Count me with those surprised by the lack of any votes for Carolyn. Carolyn being Carolyn meant it was harder for others to trust her, made her annoying to be around, and after playing her idol for Carson, made her a huge target, even within her Tika alliance. Usually, people with her personality get voted out early, or if they survive to the end, they are the "they'll never win" person you want in final tribal. She was a legitimate threat to win.
Danny giving the credit to Heidi for voting him out was pure Soka homerism. Tika engineered that move. Heidi deserves credit for doing everything she possibly could, but it was way too little way too late for me.
Yam Yam was likeable and persuasive. He gets no credit from me for being a "you write my name down you go home" player. That is almost always a losing strategy. I do feel that Carson steered most of the Tika voting strategy, but since Carson voted for Yam Yam, I guess it wasn't a big deal. I do feel Yam Yam's skill set was easier to win with than Carolyn's.
Having seen Carolyn's and Yam Yam's final tribal, I think Carson easily wins if he makes it there. In hindsight, Tika should have targeted Heidi instead of Lauren at the final 5. I don't think Lauren wins the ball challenge, and I suspect her fire skills are not incendiary. That said, Carson had two chances to get into final tribal, and didn't get it done. Yam yam and Carolyn "earned" their way by being less of a threat to earn votes and more of a threat at fire.
It appears that the fire challenge to earn final tribal is here to stay. I was surprised that Carson was not better prepared for that, considering he practiced so many of the other challenges. Still, he had to face the fastest ever, so preparation may never have been enough. Weeding out the strong fire makers needs to figure in to end game strategy.