What Cook Island Survivors Should Have Learned

8/12/2019 What Cook Island Survivors Should Have Learned

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What Cook Island Survivors Should Have Learned

Over the course of the past twelve seasons of Survivor, it should be obvious that contestants need to learn

certain rules to play by. Sure, sometimes the rules are broken and a person still succeeds, but more oftenthey work more or less perfectly, as they did for Brian and Chris. Building on all twelve series to date, here

is an newly updated look at what the Cook Island Survivors should have learned if they have been paying

attention.

This is the twelfth edition of an article looking ahead to what Survivor contestants should have known

before they set foot on the airplane that would take them away from the life they knew and to the life

given to them by ark Burnett. !ach time, players have more history to draw on as far as how they should

play the game " and how they shouldn#t " and thus this article gets modified appropriately. This time, we

have heard that a number of the players were recruited rather than coming through the usual route ofapplying to a show they have watched and love. This could be interesting because if they didn$t do their

homework, they might not know these rules. %e$ll find out soon enough&

In any case, it#s time to bring us all up to date and take a look at what the contestants on Survivor' Cook

Islands should have learned by the time they got there.

Since this is the ()th time around, players should definitely know by now what they can e*pect and how

they need to play the game " if they did their homework. There are some things players should have knownsince all the way back in the second edition, such as that this is a game, not a search for friendship. That

much should have been clear even when Colby decided that his friendship with Tina was worth more than a

million dollars +a decision earned him a eality T- all of Shame oment/. But as we saw a few seasons

ago in 0alau " this time with a all of Shame oment for Ian " some people still 1ust don$t get it. This game

is about winning a million dollars, period. 0eople should certainly know that by now.

2et$s take a few moments to look back at previous series and winners. In the first season, the best player

ended up with the pri3e +and was our first inductee into the eality T- all of 4ame/. Outside the game, he

turned out not to be nearly as clever as he thought he was, as he was convicted of ta* evasion, and then

became the first person inducted into both the all of 4ame and the eality T- all of Shame, but that

doesn$t take away from his game play.

It could be argued that Tina was the best player of Survivor 2, though she attributes much of it to luck, and

there is some cause to do so, though there is also plenty of reason to attribute it to her skills at dealing with

people +which is why she was also inducted into the all of 4ame/. 2uck has shown its face in other series as

well, and even Sandra, winner of 0earl Islands, said it played a huge role for her. But the effects of luck can

be minimi3ed, and that#s what this article is all about.


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Survivor: Africasaw some people revert to the cluelessness of the first series, owing mostly to those who

admitted they had not paid much attention to the first two +I wonder if we$ll see a reprise on the Cook

Islands/. !than, the winner, said that he watched the previous series5 Silas, who lost, said he hadn#t. There is

a big hint in that " but is it a hint everybody knows6 By now, frankly, there is no e*cuse for coming on

Survivor if you haven$t seen previous editions. 7es, that includes people who were recruited, because a

number of seasons are available on 8-8 now.

Survivor: Marquesasshowed us how to lose' 7ou lose by showing your hand and practically daring anybody

to go against you. 7ou lose by being obno*iously la3y. uch of the reasoning behind -ecepia#s win stems

from the irrational anger of several members in the otu 9 alliance who were tossed out by :eleh and

never forgave her for daring to want to win the game herself. %e did see that you can win by making

whatever alliances are necessary " even if you need to switch them at a moment#s notice. But in the end, it

went back to the otu 9.

Survivor: Thailandshowed us that even people who read these rules and try to follow them, like Shii ;nn

did +and she even on 1ust as it happened to ob

in the previous series. ;s mentioned earlier, Sandra herself admitted, in her interview with :O, that luck

played a ma1or role. But she did have some strategy in her willingness to sell her vote as long as it wasn$t

her. It wasn$t terribly satisfying to most fans of strategy, but it won her a million dollars. Still, there was

nothing to prevent anybody else from doing the same thing to her.

All-Starsshowed us a few things, though much of what went on there has to be taken with a grain of salt

because it was a special edition and almost everybody knew everybody else. ;s mentioned earlier, it


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showed that the Brian eidik strategy of promising different things to different people can still work " or at

least get you to the 4inal ? " you 1ust have to play it right.

Vanuatushowed us to never give up, no matter how much the odds seem stacked against you. It also

showed that if you continue to follow these rules while others around you fail to do so, you can still pull offthe win. Chris did everything he should have done in following these rules, and he was helped when the

women " especially 2eann and ;mi " messed up when they had the change to get rid of him, earning a all

of Shame oment for their troubles.

