Survivor: Gabon – Why Marcus Lost

In my interview with Marcus, he indicated that despite what Jeff Probst seemed to think, he did not actually feel like he was in control of the game. He said, “I certainly didn’t feel like I had control of the game. I was very very humble and aware of the fact that anybody could go at any time.” Yet the way things came off, it certainly seemed like that was the way he was feeling. From an objective viewpoint, how much did that factor into Marcus being voted out? Or did it factor in at all? Why did Marcus lose?

Marcus, of course, has his own feeling about why he lost. In talking to me, he repeatedly discussed how Susie was untrustworthy, how he was disappointed in Crystal, and how he was only one man with one vote. But I really think he missed the big picture – whether on purpose or not. To get to that big picture, we’ll go through What Gabon Survivors Should Have Learned.

The first rule, of course, is to scheme and plot. Marcus seemed to understand that, as he was part of the core majority (“onion”) alliance that pledged to stick together until the end. He had Charlie swooning after him and Corinne following his every word, so a final three finish was looking pretty good if they could just hold it together.

Holding it together is where things get tricky, though. Three is not enough to make it through the whole game, so they reached out, adding new layers to the onion. They had Jacquie at one point, who was replaced by Randy. They had Bob as an outlier.

But then there were Dan and Susie. Neither of them were really part of the in crowd, and both of them knew it. Both of them tried to get reassurances that they were indeed going all the way, but neither really got them. Well, Susie eventually got what she wanted in terms of a promise, but it was a ridiculous promise that she was dumb to ever believe – one reason, perhaps, that she was so easy to turn.

The point of all this is that despite the fact that Marcus knew to scheme and plot, he didn’t do it enough or properly when it came to the people whose support he would need. He needed to make Susie feel like one of the in crowd from the get-go. But he didn’t. When I asked him about it, he couldn’t seem to wrap his head around why it should even be an issue. He kept saying things like, “I’m one vote, I don’t see how people miss that concept and didn’t realize other people have to vote for you too. If you jump in the bandwagon with us and contribute, you have a better shot.”

The problem with this, of course, is that he failed to make the bandwagon an attractive option. Jumping on the Kota six bandwagon doesn’t make sense if you know you’re going to come in sixth place. And from everything we – and Susie – saw, she knew that. (Dan had similar issues, but never had a chance to act on it, so we won’t concern ourselves with him.) Marcus also told me, “Originally the whole point was just stick together and we’ll figure out the final six stuff at the end. There was so much that could have happened in the game that the answer would become clear.” But I can’t see how Susie – or anybody else – would believe that. It was clear who the true tight-knit group was, and Susie was not in it.

Marcus did have the right idea in finally caving in and promising Susie final three when he desperately needed her after the second tribal switch-up. I couldn’t believe she seemed to be buying it, but sometimes people just want to hear what they want to hear. Unfortunately for Marcus, though, his promise was counterbalanced by Crystal pointing out the obvious to Susie – and Susie actually listened to her.

But Marcus wouldn’t have had to even worry about Crystal if he had been smarter in dealing with her. He felt a kinship connection to her because her cousin was one of his best friends. But he was strategically unsound to believe that just because of that, Crystal was suddenly going to drop her game-long ally, Ken, and suddenly jump onto Marcus’ bandwagon. While he apparently told Crystal to let him know if it was a problem, he never should have even brought it up. He instead should have told Crystal that he was targeting Susie, and that would have been that.

These were the parts of strategic interaction that Marcus didn’t quite get. And it also led to his failure in the second rule. Trying to get Crystal to turn on Ken was scheming and plotting too much, making his scheming obvious, and trying to get her to backstab too soon – a trifecta of bad play. If he truly didn’t trust Susie and truly wanted to replace her with Crystal in the alliance, why not just target Susie and be done with it? It would have been quick and easy – and Marcus would still be in the game!

Marcus also violated the corollary to this rule that says, “if any alliances do get out in the open, do not let it be known that you are the decision-maker.” Marcus can deny his leadership role up and down, but it was obvious to one and all. And then he took that role farther in the reconstituted tribe because he was the one approaching Susie and Crystal (and controlling Bob).