Survivor: Palau – Why Jolanda Lost

Jolanda was not the first person sent packing from this tenth edition of Survivor – that honor belongs to Jonathan and Wanda. However, Jolanda was the first person voted out – after being one of the first to get immunity! What happened to so dramatically turn the tables on her? Why did Jolanda lose?

As we have done in all the past Survivor seasons since Australia, we will look back at What Palau Survivors Should Have Learned to compare Jolanda’s actions to the rules that a Survivor contestant should live by. Since she’s the first person voted off, it’s likely she didn’t do too hot. Let’s take a look.

The first rule is, as always, to scheme and plot. Jolanda did immediately see a need to get allies, and this she did. She got together with Bobby Jon and Ibrehem, two of the other physically strongest members of her tribe, and planned to target “outcast” Angie – a good target, considering she stood out the most, appeared to be physically weaker than most of the others, and was the last one picked for the tribe. The three of them also thought they had Stephenie on their side, which would have put them at four – still not a majority, but a good starting point if there had been no counter-alliances formed as quickly.

Unfortunately for Jolanda, there was a counter-alliance, and she was a main cause for it! The other five got together and agreed that one person bore the brunt of responsibility for their challenge loss. Similarly, that one person was bossy and abrasive. And that one person was Jolanda.

Jolanda had no problem with the second rule, plotting and scheming too much, so let’s move on to the third – pretending to be nice. Let me say that from what we saw, it’s not that Jolanda wasn’t nice; however, she wasn’t warm and fuzzy. In the early stages of Survivor, anything can make you a target. Indeed, it seems likely that Angie’s mere appearance made her Jolanda & Co.’s target. So when Jolanda was walking around barking orders, telling them how and how long to work, etc., it simply did not come off as “nice.” Jolanda needed to dial back her strong personality, especially at this phase of the game.

It’s not clear if part of Jolanda’s actions came from breaking the fourth rule, about not letting emotions control you. Jolanda seems like a generally emotional person – witness her behavior in the challenge. Despite the fact that the other team was long gone and her own tribe had fallen far behind, she kept insisting that they should grab all the survival items and that they would not lose! That was an emotional, not rational, response. She got caught up in the moment and later even admitted herself that it had been a mistake.

The fifth rule says to not be too much of a threat. In some ways, Jolanda broke this rule too. First of all, she was a threat to Angie, who was pretty certain she was a target. That of course made Angie want to form a counter-alliance. She did not actually form the group – Ashlee seemed to be the main proponent – but she certainly was eager to go along with them!

Jolanda was a threat in another important way: If things had gone her way this time, her three- or four-player alliance could have dominated the tribe for weeks to come. The others certainly didn’t want that. The solution? Cut off the alliance’s head.

Nothing about the sixth rule, avoiding laziness, pertained to Jolanda. And she even did okay on the seventh – being flexible. Jolanda pretty much went with the flow as the various surprises for this edition popped up. She made some quick allies and was able to form a core group. However, that core was not enough to overcome the problems she had caused for herself.

What about the five tribe members who voted her off – did they do the right thing? At this very early stage, they should be voting off weak members. Jolanda was physically strong – certainly more so than Angie, the alternate target. However, the tribe still has several physically strong people.

Jolanda was weak in two main other areas. First, she was the one who caused them to lose the challenge by her stubborn insistence on grabbing more items (ironically, even after all that they left behind what is probably the most important – fire). Causing the tribe to lose a single challenge is not necessarily a death knell – look at Chris Daugherty from Vanuatu – but it’s not a good sign, either. Her tribemates felt that this was not a one-time occurrence.

This brings us to the second weakness, her personality. As the eighth rule says, “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.” Jolanda was doing both. By ordering people around and acting like she was in charge, she hurt the group both on the beach and in the challenge. Not a good combination.

Jolanda was a strong player who had a strong personality. Unfortunately, she could not reign in her personality enough to avoid becoming an instant target. More unfortunately, she made a crucial mistake that cost her tribe the first challenge. Jolanda did an okay job of putting together votes for the first Tribal Council, but her own behavior undermined her efforts when a counter-alliance was formed to oppose her. That is why Jolanda lost.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other Survivor: Palau Episode 1 articles:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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