Reality High Test Results, September 28-October 4: Déjà Vu?

Welcome back to another week at Reality High! As usual, I’ve got contestants and teams who are great when it comes to strategy, and some who just don’t seem to learn.

In any case, the remaining 18 contestants from Survivor: Cook Islands and the remaining nine teams from The Amazing Race 10 returned, and I gave them the tests for this week. They took the tests, and returned them to me.

When I looked at Cao Boi’s answer to the first question, I began to wonder if I was going to have a headache this early in the teaching session:

1. True or False: You should keep telling stories even when it’s all too obvious that everyone is bored silly by them.

Cao Boi answered “True,” and I counted to 10 before I told him that he was wrong and the correct answer was “False.” Cao Boi protested that the others just didn’t have a sense of humor. I replied that their sense of humor might not be as obvious as his, but he still should make an effort to fit in with his tribe and not stick out like a sore thumb. I said that if I’d been in the tribe, I’d have been sick of hearing his stories over and over. In fact, I had heard him trying to tell his stories as the contestants and teams filed into class earlier, and nobody wanted to listen. Honestly, I have to agree with Brad – Cao Boi just isn’t all there when it comes to brains.

Meanwhile, I looked at the answers to the second question, and I alternatively smiled and sighed when I saw them:

2. You have been switched into new tribes. How do you manage to make new allies and gain a majority on your new tribe?

A. Form an alliance of four and try to add in a fifth member.

C. Alliances? I’m here to make friends, not alliances.

Becky, Candice, Jonathan, and Yul all answered “A,” and I was pleased to tell them that they were all right. In a tribe of nine people, the majority is five. So it would only make sense for two closely allied people from one tribe to join with two people from another tribe and make it a foursome. And if there were three people from the other tribe, then you have your five people, and you’re in the driver’s seat. And it was Becky who first began the plotting and scheming to form the foursome.

Parvati chose “B,” and I said that wasn’t the best answer, but it was a start. After all, if she can wrap two of the strong, young heterosexual guys on her tribe around her finger, she can use it as a start to make an alliance that can control her tribe. In any case, Parvati didn’t choose the best answer, but it wasn’t a bad one.

However, Jessica chose “C,” and I had to have a long, hard talk with her. I just couldn’t believe that she was here just to make friends, not alliances. David Bloomberg said in his fourth rule for Survivors that friends are nice, but this is a game. The game is full of people who made friends and allowed their friendships to interfere with strategy – Ian from Survivor: Palau being one of the biggest examples, as he decided to throw away a chance to make it into the finals to keep his friendship with Tom. Also, in Survivor: The Australian Outback, Colby decided to take Tina to the finals instead of Keith, and Tina beat him. If Colby had taken Keith to the finals, he’d have won. Unfortunately, Jessica doesn’t seem to get the fact that it’s a game.

Moving on, I looked at Yul’s answer to the third question:

3. You have the hidden immunity idol. Do you tell anyone on your new tribe that you have it?

A. Please, do I even LOOK suicidal? Of course not!

C. I’ll tell everyone! I want everyone to know that I’m a threat.

Yul answered “B.” I had to tell him that the best answer was “A.” However, at least he didn’t answer “C.” Becky is his closest ally. They became allies on Puka, bonding over the fact that they were both Korean-Americans. So once they both wound up on the same tribe, it’s only natural that Yul decided to tell her that he had found it. Fortunately, he was smart enough to agree with Becky that nobody else should be told. After all, the fewer people who know about it, the better – at least, in the early stages.

Moving on to the fourth question, I had to groan at the response of the new Aitu women and cheer at the response of the new Raro women:

4. True or False: It’s a good idea to have most of your women quickly drop out of an endurance-based immunity challenge when the guys will have to carry a lot of weight when the women drop out.

The new Aitu women answered “True,” while the new Raro ones answered “False.” I told Becky, Candice, Cecilia, Jessica and Sundra that the correct answer was “False.” While the women are probably going to tire a lot more quickly than the guys, it’s still not a good idea to have most of the women drop out quickly, since that gives the guys more weight to carry. Because the new Raro women dropped out after the new Aitu ones did (even if Stephannie was the first one to drop out for Raro), that gave new Raro the ability to win the immunity challenge.