Summer Camp: The Winners...

Labor Day seems a fitting time to end Summer Camp, though perhaps a few more rounds would have made for a better end to the season. Nine competitors (eight in the final event) still seemed too many, and four or five people splitting $250,000 does cut the shares quite a bit. A much larger problem with this episode, however, is the extreme measures that it takes to make it appear that the activities shown over the past two months really did require that amount of time. Earlier in the season, several campers noted that the days roll right into one another, so it is likely the entire experience happened in three weeks or less. Minor nitpicks will also occur below, but one statement from the episode absolutely rang true... I also made life-long friends at camp, and I will forever cherish those experiences. Hopefully, at least a couple of the campers meant that.

Remaining Campers:
Rachel - 27, Wrightsville Beach, NC, "The Yogi." She has been Counselor once.
Michelle - 24, Lafayette, LA, "The Bayou Bodybuilder" (aka Hooters bartender). She has been Counselor once.
Lauren - 23, Woodbury, MN, "The Mean Girl." She plays men's hockey. She has been banished twice already. She has been Counselor once.
Brooke - 23, Salt Lake City, "The Model." She attended a Mormon summer camp growing up. She has been Counselor three times.

Moises, 25, Miami, "The Firefighter." Has been Counselor twice.
Mikey B., 26, Middleton, NY, "The Smart Ass." He lost his virginity at a camp.
Cameron - 23, Florence, KY, "The Cowboy." He's a virgin. He has been Counselor twice.
Chuck - 25, Dubois, PA, The "Sci-Fi Nerd," who is also an Eagle Scout. 
Chris - 25, Bronx. "The Class Clown" who teaches Special Ed and formerly attended Britney Spears' performing arts camp. He has been banished three times.

Summer Camp "Winner Takes All" (S01E08) [Season Finale]: Lauren still thinks that the guys did throw the last Color War. Even if none of her teammates believe her, Lauren is voted Counselor, as is Cameron (again!). There is no social this time, as the Color Wars will be a two-day Campathlon, the final event that will determine which team splits the $250,000 prize. This battle will include three head-to-head events and a team event, with head-to-head wins earning the team an extra 30 seconds in the final event, "Capture the Flag." [it was more of a play-on-words than anything resembling what most people consider Capture the Flag.] Plus, the team that loses two or more of the head-to-heads must lose a camper. [I had forgotten this would still happen.]

The campers who were booted off are back, and will be participating in the first head-to-head. [I really don't understand WHY they're back. They didn't really serve much of a purpose beyond participating in this round and then voting later on.] Everybody must drop their pants for 20 seconds, except each team's "panty raider," who tries to memorize the underwear in front of him/her to be able to find matching pairs in a messy cabin. Michelle gets six matches on her first try, only missing Cameron's pair. [that was pretty impressive!] Mikey B. gets two right the first time, then three more, then one more, all the while Michelle is still searching for the final pair. The trick was that both teams' final pairs were hidden in glassware, but Michelle was able to locate them faster.

The second challenge stuck campers in five sleeping bags that are held together with various knots. While forty feet in the air, Chuck and Rachel needed to undo each knot so the sleeping bags slipped off. [watching these be set up could have been interesting.] Chuck gets one off first, then Rachel. The second bags go similarly, but then Chuck gets the three remaining ones before Rachel gets any more, clinching the win for the men. [nobody should be surprised that the Magician Eagle Scout got out of some knots.]

Isabella Vosmikova/USA Network

Next up is a popsicle-eating contest, with the first to 12 winning. [that is a LOT of frozen desserts!] Moises and Brooke get right to it, and although it's even to start, Moises gets to 8 while Brooke is at 4, and he finishes the challenge when she is at 8. [I liked how Brooke was putting them on the table to soften/be less frozen.] Because that was the second loss for the girls, Lauren send two ladies for banishment: Rachel and Brooke, for losing their competitions. The guys unanimously vote to get rid of Brooke because she has it "more together" than Rachel. [I don't know that it really mattered at this point.]

Before the main event, everyone (former campers and current) votes for the Most Valuable Camper. Who played the best game AND made the time a blast? Everyone has different opinions on what that means, and it is later announced that Kyle was the winner, earning him a new Jeep [nice surprise prize, but I was upset that we didn't get the numbers. Even if it "wasn't close," I would have been interested in finding out who else earned votes, aside from the few we saw cast.]

The final battle has campers racing to a question station in camp, then answering that question (about the summer). Choose the answer by attaching a rope to your belt and heading for a bag of puzzle pieces. Only the right answer will have a long enough rope. There are five total stations, and once all of the bags have been gathered, the team must put together the puzzle, depicting the team's flag. [that would have been cooler if they had actually designed the flags themselves.] The guys' order: Chris, Mikey, Cameron, Moises, Chuck. The girls' order: Lauren, Michelle, Rachel, Lauren, Michelle. [having to repeat probably slowed them down quite a bit.] The guys take their 30-second lead, and they get all of the bags quicker. [that social tickets one was tough! kinda surprised that they both get that pool one on the first try!] Chuck takes control of the puzzle after a while, winning it for the guys. He plans to pay off his student loans and get a piano. [why didn't they show what anyone else would do with the money? also, for what it's worth, he went to Ithaca, so he could owe around $24,000, depending on a lot of factors, including how believable a random sampling of 100 graduates is...]