Look, here’s one from my daughter Violet!
Dear Daddy,Why do you love Survivor more than me?
Violet
Hmmm… okay.
The cast of “Survivor 43'.CBS
Not exactly how I was expecting to kick things off here.
And loving something thesameis not loving itmore.
I’ve told her that a million times.
The cast of “Survivor 43'.CBS
Oh, here’s one from my son Dale.
Let’s see what that dude has to say.
Hey Dad,Thanks for getting me the Survivor: Panama DVD set for my birthday.
Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor 43’.CBS
Just to reiterate what I have told you many times before: I do not watch Survivor.
Nor do I own a DVD player.
Can this be traded in for Magic cards or…
Nolle Lambert and Jesse Lopez on ‘Survivor 43’.Robert Voets/CBS
I don’t know… socks?
There’s something about holding it in your hand!
Or something else that makes me seem a million years old.
Anyway, that letter sucked.
Let’s see what my wife Christina has to say.
At leastshe’llhave my back.
Dalton,Everyone is here for the holidays.
Also, your daughter says you told her you love Survivor more than her.
That’s really messed up.
Christina
For the last time, I said the SAME, not MORE!!!!
Jesus, these people!
And what the hell?
These aren’tanythinglike those sappy lovey-dovey letters folks get onSurvivor.
But anyway, yes, itisThanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
I hope everyone has a big scoop of the crispy on their plate this holiday season.
Specifically, they didn’t like being celebrated for failing or struggling.
(Most athletes don’t go for moral victories.)
But then, instead of having to manufacture a huge emotional moment, anactualhuge emotional moment happened instead.
Because Noelle eventually got over that balance beam and then went and won the damn challenge!
It was awesome to watch and nothing about it felt manufactured.
It wasRocky,Rudy, Cool Runnings, Hoosiers,andThe Bad News Bearsall rolled into one.
“I have seen a lot of things in 43 seasons,” said Probst.
“That is up there at the top.”
Maybe it’s hyperbolic, but also, maybe it’s not.
The fact that she did it on a challenge course without any alterations made because of her condition.
And this was no fluke.
We’ve seen Noelle thrive in challenges on both land and in the water.
This was merely the latest example of her athletic prowess.
And yet she keeps doing it.
And she keeps winning tribe and now individual competitions.
“So everything I’ve learned from my accident, it just motivates me.”
I just love it.
It’s, like, an obscene amount.
It’s like they were editing this episode just this for me.
Noelle No More
Jesse is savage.
Noelle has this amazing moment winning the reward challenge.
And how does Jesse repair that favor?
By voting her out of the game.
And Jesse is clearly a pretty smart dude for someone whosays “dangily-doodily” a lot.
I have no issue whatsoever with what Jesse did.
Because game is game.
If Jesse felt that Noelle would best him at the end, then he had to get her out.
And it certainly wasn’t an unethical one.
And the job editors did laying out Jesse’s three-point checklist for engineering a blindside was super fun.
To be clear, he did nothing wrong in bringing it up.
But Noelle was not just a player with a sympathetic or inspiring story.
Which is why players were determined to not let her get there.
At least she had a super triumphant moment before getting her torch snuffed.
But verify to check out our exclusive deleted scene from the episode at the top of this recap.
And then come back Monday for my exit interview with Noelle.
