Surviving the Jury on Survivor

Questions about your opponent: One of the most interesting questions, in my opinion, that we’ve seen asked at final tribal council is why your opponent does not deserve to win. We’ve heard that question from Erin in Survivor: Thailand, from Rob in Survivor: Amazon, and from Tijuana in Survivor: Pearl Islands. For All-Stars, Shii Ann gave a slight variation on that question, asking Rob and Amber for three reasons their opponent should win. Palau juror Stephenie asked Katie why she should vote against Tom. Gary did the same thing as Shii Ann in Guatemala, as did Cirie in Exile Island.

Brian told Erin in Thailand that Clay did not deserve to win because he was lazy and did not do his fair share of work in camp. That was an easy answer for Brian, as he knew very well that most of the jurors considered Clay to be lazy, so he had another opportunity to remind them of that fact. Clay’s answer was a lot less clear. He said that Brian was a weak leader because he constantly needed to be validated and soothed by the others in his alliance about how the voting would go. I don’t think that’s a weakness—I think that is being a smart player and not taking anyone for granted.

In the Amazon, I think both Jenna and Matthew offered good reasons why the other player should lose. Matthew said that Jenna didn’t work as hard as he did around camp, and reminded everyone that just a few days prior, she had wanted to quit the game entirely. Jenna said that Matthew didn’t play the game from the start, opting instead to tag on to an alliance. Both answers certainly showed the other player’s weaknesses. Ultimately, Jenna showed that hard work at camp was not as important to the other players as strategy and game play were.

In the Pearl Islands, Lill told Tijuana that Sandra was disrespectful to the other players, rode Rupert’s coattails, and was constantly asking other players how to vote. That answer struck me as funny, because other than the part about being disrespectful, I think that those same accusations could have been made against Lill. Still, Sandra’s answer wasn’t nearly as good. She told the jurors that Lill voted every single one of them out. I think Sandra was still afraid that she would lose the game because Lill was considered such a nice person and she wanted to show them that Lill wasn’t so nice after all. I think she would have fared a lot better if she had pointed out that Lill was voted out of the game once already, and therefore did not survive the entire game like Sandra did. Instead, by pointing out the hand that Lill played in eliminating all of the other players, Sandra convinced Tijuana that Lill was actually a better tactician than she’d thought. Sandra’s answer cost her Tijuana’s vote.

Rob and Amber didn’t have much trouble saying nice things about each other, since the two of them were in the midst of a romance. Rob said that Amber was a true partner, never quit, and played a “straight-up” game. Amber said that Rob was stronger in challenges, was true to her, and was someone she could rely on. Amber’s argument for Rob was much weaker, which of course gave her the edge. The group of jurors convinced that Rob had screwed them over probably weren’t too impressed to hear that he was true to her! Shii Ann ended up voting for Amber, though I suspect she would have anyway, since she had earlier called Amber the mastermind of the game.

Katie told Stephenie that before the merge, Tom had told her that they’d have to do everything they could to get rid of her. Tom denied it, citing the secret alliance he’d had with her before. In the end, it was Tom’s word against, Katie’s, and we all know how that turned out!

Stephenie admitted that she and Gary had had an alliance at the beginning, but due to twists in the game, she was ultimately unable to honor it. It was an honest answer, one that showed due respect to the agreement she’d had with Gary. As for Danni she said that in addition to her alliance with Gary, she also allied herself with Rafe, which she says may have been unfair to him. She said she did what she had to do to stay in the game. Of course, it came as no surprise that Gary voted for his strong ally Danni.

Danielle told Cirie that Aras was an honorable and respectful person. Aras said that when he hurt his hand just before tribal council, Danielle was genuinely caring. Their answers were nice, but Cirie had undoubtedly already decided to stick with her ally, Aras.

Questions about other players: Jurors often ask the final two players questions about other deserving players. Jenna started the trend in the first season, asking which two contestants Kelly and Rich would put in their place. Richard said that Greg and Rudy were the most deserving, and Kelly named Sonja and Gretchen. Of the two answers, Richard’s was slightly better. Rudy was an extremely tough player, especially for a man his age, and Greg was considered an excellent outdoorsman. Kelly’s answer of Gretchen made sense—Gretchen was a natural leader with great survival skills. But Sonja was a more odd choice—she was the first player voted out, widely considered by her tribe to be too weak to play the game. Also, because she was voted out first, most of the players didn’t know her well, so they really couldn’t have had an emotional reaction to Kelly’s answer.