RNO Roundtable: Is Brandon an Idiot?

There are many different writers with different opinions here at RealityNewsOnline. You’ve seen this a couple times already in the Survivor: Africa RealityNewsOnline Preview Analysis before the show began, and more recently in The RealityNewsOnline Survivor Post-Merge Review. Now we’ve decided to make group articles more of a regular feature.

Each week, we will pick out one point from the previous Thursday’s episode. We’ll try to make it the most important or at least most-discussed feature of that episode. Whichever RealityNewsOnline writers have a strong opinion on the matter will then contribute their answer and reasoning (and maybe a prediction or two). We hope you enjoy this new feature and welcome your suggestions for questions (just make ‘em quick, or we may already be working on that week’s article). We also always welcome your feedback, whether you agree or disagree. Now let’s move on to this week’s issue.

David Bloomberg:

Is Brandon an idiot? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! We had the first-ever defection from one tribal alliance to another – something many of us have been calling for ever since Amber was left hanging when Jerri was voted off. But does Brandon take advantage of that defection to his team? No. He becomes a defect himself. (Yes, I know technically it’s “defector,” but let’s face it, he’s just a defect in this case.)

By staying with his alliance, he could have voted off Lex and made a pal of Kelly (who had shown she maintains allegiances – perhaps even too well). Then the Samburu + Kelly alliance could have picked off the others, one at a time. When the time was right, he could have teamed up with Kelly and Kim P. to vote off Frank and whomever else they wanted. Considering her opinions about Frank, it’s a lot more likely she would have teamed up with Kim P. and Brandon than with Frank in any way, shape, or form.

Yes, there is the possibility that after breaking the Boran alliance, Frank might have banded together with Tom, Ethan, Kim J., and Teresa. But Kim J. has indicated she has no love for Frank. And Frank has repeatedly talked about never breaking the honor of a handshake. So all Brandon would have had to do is to make a deal with Frank and shake on it. Of course, I doubt Brandon could stomach shaking hands with Frank, but that’s a personal problem on his part.

And, yes, as discussed in Survivor Insider, Brandon seems to “think” (I use the term loosely) that he can just go back and rejoin his Samburu pals to get rid of Lex & Company now. But who can trust him? If he wanted to pull off some grand plan, he should have talked to his allies first. Maybe they could have talked some sense into him and pointed out that Lex is a much bigger threat than Kelly! But that shouldn’t have even been necessary, since he should have figured that out for himself, and realized that Kelly would have been a good ally for him to have!

There are lots of possible scenarios, but the most likely one is that Samburu + Kelly would have stuck together as a unit after Lex was gone, and Brandon would have been in perfect position to coast into the final four. By screwing over Kelly and his Samburu teammates, Brandon proved that he is an idiot.

Charlie Reneke:

I think time will tell if Brandon made a stupid move or not, so I think David should stop writing his "Why Brandon Lost" article, which I'm told has been in the works since last Thursday.[Who squealed?! – Ed.] In any event, Brandon made a very gutsy move this last week, the results of which will be discovered next week. So, at this time, I will just outline three key points and let you, the reader, decide.

#1: Samburu is now even with Boran. If Samburu stays together, then Boran will be picked off one by one from this point forward. Of course, Samburu has no reason to trust Brandon, but then again, they had no reason to trust Kelly. In the event that Samburu can come together, then previously untouchable people like Kim Johnson and Ethan are dead where they stand.

#2: If Kelly could be swayed once, she could be swayed again. Brandon knew this, but the sudden inclusion of a member of Boran into the Samburu alliance might have blinded his fellow tribemates to the obvious. Simply put, I don't think any of them did the math and figured out that Brandon's plan was absolutely flawless. Next time they go to Tribal Council, if Lex has immunity, vote out Tom. Otherwise, vote out Lex. Either way, the tie goes to Samburu. Had Brandon followed Samburu and voted for Lex, what's to stop Kelly from switching back to her old tribe once the only person she wanted out was indeed eliminated? At this point, issues of trust, both in Boran and Samburu come about, but why? If Kelly tells Ethan, Tom, and Kim Johnson that she just couldn't take Lex's paranoia anymore and had to get him out, then I'm sure they would have let her back in the alliance. What would they have to lose? They would be grossly outnumbered at 5-3 otherwise. Likewise, Samburu might lose faith in Kelly and choose to vote for her rather then vote for Tom Buchanan, who would lose a tiebreaker to any original Samburu member. For once, Brandon saw the game through the eyes of everyone else, and tried to think of what everyone else was thinking.

