Survivor: Samoa – Why Mick Lost

Mick began the game as his tribe’s supposed leader, but the truth is that he was never in charge and was never more than a follower of Russell. Mind you, he was a good follower, never appearing to think independently – or at least not acting on it if he did. He knew a good thing when he saw it and he wasn’t going to rock the boat, even when he had a chance in the episodes leading up to the finale. He seemed to figure he could ride Russell to the end and perhaps win from there. So where did it go wrong? How did it go so far wrong that I wrote most of this article before the Survivor finale had even begun? Why did Mick lose?

I have four columns to write about losers and one about a winner, but all of them will get the same treatment – a walk through our usual path of What Samoan Survivors Should Have Learned. Time’s a-wasting, so let’s get to it!

The first question we need to address is whether Mick understood the need to plot and scheme – and if he did a good job of it. Frankly, it’s a bit hard to say. We didn’t see much of him doing it, other than agreeing with whatever Russell said and occasionally considering turning on Russell – but not going through with it. At least with Jaison and Natalie, we saw indications that they participated in the planning or heard about how they helped Russell out. We didn’t get either regarding Mick, even in his final statements to the jury.

However, he did tell me that he was an equal participant in the decision-making. He was obviously smart enough to hook up with Russell in the early goings, which certainly kept him around (if he had rejected Russell’s overtures, he would no doubt have ended up on the sidelines like so many others did before him). But he also admitted to me that there were opportunities to overthrow Russell and he simply never took advantage of them.

With this in mind, I think we can safely say he didn’t violate the second rule by scheming and plotting too much. He certainly didn’t backstab anybody in his alliance too soon – indeed, he waited too long and never got around to it, to the point that there was nothing left he could do but try to make a case for himself in front of the jury without really bringing strategy into it.

This is because he did not follow the third rule and use some flexibility in his plan. Yes, sticking with Russell got him far into a game that, quite frankly, the Foa Foans had no business still being in if the Galu had used an ounce of intelligence at the right times. But at some point, Mick had to realize that he was not going to win by standing by Russell. He should have known that he would either be booted to the curb before the final three or would be destroyed in final jury arguments (as did happen) because he had not been the strategic mastermind and really had nothing he could say to the jury other than, “I’m more likeable.” And considering he was up against Natalie as well, even the “I’m more likeable” card was bound to fail!

Mick should have found an appropriate time and place to jump ship, turn the tables, and blindside Russell. He needed to claim the leadership that was supposedly given to him at the beginning of the game and take charge of a new alliance, putting himself into a position where he could make a run at the win. Would it have been a risk? Yes. But it would have been less of a risk than sitting back and hoping that somehow, some way, he could win without making such a move.

Moving to the fourth rule, Mick seemed to do okay. He didn’t allow his emotions to override what he knew needed to be done… or did he? Why didn’t he turn on Russell? Was it due to the emotional attachment between the Foa Foa four – what Shambo described as their loyalty to one another? Maybe. It’s hard to say for sure. I suspect, though, that it was more due to physics than emotion. That is, Newton’s first law – a body in motion will tend to stay in motion unless there is another force acting upon it from outside. The Foa Foa foursome was in motion towards the end of the game and no outside force could act upon it. As such, it seems Mick (and the others) were loathe to act from within.

This is really nothing new on Survivor. Many allies have ridden superior players’ coattails throughout the game, hoping that somehow they could turn the tables at the end and claim the million dollars. But as so often has happened in the past, it happened again to Mick. He rode those coattails until they were pulled out from under him. Natalie rode those same coattails but managed

Mick did do well with the fifth rule, though, as he was probably the second most likeable Foa Foan at the merge (with Natalie being the first). That could have helped him in front of the final jury at the finale if he had managed to get there up against Jaison and Natalie, but even that was unlikely. As I just said, Natalie was definitely more well-liked among the jurors – and she showed some strategic ability.

So really, all his being nice did for Mick was to make him a threat to the other Foa Foans got closer to the end. We saw that his cohorts almost sent him packing last Thursday, when they decided on Shambo instead. In that case, him being better at challenges than Shambo actually worked in his favor, which is odd for this point in the game. But the fact was that none of the other three wanted to risk the possibility that Mick had been a nice enough guy to beat them with an emotional jury vote.

For Mick, we now enter the jury phase portion of these rules. Among the most important points there are that you need to have your jury arguments set and ready to explain why you should win. That really did not seem to be the case here. Mick’s points to the jury made it seem like he already figured he had lost and was happy just to be there – and that’s exactly how the jury responded.

Mick got himself into a good position early in the game by aligning with Russell. He wanted to ride his coattails to the end and take it from there. But he missed opportunities to turn the tables and take matters into his own hands. Sure, Natalie used a similar strategy, but she played a much better social game, getting to know people in a way he didn’t (as evidenced by Brett’s question to Mick at the final Tribal Council). So by just riding to the end, the best Mick could ever have hoped for in the situation he set up by not turning on Russell earlier was second place. And by having Natalie take first, that meant really the best possibility for Mick was where he ended up, in third. That is why Mick lost.

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