'Survivor' season finale recap: The Worst Jury Vote Ever

So the jury voted, and Probst suddenly, magically appeared in L.A. (I miss the days when he would jet ski/sky dive/motorcycle/cab ride his way back to the States.) I took a quick glance at the finalists before Probst read the votes, and their faces told us everything out the outcome: Natalie looked like she knew she had won. Russell looked like he knew he had lost. And Mick looked like he was concerned that he had used a bit too much hair gel. It turned out all three were correct.

Natalie received five of the seven votes read by Probst, meaning it is safe to assume she got seven of the nine (Russell got the other two, with a donut for Mick). As disappointing as the final vote was (and I've ranted about it for long enough now), and as awkward as it was watching Probst have to be a team player and pretend to be excited about Natalie's victory, at least we then had a good reunion show. Russell kicked things off by offering to pay Natalie $10,000 (which Jeff then took it upon himself to increase to $100,000) for the title of Sole Survivor. That led to the genius exchange:

Probst: ''Are you asking Natalie to say to you: You're a better player?''
Russell: ''No, I'm asking her to ask you to tell me that I'm the Sole Survivor.''

But the little man wasn't done. After Jaison took his ''negative contributions'' to task, Russell took out another pair of socks for Jaison and dropped them in the fire, leading the two to start jawing at each other as we went to commercial break. The only thing more enjoyable than that at the entire reunion show was the overenthusiastic bongo player in the Survivor band. Best. Bongo player. Ever. Also: Only. Bongo player. I have ever noticed in my entire life.

Okay, it's late, and I'm getting a little loopy. Let's wrap up this season of Survivor: Samoa and put a little ribbon on top. As far as I see it, Samoa turned out to be a great season with a disappointing result. I've spoken with almost everyone on the jury and I do like the majority of them as people — I just think they let their bitterness cloud their judgment in the end. It's too bad, but as a whole, the ride turned out to be well worth it.

And what of Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains, you ask?? Well, I was on location for filming and while I can't say much now, you can expect to see a lot of activity on EW.com leading up the season premiere on Feb. 11, including video interviews with the entire cast and lots of other goodies. Big thanks to Jeff Probst for his insightful and entertaining blogging, to CBS for providing exclusive deleted scenes, and to the cast for making it a fun and feisty one to write about. But most of all, thanks to you all out there for reading. You're the reason I stay up to all ungodly hours (even when you bitch about my sleep-deprived typos.). We'll have Survivor Talk interviews with both Russell and Natalie up on Monday, so check back for those. In the meantime, watch our deleted scene with Monica below as she talks about her jury vote. And for all the Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains scoop, make sure to follow me on Twitter @EWDaltonRoss.

See you in 2010!

[Sorry, video not available]

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