The Trust’s finale: Did strategy or sanctimoniousness win the game?

The Trust’s finale was “kill or be killed,” Tolú told us. That’s what I expected: some last-minute, cutthroat game play.

But no! It wasn’t all hugs and kisses and family and barbecue, but it was closer than I expected.

After using missions and the vault to screw with the players all season, the producers pulled way, way back.

As the final episode opened, Gaspare lied to the other players about voting for Lindsey, letting everyone think Tolú and Lindsey voted for each other, and Lindsey’s vote didn’t count.

Julie did the opposite, confessing first to Brian and then everyone else that she took the offer that he declined.

Brian stared at her with the fire of a thousand suns. He said he was furious “not for taking it, but for lying to us. I feel misled, used, and I feel exceedingly gullible,” Brian told us.

“This is someone that we elected to bring to the final with us, to share everything with us,” he said.

Gaspare said, “It does make people question: Is this person really here for the money, and not here for the greater good of the group?”

The what now? The elected to bring to the finale how now? I thought we were just all family and letting everyone stick around? Now we’re deciding who’s worthy? So we’re playing and just pretending not to, eh?

Yes, The Trust players’ rationale was slippery, at best. At worst, it was a misogynistic mess.

“They’ve not been trustful really at all,” Brian declared about the women. “Let’s face it: there’s potentially a lot of money on the table. Can someone like Julie and Tolú resist that temptation and that urge?”

I was bracing for a lecture: Damn women and their destruction of society. Fucking Eve! Was the apple that good, you harlot?!

Brian was not alone in this, as became evident after the players’ final trip to the vault.

For their final test, each player entered the vault, alone, where they were presented with an offer:

Name an amount up to $25,000 that you’d like to take from the trust. If you bid the highest number, it’s yours to keep.

The prize stood at $268,000, and I cannot believe the producers didn’t tempt them by making 100 percent of that available to bid on. (That’d be like when, on The Mole season 6, Joi bet $25,000 of the $28,500 the players earned.)

Taking $5,000 from each of the other players’ split is not that big a deal. Of course, it’s designed to create conflict and perhaps lead to the group voting someone out.

For me, it’d be an easy choice. Totally take the money, lie about it, and split the rest. Brooke assured each player that “no one will let you know unless you tell them,” and also said that if everyone declined, the money will remain.

“What’s the harm of taking some money?” Julie asked, but she did not, nor did Brian, Gaspare, Jake, and Julie. “I’m a man of integrity,” Jake said, “and I’m not going to let this offer buy me out.” Then he fell off his high horse.

“I’m the last hope for my family, and I’ve got to think of my parents,” Tolú said, and bid $25,000. “I do feel bad, though—no, not that bad.”

And she kept it a secret all the way to the end. “That’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” she said about telling anyone else.

When the players reunited, they jumped up and down and hugged over their decision not to take the offer. “Reformed tricksters,” Brian called Julie and Tolú.

“I am very, very sorry for misunderstanding the situation with Lindsey,” Brian later told Tolú. He held her hands and said “we got this” and she said “no vote.”

Earlier, Tolú told Brian, “You are one of the most genuinely kind—just oh my god, I’ve never, I honestly can say I’ve never met anyone as kind as you and Gaspare, and I just pray that the love you guys have poured into this house, I hope god blesses you tenfold.”

Brian condescendingly said “Tolú has very much grown.” No, she’s learned how to play you—or how she has no choice but to play your game now that her alliance has been decimated.

Meanwhile, Jake told Julie, “I really want you to know that I see you and I appreciate you and I value you.” Then they made out and mounted each other in the interview room.

Before the final trust ceremony, I was stunned Brooke did not tell the players the results of the vault. I expected she’d just tell them how much money remained, and let the accusations fly. After all, that could be because one person took the money, or because everyone bid.

But no: Brooke just left the players with envelopes to cast their final vote or choose to share the money.

She told them the total was $243,000 only after they’d voted, when the chance for retribution passed. I wonder if then any of them felt bad for not taking it, since there would be no game consequence, at least.

Before the vote, Julie thanked the men for letting her make mistakes. Gaspare looked across the table at the women and said, “you guys showed me people need chances to fix themselves.” Ugh, take that sanctimonious shit and throw it over a cliff.

The players actually did gather at the cliff’s edge, so that they could more easily push someone over after the votes were revealed.

When Brooke told them the prize amount— now less than when the game started—Brian said he turned down more than $40,000 throughout the game. “I just don’t understand the decision to come out of the vault and say otherwise,” he said.

Tolú pointed out “Brian has $30K already,” because he took and offer, though of course he framed that as protecting others, not enriching himself.

I so hoped Tolú would vote him out just for funsies.

Brian, Gaspare, and Jake also voted to share the money. Then it was Julie’s turn. Although she said, “I don’t feel safe,” she voted to share, too.

When Brooke asked Tolú about someone taking the $25,000, she did not confess, but said, “In all honesty? I’m not surprised. I don’t put anything past anybody.”

Earlier, Tolú said, “I know I have to trust my gut. She’s never steered me wrong,” which made me think she’d vote. But she, too, chose to share—a move that would both benefit her and keep her out of reality TV villain territory—and everyone hugged and celebrated what great people they are.

“There are truly genuine people in this world,” she told the other players. While this is true, I do not think the players in this game who sat up on their pedestals and judged other people are somehow more genuine than those who played the game.

Tolú is a great game player, and I’d love to see her on an even more strategic reality competition, something like The Devil’s Plan.

With the final five sharing the prize, they each won $48,600, less than the prize for a single episode of Fear Factor in 2001.

The Trust ended with Brian saying that he played the game with the most integrity and won the most, so his morality and game play were validated. Sure, dude; it definitely had nothing to do with that $30K offer you took while taking away others’ votes.

Everyone played the game, some more honestly than others, and one of the many interesting things about The Trust was how they created rules for themselves. That’s just one of the reasons I enjoyed this Netflix competition so much.

The totals for all players:

• Brian: $78,600
• Tolú: $73,600
• Julie: $63,600
• Gaspare: $48,600
• Jake: $48,600
• Jay: $25,000
• Winnie: $20,000