Palau showed us a few things. 4irst, the biggest threat can still win under the right circumstances. One of

those circumstances has to be that he is not simply a physical player, but also one with a brain. ;nd as

already mentioned earlier, 0alau also showed us that some people still view Survivor as an opportunity to

make new friends rather than a way to make a million dollars " and if you want to win, it$s a really bad idea.

Guatemala,like -anuatu, showed us never to give up. 8anni was a dead duck " the lone member of a

losing alliance. But she never gave up. She 1umped at a chance to save herself +earning her a eality T- all

of 4ame oment/ and took it day by day from there. She turned the game completely around, sending

home the powerful and climbing up from the depths to the win. ore importantly, 8anni also showed that

she knew the game was key, voting off friend afe to take the more vulnerable Stephenie to the final two

for a better chance at the win.

;nd !ile Islandshowed us how to survive when you$re not the best schemer and not the best at physicalchallenges, but you are the best at combining the two into a single person. ;ras won by having bigger

threats around him and knowing what to do with his position, while at the same time being a good enough

player for the 1ury to recogni3e his abilities.

;ll players should know that anybody who wants to be on the show needs to know a few things to survive.

In previous cases, hunting, fishing, and making fire were downplayed " though still important. In Survivor'

ar


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Truly, the mental game is what allows a player to make it to the end. ;s ob Cesternino said in the

interview mentioned earlier, I think the strategic part of the game is the most important. Even though the

physical part of the game is important, these are not X-games. This is the most amazing strategic game ever

created and that's here the fun in the game lies.!

%hat should the Survivor' Cook Islands contestants have learned6 2et#s take a look at these updated rules

for survival. !ach week, we will look back at this article and compare how each losing player did or did not

accomplish these goals.

1) Make Machiavelli Proud: Scheme and Plot

7es, this is still the primary rule, and unless ark Burnett really changes the game, it will be for as long as

Survivor is airing. ;s noted above, hunting and fishing are likely not very big issues5 instead, the real survivalskills necessary here are more along the lines of something you might learn from enaissance schemer

:iccolo achiavelli than anything you can get out of a survival book.

4rom the very beginning, you have to start making alliances and cementing relationships. nder normal

circumstances, it can be difficult to know whom you can trust after 1ust a couple days +witness what

happened to Del and ad 8og way back in Survivor ?, or more recently to organ and Brianna in

uatemala/, but either you do it or you$re gone. 2ater in the game you can rework alliances according to

what is necessary to stick around, but early on you should make use of whatever relationships present

themselves " if you don$t, you might not have to worry about what happens later in the game because you

won#t be around.

If there was any doubt about how important the early alliance is, it was erased by Survivor' -anuatu. The

younger men all fell


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their weakness was, well, a weakness. They did it through making alliances " and were also somewhat lucky

there were other scapegoats around. Similarly, la3iness would not be rewarded in a real island survival

situation, but ob, Sean, Sarah, and -ee had that in common on Survivor' ar


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the final two " eventually leading to his picking, and beating, Clay. But if the others had taken a great dislike

to elen, for e*ample, he could have simply changed his plan.

This was a risky maneuver because if, for e*ample, Ted and elen had talked about Brian on the reward

they earned, he might have been found out. Indeed, that$s e*actly what happened to 8eena in ;ma3on.Boston ob used a similar strategy in ;ll=Stars, but because that show involved pre=e*isting friendships, it

would have been difficult, if not impossible, for ob to win no matter whom he took to the 4inal ?5 of

course, he chose future wife ;mber, so in a way he won anyway. Chris used a similar maneuver at the end

of -anuatu, having alliances with two duos " Twila F Scout and >ulie F !li3a. e made them both feel

secure and then voted out >ulie F !li3a.

Cirie showed how to play a strategy like this perfectly when she voted off Courtney in her Triple 0lay. ;s

described in her eality T- all of 4ame oment, Cirie had three different groups voting three different

ways, thus putting her three=person alliance in control. She convinced each of the three groups that shewas really with them, while telling the other groups that she was faking out the other contestants. In doing

so, she convinced Terry and Courtney to target ;ras while Shane went after 8anielle. Then she, 8anielle,

and ;ras took out the real target, Courtney. nder normal circumstances, you need a ma1ority alliance to

ensure you take out your choice target, but Cirie worked things so she didn$t need the numbers " she had

the brains instead.

