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The Rio Novo river flows past both Survivor Tocantins tribe camps, base camp, and Ponderosa, and has hosted the first two challenges. That same challenge location will also host other challenges this season-unless the river rises too much, in which case there will be a number of land-based puzzles.

In Brazil, Survivor challenge producer John Kirhoffer told me that "for all of our river challenges coming up, we have back-ups: giant puzzles that we can do on land." That was because of the impending rainy season, and the show's previous experience with a river location: "When we were in Australia the first time, the rainy season came, and camp got flooded away, challenges got washed away," he said. "Also, if the river rises too much and becomes unsafe to put contestants in-that water, once you get some water flowing, it can be dangerous-if it becomes a state where it's just too dangerous to put people in, we'll just move inland and do some land challenges."

Because of the river, Kirhoffer said he prefers the Brazilian location-even though it makes his job more difficult. "One of the things about Gabon that I loved was we had carte blanche on wherever we wanted to go. We'd just drive around and if we saw an area that we wanted, all we had to do was go out and drive a stake in the ground and just start making stuff," he said.

But in Tocantins, "because it's a state park and the Brazilian environmental team is very serious about protecting their land, everything is a detailed process to get approvals. … Here, we find a place, we have to tell our location manager, we have to take pictures, GPS coordinates, and then details about what we're going to do. Then the government looks at it, they have a meeting about it, and then say whether we can or can't. Back there we could just take a backhoe and dig a pool in and not worry about it. Here, we need to leave roots; we can take a lawn mower and mow down to the roots, but we can't tear up the root structure because it's a desert environment and they have to make sure it grows back," he said.

The attention to detail on the challenges is pretty incredible, and not just in the intricate design of the props, puzzles, or whatever. After running the rehearsal of the first immunity challenge, I spent some time with the Dream Team, and at last week's challenge location, we walked in and stood on the mats, serving as stand-ins as Jeff Probst and producers talked about how it'd look. Before leaving, we were asked to fill sand bags that were going to be used to temporarily sink the floating buoys so that Basket Brawl wouldn't be visible in the helicopter shots of A River: Run Through It, the first immunity challenge. That's because they were right next to each other, just around a bend in the river.

As to the other challenges coming up, the only one I saw sitting around was the block challenge that will be on tonight's episode. But look for some familiar challenges, as Kirhoffer told me, "We're repeating a couple this season: we have the blindfolded challenge, we have an endurance challenge that we've done before."

I asked about repeating challenges, and he said he was initially reluctant to do the same challenge twice. "In the early days, I didn't like to repeat anything. [Executive producer] Mark [Burnett], from season two, was like, 'We can repeat this, we can repeat that. People love it, it's good to have staples.' Okay, but we'd rather come up with new stuff." Kirhoffer said that, at meetings, Burnett says, "'Every season, we need some classics, we need some classics.' And he's right, people at home they go, 'Oh, I remember when Rupert did this, I remember when Yau-Man did this.' So we have a few kick-ass classics," Kirhoffer said. "We always modify them a bit to represent the new area and the new season, so they're never identical, but they're close."

I also asked Kirhoffer if he takes the environment into consideration: Does the 120-degree heat affect how difficult the challenges are? "No friggin' way," he said. "We just make them as strenuous as ever."

Late last October, I talked to the Survivor Tocantins cast members in Brazil before the game started. I published highlights from those interviews and analysis of each contestant before the season began-but that was also before we really knew who they were or what they were going to do during the game.

So let's look back at those interviews with the final five and the jury:

Benjamin "Coach" Wade: I found this season's break-out star/douche to be "impossibly arrogant," but I was also swayed by his argument about changing the game so that the strong stayed around. My bad. I had no idea that he'd be such a ridiculous and predictable player, more concerned with himself than with strategy-one he abandoned that quickly but that he continues to rationalize, which fits in with his pattern of lying. The most ironic part of the interview: Coach told me JT was "pleading at [Coach] with [his] eyes to take [him] into the fold."

JT Thomas: JT clearly didn't need Coach, although I would never have predicted things ending up the other way around. I've decided there's a certain type of contestant who doesn't interview well and/or I can't read, but does well in the game. In Gabon, it was Matty; in Brazil, it was JT, who was kind of dull and didn't come across as smart as he thought he was, bragging that girls did his homework for him in college and that his mom filled out the application for the show. But he did say that "everybody likes me" and that he was a fan of the show, and that's clear since, in the game, he's been pretty damn brilliant.

