Survivor: Palau – Why Willard Lost

If it hadn’t been for the twist in Episode 5, who knows how long Willard might have lasted. Maybe he could have made it to the merge, though whether there would have been anybody for Koror to merge with by then is anybody’s guess.

But there are no woulda/coulda/shouldas in Survivor. Koror was forced to go to Tribal Council, and Willard was the first person from the tribe to be voted off. It was rather anticlimactic, with even Willard knowing he would be going. But what led to that point? Why did Willard lose?

Even when the answer to this question seems obvious, it is always wise to dig deeper. After all, obvious answers are not always right answers. With that in mind, let us look back at What Palau Survivors Should Have Learned to see where Willard went wrong.

The first rule, of course, is to scheme and plot. From what we saw, there wasn’t a whole lot of scheming going on at Koror. While there is a definite divide within the group, even Gregg called the majority side that he’s on, “a soft alliance.” People seem to have drifted together – or apart – based on shared interests and personality more than planned game goals, at least from what we’ve seen.

The impending Tribal Council forced a little bit of the game into their lives, but not much. Willard seemed to be an easily agreed-upon target for the tribe. But Willard himself made it that much easier by not even bothering to put up a fight! He simply resigned himself to the fact that he was going.

Frankly, he should know better. We have seen countless times that people were certain they were gone, but managed to find a way to turn the tables. Really, we only need look back to last season, when Chris was certainly doomed – but ended up winning the whole thing!

Willard should have tried to court somebody on the “soft alliance” with the type of thinking that Gregg discussed with Coby. The majority alliance includes two pairs and Katie. Katie would be smart to realize that she might find herself in an outsider position (she could also find herself in the position of kingmaker, but it would not have been wise to mention that to her at this point). Or maybe he could have tried to convince Gregg that it was wiser to make the jump now and be certain to knock out Tom or Ian. Were any of these scenarios likely to work? No. But nor was it likely that Chris could win in Vanuatu. The point is, Willard should have at least tried.

Obviously, it follows that Willard didn’t violate the second rule of plotting and scheming too much. So let’s move on.

The third rule tells contestants to pretend to be nice. We heard from several players, and from Willard himself, that he was crabby. Obviously, this is not a good way to get people on your side. Perhaps Willard might have had a better chance of forming a counter-alliance if people had actually wanted him around.

Fourth is to not let emotions control you. We saw so little of Willard, it’s hard to say much of anything about this. Fifth is to not be too much of a threat. My first inclination is to discard this one also as being obviously silly for Willard. However, Tom did point out that Willard is a smart guy who might do well in the mental challenges. I doubt it was a big contributing factor in the decision to get rid of Willard, but it can’t be totally ignored.

The sixth rule says not to be lazy. Apparently, people on Koror thought that Willard was, well, lazy. We saw that he didn’t help with the fire and it was implied that he didn’t do much else, either. Not a good plan if you’re already showing yourself to be the weakest in challenges.

Seventh is to be flexible. Willard definitely wasn’t – he saw that the odds were stacked against him, and so he simply folded. To continue our poker metaphor, he was already all-in but didn’t even bother to wait for the river card (for those of you not up on your poker terminology, that means he had bet all of his money and left the game before the final card was turned up, even though it might have given him a winning hand). Rather than simply giving up and willing his clothing to other tribe members, Willard should have been digging in and doing whatever he could to stick around. The game is called Survivor, not The Defeated.

So did the rest of Koror do the right thing in voting off Willard? Ab-so-freaking-lutely. He was obviously the weakest tribe member. He sat out challenge after challenge. When he was in, he was often more of a hindrance than a help. Add to that the fact that his tribemates thought he was lazy and crabby, and you have a recipe for the perfect way to make sure you’re voted off first!

Willard seems like he would be a nice enough guy to meet in your run-of-the-mill everyday situation. But this is not a run-of-the-mill everyday situation, this is Survivor. Willard was the weakest link in an otherwise pretty strong chain. Not only was he weak physically, but he hurt his own cause by being weak in the strategic aspect of the game as well. Add to that the fact that he was crabby and perceived as lazy, and you have all of the reasons to explain why Willard lost.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Survivor: Palau Episode 5 recap:

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

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