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An "Insider" Look at the Survivor: Palau
« on: May 18th, 2005, 7:33am » |
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An "Insider" Look at the Survivor: Palau Finale: Holding On
by Mike DeGeorge -- 05/18/2005
RNO
You wouldn't think an Insider consisting solely of two challenges, one Tribal Council, and two final interviews would be very interesting, would you? You'd be wrong - when you have a finale like Survivor had, you can't help but be riveted to the extra footage! Watch Jenn talk more in one clip than she did the entire game! See what Ian has to say about his incredible decision. And best of all - NO KATIE!
Wow, what a game! As I said before, I love the guys who play the game all-out, and Tom was definitely that person. It’s the first time I can remember that you looked at a Survivor contestant on day one and thought, “He is a favorite to win this,” and he actually does. It would be like Rupert winning Pearl Islands or Hunter winning Marquesas. It had a lot to do with him being in a strong alliance (and voting out Gregg before the predetermined time), a lot to do with his tribe dominating (no chance of getting voted out early or Pagonged), and a lot to do with Tom just flat-out dominating the game. Others will blame poor strategic performance by the other Koror, but that’s a small part of it. Tom won this game, and Tom deserves his victory.
Jennifer’s Final Words: She lasted 37 days, she fought to the end and she feels really good about that. It’s been THE most amazing experience she’s ever had. She enjoyed every day, no matter what was going on. She even cherished the craziness. She doesn’t regret anything, she played the hardest she could and the best game she could. She hung in there for 37 days. She guesses she should have learned to make fire at some point. She’s thrilled, and can’t wait to take a shower and eat some food, maybe listen to some music.
She thought the fact that she never made a fire might come back to haunt her, because when Janu was sent out by herself she had to make fire. After that, Caryn made an effort to learn, and it was a really stupid mistake not to learn. Maybe it should be added to “What Guatemalan Survivors Should Have Learned.” But they always had guys doing it and she took it for granted.
She’s proud of the way she played. It’s a very social game and she tried to be nice to people and not make too many promises. She wanted to stay friendly and not be annoying, and she liked the way she played. At the end, she’s glad she can say she doesn’t have any regrets.
The experience was incredible, she takes a lot for granted – family, friends… food (laughs). Who knew that she could survive in the wilderness for 37 days and be a part of a social game that really messes with your head? She tried to sink in the surroundings as much as possible, and she’ll never forget it.
She learned that she has a really high tolerance for a lot of things, like people skills, so many things she can’t begin to explain. She didn’t know how to deal without the comforts and she thinks she did really well. She kept a positive attitude and she’s happy about that. Not shocked, she thought she’d do all right, but it makes you look inward.
She proved that she is not the girly-girl that people think she is. She did all those challenges in her skirt, which is funny because she never wears a skirt back home. She did have to prove it early on, because she got pegged as the girly girl right away. She knew it would happen because of the way she looks, and she’s glad she was able to do it. She thinks people ended up respecting her and her game.
Jennifer, the Day After: She feels fantastic. She feels like she didn’t really get voted off. She did her best, losing at the Immunity Challenge was a bummer, but she fought her way through it. She didn’t get voted out by her peers and she’s happy about that.
The game is incredible. She has the utmost respect for the way the game goes. The rules change when it gets to the final four, and she’s glad she got to play it out. It just didn’t go her way. Of course, it could have gone a different way, but someone (Katie) made a choice. But she did what she could, she stirred things up at camp which was out of character for her. All along, she tried to play her game and not play with people’s emotions or lie to people. At the end, it came down to whether she thought she was getting a fair shot at it rather than just roll over and take what they were going to give her. That will come up later, she notes, if people think she played the game until that moment. As we know, that was her jury question for Tom, so it’s obviously something that bothered her.
The experience tested her in a number of ways. That was a huge test, whether she would roll over and accept what they were giving her. It was condescending in a way, saying that she played a “classy” game. She thinks it meant “you did not play.” And then when she was open with people – she could have been sneaky about it, but she confronted people – when people asked, she told them, “this is what I want.” It’s what she had to do for herself. It shocked people, it was like, “Holy crap, she decided to play all of a sudden!”
She thinks they saw her as a tribe member who tried hard at the challenges. She did work around camp, she can’t say she did a LOT at camp, but she contributed. As far as being a strategic player, she thinks people thought she was along for the ride. She and Gregg played similar games in that they kind of held back, not trying to make alliances or going to several groups. They saw her as someone to keep around because she helped out and then she was expendable later. But in the end, who doesn’t like her? She knew she wasn’t going to be like Katie, who wasn’t a threat and made some enemies. Meow! She didn’t make any enemies as far as she knows.
