It's fun thinking about Lex. Life is hell sitting in your living room with diarrhea. We think amusedly at what he's probably been going through thus far this morning.

But Ethan is the first to falter. He stumbles and grimaces and shakes and even stumbles. He's obviously having a tough time.

After two hours and 46 minutes he yanks one foot off the back stump. He doesn't even seem to understand what happened.

Lex looks queasy. Kim looks blissed out. She's calm and doesn't appear fatigued at all.

Finally, after three hours and 21 minutes Lex falls. He palsies in pain.

Kim wins, her second in a row! It's a remarkable victory, considering that she's always been more of a liability in physical challenges and she's absolutely trouncing two of the strongest competitors of all.

She fully understands.

"The final immunity challenge was not luck, was not being nice, was not any of the things I had done so far," says Kim. "That was something that came out of inside of me -- something that I have not seen, maybe ever."

Is this starting to look like a story to you?

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Now Kim has to make a decision. Will she take to the final round the likable Ethan or the disagreeable Lex?

It seems like a no-brainer to us. As we're fond of saying, the object of "Survivor" has always been to be the second most disagreeable person in the final vote.

From our position, the only problem with taking Lex to the final round is that he could make a strong, rational case that he played the game better than Kim and thus deserves to win.

Call it the Richard Hatch factor.

If she picks Ethan, on the other hand, she will be showing the Jury of the Damned that she cares about making sure that the good guy gets to the last round.

That's what happened last season when Colby brought Tina along.

Colby became an example to us all.

He also came in second.

Kim is torn apart. She calls it "probably one of the biggest decisions in my life" and "one of the hardest things I've ever had to do."

We're thinking that she can't have had a very hard life out there on Oyster Bay, Long Island.

Lex and Ethan are taking it pretty well. Neither one vies for Kim's vote. They both sympathize with her.

Kim says that she thinks both of them represent a threat in the final vote.

We cut to tribal council.

Jeff points out that Kim, "a 56-year-old grandma" kicked the young guy's asses. Ethan and Lex both tell Jeff that they just couldn't win.

Kim says that she hasn't made up her mind.

In his defense, Lex tells her to vote her heart. Ethan reminds her to vote what feels good.

They're no help at all.

Kim is crying as she writes a final ballot.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Lex, the evil, paranoid, overly tattooed weirdo, is out.

Lex and Ethan hug.

Ethan sits back down and nuzzles into Kim's armpit, right in the same place we watched her daub elephant-dung spiked water last week.

That's special.

Brandon, in the jury, wipes away a tear.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Lex thought he deserved it," says Kim. "I'm not sure that Ethan thought he deserved it, and maybe, ultimately, maybe that's what made the decision easier."

On their final day at camp -- abandoned in total disarray -- the two final survivors initial their water tank calendar and head out.

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