What Amazonian Survivors Should Have Learned

However, Thailand showed that while the issue may not get you immediately voted out, it can make or break you at the end. Clay lost in part because of his laziness. Indeed, he also provided a good example of a new addition to this rule: Don't just ask if work needs to be done - do it! A smart player may tell you that it's not necessary, don't worry about it. But it may come back to haunt you later. For example, Brian told Clay he didn't need help on various things, so Clay continued to just lie around. Meanwhile, Brian was volunteering to help others, like Helen, even when she said it wasn't necessary. He used work to help form a bond that took him to the winner's circle, while Clay was stuck in second.

A quick note: On the flipside of providing food being a plus, stealing food is a definite minus. Just ask Clarence. 'Nuff said on that one.

6) Vote Off: Weak, Strong, Weak, Strong

In the beginning, vote off the weak. In the middle, after the tribes have merged, vote off the strong. Then vote off the weak again. Finally, get rid of the remaining strong contenders. In each case, "weak" and "strong" need some definitions, and actually mean different things at different stages.

Early on, the weak are those who will hurt your tribe's chances in the immunity challenges or who will cause divisions in the tribe that will overall weaken the group dynamic - which will in the end hurt just as much as losing challenges. Even though there will almost certainly be some more mixing of alliances this time, the best bet for staying around is still to have a larger cohesive tribe going into the time when the two are combined. By winning the immunity challenges, your tribe stays strong. By working as a single group, your tribe stays strong. Even the reward challenges can keep you on your feet, as we saw with Kucha's string of victories - giving them plenty of food while Ogakor practically starved. So, early on, it's time for the survival of the fittest.

We saw this several times in the first three editions of Survivor. And we saw how Ogakor's vote to eliminate a fairly strong Kel contributed to them losing future challenges. They went against this advice and suffered for it. But Boran got rid of their weak - Diane and Jessie - immediately and were able to gain relative strength from it. Meanwhile, in Thailand the first to go was John, who seemed strong, but was causing divisions in the group. Tanya, who was ill, was next. Then Ghandia, who, as already discussed, caused huge problems in the tribe. After those first three cuts, Chuay Gahn stuck together while Sook Jai, which had its own internal problems, fell apart.

But what about Survivor: Marquesas? Maraamu definitely went against this advice with the vote against Hunter. Why? Because Rob figured it was better to have people who would listen to him (and "fear" him) rather than strong people in the tribe. Frankly, there is something to be said for not worrying about voting off the weak early on if tribe-swapping continues. If you don't know whose tribe somebody will be on, why care if you keep the strong? He may be on your tribe or he may become your opponent. Instead, keep an alliance partner. Such was the case with Hunter. At the time, it sure seemed stupid because Maraamu was on such a losing streak - and sometimes it may still be; they could have voted off Gina instead and kept the stronger guy for physical challenges. Also, you don't want to do it as the first or second vote, because odds are against a swap happening so quickly. But as you get near the time when a swap may happen, it becomes less important. Once again, alliances have to hold supreme.

Later, though, when the tribes merge and it's every man, woman, and voting bloc for him/her/itself, it's definitely time to vote off the strong who are not part of your alliance. If they are allowed to stick around, they will hurt your chances at the big money.

Here, "strong" has varied meanings. It can mean those who are literally strong and thus able to win the physical reward and immunity challenges. If you boot them when they are vulnerable, you won't have to worry about them later. We saw this with Clarence - he was kept around until the tribes merged and he went from being helpful to being dangerous. "Strong" also means those who can organize others. The Pagong people almost managed to boot Richard, the glue of Tagi's alliance. They missed by a vote, because they didn't catch on until it was too late. If they had moved a little sooner, things would have been much different. I doubt Rudy would have allied with Susan and Kelly had it not been for Richard. The Tagi alliance, however, knew they needed to do this and took out Gretchen, a leader, as soon as the tribes merged. Greg, one of the most well-liked amongst his Pagong cohorts, immediately followed.

In a post-show interview, Sue explained that they were going to vote off Greg first, but he won immunity, so they went with Gretchen first instead. She noted, "They were all different kinds of leaders--either emotional or physical."

Both Kucha and Ogakor realized the need to vote off the strong. Unfortunately, that was not necessarily the right strategy for their particular situation. Obviously, you need to be flexible. Kucha voted as a bloc to try to get rid of Colby, Ogakor's strongest member. But because they went into the merge with equal numbers, they should have instead been looking for the weak link. They knew there would be a tie vote, which would lead to a look at previous votes cast against the two who are tied (though it may not this time as the rules may once again refer people to the purple rock of death - the cause of Paschal's loss - if there is another tie). But they didn't pick up on Jerri's problems with several other tribe members - problems which they might have (correctly) figured had gotten her some early votes.

So, the rule about voting off the strong when the tribes merge must have an exception: If you're going in with a suspected tie between alliances, aim for the one you think will lose the tiebreaker, whatever that tiebreaker might be. Then, once your alliance has superior numbers, start picking off the strong.