It’s a really “sucky” feeling to get your torch put out. She wonders if he HAD to say “the tribe has spoken” because it didn’t really. Maybe there was some way he could have said it differently. And of course, when she comes back next time, he’ll probably say the thing where she was voted out last time. But it’s logistics (actually, it’s semantics. Logistics is the management of details, like a task on The Apprentice.) But it’s a horrible feeling even though she feels great about the way she played and that she got to the final four. But she’s going to replay it forever, what could she have done differently. It’s just something she’s going to have to live with.
Her worst day in the game might have been day 21. It was a day where they were all just laying around, exhausted, hungry, nothing to do. But it would have to be the night they had the worst winds they ever had, they were huddled under the mats, and she was the most miserable she’s ever been. She was screaming inside her head and trying not to let it out. She was feeling claustrophobic because the mats were wrapped around them so that the wind wouldn’t blow through. It was definitely the most uncomfortable, feeling like it would never end.
Her best day, and she had a lot of great days and she feels really fortunate, was the yacht reward. She was able to spend the entire day with her sister and it was just incredible.
If she were asked to play Survivor again, a few days ago, or at any point during the game, she would have said no. Now having some time to step away from it, realizing it’s fantastic to challenge yourself, she would do it again in a heartbeat.
Her experience was immeasurable. She can’t even equate it with anything she’s ever done. She’s lived in different countries, gone to other places, but everything she’s learned about herself been invaluable. She knew she would enjoy the experience because of the social situation and competitiveness. It’s going to be hard to go back and not have days where you get to go play a game and be competitive and challenge herself. It’s unbelievable, and she’s just so glad she did it.
Tower of Domination: Replay of the final four Immunity Challenge, won by Tom. Of course. I love these long, complicated challenges like this one, because I think they force the best person playing to win. And I have to say I’m impressed by how Jenn tackled the course, only losing to an unfamiliarity with the grappling hook. Like Tom, I didn’t realize she was capable of playing the game until late, mainly because there was no game to see. I’d like to see what she can do if she stood on her own.
Final Four Tribal Council: Should Jenn have been voted out? I would have been surprised had it been otherwise, really. Do I think Ian would have gone with the plan to vote out Tom? Yes, actually. And credit to Tom for picking up on Ian’s slip (and to my girlfriend too, for noticing it when I didn’t).
As always, I wish Katie would have gone. But if she had, I would have had to listen to HER for ten minutes in her closing speeches, and we wouldn’t have gotten that jury, which was all kinds of awesome. I told my girlfriend I enjoyed that segment so much I felt like I should have smoked a cigarette afterward.
Jenn votes for Ian: “It’s been great playing with you. Things didn’t happen the way I thought… yeah… this is my vote.”
Ian votes for Jenn: “I don’t know what’s going on, but you played well.”
Katie votes for Jenn: “The only reason I’m doing this is because Tom wants Ian out, and it’s the only thing I can think of that’s fair.”
Tom votes for Ian: “Ian, this one hurts. I thought you had my back… and I lost faith in you today.”
There is a tie, as we know, and Ian looks absolutely crushed. The revote:
Katie votes for Jenn with no comment.
Tom votes for Ian with no comment and a cold glare. I was actually surprised, watching this. I thought Katie would change her vote. I was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t. Katie has since indicated she knew she wasn’t winning if she went to the final two with any of them, so she may have been trying to give the million to her friend Ian as much as possible.
Bob-Bob-Buoy: A Howard Stern reference? A freakin’ Howard Stern reference? I can forgive the stupid song jokes and bad puns, but to stretch (and it’s a BIG stretch) to make a Stern joke is just below them. Come on, CBS, you’re better than this.
Obviously, this is a replay of the endurance challenge. I love this challenge (and I’m sure Jeff Probst hates it. How boring can you get?), because like the “chopping the ropes” challenge that got Gregg ousted, it tells us a lot about the Survivors. Look at Rob and Amber in All-Stars - they were practically engaged but still didn’t trust each other. Rich stepping down first in the first season ensured that he got Rudy’s vote – had he won and sent Rudy home, he would have lost. In Marquesas, Kathy lost due to a malfunctioning shirt and a double-deal.
This season, I don’t think Katie surprised anyone by stepping down first. She surprised me by lasting as long as she did.
What particularly intrigued me was Tom’s first offer – if Ian stepped down, he would take him, but if Tom outlasted him, he would take Katie. Why would he make such a strange offer?
I believe that it was a test of trust. Many people take their own values and “project” them onto others. Everyone knows someone who always suspect that others are gossiping about them, being dishonest, or what have you, when in reality those things are exactly the actions that person is guilty of.
