Plot

What started as a lopsided battle between the Fang and Kota tribes ends with a shocking turn of events between the remaining members of Nobag.

Goodbye, Gabon: It started with 18 castaways and the Sunday night's season finale began with a recap of the weeks that led to the final five. The Kota tribe's early dominance, winning nine of the first 11 challenges, appeared to doom Kenny and Crystal until they masterminded a turnaround that knocked out four original Kota members in a row.

The final five: Susie, a teacher, hairdresser and mom, whose decision to flip helped the original Fang members make their big run. Matty, a personal trainer, would need to win immunity because he was perceived as a physical threat. Sugar, the pin-up model who loves to claim she doesn't know how to play the game. Bob, the 57-year-old high school physics teacher and only remaining original Kota member. Kenny, the gamer who has duped and tricked his way through 11 tribal councils, more than anyone else in the game. Kenny last week tried to get Bob to give him an immunity idol. Bob initially agreed to the deal, but backed out later and a new alliance of four -- Sugar, Matty, Susie and Bob -- voted Kenny's biggest ally, Crystal, out of the game.

Night 36: Sugar was proud of her hidden immunity idol play, when she handed it to Matty. She said she'd never felt so powerful. Kenny was mad at Bob for backing out of their deal, but Bob told Kenny to get his own idol. Bob said "all promises are off."

A sweet deal?: Sugar was hatching a plan with Bob to knock out Susie and Kenny next. She wanted to get to Kenny to get back on his good side and sweet-talked him as they walked to get tree mail. He believed in her plan to knock out Bob. He also said he would make sure that Bob would not win immunity.

Immunity challenge: Dressed and painted like warriors, the contestants had to dig and crawl their way into and through a maze, collecting puzzle pieces to build a replica of a Gabonese hut. The first to finish would win immunity and a spot in the final four. Bob made it five in a row when he slowly and methodically grabbed his pieces and put together the hut first and won immunity. "I don't know how you beat that guy," Susie said.

Last-minute scheming: Kenny felt like he set himself up so well he didn't have to worry about anything because Susie was going to be voted out. Matty told Kenny the plan was to vote Susie out, but they wouldn't tell her until very late in the day so she wouldn't be able to scramble. Susie asked Matty what the plan was, but he said he didn't know. This made her suspicious. Matty told her to go with her gut. Matty told Sugar they should stick together to the end and the final should be them and Kenny.

Tribal council: Bob admitted he felt there was a target on his back because of his dominance in challenges. Susie said she felt a little bit like an outsider because she hadn't been making moves. Kenny again tried to tell his story about Bob backing out of their deal. Bob said he knew Kenny was going to try to blindside him. Kenny said he felt like he was safe this time, but he didn't want Bob to again back out of their deal. Susie wrote down Kenny, saying she didn't know if it would be a blindside or not. Kenny wrote down Susie. The rest were kept secret. The vote: Kenny, Susie, Kenny, and the 14th person voted out, and sixth member of the jury was Kenny. "They got me good," Kenny said later.

The morning after...: Susie knew the only way she could save herself was to win the final immunity challenge.

Torch time!: In traditional "Survivor" fashion, the final four torched the torches of the 14 players that went before them. Some highlights of the past Survivors' comments: Randy said he learned it's OK to make friends, Corinne said being nice isn't a good personality trait, and Kenny said he grew as a person and changed for the better.

Final immunity challenge: With 200 wooden tiles, the contestants had to build a house of cards 10 feet tall. The first to finish was guaranteed a spot in the final tribal council and a shot at the $1 million. If after 30 minutes no one had built a house of cards 10 feet high, the highest one would win. Sugar and Susie got highest quickly, but Susie's collapsed soon and Sugar's soon followed. Sugar and Susie again grew their houses quickly, but they both collapsed again. Bob and Matty struggled to get anything going. Susie, at eight feet, stopped adding to her house, trying to wait it out to the finish. With 30 seconds left, Susie continued to wait it out as Matty tried to catch up. Susie pressed her hands together as Jeff Probst counted down the final seconds and she won her first immunity challenge of the game. Sugar lamented the fact that she underestimated Susie.

What about Bob? Bob said his goodbyes. Sugar cried and Matty told Bob he had no choice but to write Bob's name down. Susie repeated, to the point of apparently annoying people, how she was convinced she was going home before the final challenge. She said she could visualize herself winning. Matty and Sugar finally told Susie to stop talking about it.

Sugar thought up a last-second plan that could give Bob a shot. If she and Bob voted for Matty, and Matty and Susie voted for Bob, that would result in a tie and there would be a tie-breaking challenge between Bob and Matty. Bob said "that would be nice," and went for a walk on his own. Sugar was still torn, though, because she'd promised Matty she would never write his name down.

