each other. Mike has the biggest decision now because he needs to make the right decision or he's going to lose that million dollars. Carolyn walks off and Mike follows her, leaving Rodney and Will to chat on their own. Mike tells Carolyn that all of his alliance turned their back on him so he'd like to take her. He knows that Rodney and Will are going to vote for her so he wants her to practice making fire throughout the day.
Mike heads back to camp and Rodney and Will both say they intend to vote out Mama C as he suspected. Rodney's not sure if Mike trusts him but he's feeling pretty confident that he'll be sitting in the final three. Mike would rather lose to Carolyn than Rodney. Mike finds Carolyn on the beach depressed because, after two hours, she still can't make a fire. That could mess up his plan.
Time for the final Tribal Council as Jeff brings in the members of the jury, Hali, Joe, Jenn, Shirin, Tyler, Dan and Sierra. Jeff asks Will what happened at the last challenge and Will just said it was a heartfelt family moment. Mike agrees it's a family, a dysfunctional family but still a family. Rodney knows that Carolyn is voting for him, and she knows he's voting for her. Mike says Rodney has rarely pulled his weight around camp despite his social game and with that it's time to vote.
Jeff gathers the votes and it's . . . Rodney, Carolyn, Carolyn, and Rodney. It's a tie. Time for the traditional fire making challenge and over in the jury Dan is laughing. He knows that neither one of them can make a fire.
Carolyn and Rodney are set up to make their fire and need to get a fire to burn high enough to burn through a rope and raise their flag. Rodney is racing at his magnesium flint to spark his coconut husk but he's got nothing. Six minutes in and Carolyn breaks her flint. Jeff gives her a replacement. Twenty minutes later and still no fire and Rodney gets another flint, and another flint. Now Carolyn gets another flint. Forty-five minutes and still nothing. No wonder Dan laughed.
Rodney finally gets a little flame but blows it out. Fifty-three minutes on and Rodney once more has a little flame. Now Carolyn finally has a flame starting but who is going to burn through their rope first? They're both adding sticks but Rodney is rushing and Carolyn has burnt through her rope. Rodney is pretty crushed after all that.
The final three are Mike, Carolyn and Will. One from each of the original tribes of Blue Collar, White Collar and No Collar. Rodney is still delusion in his exit speech and bad mouths the final three. Ten minutes after his loss, Rodney says he's managed to put an end to his demons and the loss of his sister and admits that he has a new respect for life.
Day 39 and it's all out of their hands on their last day. By all accounts Mike should win but Will thinks he should be the winner. Seriously? They march down the beach to a crate of food and Mimosas and toast their game. They grill up some bacon and eggs as they all think through their game winning speech. They gather their belongings, grab their torches, and burn down their camp before heading to their last Tribal.
Jeff brings in the members of the jury Hali, Joe, Jenn, Shirin, Tyler, Dan, Sierra and Rodney. He congratulates the final three and tells them it's time for their toughest challenge, facing the jury. Joe is up first and he tells Will he needs to man up, tells Carolyn she's too tough and says Mike needs to earn his vote. Hali tells Carolyn she enjoyed playing the game with her but wants to know how being in the mother role has hampered her game. Carolyn says she played hard like a mother. Rodney asks Will how he managed to get to the end, and Will says he played for everyone to like him . . . except Shirin. Rodney asks Carolyn what she did to get there and she says her big move was to get out Tyler and Dan. Rodney has nothing for Mike.
Tyler tells Mike that he was responsible for most people on the jury but what he saw was someone who was paranoid and destroyed everything he touched. Mike felt he let them down in the social game and admits he may not be who he always thought he was. Tyler tells Carolyn he's heartbroken that she turned on him and she admits it was her hardest vote. She apologizes. Tyler has no questions for Will. Sierra goes to Will and asks what strength from the other two he wishes he had and Will says Mike's work ethic and Carolyn's thought process. Jenn says she has no questions and then turns on the jury that they're all so bitter and angry at Mike and if they're real superfans then they need to get over it and vote for Mike.
Dan asks if he has to follow that, then turns to Mike and says that Immunities don't win the game and there's no necklace to save his ass tonight. Mike says his biggest regret was losing Dan's trust and putting a wedge between them. Dan comes back to say that's the most genuine thing that Mike has ever said and also hopes they can mend their fences. He then congratulates them all. Lastly it's Shirin and she is still angry at Will but proud of herself for standing up to him and thankful that Mike was there for her as a defender. Lots of tears, then she reveals she made her first million before she was 21. Surprise! She may love Mike but that doesn't guarantee her vote, and she really respects Carolyn but no guarantee there either, but she could care less for Will and his poison so that's definitely a loss for him.
Jeff says this has been a unique Tribal, which is fitting for the thirtieth season, and gives them a moment to gather their thoughts before its time to vote. The jury is voting for either Mike, Carolyn or Will to win this season and Hali is up first. The last one to vote is Dan and he looks to be a little confused as he bangs his head on the table. Jeff goes to get the votes and runs off to Los Angeles where we started tonight's episode.
Everyone is onstage as Jeff enters through the audience. He has the cast sit down (they clean up real good) and he begins to read the votes . . . Mike, Will, Carolyn, Mike, Mike, and the winner of Survivor: White Collar, Blue Collar, No Collar is . . . Mike. He races into the audience to hug his family and Mike is no longer eligible for the Second Chances season despite being in the top ten. I think he's okay with that.
That's it for Season 30. I'm not going to review the reunion show that follows (there's way too much dialogue to follow and even I don't write that fast) but I will be back shortly with my Big Brother Canada review. See you real soon.