Survivor: Cook Islands – Why Parvati Lost

To determine why Parvati lost, we cannot simply look at what happened in the most recent episode. But nor can we simply say she lost just because Jonathan screwed her and her alliance over a few weeks ago. So let’s look at everything that happened to Parvati recently and see if we can determine why she lost.

This we will do, of course, by viewing these occurrences through the lens of What Cook Island Survivors Should Have Learned. So let’s begin!

It’s difficult to say if Parvati understood that the primary rule to follow involved scheming and plotting. On the one hand, early in the game she did seem to get it – she knew she had to get people on her side and was coy about which way she would vote until a firm majority had been created.

But later in the game, she appeared to forget that, well, it’s a game. She had her pals – Nate, Adam, and Candice – and they were going to the final four. The problem, of course, was that they weren’t the only ones in the game, and somebody had neglected to tell the others they were supposed to just roll over and die.

Instead of her foursome plus Jonathan, it became the Aitu foursome plus Jonathan. Whoops! That marked the beginning of the end for Parvati. Once Jonathan switched sides, the Pagonging began, with just a short interruption to get rid of Jonathan himself.

In a last-minute desperate attempt, Parvati did try to scheme a bit, attempting to bring Ozzy over to her (and Adam’s) side. One main problem, I think, is that doing so would have only created a tie vote. That would have put Parvati against (presumably) Sundra in a fire-building challenge to determine who was sent packing. If Parvati lost, that would have put Ozzy in a really bad position – one that he obviously didn’t want to risk.

By that point, though, there was really very little else Parvati could have done. And since she had no other alliances to fall back on, she was doomed.

It might be suggested that Parvati schemed and plotted too much at the end. After all, Yul felt the way she was flirting with Ozzy was threatening. But I would argue against such a claim. Desperate times demand desperate measures – and Parvati was nothing if not desperate! She had to pull out all the stops to try to stick around. She was going either way.

The third rule tells players to be flexible. As hinted at in discussing the first rule, Parvati failed here as well – at least when it counted. She tried to remain flexible early on, and it worked for her. But she gave that up later, latching on to her group of pals. She forgot a key point of the third rule: “You can’t simply tie yourself to one alliance and hope that it survives.” Yet that’s exactly what she did. At the merge, she made no serious attempt to seek out a backup alliance. So when Jonathan flipped, she was dead in the water.

Fourth is to not let emotions control you. In general, I think Parvati did okay in this regard, though she screwed up in the same way as her allies did. I said for Nate: “I think the main reason Nate didn’t really seek out a back-up alliance is the emotional attachment he had to his main alliance. … Nate didn’t want to backstab his friends, and as such he bears some responsibility for what happened to him.” Replace “Nate” with “Parvati” and we have the same point.

The fifth rule reminds players to pretend to be nice. Parvati followed this one most of the time – except when it came to Jonathan, of course. She ragged on him over and over and over again. But I guess she figured he wasn’t going to vote to keep her around anyway, so it didn’t matter. And she was right. Anyway, the point is that the Aitus didn’t vote her out for being nasty – they voted her out in spite of being nice.

In the sixth rule, we find advice against being too much of a threat. With Ozzy still around, it’s hard to believe anybody else could be considered a threat. But with Ozzy holding immunity, the Aitus looked to the second biggest threat.

Yul was correct in his assessment. Parvati did come in third in the immunity challenge – behind Ozzy and Yul himself. She has done well in balance-related tasks, while Adam has frequently blundered around like a drunken bear.

But she was a threat in another, more important, way. She was flirting with Ozzy and trying to sway his vote. Maybe it wasn’t going to work this time, but what about when they were down to the final five? Might she have been able to work some magic by then? And what if she somehow talked Sundra, for example, into splitting from the Aitus along with her? After all, Sundra cannot feel too comfortable knowing she will likely hit the final four with the likes of Yul and Ozzy!

Yul could not let this possibility occur. He had to nip it in the bud, and that’s exactly what he did.

The seventh rule says providing food wins allies and players shouldn’t be lazy. From what we saw, Parvati blew this one. But I think it’s also safe to say it didn’t matter one bit. Parvati was not voted out for lying around – it was strategy, pure and simple.

So did the Aitus do the right thing in getting rid of Parvati? Absolutely. Either Parvati or Adam would have sufficed, really. As we’ve discussed, she appeared to be the bigger threat. And Ozzy, as big a threat as he is, had immunity. So that was that.

Parvati’s downfall, as we said, began when Jonathan jumped back to the Aitus. Part of that was her own fault, as Jonathan noted in his RealityNewsOnline interview, “They would not work and had no game plan, they were not interested in winning.” He didn’t want to help the Raros win. Then, when he made his move, Parvati found that she had no moves to make. She had bet her whole bankroll on a single alliance – and she missed the flop, so to speak. She tried to find a crack in the Aitu alliance, but it was too little, too late. That is why Parvati lost.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

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

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