0art of plotting and scheming can also be making good use of sneakiness " witness Sandra hiding behind

the bushes in 0earl Islands and overhearing Burton and >on talking. She was able to use that information to

talk to upert +who mostly ignored it/ and Ti1uana +who changed her strategy based on it but then causedSandra to turn against her anyway/. ; corollary is that if you are going to plot and scheme, make sure

nobody else is listening " as occurred in ;ll=Stars when upert and >enna 2. were talking about booting

obG and ob walked up&

It should be noted that the best schemer does not always win. %hile this is the most important rule, it is

not the only one " and immunity challenges always have the possibility of messing things up, especially if

you reach the 4inal ). 4ollowing this rule will help you get to that point, but after that you$re on your own.

:ote that I have been talking about making alliances, not making friends. See ule 9, below, for advice

about friendships.

2) But Dont Scheme and Plot !oo Much"#ee$ %our Schemin& Secret"Dont Backsta' (ntil

%ou 'solutel* +eed !o

There#s a fine line that needs to be drawn. If you spend all your time scheming and plotting, and you try to

scheme and plot with everybody, everybody will know what you#re up to. In the end, nobody will trust you


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and they#ll turn on you. This is precisely what happened to Delly in the first season. She tried to be all things

to all people. Instead, it cost her everything when Susan turned from a trusted friend to a hated enemy.

It has happened again since then, of course. Clarence in the second season tried to plot with everybody and

nobody trusted him. Delly in the third series did not necessarily try to plot with everybody, but because shewas friendly and spent time with some of the others, she was seen as a potential traitor. %hile she did not

actually 1ump ship until it was obvious her shipmates were going to make her walk the plank, the seed had

already been planted in 2e*#s mind +or gut/ when Brandon helped it to grow. abriel in the fourth season

did something similar when he was friendly with ob and Sean and refused to swear a blood oath to stick

with >ohn#s otu 9 alliance. But then >ohn himself fell in part due to the same issue because he had made

deals " fake or real " with 1ust about everybody.

any viewers thought that ob C. from ;ma3on fell because of this flaw. But while he was definitely

scheming and plotting a lot, and everybody knew it, he managed to make everybody think that he wasbeing honest with them. >on in 0earl Islands somehow managed to pull off a similar feat, as did Boston ob

in ;ll=Stars. This is a method reminiscent of the one used by 8r. %ill on Big Brother ? and again by both >un

and ;lison on Big Brother 9. It takes a special kind of schemer to pull it off, and it$s not something I e*pect

to see work very often, but when it does, it can be pure poetry.

In the second series, 8ebb tried to scheme too much, too soon, and started spreading stories that >eff

wanted to be voted off. %hen this got back to >eff, it cemented the unanimous vote against 8ebb. In the

third series, Brandon violated this rule by 1umping from the Samburu H Delly alliance to 2e*#s camp. e did

indeed help get rid of Delly, but then 2e*#s cohorts decided that if a guy couldn#t even keep his word to hisoriginal team, he was not trustworthy enough to stay with them, either. Off he went.

%e#ve already mentioned Shii ;nn, who I think deserves a bit of special dispensation because she was

tricked by the producers. It#s easy for us to say she plotted and schemed too much +as she said herself/, but

the fact is that she was on the right track and then the train turned out to be heading in the wrong

direction.

There is also Christy from ;ma3on, who avoided any sort of plotting and scheming for most of the game,and then ended up being voted out because she did too much of it& She was approached by two opposing

alliances and refused to make a promise to either. Bad move. The opposition reali3ed they were both

vulnerable if she couldn$t tell them for sure and 1oined up to get rid of her instead& %hat$s worse is that

8olly duplicated this same mistake on -anuatu, also refusing to say which alliance she was going with,

which caused some people from each side to 1oin together against her.

;n important part of this rule is that players should not be open about their scheming. This part Shii ;nn

definitely did violate, as she flat=out told Den that she was going to 1oin with the other tribe. Similarly, the

Samburu split was obvious to one and all. On the other side, 2e* felt he needed to be honest to Clarenceand then again +at least partially/ to Delly before voting them off. Sorry, but that was the wrong move. 2ie


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to their faces, and then vote #em off. There is no reason to alert them to their impending doom " it only

gives them time to plot their own counterattack, which Delly almost successfully did against 2e*.

