Why Silas Lost

Silas went from the top of the world to having his torch snuffed out in only a single episode. It’s time to once again take a look at what happened in the game and how he and his fellows acted in comparison with my recommendations in What African Survivors Should Have Learned. It’s time to answer the question: Why did Silas lose?

As always, the first rule of Survivor is to scheme and plot. Silas definitely knew how to do that. He agreed to join the elders’ alliance, only to turn around and stick with the youngsters instead. He led the kiddies to continuing victory after Lindsey managed to beat Carl in the trivia tiebreaker. When he moved into his new tribe, he did his best to scheme again, first with Clarence, then with Ethan and the others.

But he broke the second rule about scheming and plotting too much. In writing that rule, I noted that if you scheme and plot too much, nobody will trust you. That was certainly the case here. First, the rest of the new Boran heard about Silas’s actions over in Samburu. Then they saw him talking to the others and trying to get votes cast pretty much any way but at him. By doing all of this, he even managed to convince Clarence that he wasn’t trustworthy.

Going along with this is the fourth rule about backstabbing before you absolutely need to. Silas stabbed the elders in the back early, and then kept gleefully plunging in the knife in both his actions and words. This came back to haunt him in his new tribe when they found out about his behavior.

Moving back to the third item, the order of voting off, we have now gotten to that part of the game where it is no longer necessary to vote off the weak for the security of your tribe. Or, should I say, that is what Boran thought until Probst talked about possibly not having a merge when would normally be expected. Indeed, Boran may have actually thrown the immunity challenge in order to get rid of Silas, because they felt he was a threat for various reasons. The new twist certainly threw things off a bit – if teams had stayed the same they probably still would have wanted to eliminate the weakest person in this round. But with the change, they felt it safe to get rid of a strong player. Indeed, it was not only safe, but highly advisable! They made a good move, and Silas was on the receiving end of it.

The fifth rule is that you need to pretend to be nice. Silas had this down for a while, but blew it after he received votes from the elders in the previous Tribal Council. He had tried to be the peacemaker when Lindsey got votes. He tried to be the coach. But when the votes came his way, he turned into a child, whining and calling the elders names. This again worked against him when it was relayed to the new Boran he had joined. This impression was further bolstered when he tried to take control of the new tribe in the immunity challenge, and in the way he talked about Frank to Ethan and others. They liked Frank; they did not like Silas.

Silas did well in one area – he did not form emotional bonds. Although he was strongly allied with the three kids still in Samburu, this didn’t stop him from sabotaging their efforts in the reward challenge. He was ready and willing to make new alliances – he just wasn’t able.

Finally, we get to the suggestion that you shouldn’t be lazy. Silas was certainly the hardest worker of the four kids on the original Samburu, but that isn’t exactly saying much. He earned the wrath of Frank and Teresa not just for his alliance and backstabbing, but for his – and his cohorts’ – laziness. It wasn’t the major factor, but it certainly helped set him apart from the elders.

When we look at all of this, we see that the deck was really stacked against Silas after the twist. He said he had all his cards laid out beforehand, but he simply didn’t figure on the producers shaking things up. Even without the shakeup, though, I don’t think Silas would have won. If things had gone along with the change, after the merge, Frank and/or Teresa (presuming either was left) would certainly have joined with Boran to get rid of the kiddie alliance. Silas, being the biggest threat, would have been the first to go. He may have kidded himself into thinking he was set to win, but it simply was not going to happen.

With the change, he was dead in the water. He lost his only friends and couldn’t make new ones because they didn’t trust him. He tried to scheme and plot, but it really only made things worse because he didn’t know how to do it properly. He was considered both untrustworthy and a threat. That is why Silas lost.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site and be registered for giveaways and special offers! You can find all of our articles about this show at the Survivor: Africa Page, and take a look at our sections on The Amazing Race and Mole 2. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For even more news about reality TV, be sure to check out RealityTVFans.com, SirLinksALot and the Manly Man!