Bob found a place alone in the woods and practiced making fire, just in case that was the tie-breaking challenge. He said he didn't know why Sugar was being so nice to him, but hoped his final chance would come through.

Tribal Council #2: Bob again said he had a target on his back. Matty talked about how it was so close, he didn't want it to slip through his fingers. Sugar cried and said she felt like Matty was a brother and Bob was like a dad and she feels the same for them both. When Jeff asked Bob how it felt for Sugar to call him a father figure, Bob got choked up when he said, "I am a father, and I'm a damn good one." Sugar patted him on the knee. He said he had a good father, who gave him a good example, "and I think I've done a good job." The vote: Bob, Bob, Matty and ... Matty. It's a tie! And the tie-breaking challenge is making fire.

Light my fire: With a flint and steel, and a box of fire-making materials, the first person to make a fire high enough to break a rope would make the final. After some early struggles, Bob got what Jeff called "an inferno" going. Bob's rope broke first and he made it to the final.

There were mostly smiles from the jury, but when the camera flashed to the final three -- Bob, Susie and Sugar -- Susie looked a little bit ill.

Matty said he "grew up, quick" during the game and he wouldn't have traded it for the world.

Facing the jury: Sugar said she was afraid of the jury because, other than Marcus, she had something to do with the ousting of everyone. Hinting at the final, Ken said he thought Sugar played a good game, Randy said he didn't like any of them but said Sugar made some decent moves, and Corinne looked forward to the chance to give everyone a piece of her mind.

Opening statements: Susie told the jury said she felt like she deserved to win because she wanted to teach her son and her students how important it was to try.

Bob told them that for 38 days he hoped they wouldn't write down his name, but on Day 39 he hoped they would. He said he wanted to help make their lives better throughout the process.

Sugar admitted she had to lie and she had to sacrifice some innocents and said "played a pretty darn good game."

Questions from the jury: Charlie asked Sugar and Susie why they should vote for them. Susie said because she tried, and Sugar said, "I don't know. I don't necessarily think you have to vote for me, but it would be nice." Charlie then asked Bob if their intimate cuddling and spooning all night long was more enjoyable than he'd like to admit. Bob said, "Anybody warm at night, I don't give a hoot."

Crystal was up next and she called Susie a coattail rider. She told Bob that Sugar controlled him. He said he was riding coattails. She asked Sugar why she voted her out and Sugar said it was because of how she talked to people.

Kenny went next and asked Susie why she thought she deserved the $1 million. He said they were both underdogs. He told Sugar he opened up his heart and she "did really scar" him and it hurt. Sugar cried and told Ken she truly thought he was the bigger threat. He went back to the deal he made with Bob. Bob said he assumed that when he protected Ken, Ken would protect him. When he learned Ken wasn't going to protect Bob, he took the deal back. Ken said that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.

Corinne decided to try to turn the finale into "The Corinne Show" and asked Susie to remove her vocal cords (Susie said she wouldn't), asked Bob to be mean (he wasn't, really), and said terrible things about Sugar crying about her dead father, implying it was disingenuous. Sugar gave Corinne a hand-gesture in return that was blurred by the censors.

Marcus told Susie she shed her role as a role model. He then asked Sugar if she'd do something charitable with the $1 million. He asked Bob when he took responsibility for a choice he made and Bob said he didn't have to because people were making good decisions around him.

Randy asked Susie to elaborate on why she once said she felt sorry for him. She said it was because of the way he talked to people and said he wasn't happy, he was sad. Randy asked Sugar about why she made a jackass out of him. Her response was that she didn't have to make him look like a jackass, he did it himself and reiterated that he was a jerk the whole time. Randy asked Bob why he duped him with the fake idol and Bob said it wasn't his intent to make him look silly, he apologized and said he was outraged at Sugar's reaction.

Matty rounded it out by asking Susie why Sugar and Bob didn't deserve it. She said Sugar was mean to Randy and Bob snapped at her when she won the last immunity challenge. Matty asked Sugar to reveal something she did that was pure evil. She said it was breaking Kenny's heart.

To the vote: Jeff reminded the jury they were voting for a winner. Matty voted for Susie, Corinne wrote down Bob. Randy wrote down his vote, which was kept secret, and loudly said, "All three of you can kiss my..." as the group laughed. Kenny agonized over his vote, then finally wrote down a name.

The live finish: Jeff Probst walked in with the votes in hand. First vote, Bob. Susie. Susie. Susie. Bob. Bob. The votes were three apiece. The winner of "Survivor: Gabon" was ... Robert P. Crowley, making him the oldest winner in "Survivor" history.