Survivor Ghost Island: Should Domenick have made fire?

Wrestling with a decision to take fate into his own hands, Domenick Abbate did not give up Final Immunity in Survivor Ghost Island. But should he have?

By definition, there’s never been a closer final vote in Survivor than in Ghost Island. The historic tie is likely never to happen again, as the likelihood that two characters of equal ability to win will make it to the Final Three and also have the field allow them to reach that level is very slim.

That’s why you can’t fault Domenick Abbate for the way he played Survivor Ghost Island. Sure, he didn’t win, and $100,000 isn’t nearly as fun as $1 million, but you can’t blame him. Having immunity at Final Four and a guaranteed shot at a million dollars plus the opportunity to choose to bring someone you think can’t win to the end is such a strong position.

All said, Domenick Abbate didn’t win, so we do have to explore the hypotheticals in our postseason analysis. Without prior knowledge of the results, should Domenick has risked everything to take on Wendell at the Final Four challenge?

Let’s say that he does take that risk and wins. Not only does he pull off another big move in front of the jury, but he does so by guaranteeing that the other two members of the Final Tribal Council were dragged to the end by him as he takes out his number one rival/winner threat in the game in Wendell Holland. He more than guarantees himself a million dollars and discussions over whether he’s a top 5 or top 10 winner.

However, from what we saw in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, making fire over an opponent is nowhere near guaranteed, even if you do have more prowess at the task. Whether it’s nerves, windy conditions at Tribal or just a bad performance in the clutch, there’s a real possibility Dom could lose to Wendell. Instead of a coin-flip shot at a million dollars, Dom guarantees himself ~$70,000 and conversations about the best players to fall short of Final Tribal Council.

Not only that, but we’ve already seen in Survivor Ghost Island how Erik Reichenback gave up his Immunity Necklace to Natalie Bolton in Micronesia, and Wendell physically showed everyone that necklace as a visual symbol of one of the dumbest mistakes in the show’s history. If Domenick takes a shot at Wendell and loses a possible million dollars, it instantly rises to that higher echelon of dumb moves, and he can see it in person.

As a reminder, in the scenario where Domenick takes on Wendell and gives up his Immunity Necklace to Laurel or Angela, we don’t know who would have won Survivor Ghost Island. In fact, prior to Sebastian’s revelation about Domenick’s behavior at Final Six, it looked like Domenick was winning the season 7-3 or 6-4 regardless. In this alternate reality, it would look like the winner favorite gave up his shot at a million dollars for some sort of risky power move.

Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 35 Sole Survivors By Season

Ultimately, I don’t believe that Domenick Abbate, at that moment, should have given up immunity in order to take out Wendell at the Final Four. There are more possibilities for Dom to fail spectacularly than to see the second-place finish he encountered this week. We can only think it’s a move worth making knowing the post-facto results of the season.

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