Survivor: Micronesia – Why Erik Lost

In a season filled with shocking votes, Erik’s ouster takes the cake. It was simply unbelievable. It raises so many questions – but the main one is why did Erik lose?

It may seem that the answer to that is easy: “Because he was the dumbest Survivor ever!” And, well, that would be hard to dispute. But let’s see if we can discern anything else as we page through What Micronesia Survivors Should Have Learned.

Erik definitely understood the importance of the first rule, scheming and plotting. Indeed, he was doing all he could to try to get the women to each think he was with them, telling them all different stories along the way.

Certainly, this was a good idea to some extent. After all, if he didn’t win immunity, he needed two women to side with him in order to stick around. Otherwise, he seemed like an obvious dead duck.

The problem was that Erik took it too far and encountered problems with the second rule – he schemed and plotted too much and failed to keep his scheming secret. It’s like Amanda said – did he really think with four women left that they would never compare notes? And they would have probably done that even if he hadn’t blabbed to Cirie loud enough for Natalie to hear!

There have been cases in the past where a single player told different stories to different players, and it worked. But that was because the player in question was the center of the alliance and they all trusted him. Erik was, if anything, the outsider. The women had been scheming together for quite some time. It was downright foolish of him not to realize they would likely talk and do some advance damage control – such as telling one set of women that he would be pretending to align with another set, just to keep up appearances. I don’t know that anybody would have bought it, but at least he would have been trying!

The third rule tells players to be flexible. As we’ve discussed already, it appears Erik was trying to be flexible. He wasn’t sure which way to go, so he went in all directions. Unfortunately, that’s not really what this rule means.

One part of this rule notes, “You need to have your finger on the pulse of every member of your tribe. It’s not easy, but it will help keep you around.” Erik had absolutely no clue where he stood with the women, nor where they stood in relation to one another. That was what allowed him to get snookered.

Another thing that allowed this to happen was that he failed in the fourth rule by allowing his emotions to control him. First, he was concerned about reigniting his friendship with Amanda. Then he wanted to make sure he redeemed himself with everybody.

This is Survivor! There was no need for redemption. There was no need for friendship. Erik should have been focused on strategy, not making nice.

But I think a key part of Erik’s problem was hero worship. As he said in his final words, here were these previous players who acknowledged him and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. While Natalie was not one of them, Cirie very well might have been, and he was too busy worshipping when he should have been competing. Indeed, in his interview with me, he admitted, “There’s no question [hero worship] affected my game play.”

Erik did fine by the fifth rule, which says to pretend to be nice. Indeed, Erik was too nice! As for the sixth rule, Erik was certainly a huge threat. He won challenge after challenge, monopolizing individual immunity. The women knew they needed to get rid of him or else they’d never have the three they wanted in front of the jury.

The seventh rule, about being lazy, was not an issue here. But did the women do the right thing, according to the eighth rule? Hell yes!

We’ve now been through all of our rules, and yet we haven’t found one that says, “Don’t be stupid.” Some things should speak for themselves. I mean, giving up individual immunity when in the final five? That’s just ridiculous!

I’m sure Erik thought he had a solid final three deal that could put him in front of the jury. All he had to do was make it through this one vote. But that was one heck of a leap of faith! The only way he could take that leap was because he allowed his brain to go by the wayside and instead let his emotions take over.

Erik wanted to believe Natalie and Cirie. He wanted it so badly that he ignored the most basic precepts of the game. There is a reason people fight to win immunity, and it isn’t to give it up.

Erik has indeed claimed the position as the dumbest Survivor ever. He did it by forgetting about every strategic thought he ever had and instead turning his fate over to people he wanted to trust, but never should have. That is why Erik lost.

Breaking News: In case there was any doubt, Erik has been inducted into the Reality TV Hall of Shame!

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

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