An 'Insider' Look at Survivor: All-Stars, Episode 10

Wow! What an episode. This may be one of the all-time great episodes, not just from All-Stars but from Survivor. The drama! The intrigue! The “unexpected twists!” The sound and fury!

This episode was entitled "Anger, Tears, and Chaos." A more suitable title might have been "What Goes Around Comes Around." Just as Lex voted off his friend Ethan (and Colby and Jerri), claiming that business takes precedent over personal relationships, so has Boston Rob ousted Lex: despite friendship, despite promises, despite it all. This episode was astounding. Some may snicker wickedly as Lex gets his just desserts, payment in full for cashing the stupid check. Others may be heartbroken as Kathy bawls and Lex realizes he blew it all again, that he made the dumbest mistake in his life and lost the chance of a lifetime… a chance he will never have again… having betrayed friends along the way. I felt both ways.

Let’s find out what the first member of the All-Star jury has to say…

Chapter 1: The Day After

What happened?: The next day we see Lex sporting a black Mohawk! Let’s see how his former tribe members react when he shows up on the jury. “I certainly knew coming into this game that it would be imperative for me to really put friendships on hold to get through this game. I knew that that could potentially be my Achilles heel and that could really mess up my game… because I have a lot of friends from previous seasons from Survivor. I run with a lot of those people, and I do charity work with them, and I have a lot of outside relationships with these people. I knew that could be a problem, and I did as best I could to check that kind of check that at the door when I started the game, and with the exception of this fall from grace with Boston Rob, I did a pretty good job of keeping all that as down in the mix of the game as possible.”

Lex says that clearly, friendships with Ethan and Colby did not prevent him from playing the game or heeding the call to power. He dealt with them outside of friendship. Lex didn’t come out here to have a great Survivor adventure… he came out to do business, and that is how he treated it. He wanted to win; he wanted to make some money. He got through those situations just fine. However, “the chink in my armor began to show itself when I had to vote Jerri out. I was conflicted.” His initial gut reaction was to vote out Amber and keep Jerri. And he should have listened to his gut! He deferred to Kathy’s advice on that one. He was worried that his original decision to keep Jerri was an emotional one. Kathy became the voice of reason! In reality, keeping Jerri would have been the more strategic decision and Lex “missed the boat on that one.”

It must have been meant to be. That is the only way Lex can look at it. He lives his life and plays this game in the same way. Two things: “Always honest and true to myself!” Also, everything happens for a reason. Lex accepts what happens. You fight your damnedest in every situation… but when things happen you move forward and don’t look back. “I’m out of the game now… it happened… I’m not looking back, I’m looking forward.” Lex then repeats exactly what he said in his final words about his great life outside of the game.

Lex says he came into this game knowing it would be hard for him. He even thought he could be the first person voted out of his tribe. But he also knew that if he lasted past the first few tribal councils, got his foot in the door, and put his stake in the ground, he could go far. The way this game is played is that people get emotionally involved whether they like it or not. Despite the fact that it is absurd, people feel a sense of loyalty when they make handshake agreements with other people. “I have that in this game.” He felt confident after the first few weeks that he would find himself in a final four situation. However, once his tribe lost immunity challenge after challenge, and the numbers started to dwindle, as the merge grew nearer, he knew he was in trouble. Also, he played the game of Survivor “punk rock” and he plans on going out “punk rock.” Punk rock is about making no apologies! It’s about living your life hardcore! Suck the marrow out of life! Be yourself and don’t give a rat’s ass about what anybody else thinks about it.

Observations: Wait a second. Lex was conflicted over voting Jerri out but not Colby or Ethan? Hmmm. Of course, he SHOULD have voted Amber out instead of Jerri. He says he should have listened to his gut… but that didn’t get him too far in Africa. But still, how could you be worried about an EMOTIONAL decision to keep Jerri over Ethan and Colby? Strange. But he passes off a good deal of blame on Kathy, and says that his original plan was to keep Jerri. It shouldn’t have even been a plan or a decision. It should have been automatic. Voting out Amber should have been like blinking.