Age before Beauty: Why Patricia Should Not Have Been Voted Out

Usually, Survivor tribe members like Patricia, an older, out-of-shape woman, deserve the early boot. Although Diane from S3 was the weakest of all the older women, they have all given the appearance of not being up to par with their younger counterparts. But Patricia Jackson did not really fit that mold. David Bloomberg discussed why Patricia was voted out, but did she deserve the boot?

This was actually easier to contemplate than most of the previous first bootees. Patricia was really Frank from S3 in drag. The fact that she got booted says an awful lot about the problems society has in general. Is it enough to get rid of someone simply because they are bossy? Well, no. Otherwise Frank would have been booted pre-merge. Sarah would have been booted last week. The problem comes when the bossy person happens to be an older woman.

As a thirty-something who is aging by the minute, it concerns me that older women are not viewed as wise, authority figures who have a good plan, but as bossy bitches. Hunter could have said the same exact things Patricia said, yet because he has a penis and a deeper voice, people would have been thinking: Wow, what a great leader that guy is.

Patricia, on the other hand, was trying to find a purpose in the tribe and because she was not sweet about it, she was booted. Should she have been? Well, she was working. It amazes me that the tribe members would boot someone who was obviously working her backside off while Miss Sarah, for almost an entire week now, has not done didly squat (or maybe she has done didly squat, if that's Rob's real name).

Patricia did not seem weak to me, not Diane-weak or Jessie-weak. And although she was bossy, it was not in that condescending way that Frank was bossy. They called her “Mom” for a reason. She sounded like one and how many of us can honestly say that our mothers are a lot cleaner, a lot more organized than we are?

I love going to my mom's house because I know their will always be clean towels that smell April fresh. I know there is toilet paper under the bathroom cabinet and that there is a clean coffee cup on the coffee cup rack and creamer in the fridge. At my house, trash overfills and overflows until we do rock-paper-scissors to see who has to take it out. Our dishes are used straight from the dishwasher and the towels are wet because we all forget to hang them up. Not only do I not have coffee creamer in my fridge, but I don't even have milk half the time – it's written in permanent marker on my shopping list. I always need milk since we tend to live on boxed cereal and not the perfect combination of protein, carbs, green vegetables, orange vegetables, and dessert like my mom serves.

When my mom comes over to my house, she tosses a toy aside before she sits on the couch (of which the cushions are all over the floor being used as part of a fort). She does not tell me how to live, but if I go over her house I know: Towels go on racks, dishes get rinsed. If I forget, she tells me. Patricia was trying to make the camp organized, she made the camp her home. And honestly, she did not really get voted out because she was bossy. She got voted out because Hunter thinks Sarah is worthless. Rob does not feel the same way – he convinced Sean to get rid of Patricia because Sean wants Hunter gone and thinks with Rob on his side – tit for tat – that next week they can get rid of the top dog and he can be the leader.

That is why Sarah will end up being the big villain of Survivor: Marquesas. She should have gotten booted this week but she did not. Next week she will be out for blood against Hunter and will convince Rob and Sean, and thus Vecepia, to boot him out too. And because Survivor fans know that to boot someone like Hunter out of the game so far before the merge is sacrilege, they will see Sarah as the Queen B, and I ain’t talking about no insect.

Sarah should have gone; she is bossy AND lazy. But because Rob is a horn dog, Sarah got to stay. What a fine lesson we continue to teach our children in Survivor: If you have fake breasts and can get a guy attracted to you, you don't have to do anything else in life. Be a Barbie Doll. People like Patricia can act just like you but because you are made of plastic you can go as far as you want in this life.

Watching what is unfolding on Survivor: Marquesas makes me hope that there will be more Colbys than Robs in this world.

Peggy Keller is Mother and Behavior Therapist to her two autistic sons and teenage daughter.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site and be registered for giveaways and special offers! You can find all of our articles about this show at the Survivor: Marquesas Page, and take a look at our sections on Reality TV Interviews and Combat Missions. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For even more news about reality TV, be sure to check out RealityTVFans.com, SirLinksALot and the Manly Man!