Now that Edgardo is in the jury box, how will he be remembered? That may be the biggest mystery of all. Join along as Ken sorts it all out, all while offering his usual observations and questions.
On CSI, be it Las Vegas, New York, or Miami, the general format is, you see a body at the beginning, and at the end, you find out who killed them, why, and how they did it.
On Survivor, you see all the action first, and then at the very end, you see who gets “killed.” If the most recent episode were done like the crime drama, we would’ve started with Edgardo getting his walking papers. Then the episode would’ve progressed starting from the beginning.
At the very end, we would’ve seen Dreamz spot Mookie transferring the idol to Alex, and run and tell the others. From there, we would’ve seen Stacy (who knew?) come up with the idea to target Edgardo, since Dreamz might have been playing a trick. Then we would’ve seen the resulting Tribal Council and the shocked looks on the faces of Edgardo, Alex, and Mookie.
But of course, each episode of CSI usually stands on its own, whereas Survivor is more like an ongoing soap opera. And in this case, now that Edgardo is gone, we are left with more questions than ever about his time in the game and his departure from it.
First of all, who exactly was Edgardo? I’m not sure we really found out. In fact, in the first couple of episodes of the season, he got so little camera time, there was some question as to whether he was even part of the cast. And even when he did do something noteworthy, it was usually in relation to someone else, such as agreeing with Alex about being nice to Dreamz and Cassandra.
Was this editing on the part of the producers? I don’t think so, because in the reward challenge, he wasn’t the correct answer to any of the questions, and only received two votes the entire time. One was during the question of who smells the worst, and he received one vote - from himself! The other was when they were asked who had wasted this opportunity, and Dreamz put Edgardo’s name down; I’m not sure why Dreamz did that, but then, I’m not sure why he does anything.
The point is, I’m not sure the players in the game ever had a specific image of Edgardo, good or bad. If players were like grocery products, Ed would probably be in the generic section. Even his ouster had little to do with anything he said or did, but rather, was an attempt by five of the players to avoid being tricked.
Did his post-game interviews shed any light on things? Well, let’s take a look at some of his statements. When asked in his RNO interview about the repercussions of people picking on Stacy during the reward challenge, here was his reply:
“I think the actual reason she wanted me voted off was I voted for her in every single question we had. What she didn’t know was my strategy was to get every question wrong in the challenge – that way I didn’t have to break their tables and they wouldn’t vote me off. But I guess she took it too hard. I told her it was only strategy and I thought she could take it, but apparently she couldn’t.”
Well, let’s look at his assertion question by question. The first question asked who you would trust with your life, and he answered Alex. Well, maybe he meant he got every negative question wrong. Indeed, for question two, he named Stacy as the person he was least likely to invite to dinner, and per his strategy, he got it wrong. Same with question three, when he voted her as the person who most has a sense of entitlement.
On question four, when asked with whom he’d most like to be stranded on a desert island, he answered Yau-Man, as did almost everyone else. Unfortunately for Edgardo, he got this one right. Or was he actually trying to? If he was trying to miss on purpose, he failed to do so on this one. Then there was question five, which asked the players who they did not want to see again after the game. Yes, he answered Stacy, but everyone else did, too, and that was the right answer. If he really thought that would be the wrong answer, he again misfired.
Then they were asked who smelled the worst, and Edgardo put himself! If ever there was a time to put a woman’s name down, this was it, at least if you were trying to get it wrong. Then again, maybe he answered himself because he knew it probably wasn’t him. On question seven, when asked who mistakenly believes they’re controlling the game, he again put it Stacy, and again got it wrong. After that, he was eliminated.
When you break it down by question, his claim has some merit, although for a couple of the questions, he made some curious choices if he was hoping to get wrong answers. Now, was that the real reason Stacy voted him off, as he stated? Frankly, I doubt it. In all likelihood, it was all happening so fast that she didn’t have time to keep track of and absorb the fact that he put her name down four out of seven times, and on one of those, he was hardly the only one who did so.
What can we make of Edgardo’s comments about Cassandra? He stated that people weren’t figuring out that she was playing the game, and people thought she was being stupid when she was really playing everybody.
