The Right Person Won
by Rich Glanzer
The second after the first commercial aired after it was announced Amber Brkich (Mariano?) won Survivor All-Stars. I received a phone call from an angry friend, complaining that Boston Rob got robbed. He said Rob played the game as competitively as possible, and his dominance should have earned him the million dollars.
I couldn't disagree more. Yes Rob was dominant both physically and mentally. That dominance earned him $100,000, a new car, and perhaps most importantly and impressively, a new wife. But it didn't earn him the title of Sole Survivor.
That's because he forgot a very important truth. Survivor is not just a game. Checkers is just a game. There are usually no hard feelings after a game of Monopoly. However often, players are very hurt after a game of Survivor. That's because Survivor brings out very real emotions. It's a game that challenges you both physically and mentally.
Now I don't know Rob Mariano. I never met him. And I'm sure he is a different person in real life then he is on Survivor. As a matter of fact, after he got voted out in his initial season, he said he hopes people realize that he was just playing the game.
But part of playing the game is dealing with the true emotions that come with the game. Rob fell in love with Amber during Survivor. That was obvious for anyone to see. So when he asked his friend Lex, to do him a solid and keep "his girl" in the game, Lex took Rob at his word. He believed Rob.
Of course Lex did this so he could better himself in the game. Lex felt that he could join an alliance of five with Big Tom, Kathy, Amber and Rob and then knock off the two lovebirds once they hit five. That was most likely the reason Lex opened up his heart. However reasons aside, he still did Rob the favor.
So when it was time to repay Lex, Rob did the stupidest thing he could do. He didn't follow through. He voted off Lex because Lex was a threat. What he should have done, was vote off Shii Ann. That way Rob could have came to Lex and said, "Listen, my tribe wants to vote you out, but since you helped me out, I talked them into voting out Shii Ann." Rob probably could have gotten his tribe mates to agree, since they all loved Amber as well. At worse, Rob could have voted for Shii Ann, and Lex would still have been voted off. But at least Rob would have shown his displeasure with the vote. Much like Lex did to Brandon during Survivor Africa.
But what I don't understand still is, what threat was Lex exactly? Yes he could have won the next reward or immunity challenge, but was he really going to real off two to seven immunities in a row? The answer is no. So the next time he lost after Shii Ann got voted off, Rob could have told Lex he saved him the last time, but he can't this time. Then Lex most likely would have understood.
Amber gave Shii Ann the car because she thought she was the swing vote. But Shii Ann was voting for Amber the whole way. In reality, Lex was the swing vote, and Rob lost him because he lied to him. Rob never understood you can lie to some of the people, but if you lie to four or more of them, chances are, the person you're sitting next to will win the million bucks. At least with the rock he provided to Amber before the vote, he's keeping the million in the family.
Now the question becomes, did Amber really deserve to win? Absolutely. She was smart enough to hang with the guy who will do all the dirty work. She amazingly helped convince Lex and Kathy not to vote her out when she was stranded with the other tribe. And while I was not impressed with most of her answers during the final tribal council, especially when Alicia asked her in one word to describe the way she played the game and she said, "With luck" Amber lied less than Rob. What she told Big Tom was basically true; she broke her word less than Rob did. And that's why tomorrow morning, the right person will be getting the check for a million bucks; Amber Brkich.
Read Rich's article from January 24, 2004 when he predicted Amber would be the Sole Survivor The Winner of All-Star Survivor Is?
Questions and Feedback, Rich can be reached at rich@survivorskills.com
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