‘Survivor’ May 13, 2020 Tony Vlachos Won The Whole Season In The Finale (Recap)

Hey, “Survivor” fans. Tonight, May 13, 2020, the finale episode of “Survivor season 40: Winners At War” did indeed air, and a winner was finally revealed after everything was all said and done.

Tonight’s episode kicked off with host Jeff Probst revealing that he was LIVE from his garage due to the terrible pandemic. All of the 20 players were shown live from their homes via a Zoom camera connection.

Next, they showed the “Edge Of Extinction” battle-back challenge. In it, they had to race through a fence and post obstacle. Then do some sort of sand dig. Then they had to build a rope bridge and crawl over it. After that, they had to unravel a bag of balls. Then they had to get two balls through a table maze in to two holes for the win.

Natalie, Parvati and some others got advantages. So, they got to skip the fence part of the challenge. Since Natalie bought 3 advantages with all of her fire tokens, she was awarded some other advantages in this competition.

She also got to skip the post, the sand dig, and some of her rope was cut shorter. She was definitely given a huge advantage in the challenge, but it didn’t matter much because Natalie ran into immediate trouble with her rope at the beginning.

It was so bad that it allowed Wendell to actually pass her, and a lot of the others to actually catch up to her.

Luckily for Natalie, she did save face and caught back up to Wendell. Then she just edged Wendell out in the table maze to win the challenge!

After all of that, they took some time to let the “Edge Of Extinction” castoffs say their final words. It was a very emotional moment.

Next, came the final stretch of game play. Natalie told the private cams, “The target is on me. I have to create some waves to take the target off me. Everyone seems to be obsessed with Tony.”

Tony told the private cams, “I don’t want Natalie to put a target on my back. It’s poison.” Sarah told the private cams, “Natalie told everyone the jury is going to vote for Tony. So, does that mean I need to get rid of Tony?” She ended up not taking that route.

Next, Jeff showed up with the next immunity challenge. In it, they had to race through an obstacle that required them to get through a two-plank bridge and collect a bag of puzzle pieces.

Then they had to run the bag of puzzle pieces back to a table. They had to do this two more times in order to get all the puzzle pieces they needed. After they collected all of their puzzle pieces,they had to use them to solve a three-tiered puzzle.

Michele was totally badass at this. She came from behind to solve that puzzle in no time for her second immunity win in a row! I was really impressed. Jeff mentioned that she won this particular challenge in the past, and he was not lying. She knew exactly what to do once she got to that puzzle. Wow!

Tony started talking to Ben about what to do about Natalie. He was worried that she might have an idol, and he should’ve been because Natalie bought one with all those fire tokens she collected at “Edge of Extinction.”

Natalie and Michele started talking and immediately decided to work together to take down Tony, Sarah, Ben and Denise.

Natalie told Michele, “I have an idol. That made Michele very happy. Michele told Tony and Ben that Natalie is voting Tony out in an effort to get Tony to flush out his idol.

Tony told the private cams he wanted to just get everyone to get rid of Denise so he and Ben wouldn’t have to have to use their idols.

Tony tried to tell Sarah his plan to get rid of Denise, but she wasn’t buying it. Sarah didn’t believe Natalie had an immunity idol. She told the private cams, “I’ve built enough of a bond with Natalie that she would’ve told me if she had an idol.”

She told Tony to just calm down and go with their original plan to vote out Natalie. Tony, not wanting to push too hard, went ahead with Sarah’s plan.

At the tribal council meeting, Sarah said, “Having Natalie come back in the game was a blessing for me. It allowed me to realize I need to play the game differently.” Natalie mentioned that she told everyone the jury thinks Tony is playing the best game.

Sarah gave some big speech about how she’s a strong woman ,and she can play how she wants. Natalie said, “I told the ladies , ‘You’re giving Tony 2 million dollars if you don’t shake things up.”

Then they finally voted. Before Jeff read off the votes. Natalie played her immunity idol. Tony immediately said, “See, I told you she had an idol.” That forced both Tony and Ben to have to play their immunity idols.

Then Jeff read the votes. Natalie got 4 votes and Ben got 2 votes. None of them counted since they played their immunity idols. So, they had to revote.

Jeff told them, “You can’t vote for Natalie, Ben, Tony or Michele because they have immunity. If a tie between Denise and Sarah happens, they will have to settle it with a fire-making showdown.”

Then they voted, and Jeff read the votes. Denise got 3 votes, and Sarah got 0 votes. So, with 3 votes, Denise made her exit. She gave everyone a hug and told everyone “Kick ass.”

Tony started complaining to Ben and Sarah about them not listening to him. He was mad that their idols got flushed. Tony went searching for another idol late at night. When the sun rose, everyone else joined in on the search, and Natalie found it! She immediately told Michele, and she was so happy.

Natalie told the private cams, “I’m going to use this idol to break up Tony, Ben and Sarah.” Ben told the private cams, “If Natalie or Michele found the idol, and one of them wins immunity, we’re screwed.”

Next, they played the immunity challenge. In it, they had to race through a series of obstacles and collect keys. Then crawl under a net through the sand. Next, they had to toss two bags on platform without them falling off for the win, and Tony ended up winning it! So, he was safe at this next tribal council.