#3: Brandon is now in the best position of the game. Boran has nothing to lose at this point, and targeting Brandon makes as much sense as targeting anyone else in Samburu. Now, please keep in mind that Boran is not stupid, they have in fact done the math, and yes, they know that their team is collectively dead if Brandon returns to Samburu. Samburu, on the other hand, knows that they are also dead if Brandon stays in Boran. Brandon can pick whichever side he wants, and he knows that either way he goes, he will go further then anyone expects him too. One way or another, Brandon is going to betray a team that put trust into him. Doing so will mean at least three people in the jury will hold a grudge against him. And if that is true, that must meant that Brandon would be a pretty valuable opponent to have in the finals. If a person is playing the game to win, like Lex, Kim Johnson, Teresa, or Ethan, then they might work hard to make sure Brandon is their opponent in the finals. If anyone but Lex uses this method, then Brandon would in fact have four people in the jury against him with Kelly, and that's enough to ensure a victory. Or so it would seem, because the potential is always there for a jury member to say "that was a good move, and you deserve to win because of it." Just ask Richard Hatch.

Of course, Brandon is not in an untouchable situation right now. Whichever team he betrays will no doubt stack votes against him in the following Tribal Councils, and that will only serve to help Teresa & Frank beat Brandon & Kim P. once Boran is dead. However, the situation with the votes can be avoided by jumping ship to Boran and staying there, where mini-alliances won't come into play at all and a tie-breaker won't decide who's torch gets snuffed. I hope Brandon took this all into consideration, because honestly I wouldn't mind seeing him walk away the winner after proving that he really was in it to win it.

I think it's quite sad that Brandon is being written off as an idiot before anyone waits to see how this plays out. Nobody takes into consideration that Brandon actually thought his strategy through. Message boards, talk shows, websites, and chatrooms have only focused on a negative results of Brandon's switch which haven't even happened yet. But, somehow, I simply can't find any negative thing happening to Brandon as a result of this. Brandon was not in a position to make it to the finals, and now he is. Had Brandon voted along with his team, what would stop Kelly from aligning with Teresa and Frank once the rest of Boran had been picked off? That's the sort of scenario Brandon escaped in episode three, and I'm sure he didn't want to be in a position where immunity was his only answer.

My official prediction for week nine: If Brandon wins immunity, then he goes to Boran, because it would be the perfect chance to show his undying loyalty to Boran and to piss off the remaining Samburu tribe. Remember, whatever team he doesn't choose he must also try to piss them off so that other contestants want him in the finals against themselves. If someone else wins immunity, then he will go with Samburu, and be picked off once Samburu is dead because he will have tons of votes stacked on him.

Survivor is always changing. At the moment Tribal Council ended in week eight, Brandon was the sole power in Africa. Brandon and Brandon alone will dictate who gets voted out in week nine. Brandon is in no danger of being voted out in week nine, because both teams need him too much. Time will tell if it is myself or the masses who end up with egg on their face. If I were to bet money, I would bet on myself writing an article for RealityNewsOnline after Survivor 3 ends. The title? "I Told you So."

Jeffrey Clinard:

Is Brandon an idiot? Yes. He was made an offer by Lex and his cronies to counter the deal he had with his original tribe. In the balance was the decision of Lex or Kelly. If he had written down "LEX," he'd have broken the Boran power structure and gotten rid of the heart of the Boran alliance. The balance of power would have been a 5-3 split, with the original Samburu tribe, plus Kelly, against Tom, Ethan, and Kim J. Among his allies he could count his only remaining arts and crafts (necklace makers) partner Kim P. as solid, but he'd be in a shaky alliance where he at least had some influence in the voting. Instead, he wrote "Kelly." He's now is hock with his original tribe, and he has no real position to influence the decisions of who goes in his new alliance. An alliance can only exist if each person in it believes it can take them to the end. Given that position, he was better off remaining loyal. Because he could not think clearly, he clearly acted like an idiot.

C. Brian Devinney:

Brandon -- an idiot? Plausible.

Boran -- a band of idiots? Bingo!

Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. I have no idea what to make of your decision to go against your team and vote off a weaker player. Somehow you decided that it was better to go against your former tribe members and hook up with a group that was only four members strong. Your tribe had already won Kelly over to vote against Lex so why go against them? Can't you see that Boran is imploding and taking out their own people? Samburu is golden. Let them kick off their own people and let your tribe just sit there ready to take them out at the first chance possible.

