Ordinarily, the season finale of “Survivor” is a festive occasion. The contestants gather to reminisce about their time on an island off Fiji, and the winner is announced and awarded $1 million.

On Wednesday, it wasn’t so simple.

As the CBS competition show limped to the end of Season 39, it was still scoring ratings, making an unlikely return to the top 10 as the seventh-most-watched entertainment program on network television.

But the announcement of the latest winner capped a season that did not provide the usual escapist thrills. This “Survivor” offended die-hard fans and some former cast members because of how the show handled female contestants’ complaints of inappropriate touching against a male contestant.

For the first time, instead of airing live, the reunion special that is broadcast after the winner is announced was taped hours in advance. And as recently as a few days ago, a “Survivor” contestant who raised concerns about inappropriate touching, Kellee Kim, was not sure if she would be allowed to speak freely about her experience during the reunion.