; similar situation presented itself in -anuatu, when some viewers thought Chris should have told >ulie and

!li3a straight=up that they were going home, rather than lying to them right up until they were voted out.owever, Chris knew that he had to lie to prevent a possible counter=attack, as he e*plained in his

eality:ewsOnline interview.

;s much as some targets say they want to know ahead of time, and as much as players might feel like it$s a

good idea to let them know in case they make it to the 4inal ? and have to face them at the 1ury, the fact of

the matter is that it$s better to risk it and at least get to the 4inal ? rather than giving your target an

opportunity to turn the tables.

ow do we know that it$s the wrong move6 Because in case there was any doubt, ;le* showed us on

;ma3on and then Ian showed us once again on 0alau. ;le* schemed and plotted too much, he didn$t keep

his scheming secret, and he backstabbed before he absolutely needed to. %ow " three for three. That$s

impressive. Impressively bad, that is. They are all related to one thing, though " his revealing to ob that he

would vote against ob in the final four. By doing this, he was looking too far ahead and scheming too

much. e obviously was not keeping it secret since he told the person he was planning to vote out, and he

backstabbed too early " he turned ob from a friend to a foe by taking out the knife, showing it to him, and

telling him e*actly where he planned to stick it in ob$s back. ad he 1ust kept his mouth shut, he would

have been in a much better position.

Ian$s issue was a bit different in that he 1ust couldn$t seem to keep his mouth shut. 4irst, he admitted to

Tom that it would have been a difficult decision on who to vote out if he had won immunity. Tom is a bright

guy and reali3ed that Ian might be doing some plotting outside the alliance. ;nd indeed he was " he told

the women he$d vote against Tom if Tom hadn$t won immunity. aybe it was 1ust talk " many people speak

of hypotheticals in the game " but hypotheticals can come back to haunt you. Ian found that out, as did

>ames in Big Brother . Then >udd faced the same problem in uatemala when he was trapped by 8anni

and 2ydia into saying things he shouldn$t have. Be careful who you$re talking to and what you$re talking

about at all times&

The downfall of the otu 9 in Survivor' ar


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his hand in a reward challenge and showed e*actly who he was standing with and who was on the opposite

side. Bad, bad move.

This also leads to a corollary to this rule, which is that if any alliances do get out in the open, do not let it be

known that you are the decision=maker " even to those within your own alliance, if possible& ich atchsucceeded in great part because he allowed his cohorts to believe they were making the decisions. On the

other hand, 2e* made it clear to the Boran Boys Club that he was in charge, and that caused problems. It

caused even more problems for >ohn of the otu 9. ;nd of course, we must recogni3e 8eena as she decided

;le* needed to go but the rest of her alliance didn$t think this was such a great idea " and got rid of her

instead&

I#m also going to bring in one more point regarding open scheming " couples. I#m talking about 1oining up

openly with another person for any reason, whether it#s loveKlust, a father=daughter type thing, or whatnot.

7es, a couple went to the final two of ;ll=Stars and another couple made it to the final two of Big Brother L,while Big Brother' ;ll=Stars had two showmance couples in its final four. owever, the first was a special

situation " friends allowing a relationship to continue when they should have been playing the game

instead " and the second was, well, 1ust strange. ;nd the third was strategy.

But in general, we have seen on reality T- that open partnerships are 1ust begging to be split up. If we are

looking to Big Brother L and seeing one couple succeeding there, we also have to look at two others +one a

dating couple, the other twins/ being broken up and booted out, and the whole of Big Brother , where

partners were specifically targeted. ;nd regg from 0alau showed us another violation of this rule in his

behavior when he hooked up with >enn as both a romantic couple and an alliance. This fact helped Ian andTom decide that regg was an appropriate target.

In summary, pairing up draws attention to both people and that can lead to votes. 0lus, it violates ule 9,

below, about not letting emotions control you. >ust don$t do it.

;nother point in discussing the open scheming takes us to 0eter, from Survivor' arerri until they had whittled down the numbers of Duchans to the

point that they felt safe. 4rankly, they weren#t really safe since ;mber could have 1oined the remaining

Duchans to overthrow the alliance, but things ended up working out. The same was true when the Borans

decided to get rid of Delly. In that case, they mistakenly thought Delly had betrayed them, but even if she

had, so what6 They were lucky to have the numbers to get rid of her, but sometimes you have to keep the


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person you don#t like for a little while longer if it means keeping the alliance +and therefore yourself/

secure.

