"Survivor 47" Finale Recap - Part Two - And the Winner Is...

Can Rachel Seal the Deal? Can Sam Sneak Out a Win?

“Survivor 47” (CBS)

Every Wednesday after the “Survivor” episode airs you’ll find a full recap along with individual player grades right here. The next day I’ll have an exit interview with the latest castaway on my YouTube Channel.

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Last Week: Rachel bounced two thirds of the Italian Connection by idoling out Andy and voting out Genevieve.

39 26 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog…

Alright, let’s check out the tribe as it currently stands…

The Beka Tribe (wearing purple)

Rachel, 34 - Graphic Designer

Sam, 24 - Sports Reporter

Sue, 59 - Flight School Owner

Teeny, 24 - Freelance Writer

Post-Tribal Shenanigans

Teeny is loving life now that she’s in the final four and Genevieve is finally gone. Sam’s happy to be there, but his goal wasn’t fourth place, it was to win the whole pineapple.

Immunity Challenge Time: The players will climb under a muddy net, then use a pole to free a rope and lower a gate. They’ll retrieve letter tiles which will help them release a machete. They’ll use the machete to drop a ladder. At the top of the ladder is a hanging bat puzzle. The first person to finish wins immunity and chooses who will make fire.

Result: Sam has the lead heading into the puzzle, but Rachel manages to pass him and win!

Enjoy that million, Rachel! Only question now is where she ranks among the all-time greats.

Probst makes it a point to mention that she’s only the fifth woman ever to win four immunities in one season, putting her in rarified air with Jenna Morasca, Chrissy Hofback, Kim Spradlin, and Kelly Wiglesworth.

Pre-Tribal Politicking

Rachel doesn’t waste any time, telling Teeny and Sam that they’ll be making fire. She thought about stepping in to face Sam, but doesn’t think it’ll elevate her game enough to make it worth the risk.

Sam tries to get under Teeny’s skin by saying that he’s never made a fire before. This really annoys Teeny. But, I’ll admit I find if kind of funny.

Oh…Sam wasn’t kidding. It seems like he’s actively bad at fire making. How on Earth do you go on this show without knowing how to make a fire?

During his confessional, he even says he’s worried about people at home wondering why he didn’t learn to make fire. Whoa…Sam might be psychic.

Although…if he was psychic he absolutely would have learned how to make fire.

Sam reads his letter from home from his father, and that puts him in the right frame of mind to figure the whole fire thing out.

Tribal Time

Probst once again quotes the statistic that Rachel is tied for the most individual wins by a female in “Survivor” history. Sam thinks that’s a great piece of history and should be celebrated, but it doesn’t win you the game.

Rachel says that Sue is the only person who has been loyal to her, so it’ll be Teeny and Sam making fire.

Teeny thinks she’s been underestimated, and this is an opportunity to prove herself to the jury. She’s also admits that she has had a one-sided rivalry with Sam.

Sam is going to fight like hell, but he’s at peace with whatever happens.

Fire-Making Challenge: The two players will build individual fires, the first person to burn through a rope suspended over his or her station will join the final three.

Result: It looks like Teeny is going to absolutely smoke Sam, (no pun intended) but he manages to come from behind and win! This was wild. At one point the wind was blowing her giant flame away from the rope while it was blowing his flame into the rope.

The fifteenth person eliminated from “Survivor 47” and the final member of the jury is…Teeny.

Day 26

Hey! It’s Sue’s birthday!

The Day 26 Brunch arrives and Sam gets to try his first watermelon…he’s not a fan.

We get to hear from the jury who say…

• Sierra thinks that Sam did a lot of things that make him a winner.

• Sol knows that Rachel got a lot of advantages, but most of it wasn’t luck.

• Gabe thinks Sue played an unbelievably loyal game. But she has to show that her loyalty was conscious loyalty and that she was putting on sale.

• Kyle thinks Sam deserves to win because he played his underdog story perfectly.

• Caroline says that Sue is the most loyal alliance partner you could have.

• Andy thinks Rachel has established herself as the threat of threats. But he doesn’t know how he’s voting yet.

• Genevieve says Rachel controlled the game and wouldn’t let it go.

• Teeny appreciates that Sam had to be scrappy and he always found a way to hang in there.

Rachel is ready to go head-to-head with Sam. Sam appreciates that he’s facing a heavyweight, but the jury might want to get behind his underdog story.

