Survivor: The Final Four

Ni hao! This week's episode of Survivor was one wonderfully classic fake-out on the part of the producers. Thanks Mark!

The show opened with the remaining castaways returning to their Hae Da Fung camp on night 33 and discussing Erik's ouster. Denise felt she played it safe by voting out Erik. I guess time will tell on that one.

The next day, Peih-Gee proclaimed her unpopularity right before getting the treemail hinting at the reward challenge involving popularity. At the reward challenge, each person was given five arrows to shoot at a board with their names on it. The person who had the most arrows in their name at the end of it all would win reward. But there's a twist -- each person would have to give their five arrows to the other four players. They could split them up any way they wanted to and Peih-Gee wound up on the short end of the stick by receiving only one arrow to shoot. Ouch! Todd received six arrows, Denise received two arrows, Courtney received twelve arrows, and Amanda received four arrows. Clearly, nobody wanted Peih-Gee or Denise to win by giving them so few chances.

However, it wasn't all bad for Denise. Even though Todd was a great shot and landed five of his six arrows on his own name, it wasn't enough. Courtney was just too bad of an aim and her arrows kept landing on Denise's name. Combined with Amanda's hits on Denise's name, Denise wound up winning reward. Yay!

Jeff told her she could bring one person with her to the Great Wall of China where they would eat a huge meal and spend the night right there on the wall. She immediately picked Courtney. Then Jeff told her she could pick one more. Even though Peih-Gee was begging Denise to pick her, Denise decided to pick Todd. Let's just say that Peih-Gee was slightly disappointed.

Back at camp, Amanda and Peih-Gee had a chance to talk and mend fences. Amanda was feeling down about being left out and asked Peih-Gee why she dislikes her so much. Peih-Gee said she didn't and apologized if she had treated her wrong in the past. Then they cooked together, schemed together, and even had some late night girl talk. Amanda told Peih-Gee everything that had gone on with the others when Peih-Gee asked her if she would be up for swinging the vote. Amanda said she was definitely up for it.

Meanwhile, Denise and the others are taking everything in at The Great Wall of China. The scene was truly breathtaking. It looked so gorgeous there. During dinner, they were confused about the food being served because it was all raw. After receiving some iced coffee, Todd brought up the possibility of voting out Amanda if Peih-Gee won immunity again. Perhaps somebody will be making a huge move at tribal council.

The next day, they returned back to an empty camp. Todd began getting a little paranoid before they spied Peih-Gee and Amanda on their way back. They began telling all about their reward, including the confusion concerning the food. Amanda thought it was really ungrateful that Todd and Courtney could find things to complain about on such a reward. When Denise told Amanda that Todd ate all of the leftover sandwiches on the plane, Amanda really didn't appreciate it. She told Denise she had some ideas and they'd have to talk later.

The treemail they received the next day (day 36) was an interesting one: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, this time it means much more. A second chance to prove yourself, may get you to the final four." Todd knew immediately that it would be a repeat of previous challenges but Amanda said she didn't trust a word Todd had to say.

The immunity challenge was indeed a revisit of four of their previous challenges. Each challenge was a round and at the end of each round, the person ranked lowest would be eliminated. The first round was the Chinese stars challenge and Todd performed horribly and was eliminated. The second round was the eating of balut and Denise gave up and eliminated herself. In the third round, they had to bounce a ball on a drum through a mini obstacle course. Amanda's blurred butt (and it was blurred so many times in this episode) won the challenge while Courtney was eliminated. It was down to Amanda and Peih-Gee now. In the final round, they had to use their sword to chop through rope to release their discs to solve the puzzle. Amanda was in the lead the whole time and, even though she had some problem with the puzzle towards the end, won the round and won immunity.

Back at camp, Peih-Gee was disappointed in herself because she knew she was on the chopping block. Her only hope was Amanda. Amanda and Denise discussed voting out Todd but Denise felt she had a better chance at winning if Todd stayed. Amanda told Peih-Gee she liked her so much now and doesn't want to vote her out. Peih-Gee was hoping they would vote out Todd while Todd was getting paranoid about getting blindsided by the women.

And so it was, on night 36, the tribal council to determine the final four. Denise told Jeff she had to pick Courtney to go on the reward challenge (because it was her that caused Denise to win it), Courtney complained that the food on the wall was confusing, and Peih-Gee expressed her frustration on not going while maintaining she was a positive person in camp (the jury snickered at this). Amanda said that her bonding time with Peih-Gee made her see her in a different perspective. Did you see Courtney's eye-rolling while Peih-Gee was saying that honesty was better than backstabbing and lying in the game? I think I would have rolled my eyes on that too.

It was time to vote and then time for Jeffypoo to tally them votes! The 1st vote was for Peih-Gee. The 2nd vote was for Todd. The 3rd vote was for Peih-Gee. The 4th vote was for Peih-Gee. Poor Peih-Gee has been voted out. Damn you Mark Burnett! I fell for your trickery once again!

In her closing words, Peih-Gee said that she played to her utmost ability. She pushed herself physically, mentally, and strategically but that ultimately everybody was afraid to go against her in the final three. And even though she won't be a millionaire, she still feels richer than she did before. All in all, they weren't bad words but I wonder how she will vote for the winner.

They have three days left in China. Make sure you catch the two-hour finale on Sunday night at 8:00 PM ET and the reunion show immediately after. I'm excited and can't wait to find out who wins!

What did you think about this episode? Do you think they made a mistake voting out Peih-Gee over Todd? What would you have done? Who of the remaining four do you want to win?