Stephen Fishbach: JT and Stephen's alliance and friendship has been on of the more interesting yet completely unexpected parts of this season. I like Stephen in the game for all the same reasons I liked him before the game: He's smart, thoughtful, and amusing. Although he was worried about his physical abilities, he's done quite well, and last week's immunity challenge-when he memorized symbols by creating a system-was nothing short of amazing. He told me he "might backstab someone just for the fun of it, rather than for the logic of it," but so far, his game has been pretty logical.

Taj Johnson-George: For someone who responded to an e.mail looking for an NFL wife to appear on the show, Taj certainly has done impressively well. Taj told me she planned to "kill them with kindness" and use her "nurturing personality," and that has happened. She also told me, "I'll probably gain respect once I win-because I'm winning this." She may not win, but she certainly has gained respect, starting with her awesome Exile alliance, even if it didn't quite pay off.

Erinn Lobdell: That Erinn is still around is amazing, considering that she was an early Timbira target, but I'm glad because she was one of my favorite people. She talked about her "lost confidence" due to a break-up but also her preparation for the game; I'm not quite sure if either came into play during the game, because she remains a bit of a mystery as a player, but she adds a strong personality to a largely likable final group.

Debra Beebe: Despite being a middle school principal, Debbie told me, "I want to play an exciting game, and if that means manipulating, I will." She didn't do much manipulating until the end, when she and Coach lied about lying, and ultimately was probably more of the "clown," as she told me she intended to be.

Tyson Apostol: I found Tyson to be engaging and amusing, and he certainly was that way on the show, although many people found him to be too aggressively mean (his post-show response: "Jesus was loved and hated, too"). During our conversation, he predicted he'd be aggressive and hostile toward people that rubbed him the wrong way, which happened with Sierra, and also said, "I don't want to be the top dog." He wasn't, serving as Coach's number-two, which ultimately led him to get voted out. I'm sure he'll give us a memorable final Tribal Council speech, though.

Brendan Synnott: Brendan was friendly, thoughtful, smart, and articulate, yet a bit too cautious even with me-and ultimately, his unpredictability led the merged tribe to get rid of him. He knew everyone else knew he was a multimillionaire, thanks to his casting video being accidentally leaked, but that didn't seem to have an impact as much as his leadership-he said, "if I need to be [a leader], I will; I don't have a problem with it," but others did. He also said he "[doesn't] want to seem threatening," but that his cautiousness apparently led his tribemates to be concerned enough to vote him out.

Sierra Reed: Annoyed me then, still annoys me. I think my analysis (I called her the most aggressively obnoxious person") was validated when, within the first few minutes of the game, her team voted her out without having even spoken to her. Still, she didn't deserve the abuse Coach and Tyson gave her, and Coach ultimately proved himself to be more obnoxious in the game. But when someone recently asked me why her tribe dislikes her, I pointed out that I didn't like talking to her for 30 minutes, so I couldn't imagine living with her for 30 days.

This morning, I talked to Survivor Tocantins biggest character, Ben Wade, known on the show as Coach. He was by far the most entertaining and controversial player, and I was glad to finally be able to talk with him and challenge him on what we saw. He was friendly and even occasionally humble as he both defended himself and discussed his behavior.

Ben said that his "confidence perceived as arrogance was kind of my way to psyche myself up. I'm not really like that way in real life and I can certainly laugh at myself," adding that, "I don't mind laughing at myself." He said that it was difficult to watch others talk about him. "Watching the season and seeing people talk about me reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia, where … [Lucy] can actually hear what other people are thinking about her, and it just totally devastates her. But we know human nature and we know people are going to talk about you, especially when prompted every day by the producers to try to milk that."

Regarding the way the show brilliantly edited him, Ben said, "I came back thinking, 'Okay, I played with honor and integrity, I played like a noble warrior, I had some great philosophies coming in, I played different than a lot of characters have played, and I did stay true to my word. I never went against someone I had an alliance with." So when he watched, he said he thought, "what's this all about?" But Ben was ultimately okay with it because "it's probably going to be boring and I wouldn't get a lot of air time if I would have just been portrayed as a noble warrior. Instead, I created a character that was truly larger than life. It has been tough, but I also think it's made me a better man, as far as, I know who I am. It's been an up and down road. It's hurt me; I'm human," he said, and then quoted Nietzsche.

