Thank Jesus – Russell Hantz lost Survivor Heroes vs Villains and we will no longer be succumbed to seeing his weaselly little face on our television screens anymore! This is usually the time I’d post a nice photo of the guy or gal name dropped in the title, but frankly, I’m so sick of seeing that evil midget’s face that I’ll skip right to the Sole Survivor. And here she is, in all her glory:

Sandra Diaz-Twine pulled out her second win on Sunday’s finale, beating both Russell and Parvati Shallow for the million. And even though she wasn’t my #1 pick to win, at least it wasn’t Russell.

This game has certainly been a crazy one. Had it not been for Tyson’s buffoonery, Team Boston Rob would’ve (and should’ve) defeated Russell and his entire alliance before it even got down to the wire (Why, Tyson, why!?). With that unfortunate turn of events came Round 2 for Russell’s domineering, yet not-fully-thought-out strategy.

As Boston Rob said in the reunion – Russell simply wasn’t playing to win. It’s beyond this reviewer how someone as (seemingly) smart as he is can absolutely disregard the power of the jury vote. I’ve never seen a worse final Tribal performance in all twenty seasons! Not even Amanda with her puppy dog eyes and passivity in China and Micronesia! Earth to Russell: The million dollars doesn’t just appear in your hands. You have to convince the jury to give it to you. Um…duh.

My loathing of Russell aside, let’s be serious: Parvati should have won this game. She was the mastermind behind the mastermind. She convinced Russell to take care of all the dirty work while she schemed behind the scenes; she played what I deem to be the best move ever in Survivor history (playing two hidden immunity idols at once…and not even on herself!), and continued to make ballsy and intelligent decisions throughout. Parvati was the true puppet master, no matter how much credit Russell wants to give himself. Parv should have won, dammit.

But it was a fair match and Sandra stole a 6-3 win right from Parvati’s hands. Sandra is an interesting character; she wasn’t the best winner to watch in Pearl Islands (snooooze), but she definitely upped her game for HvV. She deserved a win here – she continuously attempted to orchestrate a Russell overthrow, she tried to flip to the Heroes to help them reclaim the game, and she convinced Russell to vote out Coach in order to divert attention away from her and Courtney (“As long as it isn’t Sandra!”). Well played.

Overall, Heroes vs Villains definitely goes down in Survivor history as one of the most complex, dynamic and best seasons to date. However, with the Russell overload and recurring three-peat contenders (not to mention the way-too-early ousting of my dear favorite Stephenie!), it’ll be more than refreshing to see a brand new batch of Survivor hopefuls next season when Probsty and company hit Nicaragua.

Game on, newbies.