Sidenote, I recently rewatched "Pearl Islands" (I had been in and out of that season when it originally aired [Fall 2003]) and I was surprised at 1) how satisfying it was 2) how disturbingly hot Burton was and 3) how much more heavily Sandra was featured and clearly in the thick of it than I had remembered. Why do people always act like [Sandra's] was a WTF win[?] The audience actually really liked her and she wasn't invisible like Natalie White.
Reason is that many people don't understand the nature of the dynamics involved in
Survivor. I have a close relative with whom I discuss the show. She liked that Sarah was voted out last week because she was obnoxious. (Her take. Not mine.) My relative, in our conversations, will ask why there are castaways who don't vote out an obviously rude and obnoxious person? (From the collective perceptions of those watching the show and observing good and bad behavior.) That's her
understanding. As if
Survivor is about proper conduct, involving more than ten people, who are on a long camping trip. That those who don't maintain good behavior should lose out. But of course, my relative will say that she knows the show isn't really about that. But, when I talked with her about last week's episode [04.02.2014], she was puzzled that I told her that Kass destroyed her game. That, from a game standpoint, she cut her own throat in regards to whether she can win (even if she somehow makes it to the end).
Further on the people who don't understand the nature of the game: Dalton Ross, and his
Survivor-writing reports for
Entertainment Weekly, doesn't get it. In 2009, he bitched that Russell should have won
Samoa. That the jury should have seen that Russell was the best at playing the game—rather than having voted Natalie the winner. Linda Holmes, who has written for more than one source, countered by saying that Russell wasn't the best player; because, while he was great at scavenger hunts (in finding Immunity Idols), he failed to get the jury votes. (Russell received two votes from nine cast. Natalie landslide to victory winning all remaining seven.) Part of what Ross said was something about the jury having a duty to take their jobs seriously. Holmes countered that by saying that if any jurors are taking that seriously, like a job, then they (and Dalton Ross) have lost their grips (as in, lost their minds) on reality. And Holmes was right: The jurors can handle the voting however each of them will. They can base voting on whatever criteria. They can base it on nothing. So long as
Survivor has a recording of their individual votes.
Also slip, that season featured a crazy hag for the ages in Lil the scout-leader, whose irritating and needy personality was redeemed by her refusal to take Johnny Fairplay to the finals (even if it meant losing the million dollars) simply because she found him as vile and disgusting as we did.
Lill was emotional. Yet it was necessary given her circumstances. Her Morgan tribe quickly united in the early days of the game with five (Andrew, Tijuana, Ryan, Darrah, and Osten). They had low regard for the other Ryan as well as Nicole (voted out first in "Pearl Islands") and, afterward, Lill. She was out of that in-group, within her the Morgan tribe, and they screwed her. They screwed her simply because they had their in-group established. Like a clique.
In the merge episode, as Lillian and Burton (who ousted from Drake) were returned to the game, she realistically noted that—for all her original tribe's promises of unity—Andrew, Tijuana, Ryan, and Darrah were still there and they were resentful of her return to the game. (Osten had quit the game.)
Lillian and Burton, were already united (at that points as Outcasts), knew they had to work together to find a way to navigate the game by plowing through much of their original tribes.
Revenge? Yes. And they were immune with that merge episode that put all others not with Immunity at risk. (Burton won the Immunity. He bullshitted Rupert with solidarity nonsense and gave him an Idol.) These two worked with that merge episode, and after, to figure out their process. So they got rid of Morgan's Andrew (10th place); Morgan's Ryan (9th place); Drake's Rupert (8th place); Morgan's Tijuana (7th place); and Drake's Christa (6th place). Whether it was planned, they essentially zig-zagged between originals of both tribes as they ousted them from the merge episode going forward.
When
Pearl Islands emerged with the remaining five castaways, Lillian picked up—with an accurate read—that Burton joined with Jon (Fairplay). That they were scheming to fuck her over into fifth place. (Burton won the Reward challenge and celebrated it with Jon.) That the two guys were telling Lillian that Darrah would go out; but Lill had her instincts that, with Burton and Jon, they were burning too many bridges and actually had in mind each other for Final Two. (
Paraphrasing Lill's confessional: "And it dawned on me: If they can screw over Darrah, they can screw over
me.") So, Lill figured, not unlike Burton, that she didn't fight her way back into the game for nothing. She was trusting in going with Burton to the end. But that wasn't true with Burton. And the votes lined up: Lillian (Burton, Jon) vs. Burton (Lillian, Darrah, Sandra). Burton ended up finishing in 5th place. (Darrah, who also gave Lill bad vibes, went out into 4th place.)
Lillian did the right thing. Yes, she was doomed. Even had Lill not selected Sandra for Final Two, Jon would have defeated her. The problem with people's take on the outcome of
Pearl Islands, and Sandra (who would become the first two-time
Survivor winner, in Spring 2010, with
Heroes vs. Villains), was that they forget that the questions and comments from jurors would not have been exactly as they materialized had the scenario Final Two been Lillian vs. Jon rather the actual Final Two (Lillian vs. Sandra).
It is true that Lillian admitted, in the "Reunion" special, that she chose Sandra over Jon because of more respect for the latter. But I think she knew that she wasn't going to win. So, in a situation like that, she probably flipped it in her head and imagined Sandra vs. Jon. And that helped inform her decision to eliminate Jon into 3rd place and go to the Final Tribal Council with Sandra.
" which: ew.
