Why Patricia Lost

It’s time once again to take a look at the down side to Survivor -- the person who isn’t going to win, or even get to the merge. As always, we use my article, What Marquesan Survivors Should Have Learned, as the basis for our examination. Patricia managed to make it past the first vote, but not the second. To some, that alone is cause for surprise. But we’re not here to ask how she made it past the first one; we’re here to address why Patricia lost.

Jumping right into it, let’s look at the first key point – scheming and plotting. Um, well, from what we could tell, Patricia did none of this. Yes, she had allies, but we saw nothing to indicate she actually planned a specific alliance with Hunter and Gina. They all disliked Sarah and felt she was good for pretty much nothing, but we didn’t see Patricia going to anybody else to really talk about it. I think it’s safe to say she failed in this area.

It is also safe to say, therefore, that she didn’t have to worry about scheming and plotting too much or backstabbing too early. All of these are non-issues for Patricia.

What was not a non-issue, though (which would mean it was an issue, for those readers not accustomed to double-negatives), was the fourth rule: Pretend to be nice. Patricia managed to hide her bossy personality for three days, but after that she let it all hang out. Mom was on the loose, and there was no stopping her. It was B.B. and Debb all over again as she told people what to do, where to go, how to manage things, etc. The bit with her setting up trees for specific items to be placed took it just a step too far. While I certainly am no fan of Sarah’s, she was right in saying they are adults and don’t need to be treated that way. Well, okay, maybe Sarah did, but not the others. Patricia should have known that this sort of behavior was simply not going to cut it. Hell, anybody who watched any of the previous Survivor series should have known that. But she couldn’t manage to hide her true personality (or what appears to be her true personality, anyway).

The fifth rule, “Don’t Let Your Emotions Control You,” really didn’t come into play here. I guess her motherliness could be considered an emotion, but not by me. She didn’t do things out of spite or, in the reverse, out of affection. She did it because she was bossy.

As far as providing food and not being lazy, she was okay in these areas. She wasn’t exactly a hunter (or a Hunter), but she wasn’t one of the lazy ones, either. Indeed, her problem was that she was trying to spur the lazy ones into action, and it wasn’t working terribly well.

Finally, let’s look at how her fellow players should voted. According to the vote order, they should be looking for the weak links. Frankly, Patricia should have been tossed last week, rather than Peter. She even admitted she was too old and overweight. Peter was much more athletic and might have helped them in the boat challenge, though the fish-eating challenge would have been unaffected. Some of them may have realized this (as Rob seemed to) and that may have played into why she was voted off this time. But more likely it stemmed from the whole Mom thing. Still, should they have voted off Patricia or Sarah this time around? Sarah is younger and probably more likely to be able to do a good job in physical challenges, but Patricia could probably outsmart her easily in a mental game. Plus Patricia was actually doing work for the tribe. So was Patricia the weakest? It’s a tough call.

But when everything is added up, the answer to this article’s title becomes fairly clear. She was a weak link – even if she might not have been the weakest. She was also annoying – even though Sarah was also annoying for different reasons. In the end, I think it was the bossiness that lost the day for her. Had she stayed a bit under the radar, as she did the first three days, she might have made it through this vote. After all, Sean had voted for Sarah the previous time and might have done so again this time. But she couldn’t keep it inside. She had to tell people what to do. She had to be Mom. And that is why Patricia lost.

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