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So I’ve recently got into watching Survivor, and this season (Redemption Island) has been good, if for no other reason, than that the master strategist has exposed Survivor for the simple game that it is….that or exposed most of the players for the simpletons that they truly are for Survivor fans (which I’ve presumed that they are). I’m inclined to go with the latter.
BostonRob is playing these folks like fiddles, and his original tribe especially has no clue how to combat him. But more importantly, they don’t seem to know the basics of the game. Here are a few examples:
- Prior to merge, the winning tribe gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol, and this clue will be hidden somewhere in their reward. Why was he really the only person looking for it? His tribe members didn’t even mention looking for it. Once BostonRob found the idol, he started disposing of the clues he would find, which is genius. Why? Because if he allowed them to find the clues or become aware that there were clues, any good suspicious person would start to suspect that someone else may have found some clues at some point too (thereby making BostonRob look like more of a target since he’s played the game so many times). But a true Survivor fan would know to be searching for the idol, in secret, even without the clues. But they didn’t know to do that either. A disgrace to the game. Lol. One guy (Ralph) in the other tribe knew to do this, but that’s about all he knew, which brings me to my next point.
- Ralph and his tribe Zapatera have no clue how to use an immunity idol. It’s your most powerful asset to the game, but the key is to not let anyone know you have it. Why? Because then they’ll find a way to make you flush it. You’re essentially putting a target on your back. Ralph tried to use it to show his team that he’s loyal and was willing to use it to save one of them if need be. This is certainly admirable but not an altogether solid strategy because loyalty is only good for the short term. Being loyal may only get as far as the bottom 4 or 5, but not to the end (unless you win out). Why? Because people don’t want to take someone to the end that is more likeable than them. Loyalty = likability. This is precisely why BostonRob put out the hit TWICE on Matt.
- Playing the loyalty game too early and too hard has been Matt’s downfall. His only leverage in the game was his swing vote and he just gave it up willingly (in the name of his spiritual nature) to a tribe that had already proven that they had no need for his overly open and likable personality. His only chance now is to win at Redemption Island and align with the other tribe (assuming they aren’t all gone by then or change their allegiances), and even then it’ll still be hard for him. A good Survivor can’t stand up to likability when they know that only one person can and must win.
- BostonRob knows this logic all too well, and so what has he done? He’s made it a point to keep some simple, controversial personalities around in his camp to keep the pressure off himself. The rule of thumb is: as long as they’re off hating each other, they won’t have time to hate you. This is why he keeps Philip, Natalie, and Ashley around. None of them are too bright (at least at this point) to make it to the end on their own (except if they win out), and if Rob makes it to the end with them, he can use their personalities against them.
So…how can BostonRob lose? It can happen. Here’s some scenarios:
Someone finds out he has a hidden immunity idol.
The most feasible way they are gonna find this out is if the Zapatera strategy to kick off the veterans somehow begins to resonate with the Ometepe tribe. If they turn on BostonRob, and he finds out about it, he’ll use his idol. And then the next time, around, he’ll most certainly get voted out unless he can convince a few people that, because his veteran status won’t allow him to win it all, he’s worth taking to the end.
The other way someone can found out is if he tells one of the controversial people. Why would he do this? Presumably to convince them that he’ll use it on them when necessary if they choose not to vote him out. This will give him a better shot at taking at least one of the controversial people to the end where he can win against them. Phillip may not be the person to trust with this information since they know him to be a bit of a weasel, so Ashley or Natalie might work for this.
Another thing to consider is that getting rid of the controversial members of his original tribe puts BostonRob at risk because they’ll be able to talk about the decisions they made in the game at Ponderosa, which may come to reveal him for the ultimate strategist that he is. Right now he is unassuming. And that makes him likeable in the long term, unless someone decides that his deceiving ways are not worth of the million bucks. At this point, I don’t see that it isn’t worthy, as they are so far up his…but time will tell.
I found it very interesting that one lawyer left in the bunch thinks BostonRob’s most recent voting strategy was “genius”. Hmm.
Good Day World.
P.S. I too am a God-fearing Christian (in the filial sense), and love to give Him praise for all the wonderful blessings I have in this life, but can’t help but wonder if it’s appropriate for Matt use his spiritual beliefs as the construct for his Survivor play. It is a game after all. And on a general note, what does it really mean to thank God for succeeding (and winning) games? Are we essentially thanking Him that the loser wasn’t as fortunate? Or that we were better skilled? Or that the Lord was on our side? Is it really a blessing to win something so trivial? Is it really trivial? For example, if we spend our lives working towards something (such as professional athletes do), is it more meaningful to thank God then? Curiosity has struck me, if for no other reason than the Fred Phelps’ crew has been causing up quite a stir lately with their talk of rejoicing in such tragedies as the recent Japan quake and tsunami. On its face, this seems wrong, but they rejoice in the name of the Almighty, so this makes me think more critically about how we (as Christians) lead our everyday lives and how and/or when we apply our faith. Just a thought.
