I think that Joe and Julia's vote were playing favorites.
The bitter votes would have come from Scot and Cydney
Scot praised Michelle for getting tougher while Aubry cratered, but the frumpy nerd was the one kicking ass in the physical parts of challenges.
Don't know how Cydney voted, but if she voted Michelle strictly based on the previous tribal it just shows stupidity. It amazes me that people get angry for voting them out when they were targeting the person that voted for them. Not their fault you can't make fire 40 days after it being one of the most important aspects of your physical survival.
I thought this was a great season, especially pre-merge and for the fact that no one ran away with the game, until the last two episodes. Losing the villian(Jason) seemed to end what was a pretty strong season with some pretty good characters minus Joe and Julia.