Tom was projecting in a positive way. By that logic, if Ian stepped down, he would be showing that he trusted Tom – and thus proving himself in Tom’s eyes. Would a dishonest man be so trusting? I, and Tom, apparently didn’t think so.
What do I think about Ian quitting? I’ve said a number of times that I would not do well on Survivor, and this illustrates yet another reason why. I would have a hard time looking someone in the eye and twisting the knife, like Rob and Chris did to win. I don’t think there’s anything morally wrong with it, as it IS a game, as many have said. I can’t do it. You can be a nice person and win, as Ethan and (it could be argued) Tom did. But then you’d have to be physically dominant, and that ain’t me either!
All that said, I can’t argue with what Ian did. If that’s what he felt like he needed to do to set his mind at ease, that’s what he should do. I have to wonder if he’ll look back and regret it, but as it stands, more power to him. Was it bad game play? Of course it was. But I respect the hell out of him for it. I also have to wonder if he had taken it back when Tom asked, would Tom have taken him anyway? And I thought for a second that Tom would bring him along no matter what Ian said.
Finally, the challenge lasted 11 hours and 45 minutes, which was touted as a Survivor record. As far as I know, it’s also a reality TV record, beating Big Brother 5’s “Hands on the button” challenge won by Diane at 9 hours and 30 minutes.
Ian’s Final Words: It’s daytime and Ian is shaved and cleaned up, so it’s obviously not immediately post-challenge. He says he’s out of the game under “interesting circumstances.” It’s been the experience of a lifetime with fantastic people. The food was bad, but the family he was with was fantastic. He can’t wait for the next chapter of his life to begin. He’s sad to go, but happy to see what the next page will be.
It’s a better goodbye than he could have imagined. It’s just a shame that it took twelve hours for him to figure out where his integrity lay. They duked it out, and the ugliness that was coming from them (primarily from him, he says) just doesn’t sit well with him. He has a family back home to think about. He finally came up with a way to set an example to people back home and save two friendships that are more important to him than a million dollars could ever be. Good luck to Tom and Katie, two people who deserve the final two. It will be a difficult decision tonight to decide who to vote for, but that’s what the game is about.
Ian, the Day After: A change of scenery and different clothes from the above clip, so no telling the timeline here. He says a weight has been lifted off his shoulders and something was sitting on his chest for 39 days. Now he can finally breathe again. It’s a good feeling.
He could look at it and say that the final two would have been a better way to go, but the bottom line is he thought about it. He could have gone to the final two – Tom would have taken him if he would have won the challenge, or he, Ian, would have taken Katie and been in the final two for the final Tribal Council. But he realized, 12 hours in, if he left the game in the final two, he would have left two people behind that he was closer to than he could have gotten to anyone on the “outside world.” To lose two people who would be like family to him was a lot more important to him than the million. He’s got a sister to set an example for, and he thinks his dad would kick his ass if he knew he gave up his integrity for any amount of money.
It’s an interesting dichotomy, on the one hand you’ve got the game they’re playing. It’s not a game like Monopoly, it’s a game with real people, real emotions, and real people involved. He came into it thinking it was just a game and didn’t take it too seriously, he could do whatever he wanted, lie, cheat, steal and it won’t affect him. But you get there, and you do it, and all of a sudden, you feel for people! Particularly for people you like. For people you don’t like, it’s no big deal. Heh.
But it really affects you. Add into it that he’s probably the worst liar in the history of the world, and you’ve got squirmy, weaselly Ian at Tribal Council. He didn’t like the feeling and he didn’t like the person he was becoming. It came to a head at the challenge where he finally said if he’s going to win a million dollars that way, it’s the wrong way for him.
The bottom line is, the game he wanted to bring, and the game that reflects who he is are two different things. Once he realized that, it was time to go. He earned a lot more than a million dollars with that decision.
The moment the deal came into his head, a million dollars sounded fantastic. But all of a sudden, he felt stripped away, mentally, physically, and spiritually. There was nothing left to him, the only thing that kept him going was knowing he was not going to step down, and had to outlast Tom whatever it took. He thought of his family back home going through their day, thinking what they were doing right now. Once those thoughts came into his mind, he thought, “What am I doing?” Is this ugliness worth the prize at the end of the tunnel? He realized that there are two tunnels, and he was in the wrong one. So he backed up and offered the deal to Tom. He took the plunge, and he’s happy with the way it turned out.
Don’t get him wrong, a million dollars would have been great, especially for someone who rides to work on a bike (well, he DID win a car…) and has $500 in the bank. He left the game happier than when he went in. The learning experience is more valuable than any prize he could have gotten. He’s happy, in fact, he’s relieved.
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