An “Insider” Look at Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Episode 11, Part 1 – “I’m Just Not Destined to Win This Game”

Amanda’s Final Words

“Well, I’ve never been voted out before, so it’s kind of weird,” Amanda begins. She says the game was getting crazy – a little too crazy. “I made too many mistakes.” Amanda says that when you make too many mistakes, you get booted.

Amanda is pretty sure Candice and Sandra wanted Amanda gone. She thinks they are both afraid of some of the Villains and also of Amanda – because she’s a strategic player. Amanda says her biggest mistake was giving that immunity idol clue back to Danielle during the reward. But the game’s getting so crazy, Amanda’s at least a little glad she won’t be part of what happens next.

Amanda’s speech strikes me as coming from a pretty shocked place. I don’t believe she expected to be the Hero voted out tonight, despite her strategic nature. Amanda’s right she shouldn’t have given the clue back to Danielle – at least without reading it herself first!

Amanda the Day After

“I’m just not destined to win this game,” Amanda begins. “I had a brilliant plan. Candice messed it up!” Amanda goes on to say she’s noticed a lot of differences in herself this game. She’s accomplished a lot of things.

“Survivor’s like a mirror,” Amanda begins. The first two times she played, Amanda saw, “A lot of things about myself I didn’t like, that I wanted to change.” But in the past year and a half since the last time she played, Amanda says she’s been working on a lot of things in herself. “This time when I played, I really felt like I had more control and was more aggressive.”

Amanda says she was less worried about hurting feelings this time out and thought more of it as a game. “My line between the game and reality was solid, whereas before it was blurred.” Having that blurred line made it hard for her to play before.

Amanda’s strategy was to be a strong competitor and get into the dominant alliance then, after the merge, be in the power group. But Amanda says her strategy changes all the time in the game. “So my strategy really is to just put myself in the best spot possible.”

After J.T. was voted out, Amanda wanted to get back the majority. That’s why she worked so hard to get Sandra’s vote. If she hadn’t done that, she would have just flipped to the Villains. But she would have been playing Parvati and Russell’s game, and neither of them would want her at the end. She’s too strategic and good in challenges for that.

“I came here to win. When I put my mind to something, I always get it done.” Amanda said she was nervous before the vote. She thought a lot how she would feel about getting voted out. “I was disappointed.” Amanda acknowledges that you can re-think every move in the game and beat yourself up over and over, but people make mistakes. Amanda has decided to just laugh it off and go on.

It’s interesting that Amanda feels she had a much better attitude towards playing the game this time out, because from our standpoint as a viewer it still felt like she was playing a fairly passive (if strategic) game. But women in the game often have to be careful how they approach strategic play, as other players – often men, but not always – seem to get more quickly threatened by a female player who aggressively pushes her strategic agenda.

Still, Amanda’s “poor me” tell helped to bring her down – along with her not getting the immunity idol clue. Its good Amanda was aware of the need to play more aggressively to put herself in a position for the win. It just didn’t work out for her.

Amanda’s Sour Face

In this clip, Jerri interviews that Amanda has been mentioned as someone to possibly vote off, “Because she’s so shifty and I guess she’s been trying to pull some power plays for the past couple of days and none of us wants that to work out for her.”

Jerri continues, “And quite frankly I am tired of looking at her sour little face.” Jerri can never tell if Amanda is constipated or depressed. “She’s so negative and she’s always pulling the ‘poor me’ card.” Jerri doesn’t like women who can’t stand up for themselves.

Candice and Amanda let the guys control everything. “That would not fly at the Villain camp whatsoever.” Jerri doesn’t think those ladies can pee without asking the other for permission. Jerri’s ready for an all-Villain game because, “Then it would be really spicy.”

This is an interesting insight into what Jerri feels about the Heroes – particularly the Heroines – in the game. She seems clearly allied with her Villain cohorts in this clip.

Fayetteville

Candice interviews, “Sandra and I have both spent a lot of our lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina.” They both consider it their hometown. So, they have a possible alliance of two “hometown” folks going to the end together.

But they haven’t told anyone else that they are from the same town. “Sandra doesn’t want anyone to know.” Candice thinks Sandra finds it attractive to work with someone from the same place as her. Candice thinks that could work to her advantage in this game.

It is interesting that these two ladies have a hidden connection the others know nothing about. I lived 20 minutes outside Fayetteville for a few years. It’s not my favorite part of the country, but I can understand why this small, military town (home of Fort Bragg) could bond these two Southern ladies together.