Then in -anuatu, 2eann earned herself a eality T- all of Shame oment in part for violating this rule. She

had been annoyed by !li3a and felt she had the game in the palm of her hand. So rather than vote outChris, the last man standing, and then move on to others she wanted to dispense with, she went straight to

!li3a. ;s soon as !li3a was told what was going on, she 1umped ship and the tables were ulie and !li3a that he was on their side5 more

stunningly, even after he sent >ulie packing, Chris still made !li3a think he was standing with her& Similarly,the StephenieKafeK8anniK2ydia combo was good at this in uatemala, first sending >amie home without

telling >udd, then sending >udd without telling Cindy, and finally finishing with Cindy.

One follow=up' :ever provide the enemy with information. nlike most of the other sections, this one

usually won$t get you voted out right away, but it can make your life more difficult. There are many

opportunities in Survivor to accidentally give too much information to the other side. %e saw it way back in

the second series when Dimmi mentioned during a challenge that >eff had a vote against him. %hen the

merge came, that piece of information allowed the opposing tribe$s alliance to target >eff, knowing that he

would lose a tie=breaker.

; similar situation occurred on ;ma3on when >enna blabbed +and blabbed and blabbed/ to 8ave about

what was going on at the women$s tribe when they got together for their night of wine and showers. 8ave

pretty much kept his mouth shut, which allowed him to pick the new tribes with knowledge that >enna had

given him. OD, so she still won, but had she kept her mouth shut, 8ave would have had to guess on how to

create the new tribe, which would have made things more difficult for him.

;nd, of course, on -anuatu >ulie fed a variety of information to Chris. aybe she thought there wasnothing he could do with it. If so, she was very wrong.

,) Be -le.i'le/

%e$ve seen numerous times that following these guidelines by the letter of the law is not always the best

way to go, depending on specific situations. 0layers have to look at what$s going on around them and 1udge

the proper way to proceed. 4or e*ample, when you are in an alliance of la3ies, working hard may not be the

best idea. %e saw this on ;ma3on when ob C. had to work hard while in the tribe with oger but then laid

around when allied with >enna, eidi, and ;le*.


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;n even better e*ample is Boston ob in the two different series. On arudd saw immediately that he was in a dangerous

situation. ather than wait for the tie vote " or worse, somebody else switching sides " he 1umped right

into a new alliance with players who used to be on the opposing tribe. eanwhile, ary found himself

doing the same thing in the other switched=up tribe. ;ll of them did better because they were fle*ible

enough to see that they couldn$t simply stick with their original tribe and e*pect to win.

;nother point is that if you see that the ma1ority is leaning another way, by all means make sure you$re part

of that ma1ority. 7ou need to have your finger on the pulse of every member of your tribe. It$s not easy, but

it will help keep you around. sually it means you should do more listening than talking.

0aschal and :eleh did this in ar


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reg said in the very first series, you might 1ust have to break that kitten#s neck. Or she might be trying to

break yours.

In the first series, Susan thought she had a real friendship with Delly, but she eventually saw through that.

Those emotional bonds caused Susan to lose and to be viewed as an incredibly evil woman by many due toher final speech before the 1ury vote. The first series# Sean, the last non=alliance member to be voted off,

noted before his departure that these were the Emost conniving bunch of people I#ve ever met.E e added,

Ethere#s not an honest one in the bunch.E 4inally, he said that they were Ecallous, cold, and duplicitous

people.E e was right. ;nd the most duplicitous of them won.

eanwhile, Colby made a friend in Tina. %hile she did end up giving him some money to pay off his debts,

he could have had all of the money anyway if he had simply played the game. abriel, in the fourth series,

came to start a commune and be friends with everybody " he was the first one booted off of his tribe.

4riends are great, but this is a game show. :ow I already hear some people protesting, EBut !than made

friends, and he was a nice guy " and he won&E True, but he didn#t allow his friendships to interfere with his

play. e was friendly with a number of the contestants, but he voted #em off, one by one. e made

alliances and he stuck to #em. e did not allow his emotions to control his game play. %e can similarly look

at 8anni in uatemala, especially her final move in the game " she was great friends with afe, but when

the time came to choose friendship or money, she went with the money.

This is e*actly the opposite of what happened to Ian in 0alau. e made friends, especially with Tom andDatie. !ventually, they used that against him, whether as a strategy or 1ust because they were upset. Datie

repeatedly browbeat Ian into doing what she wanted him to do. ;nd Ian simply could not live with the idea

that he had disappointed Tom " so he earned a eality T- all of Shame oment by giving up in the final

immunity challenge and throwing the game away. >ust thinking about it still makes me ill.

