Why Robert Lost

The final member of the Rotu Four is now a member of the jury instead of where they had planned to be. Such is the game of Survivor. So what happened? We've looked at the other three in previous weeks, and now it's Robert's turn. So like the others, we'll look back at What Marquesan Survivors Should Have Learned to see what Robert did right, what Robert did wrong, and why Robert lost.

Robert, like the other three before him, did indeed follow the most important rule and plotted in an alliance. However, once that alliance fell apart because they all violated the second rule (see below), he was unwilling to adjust to his new situation. In fact, although he was a member of the Rotu Four alliance, it’s hard to even say that he did much of the scheming. John came to him and brought him into the group. After that, Robert just kind of rode it out. After John was voted out, Tammy tried to salvage their situation, but Robert just stalked off and sulked. When he was later approached by Kathy to try to turn the game around, he refused to consider voting against Paschal or Neleh, even to save his game “life.” Overall, if I were writing a report card for Robert, I’d have to give him a C- for plotting and scheming.

As noted above and in previous articles for the other members of his alliance, Robert failed to keep his alliance secret. Sure, it was mostly John who did the talking, but Robert was a full participant in the immunity challenge that showed one and all just what the planned pecking order was to be. He certainly didn’t scheme and plot too much, nor did he backstab too early (hell, he didn’t backstab at all), but he was part of an alliance that showed itself to its planned victims, causing the tables to be turned.

Next up in looking at Robert is whether he managed to pretend to be nice. Generally, the answer to this is “yes.” The exception, of course, is when he sulked following John’s boot. This could have caused him to be voted off two episodes sooner, had it not been for a unanimous feeling that Zoe was totally untrustworthy and a bigger threat. He lucked out, but that’s no excuse for the behavior.

Now we get to one of the main things that caused his downfall this episode: Don’t let your emotions control you. At first glance, this might not seem to apply to Robert. But think about it. He refused to vote against Paschal or Neleh instead of Sean, even though that would have helped him and could even have led to him winning the game. He didn’t like Sean, so he refused to join any alliance that included him as a part. This not only hurt Kathy’s chances, but was a death blow to Robert’s own. Everything else leading up to this point could have been erased if he had accepted Kathy’s plan and joined with the Sean/Vee team to eliminate Paschal and Neleh. But he wouldn’t. He said straight out that he couldn’t vote for Paschal and Neleh before Sean.

Yet if he had joined with those other three, they would have gotten rid of two of the most popular remaining contestants. Then he could have stayed with Kathy to try to get rid of Sean and Vee. It may well have come down to a tiebreaker, but if they won, he could have been in the final two, with three members of his old alliance sitting on the jury. Instead, he’s sitting with them – because he allowed his emotions to interfere with his game play.

Finally, we get to food providing and laziness. Robert was certainly not lazy. He fit in well with the worker-bee mentality of Rotu, even to the point of helping to win challenges after injuring his foot. He also knew that providing food was a way to stay in the game, as he told Tammy that if he caught a pig, there is no way anybody would vote him off. I think he may have overestimated the value of such a catch, but at least he was trying in that department. If only he had put as much effort into the plotting arena.

What about the others? Did they do the right thing by booting him? Well, this part of the game is in flux. He could have changed the outcome, but refused. As Kathy said, she saw him as a potential ally, but she had to go with the majority. That majority, while they may be sniping at each other internally and now will definitely have to turn in on themselves, saw in Robert a strong player who was not part of their alliance. He had to go.

Robert’s fate was placed into his own hands. Yes, he was part of the alliance that got torn apart because of their own obnoxiousness in advertising their existence and plan to rule the game. But Robert’s fate was not sealed until he absolutely refused to join with Kathy against Paschal and Neleh. He refused to play the game because of his feelings about Sean. That is why Robert lost.

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