Why Jessie Lost

For the second time in a row, Boran said goodbye to one of their fellow members. For the second time in a row, it was the weakest, sickest person who was voted out. For the second time in a row, this is going to be one easy column to write.

As you will recall from last week, this column takes a look at each week’s loser and compares their actions to what I said contestants of Survivor: Africa should do in What African Survivors Should Have Learned. So let’s begin.

First and foremost, we have the plotting and scheming. There was a fair bit of this going around this week, but very little of it involved Jessie. Sure, she talked to Kim about how the guys wanted to throw out the girls, but a fat lot of good it ended up doing her, since even Kim voted against her! It seems Jessie was too busy being sick to really put a lot of effort into scheming, and it’s unlikely that anybody would really have wanted to risk an alliance with such a weak person anyway.

Besides, a number of them were looking for scapegoats. Clarence was probably willing to go along with a group vote against anybody other than himself. Kim needed to keep the focus off of her after she caused them to lose the reward challenge. Kelly similarly needed to keep everybody thinking about somebody else after she failed in the immunity challenge. And the guys were already thinking about getting rid of the weak (as well they should – see below). Jessie was in a hole and was unlikely to climb out.

She certainly didn’t have to worry about scheming too much, so we can skip that one. Her fellow tribe members took the proper advice and, as they had with Diane in the previous vote, got rid of the weak. As much as they distrusted Clarence, they needed him. Even the one vote (other than Jessie's) against Clarence – again cast by Tom – was only to show him that they hadn’t forgotten and to keep him in line. They needed to get rid of the person who was most hurting their chances. Even though Kim fell down and Kelly couldn’t chug, they properly assessed the situation and realized that Jessie was the weakest link. Goodbye. Oh, sorry, wrong show.

Jessie obviously didn’t backstab, but it might be considered that Kim did. I don’t know that there was a real alliance there, but did Kim need to backstab this early? I’d say she did. Sticking by Jessie would have been a deathwish for her, just as sticking by Mad Dog would have been one for Tina in Survivor 2.

What about the fifth recommendation, pretending to be nice. From what little we saw, it didn’t look like Jessie had to pretend. When she wasn’t vomiting on somebody, I’m sure she was pleasant to be around. But it wasn’t enough.

She also didn’t have to worry about forming emotional bonds. Again, the others did the right thing by ignoring their own friendly feelings toward her and getting rid of her when they should have. They did exactly what they needed to do.

Finally, although Jessie was not viewed as lazy (which afflicted Ramona a bit when she similarly was sick in the first series), the others knew that she couldn’t really help. She talked to Kim about how she carried an empty water jug to the spring. Oooooh. Big help there. Sorry, Jessie, that just wasn’t going to cut it.

In the end, the Boran tribe decided that a strong back attached to a liar was more important than a weak and sick honest and nice person. And that is why Jessie lost.

If you haven’t already, make sure to read the episode 2 recap!

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