:e*t we have the negative side of emotion " anger. Susan, in the incident discussed a few paragraphs ago,

let her anger get the better of her and it interfered with the proper way to play. 2e* did the same thing in

;frica, and it got in the way even more. e also did it on ;ll=Stars, of course, but by that time he was gone

anyway, so it only mattered as far as the 1ury vote and his future relationship +or lack thereof/ with otherplayers.

On Survivor' ;frica, Brandon so disliked 4rank that he refused to be in an alliance with him, and it cost him

a good chance at progression into the final four. handia +another all of Shame inductee/ really blew this

one out of the water with her accusations against Ted after she had already discussed them with him and

she had accepted his apology. She was simply too angry to let it be5 thus, she was voted off.

;ndrew was so upset at the Outcast twist on 0earl Islands that he could not bring himself to even pretendto be nice to 2ill, which made her that much more likely to abandon organ and give him the boot. ;nd


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several of the women were so determined to make a political statement in -anuatu that they would not

even consider aligning themselves with a man " which proved to be a big part of their downfall. ;nd on

uatemala, argaret and >udd so disliked each other that it became obvious one of them had to go "

unfortunately for argaret, >udd was the one with the alliance.

eanwhile, ;ma3on$s ob C. didn#t like oger, but that didn#t force him into doing something he would be

sorry for later. e had been verbally attacked by >enna and eidi, but when he saw that Christy#s vote was

unreliable, he had no problem approaching them with a new plan. %hether he liked a person or disliked a

person did not really matter " he went with what he felt was the best game plan to move him forward.

So we have two sides of the same coin here. Colby allowed his friendship with Tina to cost him MN,5

Ian allowed his friendship with Tom to cost him potentially more than that. 2e* allowed his anger to get the

better of him and tossed off somebody who could have remained a solid ally for a while. Contestants need

to achieve the proper balance and remain ob1ective. This is a game. 7ou wouldn#t allow emotion to rule in agame of >eopardy or %heel of 4ortune, so don#t do it when a million dollars are on the line. Besides, as

8anni noted, that pri3e money can really help your family if you so choose " and you$ve known them a lot

longer than your new best friend on Survivor.

;s a side note necessitated by Survivor ?, I guess I should add that you shouldn#t form emotional bonds

with any animals, either " especially if they will be food. This was one of the reasons Dimmi ended up

losing, though certainly not the only one.

) Pretend !o Be +ice"#ee$ %our Politics and Controversial Belie3s !o %oursel3

;s you#re making alliances, you have to pretend to be nice. It#s like diplomacy. Deep your real feelings

inside. In general, people aren#t going to ally themselves with you if they think you#re a 1erk or you#re

untrustworthy. 2ook at >erri and her behavior in the second series +for which she received a full induction

into the all of Shame/ as the prime e*ample. !ven if you do make it past that point and you somehow get

down to the final two, if the 1ury thinks you#re too much of an ass, you still don#t get the big money +such as

would have happened with Deith, had Colby used his brain " and as did happen with Clay against Brian,with Boston ob against ;mber, and with Twila against Chris/.

One person who really showed how this should be done was ob C. from ;ma3on. e recogni3ed that

Survivor is a game and that meant playing it " and playing other people. %hen others were pissed off at

oger, ob kissed up and did whatever he was told. e pretended to be nice but worked behind the scenes

to eliminate him. The same is true of how he dealt with 8ave. 4or all the times we heard ob talk about

8ave, it was all in private. ntil he saw the show, 8ave really never knew about it&


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But the perfect e*ample for ob is how he dealt with >enna, eidi, and ;le*. They were convinced he was a

friend for life. But he never let it color his vision of the game. e tossed ;le* as soon as it became obvious

that the alliance was a threat to him. e withstood a vicious verbal attack from >enna and eidi about how

he doesn#t treat people well. e got along with them when he needed to after that, but then called them

both half=wits in his speech voting off eidi. is private moments were the most revealing " but his skill in

dealing with people was shown when he was in public with them.

Chris did something similar on -anuatu, convincing >ulie that they had practically a brother=sister

relationship " she didn$t understand his true nature until the show aired and she saw what he was doing

and saying behind her back.

