We shall start with a summary of the happenings in episode 13 before going on to the final episode 14 (spoiler) after that.
Episode 13
There were five people remaining after Andrea was sent to Redemption Island, but these were not necessarily the final five. They had to allow for the complication of having someone return to the game to replace the next person voted out. Ashley was certainly due to go next, as Rob, Grant, and Phillip would have banded together to vote her out. Unfortunately she won immunity, and with no room to manoeuvre, Rob was faced with an unpleasant choice between Natalie and Grant.
While Rob certainly wanted to take Natalie to the end, he was concerned that she and Ashley had now become very close. They were quite likely to vote together, and with whoever returned from Redemption, that would give them a potential three votes. He seems to have trusted Natalie immensely, and thus got Grant voted out. With the hidden immunity idol, he was guaranteed survival at the next tribal council anyway.
Episode 14 (spoiler)
Andrea was the person to return from Redemption Island, and the atmosphere was really tense. She had to attempt to form a girls' alliance, and vote out Rob and Phillip. That made a lot of sense as one would assume Rob would win if he got to the end. Ashley won the immunity challenge, and was safe, thus making Andrea the obvious choice. Phillip observed Natalie and Ashley talking together and alerted Rob. And Andrea spoke to Natalie and Ashley without being noticed. This was the perfect opportunity for them to win - and voting out Rob now would seal it, she argued.
It was not really that simple, though, because everything depended on Natalie. First of all, while we thought all along that the hidden immunity idol was a secret, apparently Rob had actually told Natalie and Ashley about it (but this transpired only during the reunion). And they obviously didn't want to vote for him as he might as well play it as a precaution. The right thing to do would have been to vote out Phillip, then hope Rob would not win the next immunity. However, perhaps they did not get along that well with Andrea anyway, and Natalie had no incentive to attempt any funny business and blindside Rob, being content to ride his coat-tails. It was probably not too difficult for them to decide to be honourable and vote out Andrea, according to plan. Andrea's vote against Rob was redundantly nullified by the hidden immunity idol - which Rob joked about taking home as a souvenir.
And now it was the final four, and Rob won the immunity challenge which required running through a maze to pick up bags of puzzle pieces. It was unfortunate to see that Ashley was tailing him all the way through the maze, thus not needing to figure it out herself, and was almost on par with him at all times. A simple rule that required players to take different routes would have prevented this.
Fortunately Rob figured out the puzzle phrase "only you are safe", but that was really close. It would have been a nightmare and one more item to add to the list of controversies if Ashley had won immunity due to an unfair tactic to negate Rob's efforts.
Now Natalie had to choose between Ashley and Phillip, and somehow Rob persuaded her that Ashley was a threat (using the excuse that she had "spoken to" the ex-Zapatera people). Despite not joining Survivor to make friends, Natalie still had qualms about voting Ashley out, but did so. It might have been a better idea to force a tie between Ashley and Phillip.
With such feeble opponents with him in the final three, Rob had no difficulty in presenting a good case for winning. He had controlled the game all the way, taking care of all the small details, especially preventing interaction in order to maintain distinct tribal identities. People generally want to lose to a good player, and Natalie had done virtually nothing other than stick with Rob, while Phillip was basically propped up by Rob for strategic reasons, and had annoyed everyone badly enough for them never to want to vote for him. David concluded the proceedings by actually speaking to the jury rather than to the finalists, telling them there was really no choice but to vote for Rob. It was a no-brainer, and everyone voted for Rob except Ralph who gave Phillip a sympathy vote. Even Ashley voted for Rob when she might have voted for Natalie instead.
Conclusion
Rob was a very worthy winner. He used his status as an old-timer to his advantage by being very useful around camp, unlike Russell who even had negative utility. Then he formed his first alliance of six but adapted it by replacing Matt with Phillip (which was achieved with a masterly blindside). Fortunately for them they all reached the merge with a majority, at which point they got rid of the ex-Zapatera people. It was not as simple as that, as he had to make sure that his alliance did not interact with the others so that there would be less chance of them deserting. Phillip appeared to be the lowest ranked person in Stealth R Us when he really wasn't, so Andrea might have felt fine about letting things happen and staying safe when she should really have deserted. She was blindsided in style. Natalie, Grant, and Phillip all felt Rob would take them as far as possible, and if not for Ashley's immunity would have all got to the final four. Rob would have at least had an excuse to vote out Natalie rather than Grant (to break up a couple) but for some reason was more loyal to her. He had the idol, but, unlike Russell who made heavy use of idols, never had to use it, though he did actually share this with probably only Natalie and Ashley. Such important information should not have been censored, as it would have influenced the dynamics, and possibly explained why they did not betray him when there was a golden opportunity. And, being famous, Rob started off with a bit of a disadvantage which he compensated for extremely well.
Russell too had really been a worthy winner on both occasions when he got to the final, but had caused so much grief that people did not want him to win. No one knew anything about him even when he played the second time, as Heroes and Villains took place before Russell's first season was televised, otherwise they would have got rid of him quickly. Having been forewarned, his Zapatera tribe could see that he was trying the same tricks, and had the sense to vote him out quickly. Julie could have been tempted to join Russell, Krista, and Stephanie, but knew too much about him, so she deceived them into thinking she would vote with them but stayed loyal to her alliance, and it was all over for Russell.
It is not always the best player that wins, but for this to happen the jury must want to lose to a good player. Rob failed the first time he got to the final, probably because he was taking the blame for his and Amber's actions. Russell failed twice because the jury hated his style. This time, Rob got everything right simply by being useful and managing his tribe. No one was able to rebel against him, but perhaps no one really wanted to. Maybe they really didn't mind him winning.
Hey Girl!!! I gotta tell you I was thrilled when Rob won!!! He played a brilliant game.... Plus he's so damn likable..he's knows how to make every person he comes into contact with feel special...and has the true heart of a champion!!! I found it to be very satisfying!!!! If I had any disappointment... it was that I felt that Matt... should have won the viewers vote in Cash prise!!! Other than that, I found this season very entertaining!!
At the finale.... when Russell congratulated Rob... and Phillip shook Steves hand ...was icing on the cake!!! Great blog girl!!! <33333
