Survivor: All-Stars – Why Tom Lost

It was down the Final Five. There were two duos and a swing vote. Obviously, the swing vote was safe, right? Right?? Wrong. In a move that appeared to defy logic, both duos got together and voted off Big Tom. What on Earth happened? Why did Tom lose? That is the question we will seek to answer in our usual way, going through What All-Star Survivors Definitely Should Have Learned to see if we can figure out this mystery.

As always, we begin with Rule #1, plotting and scheming. I think we can safely say that Tom was not exactly the greatest schemer the game has ever seen. He made a deal with Rob and Amber, and he was sticking to it. Tom had a number of chances to jump ship and make things better for himself. He could have hooked up with old pal Lex rather than helped Rob and Amber boot him. He could have hooked up with Kathy and Shii Ann to swing votes his way. He could have sided with Rupert and Jenna. But no. Every time opportunity knocked, he told opportunity to go away and never come back.

Listening to Tom in his Survivor Insider “Day After” comments, he said he wanted to vote out Jenna or Rupert instead of Alicia when Shii Ann won immunity. But Rob and Amber were making the calls and he said it was a snowball they couldn’t stop. That’s where he’s wrong. He could have stopped it by pulling aside Alicia and telling her what was up. He could have sided with Rupert and Jenna instead of trying to get them out. Earlier in the game, a few people on Mogo Mogo didn’t like the way Colby was calling the shots, and they voted him out. Tom could have tried to do the same to Rob and Amber. But he didn’t.

Then, to make things even worse, he didn’t even scheme and plot well with Rob and Amber. Think about the scene with Rob and Amber sitting on a rock, when Rob called Tom over. They argued a bit, but then Rob asked Tom who would be next if they voted out Jenna at that Tribal Council. Tom answered that he didn’t know and Rob should tell him. Um. Well. It was down to four. I’d say Tom pretty well should have known. By answering the way he did, there was an implication hanging in the air that he might not vote out Rupert. It probably wasn’t what he meant, and he was likely just trying to show loyalty, but he didn’t think it through. And you don’t want to give Rob the slightest hint that you might not be loyal, especially when that idea has already been planted in his mind (remember Kathy and Lex mentioning that Tom would have gone in with Lex?).

Tom needed to be a more active participant in his alliance, rather than just sitting back and allowing things to happen around him. Better still, he needed to be an active participant outside of his alliance.

So obviously that means he couldn’t have schemed and plotted too much, right? Well, not quite. He did indeed talk to Rupert about wanting Rob out. Maybe he was just being agreeable, but he said it – we saw it. Then when he was spurred into confronting Rupert, Rupert rationally laid out the argument that Tom had indeed said things like that – while Rob was watching the whole thing.

In addition, while it’s unclear if Tom really was going to join in with Lex at the merge, Lex certainly seemed to have that impression and passed it along to Rob, which meant that secret was made public.

This is not the first time that somebody who didn’t scheme and plot enough also schemed and plotted too much. Christy in The Amazon was one who stands out as having done it also. Why else does she come to mind? Because she was a swing vote who couldn’t make up her mind and ended up being the target instead. Sound familiar?

Tom did succeed in being nice – at least until the end. He let himself get forced into an argument with Rupert. There is no way Tom should have confronted Rupert like that, just because Rob urged him to. I’ve got to think that lack of food/drink/sleep was wearing on him and he just wasn’t really thinking straight at that point (this is supported by the completely undecipherable murmuring that he was doing around that time). He had gotten along well with Rupert the whole time, and should have known better than to go after him like that. It broke his bond with Rupert and meant Rupert would no longer trust him. Then, as already mentioned, Rupert was a much better debater than Tom was, thus showing Rob that Tom had indeed talked about turning on him.

Which leads us directly to the fourth rule, against letting emotions control you. Rob played on those emotions, which is what led to the confrontation. Other than that, however, Tom did a good job of focusing on the game. As Lex’s friend and former alliancemate from Africa, he could have abandoned his game plan to try to save his pal. Well, okay, it may have been that he should have done that, for strategic reasons. But in any event, he didn’t let friendship get in the way.

The fifth rule is to not be too much of a threat. Tom did not show himself to be a challenge threat, but he was a threat in another way – nobody trusted him. Rob and Amber decided against using him as a swing vote because they couldn’t be sure that he would actually swing their way. Rupert and Jenna had the same problems, especially after the argument. So since Tom was a threat to vote against each duo, he ended up being the one voted out instead.