Survivor: Micronesia, Episode 4 Best Fan and Least Fave – The Right and Wrong Ways to Manipulate

I don’t know about you, but I find myself torn every week over which tribe I want to win the challenges. I like several of the Favorites, so it’s nice to see them win, but then again there’s just something special about seeing the underdogs pull out a victory. I guess next week when the tribes are shuffled it won’t matter that much anymore.

I have to believe that, after losing four of the last six challenges, the Fans will be very glad to see the tribal shuffle. I am also guessing that the couples’ alliance will NOT be very happy about it, but the other Favorites probably will be.

Best Fan:
The Fans had a rough week. They lost both challenges pretty badly, with the Faves completing the second leg before the Fans even completed the first leg. Morale is pretty low at Fan camp right now, and the obvious choice was to vote out the person who is undeniably their weakest player—Chet. This week’s Best Fan, Tracy, had other ideas.

Tracy is part of the “outcast” trio along with the aforementioned Chet and Kathy. They are considered the weak links in the tribe and as such, have been natural targets for the first two Tribal Council votes. Yet they’ve managed to stick around, this week due to Tracy’s very skillful game play.

Joel came to the outcasts to tell them that it looked like either Chet or Kathy was going home, and that it was most likely Chet because that’s what Mikey and Jason wanted. After engineering Mary’s ouster at their first Tribal Council, Joel seemed disinclined to attempt another backstabbing this week. Tracy, however, managed to convince him that this was the time to go after Mikey, and it worked.

Tracy started by asking why Joel was so content to let Mikey call the shots. She did just the right amount of sucking up to Joel while also pointing out to him that he was likely to become the victim of Mikey’s backstabbing soon.

And finally, Tracy played the best card she had—that right now with all three outcasts still in the tribe, Joel would only need to get one more person in order to oust Mikey. The odds on making it work would go down drastically if they followed Mikey’s wishes and voted Chet out this time. Joel obviously listened to her logic, and it seems he got two others to vote with him.

Finally, at Tribal Council, Tracy correctly—and very wisely—pointed out that neither she, nor Chet, nor Kathy got a chance to compete in the immunity challenge, because the Faves had solved the puzzle before the Fans even got all of their necklaces. She did a great job of shifting the focus away from physical strength. Bye bye, Mikey!

Tracy has earned this week’s Best Fan, and if she continues to subtly influence her fellow Survivors, she could go very far. Not bad for someone who is admittedly one of the physically weaker players! I’ll be interested to see how she does in her reshuffled tribe starting next week.

Least Fave:
This week we’ll have our first repeat honoree, as Jonathan is once again our Least Fave. When the vote didn’t go his way at the last Tribal Council, he was understandably—and quite obviously—upset. That’s not a big deal, but his reaction to it is.

Jonathan has the reputation of being annoying, pushy, and manipulative. Not a good combination of traits to have when you’re trying to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast. Although Jonathan correctly pointed out that Cirie was much more manipulative and devious than him, he apparently failed to realize that it’s not being manipulative and devious that loses the game, but the manner in which a Survivor goes about it. If you can charm someone while you’re stabbing them in the back they’re less likely to notice.

Jonathan has time to salvage his game, especially with the tribal shuffle coming up, but he has a lot to overcome. The Fans know his history, but if he starts playing smarter he just may be able to form an alliance that will take him far into the game. If not, he’ll join his friend Yau-Man for some post-island R&R.

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

Sandy Lamparello is an Associate Editor for Reality News Online and a Legal Editor/Correspondent for a publishing company in Crystal City, VA. She is currently training with Team In Training for the National Marathon. Read more about that here. Sandy welcomes your comments at realitytvjunkie@gmail.com. Ciao!

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