No Justice In Survivor 19

Season 19 was the season of Russell Hantz. Russell is a rough, blunt, red neck from Texas who will pull out all stops to win. Never before has one person dominated the game or the airtime of the season like Russell did this year. Russell was a character that I disliked initially but by the end wanted him to win badly, because he dominated the game so much. Most of the cast were so poor at playing Survivor and bland that it almost seemed like the producers decided to put one smart, very aggressive player with a cast of players who did not know what they were doing.

Russell was on the Foa Foa tribe. Russell did not seem to care if his tribe won and appeared to be perfectly happy getting rid of anyone he perceived as a threat. At the merge the other tribe, Galua was ahead 8 to 4 and it appeared that Russell's strategy would backfire and that Galua would eliminate the remaining Foa Foa players one by one. However, through Russell's ability to find the hidden idol (three times) and Galua's stupidity, Galua was eventually at a numbers disadvantage and all were eliminated in order except for the Brett, who was barely shown most of the season, but went on a immunity challenge run at the end.

Brett avoided elimination by winning three challenges in a row. At the last elimination challenge, it came down to Russell and Brett. Russell won and Brett was voted out. Russell's core alliance were the three other remaining members of Foa Foa (Jaison, Mick and Natalie) and Shambo the outcast from Galua. Jaison is a law student, who seemed miserable on the show. Mick is a doctor, which is hard to believe based on the lack of intelligence he displayed on Survivor. Natalie is a salesperson who is a nice, attractive Christian who was well liked. All three of the Foa Foas chief skill was doing whatever Russell told them to do. Shambo is a lesbian ex marine, who did not get along with the pretty girls on Galua and greatly admired Russell. As Brett won immunity challenges, Shambo and then Jaison were voted off, leaving Russell, Natalie and Mick in the finals.

Survivor is not like most games or sports. The winner is decided by individuals who can be as subjective, illogical and biased as they want. Besides the motto "outwit, outplay, outlast", there is no rules for what factors the jury uses to decide who wins. The dynamic of each jury is different. This was never illustrated more than the latest season.

One question or concern that I have is that the jury is not supposed to discuss the vote with the other jury members beforehand, but I think it happens and this year it seemed more apparent than in the past. Both Dave and Jaison praised Russell's game in their exit speech and ended up voting for Natalie.

I think Russell dominated the game and clearly should have won. However, there were 8 members of the jury that were stupid enough to somehow lose 8-4 advantage since the merge, so they clearly were not very smart. Here is a breakdown of how I see the jury,

Hypocritical Jury Members
Eric - Was completely arrogant when he was in the game and talked about how lying and cheating were big parts of the game. In short, he was similar to Russell, but not nearly as good. Every week that he was on the jury, he was cheering Russell's moves. His speech and vote made no sense based on how he acted previously.

Jaison - Praised and followed every move Russell made, until Russell voted him out. Then he found Russell immoral. I especially did not like his comparison to an office because 1. A game is different than real life 2. Russell did not sit around and play, Russell did more than his share of the work.

Christian Jury Members
Laura and Brett-Both bonded with Natalie over religion

Laura's Followers Jury Members
Kelly and Monica - Both were heavily influenced by Laura, who as mentioned above, bonded with Natalie based on both being strong Christians.

Crazy Jury Members
Dave - This guy was supposed to have the highest IQ in the history of Survivor. However, he never made any sense and always seems way out there. Completely unpredictable. I wonder how much pot he is smoked in his life.

Shambo - Was the Gilligan of the game. She was wacky, incompetent, emotional and steadfastly loyal to Russell. Her declaration for Russell in front the jury did not help Russell with Laura and her followers.

Rational Jury Member
John - Seemed to be the logical member of the jury.

I think Russell's down fall was not recognizing the bonding that Natalie was forming with Laura and Brett over their religious beliefs and that Natalie made her living as a Salesperson and had excellent people skills. Russell should have voted Natalie out instead of Shambo or Jaison.

Russell gave the jury too much credit thinking they would vote rationally for who was clearly the best player rather than letting their bitterness and friendship factor into their decision.

This was a fun season of Survivor with a disappointing ending. I give Survivor a B+.