A winner is crowed, but does she deserve it?
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Blog: Episode 14
Well, the season that started out with the potential to be the greatest in Survivor history, has finally come to a close. I’ve got a lot on my plate, so I won’t belabor the introduction and will head straight to the analysis.
Colby actually showed some grit in his final immunity challenge. He took Parvati to the wire, but ultimately fell short. Then when he got back to camp and gave his “I’m not scrambling, I know I’m out” speech, everyone bought it. Why wouldn’t they? Colby has been the most pathetic contestant all season. To his credit, he didn’t completely lay down and die. He tried to persuade Russell to keep him around, using the argument that by getting rid of Sandra, the trifecta of Colby, Jeri, and Russell would have a better shot at knocking off Parvati in the last immunity challenge. It was an intriguing thought, but ultimately flawed. If Russell had any shot of winning (which he didn’t), his best bet would’ve been to take Sandra and Colby to the final and argued against their lack of strategy and physical skills. The person that Russell really needed to take in that situation was Jeri and I doubt that Russell and Colby could’ve convinced Sandra that it was the right move.
Needless to say, Colby was sent home packing. Also needless to say, I was extremely happy to see it happen.
16th Elimination: Colby
That left four players. In what had to be the closest final immunity challenge ever, Russell managed to run the maze and nab the necklace a fraction of a second before Parvati and Jeri did. Had Parvati grabbed it, I think she would’ve voted off Jeri anyway and we would’ve been left with the same final three. Had Jeri grabbed it, Sandra would’ve likely been out and Jeri would’ve slaughtered Parvati and Russell. Yup, Jeri was about half a second away from being a millionaire…
Ultimately, Russell’s decision to get rid of Jeri was a good one. Not that it really would’ve made any difference for him. Comparing Jeri and Sandra, he could easily come after both using the “lack of strategy”. However, with Jeri on the jury, Russell had the potential to get both her vote and Coach’s. With Jeri in the game, she would likely get Coach’s vote and Russell knew that there was no way that Sandra was voting for him. You can’t throw away two potential votes like that. Also worth considering, had Russell taken out Parvati and gone to the final with Jeri and Sandra, he still would’ve likely gone voteless, but things would’ve been far more interesting. Jeri vs. Sandra might have gone down to the wire, but I’m guessing Sandra’s ties to the Heroes would’ve still won her the game.
17th Elimination: Jeri
So now we’re left with the final three heading to tribal council. Overall, it was a pretty disappointing segment. There were no really difficult question or any classic tongue-lashings to be had. I felt that Russell also used some pretty weak arguments. Maybe they were just edited out, but he never brought up the fact that he basically jumped off the cliff and sacrificed himself to save Parvati during the episode where Tyson was eliminated. In all honestly, it was a pretty noble and selfless move, without which Parvati would’ve been eliminated about ten tribal councils ago. In my eyes, that sheds a lot of the “villain” stigma surrounding him and also de-legitimizes anyone voting for Parvait over him. Also, Sandra went on and on about how her strategy to take out Russell failed. Russell should’ve lept all over that. “SEE! Her strategy sucked! It didn’t work! I’m still here! The only reason she’s here is because she sucks horribly and we dragged her dead weight along! How can you vote for her when she failed so miserably and played so horribly in every challenge? Also, I’m so good at this game that I had people like Sandra and every single one of you Heroes gunning for me day after day after day, and you couldn’t get me out of the game! You have to respect that!”
When you consider those arguments, there’s no way you can justify not voting for Russell. But like I said, either he didn’t make them, or he did and they were just edited out. My guess is that he didn’t make them. The sad thing is, after failing to get a single vote, I doubt anything Russell said would’ve truly mattered. For the second season in a row people chose to be bitter and act all “holier than thou” when it came to Russell. Yes, the man is a rotten scoundrel. Yes, he probably went too far with voting off Danielle as I’m sure her and Parvati would’ve stuck with him in the final three. However, there is absolutely no denying that he strategized better than anyone in this game, that he played harder than anyone in this game, and that everyone sitting on that jury was doing so simply because Russell outplayed them. I’m not saying that the jury had to like voting for Russell, but they’re a bunch of fools for choosing to reward Sandra’s lame effort over the masterpiece of villainry that Russell painted over 39 days.
Russell: 0 votes
Parvati: 3 votes
Sandra: 6 votes
Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.
Those are the three qualities that a jury vote should reside on. America could see it, as Russell was once again named the player of the game. Maybe it’s easier for us to see past it when it’s not our own backs getting stabbed and our own faces getting spat in. Still, I’d like to think that if I were playing the game, A. I’d be man enough to vote for the best player in the end regardless of whether I “liked” them, and B. I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to try and cross Russell in the first place!
