Mahatma? Not Ghandia; or Why Ghandia Should Not Have Been Voted Off

Mahatma
1: a person to be revered for high-mindedness, wisdom, and selflessness
2: a person of great prestige in a field of endeavor

Last week, in my quest for the underdog, I gave Ghandia the benefit of the doubt. I tend to try to look at an issue from every angle. I do not go with the face value of Mark Burnett's editing nor do I take popular voice into my decision to defend someone. With Ghandia, I saw a victim. Someone who had been put into (actually someone who put herself into) an uncomfortable situation and was traumatized not only by the "grinding" but by the bullshit excuse and cover-his-ass apology from Ted, and further by the apparent denial of Ted to "he-man-woman-hater-club” member, faux sex god, Brian.

I tried to look at the situation as someone who has been put in the position of being involved in a sexual harassment/abuse/assault. Because there are women everywhere, everyday who go through the real thing – getting pushed into a corner, sometimes literally, I felt Ghandia needed to be defended in the name of victims everywhere. That is, until Ghandia appeared on CBS Early Show on Friday morning. Ghandia admitted to "embellishing" the Ted story to the women and using the situation to help her advance in the game. She openly admits being there to win the million bucks and doing whatever it took to help her do that, which included pretending to be a victim. That, my friends is truly vomit worthy.

While she switched personalities from urban sister to classy business owner, depending on if she was talking to Julie Chen or Al Roker or sidekick Russ, one thing became very clear to me: Ghandia is a very sick puppy.

In trying to come up with the answer to Why Ghandia should not have been voted out, I have a good one.

Why should she should not be voted out this week? Because her embellishing ass should have been voted out in week one. Yes, Ghandia, more than any other player I have ever watched, you should have DEFINITELY been voted out. In fact, Mark Burnett needs to hire a new team of head shrinkers to make sure there are no more lunatics allowed on this show.

Ghandia deserved to go in week one because she already was showing signs of mental instability with her inability to cope with the pressure of the puzzle challenge and then bawling like a baby about it. Ghandia so deserved to get voted off because of her strategy to make Ted a bigger bad guy than he is and for not even trying to help with the reward challenge, which she said on the morning show that she didn't bother to try to do anyway because she wasn't a buff person and the dummy was "like 250 pounds."

In fact I am so mad at Ghandia's behavior I have written her induction into the Reality TV Hall of Shame myself for what she did in the game and in life. Here is a word of advice Ghandia for the next time she wants to play Munchausen: Victims of the kind of sexual assault she described to her pals who were interviewed for the Enquirer don't think about strategy, they don't think, “How can I use this to my advantage in this game I am playing?” They think, "Screw this game, screw the money. I want out of here and I want out of here NOW."

So since Ghandia should not have gone this week, ( she should have gone three weeks ago) who should have gone? Clay. Clay should have gone because Helen is just as strong as he is and by voting Ghandia out, she is in jeopardy at the next tribal council. There is no way (barring a merge or switch) that Brian, Ted, and Clay would vote out one of their own before Helen. Had Clay gone instead of Ghandia, Helen would be in a position to vote Brian and Ted off after that and before the merge, meaning that she could go into the merge with a solid woman's alliance and pick up Stephanie and Robb from Sook Jai and not have to worry about big boy Ted playing an individual game better than she does. Now, obviously the team is not going to win too many reward challenges without the guys, but they didn't need to. The Red Berets taught them so much (except Ghandia, who was busy throwing a hissy fit because her plan was not going to work as she had hoped) that they have plenty of food, shelter, etc. They are not really in need of anything. And since they do all the gathering and cooking, they don't need the men to pretend to fish. After Clay, I would have voted Brian for his remark about women belonging in the kitchen. Apparently Brian is delusional from all those women having sex within five minutes after meeting him, on film, that he thinks that women are meant to be his slaves in real life. I wonder if his wife owns any shoes and if she is expecting.

The CG underdog this week is certainly Jan. The spoiler experts say it looks like Shii Ann might be trading places with Ted when the tide washes their boat ashore, so Shii Ann might be seen as outsider and get booted. But if the teams remain the same and CG loses next week, Jan will be voted out.

On Sook Jai, Stephanie is the underdog because of her inability to play well with others. It does appear that Stephanie is doing much of the camp work, but that does not seem to matter to some of her tribemates. They want her to be kind and nice to them and because she is a girl acting like a man, they don't like her. So if Sook Jai loses next, goodbye, Stephanie.

Oh and for all of those who emailed me and were right on about Ghandia, please accept my apologies and yes here I am, admitting I WAS WRONG. And I would love to hear, anonymously or not, from any victims, male or female, of sexual harassment, assault, etc., on what your reaction was in the days after this happened? Did you think of ways this could potentially help you make money?

Peggy Keller is Mother and Behavior Therapist to her two autistic sons and teenage daughter. Click here to e-mail her.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recent Survivor articles at the Survivor Thailand page and take a look at our sections on Big Brother 3 and The Osbournes. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

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