If Brad was trying to repair his image then he should have shaved off the mustache, it looked horrible on him
I personally don't think that Tai would have really gotten five votes if the votes had been cast at the tribal council, I suspect that some of the jury was feeling sorry for him after seeing the last episode. I hope they don't bring him back for another season, he simply isn't a good player of the game and wouldn't really bring anything to another season.
As for fewer idols and twists and such... I personally liked having them around as they contributed a lot to the drama this season. The whole "Cirie trying to play something she didn't really have" was hilarious as was seeing person after person saying "Uh, Jeff" at the final six tribal council
t:
The mustache was actually Brad trolling, which makes it all the funnier. But unfortunately, that context is lost on most viewers.
You see, after the reunion, the Survivors left in the final episode are made available to the press for the first time. Brad's appearance was delayed and no one knew why. Then he came out, completely clean shaven. When asked about it (and he was by nearly every reporter), he denied its existence and talked to them like they were crazy, saying "what mustache? What the hell are you talking about?"
So, it seems that Brad's finale outfit and mustache was some elaborate joke/troll job for the benefit of the Survivor media (whom he has experience with due to his wife playing twice in addition to his two games). It actually makes me like him a lot more.
As for the finale, meh. I am fine with the winner. Personally, I think Brad played a better, more stable game. Too often, Sarah bought into the whole "BIG MOVES!" mentality and made moves that were too soon and shook her own stability in the game (the flip on Debbie and then taking out Zeke, both were done about two tribal councils too soon and only served to make her path to the end a bit more difficult). Brad's game, on the other hand, was fairly stable. He didn't do anything to cut off his own knees simply for the sake of making a "big move."
Plus, based on the jury speaks videos released by CBS, it seems that Brad was punished because he has money. I don't think that should factor into the jury's decision. But it did. All in all, Sarah is a perfectly serviceable winner. But her crippling lack of charisma makes it hard for me to get excited by her win.
I will say this...moving forward, CBS either needs to do all-star seasons or underwhelming returnee seasons. The two worst returnee seasons are Game Changers and All-Stars and they have something in common: the casts are unbalanced. When you put players like Sandra, Rob Cesternino, Rich Hatch, and Tony with players like Sarah Lacina, Shii Ann, Alicia, Boston Rob (way back when he was just a one time, pre-jury boot), and Amber, of course the mediocre players are going to team up on the great ones and take out the best personalities before we even get to the merge. That is what happened in both of those seasons.
Now compare that to Heroes vs Villains and Second Chances. In Heroes vs Villains you had almost nothing but huge personalities and legendary players. I don't think there was a single pre-jury boot in the HvV cast. All players were on equal footing. Similarly, in Cambodia, you had all players who were all on their first return and were, roughly, all mid to late game boots or losing finalists. Again, there is some equal footing there. Fans vs Favorites had all great returnees. Fans vs Favorites 2 had all mediocre returnees. It keeps the game as even as possible.
Sarah apparently benefited tremendously from the fact that a majority of the cast just didn't know who she was or why she was there. Same with Sierra, Brad, and a few others. I think its telling that a far more interesting season would've been if the boot order were reversed (and I think a lot of viewers feel that way).
So I think moving forward with returnee seasons, in the name of both keeping the game entertaining and competitive, production should try to keep returnees in the same class.
He was working hard salvaging his image all throughout the season and he still came up short.