I asked him about his claim that he "created a character," pointing out that if he was not really himself and not authentic, that'd be contrary to his stated claim of being honest and living with integrity. Here's what he said: "I love your questions. Your articles sometimes have a negative spin toward me, but I think you're very smart and I like the questions you ask. This is a great question, and I'll say this: What you saw was one side of my personality that the editors wanted to portray. As far as who I am, that's one part of it. I am the coach, I am the person that can't be wrong, even though in real life, of course I can admit when I'm wrong."

Ben added that we didn't see him "encouraging everybody" and "giving away my food and eating a minimal amount in the morning and at night so the tribe is strong." The character was the "dragon slayer," and he said he thought, "that stuff, let's ham it up for the camera a little bit." As to his meditation (I almost typed "medication") and other mockable moments, he said that's "based on fact but definitely enlarged."

As to his other documented lies, Ben disputed them, of course. Addressing Jeff Probst's claim that Coach told the capture story during casting, he said, "I apologize, Jeff Probst, but you lied, I didn't tell that story in casting," saying instead that he summarized it ("I was captured by indigenous people in the Amazon"), adding that Probst's "attack on my character was a little bit chicken shit because he was just trying to stir up the pot." Ben said it takes more than 30 minutes to tell the story and that he knows who has heard it, and when he started telling that action hero movie story to his tribemates, "I knew that I would face ridicule" but "there was something in me that I knew that I had to."

We had only about 12 minutes, which isn't exactly enough time to go through each disputed claim, but it's clear to me that Ben believes everything he says is accurate. I started with his initial claim that he wanted to change the game forever by keeping the strong and getting rid of the weak, even though he sometimes did the opposite. He said he came "so close," and he said, "I know that I had an impact on this game." I challenged that, pointing out the way things turned out, and Ben said that will become clear during Sunday's finale, but "we can agree to disagree on this."

Speaking of the finale, I asked him about the player responsible for voting him out, and Ben called Stephen "a brilliant man" and said, "I respect his mind," but also said, "I always thought Stephen was sketchy; I don't want to say that in a negative way." Coach said that Stephen's vote "could have been a smart move, and it could not have been. Who's to say?" Had he stayed, "I don't think I would have been that much of a factor in physical challenges, because my body was broken at that point, but you never know."

Anyway, Ben's claim about holding the record for the longest solo kayaking expedition seems to get the most attention, especially once the editor of Canoe & Kayak magazine insisted that Ben does not hold that record. Here's what Ben told me: The editor of "Canoe & Kayak, he was not on Paul Caffyn's supposed 9,000 mile trip. Paul Caffyn is dead, he can't apply for the Guinness Book of World Records. The current record, by the way, is 245 miles, I think if you guys would have done your research, you would have seen that. I am applying for that record. I didn't take the trip to do a world record; I did it for myself to get closer to God. It was the media that sensationalized that. As far as breaking the world's record, did I break 245 miles? Yes. Is it documented? Yes. Nobody can question that." He added that "Paul Caffyn was a glory hog and he wanted to submit his articles to Canoe & Kayak; I didn't do that because that's not what my trip was about."

There's are the contradictions that bother me: Ben keeps repeating the claim-he did in our initial conversation-but then claims it was the media's fault; he says he did the trip "to get closer to God" and that attention isn't what he cares about but he's applying for the record. Later, having apparently looked it up, he said the record was 326.28 miles, and he said, "I hope you guys will now eat your words if, in fact, it turns out to be a quote Guinness Book World Record. I never said it was a quote Guinness Book World Record, I said it was a world record. I can debate this stuff all day."

The biggest lie he told during the show came when Coach and Debbie insisted Sierra had approached them about an alliance, even though we saw it happen the other way around. Coach told me, "I'll quote you: It's what we saw, it's not necessarily the real thing." He said that Sierra approached him a few days earlier about an alliance. Complimenting her, he said "she was absolutely brilliant, a rare moment of brilliance for Sierra when she laid out the whole game."

But Ben also acknowledged how it looked on TV. "When I watched the show and saw that become a gray area-whether it was because of editing, or because I was referring to that conversation two days before-it disappointed me. And I was disappointed in myself. I'm not perfect; I'm human. And I was grieved by the fact that it was construed that I lied about something." He said it was "completely blown out of proportion" and that "in my mind, I didn't [lie] at the time, but watching the episode," it suggested otherwise.

Ben said that being on the show and dealing with people's reactions, never mind being fired from his job, has "been a tough road for me, but now that everything's said and done, I'm very glad I did it. I think it's made me a better man, and it's allowed me to look at myself-even though it's a negative edit, a villain edit-from other people's eyes, and I think that's always good … because it makes you a better person."