Let’s assume for a second that his assertion is true, and it may well be. If so, more power to her. If she’s so sly that they can’t figure out what she’s up to, maybe she deserves a spot in the final three. In fact, Edgardo was doing much the same thing by making Alex look like the decision maker while staying in the background. Edgardo just seems a little bitter that he got beaten at his own game. On one hand, he claims Cassandra wasn’t doing anything, but on the other, he says she was playing everybody. Hey, you can’t have it both ways, now can you?
As for his assertion that Stacy plotting to overthrow him was a desperation move to save herself, not strategy to move ahead, I say that if you can’t save yourself, you won’t be around to move ahead, so desperation or not, Stacy made a brilliant move.
Speaking of Stacy, my perceptions of her have shifted considerably with this last episode. When I watch, I make no pretense of trying to be impartial, and have tried with all my might to despise her, due to the way she treated Cassandra and Dreamz early on. But she did several things right and definitely deserves some props. First, there’s the aforementioned maneuvering she did to get Edgardo out. Maybe it was her first strategic move the entire game, but it was certainly a doozy, and it came at the right time.
Then there was her conduct at the reward challenge. She was the first one ousted, yet didn’t seem too bitter about it, at least not if the editing is to be believed. Then she was voted as the person nobody wanted to see after the game, but as far as we can see, she took it in stride. Yes, I know Edgardo says she took it too hard that he voted her for “every single question” (actually, just four of seven times, as we’ve demonstrated), but I have a feeling that if she had been bitter, we would’ve seen evidence, either by way of confessional or her moping around in camp.
Remember when Exile Island’s Courtney did just that after getting voted for several unfavorable categories? Well, we got none of that from Stacy, as least as far as we can see. Then again, maybe it’s because she already knew she was on the chopping block and wasn’t surprised to see people put her name down, whereas Courtney had a supposedly solid alliance and thought everyone liked her.
How interesting is it that Stacy and Boo have gone from being on the chopping block to getting nary a vote in the latest Tribal Council? Now, exactly how long Stacy will remain in the game, or how much chance she has of winning, is another matter, but for now she could be in a worse position.
One thing I will agree with Edgardo on wholeheartedly is his assertion that Dreamz has a big mouth, which leads to this question: What exactly is Dreamz’s strategy, and is he overplaying his hand? He’s made so many moves and countermoves that I’m not sure he knows which side he’s on.
Did he make the right move by telling the others about Mookie having the idol? Frankly, I’m not sure if matters, because regardless of which alliance he decided to stay with, his chances of winning look nil, as it seems like he’s trying to play everyone, and even if he makes the final three, there will probably be a few people ready to stick it to him, no matter what he does.
While Cassandra has indeed been quiet for much of the game, how impressive was her win at the reward challenge? Traditionally, this is the type of challenge others win for you, and it’s not the best thing, because you have to send someone to Exile Island. But make no mistake, Cassandra deserved this win, as she was the only person to answer every single question correctly. Maybe that’s the same kind of intuition that she’s used to play the game in her rather sly manner, and so far, it’s working.
Now, did she make the right decision by taking Boo, Dreamz, and Yau-Man along on the reward challenge? Well, she needed to solidify, or try to form, a bond with Boo, and since Dreamz is rather wishy-washy, she need to get him on her side of the fence. Now, I thought she’d take Dreamz, Yau-Man, and Earl, but maybe she’s confident in her bond with Earl. In any case, he didn’t seem to upset about not being picked, as opposed to Shane, who sulked and threw a childish tantrum when passed over by Cirie a couple of seasons back.
Finally, Yau-Man must again be noted for another excellent challenge performance, this time an individual one. This guy is starting more and more to remind me of the wise old man we saw in flashbacks on Kung Fu. Is there anything this guy can’t do? Don’t say win it all, because at this point, I certainly wouldn’t put it past him.
Well, the latest episode had enough moves and countermoves to bring back memories of a certain humor magazine’s Spy vs. Spy feature, and it looks as if the manipulation and subterfuge is only just starting. See you Thursday!
Ken is somewhere in Dallas looking to change the name of his hometown major league baseball team to the Texas Ranjayas, especially since they got no hits the same night of Sanjaya’s elimination. Meanwhile, he can be reached atYourNextOfKen@aol.com.
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