Time Has Just Stopped, Is This Normal?

 is the finale of Survivor: Lithuania.

Day 34
Don't be too bold, or you will burn your eyes; but don't be too slow, or you will lose your share.

The dawn of the finale was upon the Final Four. Matty, the scrappy underdog who’d turned his game around for the better. Nemo, the powerhouse in both challenges and strategy with a steep hill left to climb. Piper, the last remaining original Rūta member who’d beaten adversity time and time again. And finally Samb, the wielder of many advantages and a major threat in his own right. All four had a stressful pathway ahead of them in order to make the coveted two finalist spots; and believe me, us hosts really let them have it this time.

For Day 34, however, a grace period was given to celebrate the Rites of Passage. The final four sent their regards to the twelve fallen castaways, and not a dry eye was in the house. Primarily, of course, because there was no house to speak of. They’re on a beach. Ha. Funny.

Day 35
Before the Immunity Challenge, Catnip discussed some of the trials she faced as a citizen of Lithuania. After dodging a thwacking by Lithuanian Lumber Services, we put him in time out. Another appearance by everyone’s least favorite recurring character, and certainly not the last time we’d see him. But that’s for later. The challenge was the now classic A Journey Through Lithuania, an Amazing Race-esque romp throughout the challenges of the season. Definitely a task, but one that the cast were more than ready for.

During the challenge, it became common knowledge among all parties that Piper wished to leave at the Final Four. The remaining players were actually okay with this, agreeing that Piper surviving the hell of Rūta made her a potential jury dark horse.

The challenge concluded after an arduous 48 hours, with Nemo being declared the winner.

Day 36
Day 36 proved to be relatively uneventful. While the plan never quite shifted from Piper, the other three had differing perspectives. Nemo, for the most part, was overjoyed to be headed to FIC. Matty, believing that Samb or Nemo would inevitably go home at F3, remained concerned about his odds in a Final 2 with either of them. And Samb, while still comfortable, expressed some paranoia about Piper potentially swaying someone and forcing a fire tiebreaker.

Piper nonetheless got her wish, and was voted out unanimously at 3-1. The curse of Rūta concluded after twelve Tribal Councils, and as such laid the legacy of one of 703’s most unfortunate tribes. We salute you, Rūta.

Day 37
A cursed day in 703 lore.

Day 37 began with happiness, as all three remaining players expressed joy at it being an all-Ąžuolas Final 3. Matty, believing that he would be taken to Final 2 no matter the end result of the FIC, planned to give the final few days his absolute all. Samb, for his part, felt identical; he believed Matty would bring him, and hoped that his duo with Nemo would allow the same to happen there as well. Nemo, simply overjoyed at these turn of events, jammed to Katy Perry and ate ice cream. Nice one.

Catnip, in a twist on her previous speech about the trials of Lithuania, talked about the joys of living in Lithuania, a speech which brought tears to many eyes, including the hosts. Day 37, so far, had been a great day of optimism and love. Nothing could have ruined it, or so we thought.

Lithuanian Lumber Services then did the unthinkable; having been fed up with the joy, he kidnapped the entire hosting team and taunted the Final 3 by only letting them free if they completed A Caper Through Lithuania. Specifically designed to be a more difficult variant of the previous challenge, it remains perhaps the trickiest challenge ever thrown at contestants in 703 history. Curse words were thrown openly, tears were shed, and threats were directed both to and from Lithuanian Lumber Services.

As you can imagine, the contestants all won in the end by freeing us. For getting to the hosts the fastest, Nemo was awarded with the Final Immunity Necklace, his fourth of the season.

Day 38
Recovering from the escapades of Day 37, the Final Three spent their penultimate day trying to figure out what would be happening. Matty, while upset that he’d lost yet another challenge, kept his hopes up about being invited to the Final Two alongside Nemo. While accepting that his road to victory was difficult, he pledged to fight as hard as possible.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, Samb had been reassured by Nemo on multiple occasions that they would be the Final 2. Having made this deal all the way back on Day 1, neither of them were willing to break it. Eventually, Nemo broke this news to Matty, who was completely shocked by the revelation. Nonetheless, he still swore to fight for it.

Tribal Council arrived, and both Matty and Samb pitched for their chance to be in the Final 2. Both pleaded their cases strongly, leaving Nemo with a difficult decision. Ultimately, the Day 1 deal won out. Matty was made the final juror of Survivor: Lithuania, leaving with his head held high and with nothing but kind things to say.

Day 39
The day of reckoning was upon Nemo and Samb. They faced a jury of their peers, who would decide the victor of the season. Indeed, the jury - Evan, Anubis, Frog, Ryan, Pendant, Piper and Matty - had a big decision to make.

Both Nemo and Samb opened with well-rounded and strong speeches. Both went into detail of their games in long form, with Nemo emphasizing his morals and values alongside his strong physical and social game, and Samb acknowledging the factors of luck and timing alongside his sneakier, strategic game.

Evan began proceedings on the jury, and praised both finalists whilst also acknowledging Nemo’s over-reliance on challenge wins and Samb’s murky social game. Alongside personalized questions, he asked both finalists to give a song that represented their games. Nemo opted for Weightless by All Time Low, whilst Samb opted for Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder.