This applies to politics and other controversial beliefs as well. ;s Del noted in an interview with me, most

Survivor players are not on the far right wing politically. So it#s not terribly smart to start a discussion

blasting gun control and the liberal media, as 4rank did in Survivor' ;frica, even if you believe you are (Pcorrect. 4rank was probably going anyway at that vote, but it#s still 1ust not a good idea to give people any

reason to vote against you.

;nother good e*ample " dealing more with beliefs than politics " was 0eter of Survivor' ar


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;n earlier e*ample was unter in ar


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; third type of threat is strategic. 4or e*ample, if you have been studying reality T- strategy and have

watched every edition of this show to see who did what right and wrong, the last thing you want to do is let

people know that. They will see you as a gamer and a threat. If you have studied the game, never let on to

how much you know. sing Bobby from !*ile Island as another e*ample, viewers never once saw Bobby as

this type of player, and there is no indication the other players did either. 7et when he talked to me after

being voted off, he talked about his respect for the game and said, I consider myself a serious &urvivorstrategist.!e hid that in order to avoid being more of a threat.

This rule is, of course, especially important as you near the final four. If you are so well=liked or respected

for game play that nobody would want to face you in the final two, you probably won$t make it that far

+barring a series of immunity challenge wins/. ;ll we have to do is look at Terry and Cirie from !*ile Island to

see how true that is. There was no way either 8anielle or ;ras could face either Terry or Cirie in the finals,

so the only thing that could have saved them was an immunity challenge win.

6) Providin& -ood Wins llies " Dont Be La7*

ich was the main food provider of the first series with his spear fishing. %hile this was not the main

reason he won, it#s one of them. upert, of course, provided so much food for his 0earl Islands tribe that

they were actually full " something rather rare on Survivor. Tom and Ian caught fish, snakes, and Tom even

snatched a shark on 0alau. If any of these men were, for e*ample, as la3y as ervase when it came to

providing for others, his alliance might have turned on him.

It#s not 1ust fish, either. Several contestants in other series were ragged on for not going to look for any

food, like the tapioca roots of Season (. They also tried fishing with a pole in the middle of the day, which

was a complete waste of time. 0eople will like you if you provide them with food5 they won#t if you simply

eat the fruits of others# labor.

;dmittedly, this rule took a bit of a hit early on in Survivor' ar


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Occasionally, this rule can even help overcome some of the others. On uatemala, 2ydia was going to be

the first person voted out of her tribe, but her abilities to catch minnows and work hard around camp

helped persuade the already=formed +though rather loose/ alliance to get rid of organ and then Brianna

instead.

Thailand even showed that while the issue may not get you immediately voted out, it can make or break

you at the end. Clay lost in part because of his la3iness. Indeed, he also showed that you can$t 1ust ask if

work needs to be done " do it& ; smart player may tell you that it#s not necessary, don#t worry about it. But

it may come back to haunt you later. 4or e*ample, Brian told Clay he didn#t need help on various things, so

Clay continued to 1ust lie around. eanwhile, Brian was volunteering to help others, like elen, even when

she said it wasn#t necessary. e used work to help form a bond that took him to the winner#s circle, while

Clay was stuck in second.

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fell apart. In 0earl Islands, 8rake made the fatal error of throwing a challenge and then got rid of one of

their strongest members. organ rallied from the depths of despair and beat them time and time again.

%hat about cases like Survivor' ar


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Both Ducha and Ogakor reali3ed the need to vote off the strong in ;ustralia. nfortunately, that was not

necessarily the right strategy for their particular situation. Obviously, you need to be fle*ible. Ducha voted

as a bloc to try to get rid of Colby, Ogakor#s strongest member. But because they went into the merge with

eerri#s

problems with several other tribe members.

;s we have seen in -anuatu and a few previous seasons, some players have been thinking ahead and

deciding to vote off the strong before the merge. It$s not necessarily a bad plan, as long as you have enough

people in your tribe but outside your alliance to survive another vote if you are forced to have one before

the merge. owever, if it means you could end up cutting yourself down another person before the merge

because you$re weaker for the ne*t competition, you could put yourself in a dangerous position. Think long

and hard before doing something like this.

7ou need to go back to voting off the weak again after the unallied strong are gone. In this case, EweakEmeans the stragglers. These are the members of the herd who are left over with nobody to protect them.

ervase and Colleen were absolutely right to call themselves a target and a sitting duck, respectively. They

had no protection, and they knew it. They were weak, and they were removed by the alliance.

