Survivor: Thailand – Why Jed Lost

Sometimes it really seems that Survivor contestants must get lobotomies once they arrive at camp – or at least they have amnesia and forget about what happened on previous series. Jed is a perfect example of this. Let’s take our weekly look back at What Thai Survivors Should Have Learned to see where Jed went wrong and why Jed lost.

The first rule, as always, is to plot and scheme. From what we saw, Jed didn’t do any of this. He was so out of the loop that he was shocked at being voted out – he said he never saw it coming. Then again, considering he couldn’t see the fishing net, maybe he just has vision problems in general. But the point is that if he had tried to do a little bit of talking, he might have been able to use the tribe’s anger at other members and perhaps point them in a different direction. It only would have taken a couple votes.

He obviously didn’t plot and scheme too much, so let’s move on. Unfortunately, he also didn’t do much in the way of pretending to be nice. When the others worked, he found something else to do. When they finally agreed to get food, he decided not to do that. When he wanted to use the shelter, he just moved in and said the other should recognize that he has the right to use it. What he didn’t do in these cases was talk to the others and try to smooth things over. He acted like they should just recognize his motives as valid. For somebody who is going to be a dentist, he doesn’t have much of a bedside manner. I hope he talks to patients and explains their situation better than he did on the island.

One of the few emotions we saw from him was exasperation – though he caused more among the others than he had any right to feel himself. Was he controlled by this emotion? Somewhat, but that’s not really what the fourth rule is all about, so we’ll move on ahead.

Now we get to the key – don’t be lazy. Every season, it seems, somebody falls prey to this particular one. Most people realize it isn’t a good idea, but Jed apparently thought differently. Or maybe he thought that since the lazies in Maraamu and Samburu won out within their tribes for a while (and Vee eventually won) that things would be the same here. The problem is that those tribes had enough lazy people to form alliances. He did not. And he stuck out like a sore thumb – or should I say a sore tooth?

But what about the others – did they make the right move? Well, yes and no. They should have voted off the weakest member. We didn’t see anything about Stephanie’s illness still playing a role, so we can only assume that she’s better now. Jed was the one who contributed the least, making him a viable candidate for the weakest. Robb is definitely the weakest where IQ and personality come into play, but I think his high energy just somehow keeps people from targeting him. I’d say it was probably a toss-up between Jed and Robb, and since Jed hurt them both physically and emotionally, rather than just the emotional toll Robb takes, they were probably right to dump him.

Jed had numerous problems playing well with others. He didn’t want to build a shelter when they were building it – saying food is important. When the others wanted to get food, he decided to stay back at camp. Then he appeared to take many things for granted and just thought the others should get over it. Well, they didn’t. In Survivor, you can’t be a loner who just assumes others will decrypt your motives and bow down to you. Delegating work, helping to lose the net, and various other things only contributed to an already poor image people had. When one thing piles on top of another to the point that the tribe is willing to throw an immunity challenge to get rid of you, that’s pretty bad. And that is why Jed lost.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline, and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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