Natalie told Michele, “We need to get Sarah to flip and vote out Ben.” Meanwhile, Tony told Sarah to go talk to Natalie and find out if she has an idol. While Sarah did that, Tony climbed up in a tree to spy on Sarah and Natalie’s conversation.

Natalie asked Sarah, “Are you willing to write down Ben’s name?” Sarah started asking Natalie more questions, and it eventually led to Natalie revealing to Sarah that she has an idol. From there, Sarah acted like she wanted to work with Natalie to keep the conversation going.

Meanwhile, Tony was so excited that he got the intel he needed. Later, Tony was seen agreeing with Sarah that they just need to vote out Michele at the next tribal council meeting. Tony told the private cams, “Michelle’s going home tonight. Done.”

Natalie told Michele she told Sarah she has an idol. Michele told Natalie, “Now they’re going to vote me out.” Natalie didn’t believe it. Michele said, “I don’t see those three cracking.”

After that,something really interesting happened. Ben told Sarah, “I’m ok if you write my name down. That way you can say you didn’t get drug along to the end by Tony.” Then they gave each other a hug.

Sarah told the private cams,”The last thing I want to do is hurt Ben, but I need to make a move without Tony. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

At the tribal council meeting, they pretty much just had general game talk. Michele talked about how strong of an alliance Ben, Sarah and Tony have.

Then they voted. Before Jeff read the votes, Natalie played her idol on herself. Then Jeff read the votes. Michele got 2 votes, and Ben got 3 votes. So, Sarah took Ben’s permission to vote him out. Whoa!

Tony said, “Whoo” when he heard that vote. He finally got a dose of his own medicine. Sarah went behind his back to get someone else out.

Next, they showed the final immunity challenge. In it, they had to roll balls down a shoot and catch them with one hand tied behind their back. If they dropped a ball, they lost.

To make it more difficult, they had to start adding more balls to the shoot. The last one standing without dropping any balls, won.

It came down to Natalie and Michele, and Natalie ended up winning it to claim the final immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final 3! She also got to pick who to take with her to the finals and who had to duke it out in a fire-making challenge for that final, 3rd spot.

Tony and Sarah said they were pretty sure Natalie is going to make them go up against each other in the fire-making challenge. However, Michelle did express that she was contemplating her decision because of how the different scenarios might play out.

Michele, Sarah and Tony were all seen practicing making fire in case they got chosen to do it. At the tribal council meeting, Jeff revealed that Sophie was sick. So, she didn’t attend it.

Sarah said, “I want to go up against Tony in the fire-making challenge because if we’re going to get shot, I want us to shoot at each other. Not have someone else shoot at us.” Michele said, “I want to make fire against Tony because I feel like Tony has the best shot at winning the game.”

Finally, Natalie revealed that she chose to take Michele and have Sarah and Tony battle it out in the fire-making challenge. Natalie said, “I want to see the end of this alliance. I think me and Michelle worked really hard these last couple of days to break them up.”

Next, Tony and Sarah competed in the fire-making challenge. It was a crazy challenge. Sarah came on strong at first and started burning through the rope with her fire. Then her flame ,all of a sudden died down,and she had to build it back up.

Then Tony came on strong. Eventually, both of them had their flames built high enough to start burning the rope. Ultimately , Tony was able to pull it together and get his fire blazing strong enough to burn through the rope for the win!

Afterwards, Sarah and Tony gave each other a big hug. Sarah congratulated Tony and a gave him a very heartfelt speech. She said, “Tony, I love you. Crush it tomorrow.”

Next, Natalie, Michele and Tony got to eat a big feast before their final tribal council meeting.

During the final tribal council meeting, Michele tried to sell that she didn’t have a strong alliance like Tony to keep her safe. She had to be very adaptable and find openings where she could.

Natalie tried to sell that she came back in and picked apart what seemed like an unbreakable alliance, and that she had to play a near flawless game.

Tony tried to sell that he played a nonstop game by searching for idols, staying up late, spying on people and so on and so forth.

After it was all done, the largest jury in Survivor history voted. We were able to catch who some of the people voted for. Rob voted for Tony. Parvati and Tyson voted for Natalie. Ben voted for Tony.

In the end, Jeff Probst revealed all the votes LIVE from his home. Tony, Michelle and Natalie were seen LIVE from their homes. Jeff revealed that Tony received 9 votes, Michele 0 votes and Natalie received 4 votes.

So, with 9 votes, Tony did indeed win “Survivor season 40: Winners At War!” I have to say I was quite shocked that Natalie received so many votes, and I was sad for Michele that she didn’t get any votes.

I thought Michele played a hell of a game, especially towards the end. Tony was constantly trying to get Michele out, and he just couldn’t get it done. Overall though, I think Tony is a very deserving winner.

What do you guys think about Tony winning season 40? Are you happy about it? Are you sad? Or do you just not care one way or the other? Let us know in the comments section.

Jeff Probst did say they are trying to get a new season 41 cranked out by this Fall 2020. We’ll have to see if they’re able to do that with all this pandemic mess going on.

Alright guys. That’s all we’ve got for this latest “Survivor” TV show report, but definitely stay tuned for more.

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