Sue is also there.

Final Tribal Time

Gabe bats leadoff and congratulates everyone for making it to the end. He asks how they think their games will be remembered. Rachel thinks she’ll be remembered as someone who fell on her face and had the ability to adapt and eventually become a threat. Sam thinks he’ll be remembered as being scrappy and someone who never gave up on himself.

Sue says it’s her birthday back home (it’s actually her birthday in Fiji too). She then admits to being 59 years old. She then makes the point that she’ll go down in history as the oldest woman to win “Survivor.” And her legacy would be that she was loyal and honest.

Genevieve follows this up by asking if lying in the game is a negative trait. Sue says it doesn’t bother her. She expected lying, it just isn’t her. Good answer.

Caroline wants to know everyone’s biggest mistake and how they recovered. Rachel didn’t know how much game was going on around her. So, she was shocked when Sierra was voted out. She course corrected and started reaching out to a bunch of people. She even admits to sneaking up on people to listen to their conversations.

Sam thinks his biggest mistake was not tying up loose ends. An example is throwing out Andy’s name for a stray vote and not following up with him to make sure it was OK.

Sue’s biggest mistake was trusting Andy because he lied to her three times and blindsided Caroline.

Sol wants to know something about Rachel’s game that he didn’t know that will blow his mind. She thinks the way she played the idol at final six was very impressive because she had everyone selling her game to the jury in the lead up to the vote.

Sam said it was his goal to elevate her threat level to keep the heat off of him. Rachel counters by saying that he never took that threat out. Sam responds that she thought he was enough of a threat to help Teeny with fire and she never took him out.

Andy touches his hair and then says that he and Rachel are the two biggest super fans. He makes the point that Mike Holloway, who was a challenge beast, isn’t very high on her winner list. This eventually leads to him saying that she has the worst voting record of the final three. She says that being Mike Holloway was never her plan coming into the game. But she couldn’t convince people to do her bidding like she’d hoped. This forced her to find a new way.

Sam pounces on this, saying Rachel couldn’t get people to do her bidding. Sam says he was voted for at four different Tribals. He got the most votes of anyone. And, he never voted incorrectly.

Wellllllll, it was hard to vote for Rachel when she had four immunity wins.

Sierra wants to know how they rebounded after hitting rock bottom. Sam says he channeled the joy that he knew was on the other end. He can’t wait to watch the fire challenge with his family. He then breaks down a bit when he mentions that as a six year old he dreamed of playing “Survivor.”

Rachel says her rock bottom is when Sierra went home. She channeled her husband and a note he gave her that served as an inspiration. She also says that she isn’t good about owning her accomplishments, but she’s extremely proud of how she’s played the game.

Sue’s tribe was her strength when she was at her lowest.

Probst gives the final three some last words. Sue mentions winning the bucket challenge and says she could’ve beaten the guys too. Kyle disagrees in a funny moment.

Sam admits he didn’t play a perfect game, but it was well-rounded and creative. He took control of the game without raising his threat level. He found multiple ways to the end without winning immunity or buying the right item at the auction.

Rachel believes she has the most dominant game of the final three. She won four immunities, she played her idol in a very impactful manner. She went from underdog to big dog.

My Thoughts: If this were a boxing match, I’d give it to Sam on points. But, I don’t think he did enough to overcome Rachel’s dominant overall game. And Sue…I just don’t see it. Being secretly old isn’t much of a bombshell.

Voting Time: Kyle votes for Sam, Caroline votes for Rachel, and the rest of the votes are lost to the magic of editing.

JPro tallies and returns. We’ve got one vote for Rachel, one vote for Sam, three votes for Rachel, and the winner of “Survivor 47” is…Rachel!

Verdict: I hate to admit it, but the post “Survivor 40” seasons are really starting to blend together to me. I need season subheads!

So, I don’t know what I’ll even remember about this season years from now. But I’d bet I’ll remember Operation Italy for a long time. The way it was put together, the editing, the tiny details, all of it.

And I’ll remember Rachel’s wildly impressive run. It’s probably too soon to have an “all-time” conversation. But, she’s definitely in the conversation.

Welp, that’s it! Check out my exit interviews with the final four on YouTube this Thursday.

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And, be sure to check out the official “Survivor” podcast - “On Fire with Jeff Probst”