Why Teresa Lost

Well, it certainly wasn’t a surprise. The ruling Boran alliance eliminated the final original Samburu. In fact, it’s was so predictable that I’m actually writing 90% of this article at 4:15 in the afternoon – over three hours before we actually find out for certain that Teresa is, indeed, booted. (I would have started it earlier but I was busy on other things.) But, predictable or not, it’s still time to take a look back at my article, What African Survivors Should Have Learned to see what Teresa did right and wrong and, ultimately, why Teresa lost.

First and foremost is, of course, whether Teresa schemed and plotted. Indeed, there is no doubt that she did. She was in the core of the original Samburu elders alliance. She tried to get in good with the original Boran after the twist. She brought the original Samburu together and plotted to get Kelly on their side as well – though she was foiled by Brandon’s foolish move. She repeatedly tried to convince Kim J. to form an all-woman alliance. She basically did everything in her power to plan an overthrow of Lex & Company. Finally, she turned on Tom, trying to get Lex to believe Tom was the one who told Teresa to vote against him earlier (back when Lex was convinced it was Kelly). But it all went for naught. She was on the losing side and nobody wanted to do any scheming of their own with her.

Does this perhaps indicate that she schemed and plotted too much? Well, Teresa seemed to think so, indicated in the previous Tribal Council that she shouldn’t have formed such a strong alliance so early. But I suspect that was as much a statement meant to appease Brandon and Kim P. (in case Teresa might make it to the final two) as it was a statement of fact. She did, indeed, need to be in an early alliance. Those two Samburu alliances should not have been so overt and caused such a split, but alliances are a necessary part of the game. After that, it seems apparent that she did not scheme too much, as she was the last remaining Samburu. Many people wondered (myself included) why the Boran alliance didn’t dump her before Kim P., considering that Teresa was the one trying to stir things up. But for whatever reason, it didn’t happen.

She didn’t have to worry about backstabbing before she needed to because, well, she never stabbed anybody in the back (okay, she tried in this final episode as a last-gasp, but that certainly wasn’t too early!). Yes, her vote against Lex turned him into a raving maniac, but it wasn’t a backstab – she had never promised him anything. She did vote against Frank, and the show tried to play it up as if this was an abandonment, but interviews after the fact made it seem more that Frank knew it was coming and was fine with it – she needed to cast a vote against him to try to plot more with Kim J. and perhaps the others. But this rule doesn’t apply here.

Moving on, we see advice to pretend to be nice. Teresa didn’t need to pretend – she really is nice. She was the nicest of the elders when it came to dealing with the Samburu kiddies. She was well-liked enough by the Boran alliance to be the final Samburu allowed to remain. She had no problem here.

She did have a slight problem when it came to forming emotional bonds. She and Frank because close enough to be referred to almost as a single unit. Indeed, one reason she may have had trouble convincing Kim J. to come into an all-woman alliance is that Kim suspected Teresa would not turn on Frank. While she did cut him loose when it became obvious he was going anyway, it doesn’t overcome the fact that the bond she had with Frank may have interfered with her ability to plot a way to victory.

In the “don’t be lazy” area, Teresa certainly had no problem, so there really isn’t much more to say there.

But what about the others? Did they vote off the right person? Without a doubt, yes. They are in the final phase, where the last remaining non-allied person or people need to go. Lex, Ethan, Tom, and Kim J. held their alliance through thick and thin, through a switch in tribes and a merge and Lex’s gut and inner machinations. While I think Kim should have jumped ship a while ago, by now it was too late – she had to stick by the other Boran. Besides, Teresa would be a difficult opponent to beat in the final two, so none of them particularly wanted to be sitting next to her. She was the straggler, the lone wildebeest (to go back to last week’s metaphor). It was the right time for her to be removed from the tribe.

So, looking back, we see that Teresa did almost everything right. Her one problem was in forming not just an alliance, but a bond with Frank. It’s not possible to know for certain if this really hurt her case for the all-woman alliance or if Kim J. would have come up with some other excuse anyway. But it’s possible that it might have changed things just enough to make a difference. The main factor is that although she schemed and plotted with the best of them, she didn’t foresee Brandon’s betrayal. That brought the final downfall of all the Samburu, including their final member. In the end, that is why Teresa lost.

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