Survivor: The Amazon – Why Did Rob Vote Out Deena?

In both my recap of the ninth episode and Why Deena Lost, I discussed the question of why Rob chose to vote off Deena instead of sticking by his super-secret alliance partner and getting rid of Alex. Basically, the answer I came to was a big “I dunno!”

E-mails started to roll in quickly, with a number of people putting forth suggestions on why Rob voted for Deena. Almost all had the same main point: Because that’s what he told Matt earlier in the episode, and to switch would have caused problems.

I must admit that I briefly thought about this while writing up the other articles, but I didn’t ponder it too long. Now I think it’s time to do so.

At the very beginning of the episode, Rob talked about how he would lead Matt on wild goose chases in order to keep his mind occupied and thus be unable to figure out what’s really going on. The chase in question this time was that some of the women wanted Deena gone. Matt gobbled down this information as eagerly as he would later swallow various insects, and passed it on to the next link in the chain, Butch. Meanwhile, Rob told the others his great story of how he was leading Matt on and how Matt had bought it hook, line, and sinker. They all knew Matt was going next, so there was no big deal, right? Wrong.

How bizarre was it that Rob’s fairy tale came true? So now Rob was left with a choice – tell Matt that plans had changed and that they would be voting for Alex, or just leave things as they stood and vote off Deena. Recall also that Rob had earlier been feeding Matt the story that it was Rob, Matt, and Alex in the final three, so telling Matt to vote against Alex would have necessitated some ‘splaining.

Let’s take a look at what a couple of the e-mails I received had to say, and I’ll add some of my own comments as well. We’ll begin with Alex (presumably not the one on the show!), who said:

Rob set Matthew up to scheme against Deena – this was the "wild goose chase" errand that he fed to Matthew. The dynamics of the game shifted after that point, and suddenly Rob was faced with his core alliance wanting to vote Deena off, plus the red herring plan he fed to Matt (and further to Butch) to vote Deena off. If Rob went back on the plan he fed to Matt, where would he be? He would have revealed himself as duplicitous and would have lost Matt's trust. Rob had no choice but to go along with the majority of his alliance, especially since he had already sown the seeds of Deena's ouster with Matt and Butch. This ended up being a brilliant back-up plan which improved Rob's position in the game, since he started it as a ruse, but ended up being able to use to his advantage (and to further gain the trust of Matthew). Now the question is, will Rob remain faithful to Alex, Jenna and Heidi, or will he use his power over Matthew (and by extension Butch) to pull a political coup over the power alliance? Rob still stands solidly in the middle of the tribal politics, and he will be the deciding vote in how the game plays out next week.

Rob would still have had his secret “to the end” alliance with Deena, he would have had Matt (and therefore Butch) on a leash, and they could have gotten rid of Alex – a major challenge threat – and then Heidi and Jenna. Christy and Butch have shown no indication that they scheme or plot at all, so they wouldn’t have been threats. Rob would have been in a great position. Instead, he is faced with being the fourth person in a four-person alliance (Heidi, Jenna, Alex, Rob). Sure, he could pull a political coup, as the e-mail suggests here, but will he? I don’t think so. For as much as Rob has talked about strategy, in almost every case he’s taken the easy way out. He did it with Roger early on, he did it with Deena here.

Now we’ll add in what Michelle said:

I can think of a reason why he chose to join the others in taking out Deena. In a word: Matthew. Rob has repeatedly told him that the core alliance is himself, Matt and Alex. Rob was afraid that if Alex was targeted, Matt would find out he's being strung along and turn against him. Matt might have formed a WoE [Wretched of the Earth] alliance with Butch and Christy, then by adding Jenna & Heidi, Alex would follow and Deena would then be forced to turn on her secret ally. By instead sticking with his story that Deena was going, Rob proves his "loyalty" to Matt, and in following the rule, backstabs Deena at the very last moment. Even if Rob didn't suspect the possibility of a Matt instigated coup; he still expected to be the "last man standing." He was destined for no better than 4th place – behind Deena, Heidi and Jenna. He mistakenly, but honestly, thought he'd have better odds in securing Matt's trust and in turn, Butch. Figuring he could win the jury vote against either of them, though he'd later have to cross the hurdle of voting out Alex before Butch or Matt.

As far as Rob expecting to be the last man standing, I don’t think he expected that at all. Remember, he had a “to the end” secret alliance with Deena. And if Jenna and Heidi were going to team up against him in the scenario with Deena, I don’t see how it would be any better for him without her.

Michelle and Alex were not the only two readers who e-mailed in, but their comments were representative of those I got, and I didn’t want to duplicate too much.

Looking at the entire situation, I think that perhaps the reasons discussed here do, in fact, explain why Rob voted against Deena. “But wait!” I hear you cry. “You just said he could have done it in other ways!” Yes, I did. I still maintain that he could have gotten out of his predicament if he had just put a little effort into it. As I mentioned above, he could have told Matt that Alex had turned on them. He could have pulled Matt and Butch into the group with Deena and Christy to get rid of Alex, and then also gotten rid of Heidi and Jenna after that. But for whatever reason, he decided against it. Was it because, his protests to the contrary, he doesn’t always think with the head on top of his neck as opposed to the other one? Perhaps. But in the end, I think he just figured it was less work.

When Rob could have sided with Daniel, Ryan, and Matt in the first vote to get rid of Roger, he chose to sit back and let Ryan get booted. This time, he made the same choice. In both cases he could have done a little work and changed the outcome, but he didn’t. Call it flying under the radar. Call it strategy. Or call it laziness. Right now, I’m leaning towards the latter.

Rob talks a good game. Rob even plans a good game. He has positioned himself well. But when he had a chance to better that position or accept the status quo, he went with the status quo. He lost a close alliance-partner and put himself into a situation where I simply cannot see him making the final three, let alone the final two.

So why did Rob vote out Deena? Because it was easier. And I still maintain that it wasn’t very smart.

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

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