Why Sean Lost

I have to admit, I thought I’d be writing this particular column a long time ago. Sean has made so many mistakes along the path of Survivor play that it took a common enemy to get him as far as he got. So let’s look back, as always, at What Marquesan Survivors Should Have Learned, and see where he went wrong. Why did Sean lose?

There is one area where Sean actually did quite well – scheming and plotting. Indeed, it got him to the final five. He had originally voted against Sarah in the first Tribal Council, but then he saw that he needed Rob – and therefore Sarah – in order to survive. So he jumped into the lazyboy alliance in order to rid the tribe of anybody who even looked like they might be thinking of doing work.

When he was switched to Rotu, he went with his pals, Rob and Vee. Vee abandoned them almost immediately, but he stuck together with Rob. At first it looked like he would be leaving, as he rambled on and on about how he wasn’t going to work if they were just going to vote him out. Here’s where his first lucky break came. The Rotu Four decided the inscrutable Gabe was more dangerous than the obvious threat of Rob and Sean. So Sean stuck around. Then, Rob caused so much drama, it took the focus off of Sean. Second lucky break. Then, with the merge, the Rotu Four did themselves in with the now-infamous coconut-cutting immunity challenge. Sean had been trying to get Kathy on his side, and to bring Paschal and Neleh with. But it wasn’t until after that challenge that it finally happened. They had a common enemy, and so they banded together. That alliance lasted until this episode, although Sean seemed to be looking for a way to get rid of Neleh in the past couple votes.

So what about scheming and plotting too much or backstabbing too early or making the alliance too obvious? Well, his alliance with Vee was indeed too obvious, though I’m not sure there was much to be done about that by the time they were in the final five. He kept denying it, though, which made him look ridiculous. Indeed, he became his own worst enemy and just kept going on and on and on about it in an attempt to get Kathy to his side. He’d have been better served to just talk to her privately and then shut up. Does this fall into the category of scheming and plotting too much? Maybe. It’s not what I was thinking about at the time, but he definitely did talk about it too much.

One area where Sean definitely failed was in pretending to be nice. He spoke his mind, no matter what. He told off Gabe and other Rotus when he was moved into that tribe. He made fun of Neleh. He said all sorts of things that shot himself in the foot at his final Tribal Council. He simply could not hold up the diplomatic end of the bargain.

Similarly, he let his emotions get the better of him on numerous occasions. Sometimes he did the right thing game-wise by joining an alliance even though he didn’t necessarily really like somebody in it (such as with Sarah early on and then with Neleh later). But he allowed his emotions to run away and ranted on and on when he should not have done so. It simply didn’t help things.

Finally, he really blew it for the rule that says you shouldn’t be lazy. I don’t think much further explanation is necessary for anybody who has been watching the series. But it was definitely interesting to find that this episode held his very first attempt to find shellfish. Not exactly a great food provider.

What about Kathy? Did she make the right choice? Well, probably not. She should have focused on the “strong” members of their five-person alliance. She needed to get rid of people who could get votes from the jury – you simply do not want a nice person against you in the final two. This means she should have sided with Sean and Vee to get rid of Paschal and Neleh. Sean and Vee have fewer friends on the jury, and she could almost certainly have triumphed against either one in the final two. Plus, while it’s unlikely that Sean or Vee would stick with her for the final two, it’s slightly more likely than the same situation with Paschal and Neleh. So, she may have done the right thing morally and emotionally, but she did the wrong thing as far as the game is concerned. If she loses, it will in part because she allowed her emotions to get the better of her strategic mind.

So Sean failed on numerous fronts. He did try to scheme and plot, but as the other issues (laziness, inability to play well with others, running his mouth, etc.) built up, Kathy eventually found that she simply could not side with him. As noted in my recap article, he was his own worst enemy. And that is why Sean lost.

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