Survivor: All-Stars – Why Kathy Lost

After last week, one reader e-mailed to suggest that I could just make my job of writing these columns a bit easier by just cutting and pasting my Why Lex Lost column and changing only a few words.

Well, there is some merit to that. However, each player voted off deserves his or her own analysis. It’s the least I can do for them. So, as always, we’ll look back at What All-Star Survivors Definitely Should Have Learned to see what Kathy did right, what she did wrong, and why she lost.

As always, we must begin with plotting and scheming. Here, Kathy was in a bit of a different position than Lex. Lex had an alliance with the other alpha males. Had he stuck to that alliance, it’s possible that Kathy could have been voted off. Instead of Rich, Colby, and Ethan, it could have been Jerri, Shii Ann, and Kathy. So it was certainly in her best interests to make sure Lex did not stick with that alliance. However, it wasn’t necessarily in her best interests to vote off all the strong competitors, because it meant they were more likely to have to vote off yet another person. So it’s an iffy situation.

Looking at it from her standpoint, she plotted well in the early going, making sure that she stayed put and that those who threatened her continuing on the show – like, potentially, Colby – were sent home instead. She forged a solid alliance with Lex and had Shii Ann as backup also. She was in a good position within her tribe.

But what about outside of her tribe? Well, Kathy was the one picked by Chapera to go on the reward with them – and she fit in perfectly. But did she put that to good use? Not really. What we saw was her giving up information, but not really getting any back in return. And while she did fit in well, it didn’t really help her at all – her tribe was down going into the merge, so there was no reason the ex-Chaperas would want to bring her over.

Kathy could have put that time to good use if she had found out who was on the fringes of the alliance and made an effort to pull those people to her tribe. Eventually, in this episode, that’s what she did. However, it was too little, too late. Instead of sitting around with Lex and expecting Rob to tell them they were safe, they should have been making backup plans from the moment they arrived at Chaboga Mogo. Of course, they should have disposed of Amber before then, but we’ve already beaten that point into the ground with “Why Lex Lost” and Lex’s Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment, which included a dishonorable mention for Kathy. All in all, like Lex, she was doing pretty well with plotting and scheming up until the whole Amber situation.

So, did she plot and scheme too much? Well, again, like Lex, yes – at the Amber situation. The two of them should have booted her and kept Jerri, but instead decided they would alliance-hop right into the Final Four with Rob and Amber. Lex said himself that he should have just stuck to his original game plan, and he was right. Kathy should have seen that and corrected his vision, but she ended up being dragged into his vision. After all that, she was mad at Amber for lying to her face about who would be in the finals, but she should have realized that Amber would have said anything at that point to stay in the game. She also should have realized that it really wasn’t Amber’s decision – she is the sidekick, not the decision-maker.

Kathy did a good job on the third rule, pretending to be nice. Even though she was getting madder and madder at Jerri, Kathy apparently did not let that show when she was actually with Jerri, which is good. The only time Kathy really slipped up was when she got angry at Rob when he told her and Lex about the vote last week. She can be somewhat forgiven for that reaction, and it’s not like it hurt her anyway. She was doomed no matter what by that point.