Anubis was next. His decision was initially firm, but the opening speeches had split him. Whilst drunk, he asked three questions to the finalists at different intervals; all three were less game-related and had more to do with how the game impacted the finalists as people. Both jurors, again, gave strong answers. Frog, like Anubis, also avoided game-related questions and instead opted for a pop quiz on eight things about himself. Nemo and Samb, funnily enough, both scored ⅜ for this quiz.

Ryan’s speech was a return to game related questions, and he notably did not softball either finalist. He praised Samb for his ability to find advantages and for his strategic game, but agreed with Evan’s sentiments about a lacking social game. Towards Nemo, his former strongest ally, he was more lenient; however, he also insisted Nemo not automatically take his vote as a lock, and suggested that Ryan’s vote out was his one big failure in the game. Both finalists were thrown questions, and both, again, answered well.

Pendant avoided a long-form speech, and simply asked both finalists to state the weakest aspect of their game and the strongest aspect of their opponent’s. Nemo cited his tendency to overthink as his primary weakness, and acknowledged Samb’s ability to remain calm as his opponent’s strongest attribute. Samb believed his inexperience and naivete were his weakest attributes, and cited Nemo’s ability to remain in the loop throughout the entire game as the strongest attribute of his opponent. Both were then asked to choose a pre-merger that should have made merge; Nemo chose Bubs, whilst Samb chose Kam.

Piper, like Pendant, also avoided a long-form speech and asked five miscellaneous questions to the finalists. After answering these questions, Piper then asked the finalists what their favorite color was. Nemo chose orange, and Samb agreed, although he then chose green to not share an answer with Nemo. The Goth Kids from South Park would be overjoyed at the lack of non conformism here.

This left the final juror, Matty. Matty notably began his speech before reading the opening speeches and started by praising both finalists. Nemo was celebrated for his overall strength, but Matty admitted that Nemo had pushed his buttons on multiple occasions. Samb, meanwhile, was celebrated for facing adversity and for apt use of advantages, but Matty questioned if he’d be able to justify his game without the use of them. Both finalists once again answered all questions granted well, and the decision that faced the finalists would not be an easy one.

Ultimately, Nemo’s challenge prowess and wide social game beat out Samb’s strategic chops and strong usage of advantages, and he won in a close 4-3 vote. Both would also receive extra prizes; Nemo won the Fan Favourite award, as granted by the viewers, while Samb received the Player of the Season award, with the hosting team feeling his scrappiness and strength in finding advantages deserved strong praise.

Challenges
Immunity Challenge #1: A Journey Through Lithuania

In this penultimate Immunity, the final four were asked to go through a series of tasks, many of which were throwbacks to previous challenges in the season. To accommodate the large series of tasks, 48 hours were granted.

Winner: Nemo

Final Immunity Challenge: A Caper Through Lithuania

In the Final Immunity Challenge, Lithuania Lumber Services kidnapped the five hosts. The Final Three were asked to do a harder variant of their last challenge, with more rounds and harder tasks.

Winner: Nemo

Voting Confessionals
"katzole"

- You really do have a beautiful soul. But I can't really see you winning that final immunity and taking me to the end. I am sorry to do this because you are a great individual!

"katzole"

- You may not have won the title of Sole Survivor, but you became the Sole Surviving Ruta. That in itself is an accomplishment. See you around

Final Words
"katzole"

- This game has been a great time, has been really nice getting to know you all

Voting Confessionals
"katzole"

- ugh this vote hurts so much I hate having to choose between two people I’ve grown really close to. Ultimately though, I’m sticking with a promise I made.

Final Words
"katzole"

- Well, it has been a RIDE for sure. I am so glad I was able to participate in this season, play with the best cast and making some friends along the way. Definitely stinks getting so far and not making it to the end. BUT, I wish the final two the best and I really don’t have any ill will. Good luck! And you will both have to fight for my jury vote

Voting Confessionals
"katzole"

- this was genuinely a very difficult decision for me to make because both of you guys really showed off your games well and i especially liked samb's answers to my jury questions, but my vote came down to a few small things. despite all of the immunity wins, i do believe the nemo was never truly in trouble despite being a very blatant target. i also believe samb's social game was lacking for a while, and it was painful to talk to him at times for me. taking all of that into account, i just had to choose nemo, but i loved the way samb played this game by playing the middle very well

"katzole"

- This has been my most conflicted final tribal vote I have ever had. Still, I am happy with my choice. I believe that while both of you are absolutely wonderful people, and I wish both of you could have won. Unfortunately, in a game like this, for a person to truly win, 15 others must lose.

"katzole"

- I have made my choice

"katzole"

- Both finalists did a great job of pleading your case to win. Samb, I really feel like you owned your game the best. You are responsible for sending every person home at every tribal you attended. You owned up to your mistakes and I respect that a lot. No Survivor game is perfect, and I'm glad that you were able to show that. Good luck to you. And I'm honored to be giving you my jury vote.

Triva

 * The finale quote, as per usual, was given by the season's winner.
 * Survivor: Lithuania was poggers. Facts.