In Survivor' ;frica, Teresa knew she was in trouble and did everything she could to try to convince others "

especially Dim >. " to ally with her. It didn#t work, as we know, but it illustrates how the others were

correctly following this at the time. Similarly, Shii ;nn on ;ll=Stars pleaded her case but was summarily

voted off +after a stay of e*ecution due to an immunity challenge win/. In her case, some of the others

should have listened to her about switching sides, but nobody was willing to make that leap. In thearohn, the head of the otu 9 alliance, was cut off, the remaining three were picked off

one by one, and they knew it was coming, even though they begged for their game lives.

One group that failed to properly cut out the stragglers was the women on -anuatu. ;s we$ve already

discussed, rather than getting rid of the last man standing, Chris, they turned on their own and several of

them decided to target !li3a. This gave Twila and Scout " who had been looking for a way to turn the tables,

the opportunity they needed as they 1oined with Chris and !li3a to turn the game completely around. 8anni

managed to pull off a similar win after getting herself an immunity win and stay of e*ecution on uatemala,

and then getting the ma1ority alliance to turn inwards on itself rather than targeting her.

Once the stragglers are properly disposed of, the ne*t step should be to remove the EweakE members of

your own alliance " those who can be plucked out without completely fracturing it apart. In a way, it#s like

pulling cards out of a card house. Some can be removed without causing much of a problem. Others cause

the whole thing to collapse like, well, a house of cards. This is not always an option.

;fter the various weak members are gone, you need to refocus on the strong. In this case, the strong are

those who are members of your own alliance but threaten your chance in the end, either because they canwin the immunity challenges or because they are popular with the future 1ury. This is where the rule,


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above, about being too much of a threat comes into play. nfortunately, this is not an easy task because

the fact that they will be popular with the 1ury may mean they are popular with the rest of your alliance.

7ou need to be careful or else a suggestion like this could rebound and you could be the one voted out. See

8eena$s attempt to oust ;le* too early in ;ma3on. Still, it is in everybody else#s best interest to get rid of

such people.

One of the most important points to remember is that you want to be better thought of than the person

left with you in the final two. If the 1ury compares you and somebody they like more, you#re going to lose.

7ou want to look like an angel by comparison. If that$s not possible, you want to look like the best player.

It was in everybody else#s best interest to keep ichard around for the final two on the first series, because

he had been such an arrogant 1erk. This is why Delly correctly voted udy off when only the three of them

were left. But it still wasn#t enough. ichard#s achiavellian planning won out in large part because enough

voters concentrated on game play as opposed to personality.

It was in Tina and Colby#s interest to keep Deith around, for the same reason. ad that been the case, there

is no way Deith would have won. The only problem was that Colby let emotions get in the way of his

1udgment. :eleh was definitely correct to bring -ee, rather than Dathy, into the finals with her. ad the

otu 9 not been so vindictive and immature, :eleh would have won. Chris knew that he had to face Twila in

the -anuatu 1ury, because she was the most controversial player,! as he e*plained in his :O interview.

e was, of course, correct. Same with 8anni knowing she had to face off against Stephenie rather than the

well=liked afe in uatemala.

!he ake instead of her when he knew she was going. e made the others in his

alliance, mainly Brian, think he was doing this all to confuse >ake. But he had told 0enny he was on her side.

So what happened6 She was voted out and placed in the 1ury, ready to vote for Clay should he be in the4inal Two.

But even without going to e*tremes like that, you have to reali3e how important 1ury arguments are. In

fact, they are MN, important& So be prepared. Be ready to tell the 1ury why they should vote for you

and not for the other person. any Survivor winners have been decided by a single vote, which could have

been changed during that final Tribal Council. ;nd even ;ma3on, which was a landslide, was won in part by

>enna because atthew messed up his final arguments. %hile many of those on the 1ury were probably

already leaning towards >enna, atthew made sure they went that way. ;s ob C. said in an interview with

me, I personally also felt that atthe had a very poor final tri(al council shoing. #is openingstatements ere along the lines of, )I have played this game ith utter honesty and integrity,* and his


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4or this ()th go=round, the person who wants to win a million dollars will need to plan at least as well as

ichard, Brian, ob C., and Chris did, or stay as under the radar as Sandra and ;mber did " but put his or

her own twists into either plan in order to stay out of the line of fire. The Cook Island Survivor contestants

will need to use every ability to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast.

Documents

What Cook Island Survivors Should Have Learned