Why Lex Lost

He was the Rich Hatch of the third Survivor series. As such, I thought he had a good chance of managing to pull off a win. After watching the way the jury voted, I now see that I gave Kim J. far less credit than the jurors did. Maybe that was because she won two challenges in a row, but I think that, had Lex faced her in the end (as I predicted), she might have had a chance at winning (she disagrees – she said in the post-show reunion that although we saw him as the villain, those were things said in private, so people really did like him). So how did Lex get to the point where, essentially, there was virtually no way he could have won? Let’s take a look back at my article, What African Survivors Should Have Learned, and, as always, see what we can find out about why Lex lost.

Lex was the king of scheming and plotting this time. He definitely made Machiavelli proud. He formed an early alliance and stuck to it – at least unless he felt that somebody was going to stab him in the back (or had already done so). One place where he failed was in keeping secrets. He felt compelled to tell Clarence that the vote was going against him. This earned him a vote that could have come back to haunt him later (though it didn’t). He was certain that Kelly had cast the mystery vote against him, and rather than telling her the alliance was still solid, made it clear to her that she was on the outs. He lucked out when Brandon came over to his side, but again he could have ended up being tossed because he just couldn’t lie to her. Something to add to the next version of the article: Scheme and plot, and be quiet about it!

Did Lex scheme too much? He certainly did a lot of talking to various people, but I would have to say the answer to this question is “no.” He held to his alliance except when he thought it had already been violated. Indeed, even when he thought Tom had turned on him in the second-to-last episode, he still voted Teresa out instead because he had a deal. The same is true when it comes to the issue of backstabbing too soon. Yes, he stabbed Kelly in the back – but only because he was certain she had already done so. Was he wrong to do it? Yes. But that was an issue more of stupidity than of backstabbing.

While we weren’t able to see it, from Kim J.’s post-finale comments, mentioned above, it looks like Lex was actually pretty good at pretending to be nice. Although he said some really nasty things to the camera, he was able to get along with these people on a daily basis. However, one area he was not able to cover up was his self-satisfaction. He came to win. He apparently let it be known that he expected to win and thought he deserved it. Kim cited this as perhaps the main reason she decided to give the million to Ethan. Despite what Rich Hatch showed, an ego out in the open can come back to haunt you.

Lex did not form emotional bonds that got in the way of his voting. He had his alliance and that was the end of it. It could be said that his vote against Kelly was caused by a kind of reverse of this situation. He let his temper get the best of him and didn’t think about the consequences. Another point to add to the next version of the article.

Of course, laziness was never an issue with Lex. Like Tom, he was appalled at the Samburu camp after ending up there post-Twist. He did his share of the work and nobody ever complained about that aspect of him. It was a non-factor.

In making many of the voting decisions for the Boran alliance, Lex generally held to the proper order of voting. Obviously the one time he certainly did not was when he got rid of Kelly. Another time when he broke from his alliance was in the immediate aftermath. Brandon was untrustworthy. The others saw it and knew he needed to go. But Lex would have none of it. It could have fractured the alliance and caused more problems than it was worth.

But the alliance was strong. They banded together and let nothing stand in their way, making it to the final four. He had a shot at winning both immunity challenges. Hell, I thought the questions in “Fallen Comrades” were perfectly geared towards him, since one asked about a tattoo and another about piercing. But Kim beat him. Then, when Ethan fell out of the endurance challenge, I thought he could certainly outlast a 56-year-old. His own body turned on him there, with illness sapping his strength. This is no slam against Kim, who certainly showed she had great stamina, but I think that if he had been healthy, he would have won that challenge.

So it comes down to a strange combination of things. If we are to believe Kim – that Lex would have beaten her had it been the two of them in the finals – then we can blame his stomach. If we think he couldn’t have pulled that off no matter which of the other final four he faced, then we need to trace things back further. He alienated Kelly in an obvious manner. He stood by Brandon, but it’s questionable whether Brandon would have repaid that debt, considering the faces he was making in the jury box whenever Lex would speak. Several of the others saw his bad side, even if he did hide most of it from the other players. In all probability, it mostly comes down to a personality issue. He wanted to win so badly that the others soured on him. They didn’t dislike him as much as the viewing public did, but they – especially Kim J. – felt at least that he was not the best one to win. That is why Lex lost.

Even though Survivor: Africa is over, you can still order Survivor III, the Diary, by Mark Burnett

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