Survivor 42 Finale Recap: The Show Couldn't Have Scripted A Better Ending

screenrant.com:

Last week, when Maryanne Oketch blindsided Omar Zaheer from Survivor in the penultimate episode of the season, it dawned on everyone all at once: Maryanne has a great shot to win this thing. And what a delightful possibility that was. She had been overlooked from the beginning, cast aside by the Takus as too talkative, and on the outside looking in come merge time. When the post-merge majority alliance of eight crumbled, as large factions tend to do on Survivor, Maryanne carefully picked her moment to pounce. After contenders Hai Giang and Drea Wheeler left in succession, Maryanne came to the realization that it was now or never. Omar was getting voted out at 6 or he'd find a way to wiggle his way into Final 3 and Maryanne would lose the game.

So she engineered a 3-2-2 vote-out of Omar, and once she made this move, Maryanne had all the confidence she needed to control the endgame. With an immunity idol no one knew about, Maryanne wisely observed she possessed the only secret remaining in the game. Her biggest move, however, was showing restraint, keeping the idol in her pocket and letting Lindsay Dolashewich get voted out. Maryanne felt sure she would make it to the Final 3 no matter the outcome of the Final 4 immunity challenge, and when Romeo pulled a major upset, she didn't need to do much convincing to get him to bring her along.

Related: Survivor 42: The Best Podcasts To Listen To After The Finale

Maryanne may have been eccentric and grating on her tribemates at times, but she proved to be one of the savviest contestants on the entire season. Due to her understanding of the game and her place in it, Maryanne stood a strong shot against any of the five players in the game at the start of the finale. Even so, the jury