I know, I know. It really makes no sense. You were even told that you would place last on their loyalty totem pole and you STILL decided to go against them. But you still did it. Need I remind you that crack is not a breakfast food, Brandon?

But enough about you... you did what you had to do, I'm more upset about Boran going nuts on their own people. Have you learned nothing from Tagi and Ogakor?

First there was Clarence. Now, I can understand getting rid of him because he's the strongest player in the game. But think about it. Of the original Boran tribe, a whopping six members made it to the merge. No one was really going to let Clarence make it to the finals, but take out Frank before Clarence. Of the Samburu Tribe members, he was the one they should have taken out first.

Then there was Kelly. Now, Lex, you had no proof that Kelly cast the vote against you. And, honestly, I really hope that CBS and Mark Burnett shows us the exact moment where you learn that TERESA voted against you. Yes, that is the moment I am waiting for -- your comeuppance.

So who is next on the Boran target? Tom for being too nice to the ladies? Kim J. for parading in her thong too much? Ethan because his hair is resembling a troll doll more and more?

Brandon isn't an idiot. Boran is.

Melinda Smith:

Yes, Brandon is an idiot, because he was in a prime position to get everything he wanted, he just had to sit tight and play along. By staying with his original Samburu alliance, Kim P., Teresa, and Frank, plus the addition of Kelly, he could have turned on Boran and voted off Lex, the biggest alpha male. With the Boran alliance down to three players, the Samburus could have continued to pick off Boran (unless some of the Boran decided to ally with various Samburu and try to pick off other members). The other option for the Samburu alliance would have been to turn on one of their own, which would be Frank, whose only ally is Teresa. Picking off Frank is Brandon’s biggest wet dream right now. He could have had it all.

Brandon would be sitting pretty, he could just cast his vote, sit back, and watch the big guys go down. Now, he’s been sucked into the snake pit world of Lex, with no real friends or allies anymore, and will be universally mistrusted, if not reviled. It’s conceivable he could make it to the final four, since there are a lot bigger targets walking around than him, but he’s on the other players’ naughty lists and won’t go to the end.

Peggy Keller:

If we are to believe Mark Burnett's editing, then Brandon is for certain a complete idiot. But do we believe the editing? There have been too many issues in the past of other contestants who say they were edited to make them look stupid and weak.

• Linda claims she was not the Mother-Africa-shouting psycho she appeared to be.
• Lindsey claims she cried only a couple times AFTER the camera men made her talk about how much she missed her family and then spread the tears out over the whole hour to make it look like she was crying all the time.
• Diane and Lindsey have both said they required emergency medical attention but we never saw a bit of that.

According to his full confession at tribal council, Brandon is playing Lex, not Samburu:

• This was Brandon's idea – getting Kelly over to Samburu and then voting her off while stacking the Lex Vote Deck.
• Brandon sat up all night on guard spoon-feeding Lex the who what where and whys about Kelly voting against him.
• Brandon can now go back and vote the rest of Boran off. The only thing he did that may have been idiotic was to not let Samburu in the know. He may be able to convince them of their plan in a short time however, and once they understand it they will have to trust him.

The only idiot here is Lex for letting Brandon convince him that Kelly, his game-long partner, was the snake.

I predict that Lex will win immunity and Tom will be voted out (must be someone with votes against them and Ethan has none) this will cause Frank to cry (as per the previews) since Frank and Tom are apparently very close right now.

Susan Schechter:

Brandon may not be an idiot, but he is not playing smartly. You cannot have your bread buttered on both sides, and that is what Brandon is trying to do at the present. He thinks he can play both Boran and Samburu in his pocket, as he did in instigating the witch hunt against Kelly. The reasons for picking Kelly will never be known to us, other than if Brandon was still harboring some ill feelings for her finding out that Lindsey had the votes against her. Brandon is a very weak player, and he thinks by aligning himself with a stronger player (as Amber did with Jerri) this will be to his benefit. He does not realize that most people do not like Lex at all, and Brandon definitely has his head on the chopping block. He may very well be next.

Now... who will get the boot? My guess is Brandon. What he did will haunt him. Kim P. is not going to trust him, and if and when Teresa talks, people will realize what Brandon is. I think Tom is safe, because Tom is Tom. But then on the other hand, Lex could go, so really my guess is either Brandon or Lex. Lex is obnoxious. I am convinced Frank will make it to number two with the "Keith factor" the way Colby should have taken Keith to the finals and won, instead of taking Tina. I think actually Frank is playing it this way on purpose.

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