Sole Survivor? In Your Dreamz!

The fourteenth (can you believe it?) season of Survivor came to a close tonight with one of the most thrilling sequences leading to the final Tribal Council ever. For those of you who are out of the loop, Yau-Man Chan, the diminutive 50-something computer engineer has played one of the most brilliant strategic games ever, consistently outsmarting his competitors when it became clear that he was a threat to be voted off. In arguably the boldest move in Survivor history, Yau gave a Ford F-350 that he won in a reward challenge to Dre "Dreamz" Herd, in exchange for Dreamz's promise to give Yau the immunity necklace from the final immunity challenge, had he one it.

Well, everything went according to script. Yau dodged two attempts to vote him off prematurely and Dreamz won the final immunity. After spending days talking about how he was a man of his word and how he wanted to set a good example for his children, when it was time to put his money where his mouth was, Dreamz gave in to greed and held onto the necklace, leading to Yau's dismissal. It would have been a great opportunity for the immature and out-of-control Dreamz to prove that he had grown up over the course of the game and endear himself to millions of viewers watching across the world. Instead, Dreamz took the coward's way out.

The jury didn't like what happened, and after castigating Dreamz at the final tribal council, they gave their unanimous vote to Earl Cole. Earl certainly deserved to win the game, masterminding strategy while keeping a low profile. Yau found himself on the chopping block time after time, while Earl was the one calling the shots. Unfortunately for Earl, he will find himself the Ruben Studdard to Yau's Clay Aiken. Yau will be remembered as the old man with the big brain and the even bigger (perhaps too big) heart.

As for Dreamz, well, I just hope that every time he and his children climb into his F-350, he tells them about the ruthless hatchet job he pulled in order to get the car. I really hope his kids are proud of him.