Oh Chris, your ego destroyed your game more than you ever knew. The self-involved, egotistical male model got blindsided at this week’s Tribal Council on Survivor: Ghost Island. After weeks of burning bridges and evading the crucial vote, his time came when the merge happened and he couldn’t avoid the vote any longer. What’s surprising was that he had every opportunity to avoid being voted out; in fact, the power was given to him on a silver platter. Unfortunately, Chris lost out due to the egotistical Chris, and the rest was history.
Chris’ first error was turning down the peace flag from Dominick and Wendell. Regardless if you dislike one of the castaways or secretly want to vote them out, you should NEVER turn down any offer to work together. Saying “no” clearly states that you are against someone and you are not willing to work with them. We saw this a lot during Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers when the castaways would openly turn down considering plans or shutting down conversations; it’s a miracle anyone on that cast made it to the end. When it came to Chris, he did not have the luxury to turn anyone down. All of the tribes finally came back together and his enemies were making a genuine effort to repair the damage – he turned them down, not them. He was entering the merge phase with two enemies fired up and ready to take him out.
The second error was the Ghost Island twist. Firstly, Ghost Island at night was gorgeous! This twist needs to happen again because the scenery of the island at night, paired with the wind and the flames, heightened the creepy factor the island was meant to portray. When Chris won his hidden immunity idol, which was under suspicious circumstances (we could spend all day talking about the “randomness” of him getting the buff with the clue in it), he sacrificed his vote to increase the power of the idol. Sure, I’ve defended the use of risking votes to potentially win powers, like in my argument with Kellyn. However, Chris had already won a second round of use for his JT idol, he didn’t need to risk it again. By losing his vote in the second round, he had to depend on the trust of his alliances, which already seemed shaky enough as is.
The final, and biggest, error was not using the hidden immunity idol. Anyone, and I repeat anyone (including casual fans who only watched “Fear Keeps You Sharp”), could tell that the vote was between Dominick, Chris and Libby. There was a 33% chance of him getting the boot – those odds are terrible in a tribe of 13. He lost the individual immunity challenge, but he had an idol sitting in his pocket that he could use at that Tribal Council. Did he think he was safe? Did he really trust his allies that much? Did his ego cloud him enough to believe there was no way he wouldn’t get a single vote? The reasoning behind his thoughtless move will be mind-boggling. Chris had every chance in the world to stay in Survivor: Ghost Island and he blew it at every opportunity. This assessment may sound harsh, but he really was one of the worst Survivor players ever.
What did you think of “Fear Keeps You Sharp” starting right at the merge? The decision to begin with the boats jumped right into the drama and skipped over the post-Tribal discussion. We missed a big opportunity to hear the decision behind why the Naviti tribe decided to vote out Bradley instead of Libby. That was a shocking vote and there had to have been reasons why Dominick and Chelsea pulled the trigger. I guess we’ll have to wait for podcasts and the reunion to find out why.
The individual immunity challenges truly are the best competitions in Survivor. While they’ll stick to mostly endurance challenges going forward, the games do focus heavily on pushing the castaways to the end of their limits. And you could tell these castaways earned their safety, just look at Kellyn. She was tired, exhausted and sore after balancing the statue; kudos to her for winning the first game out of the gate. Her win perfectly showed why the individual challenges are the best. It’s anyone’s game come the challenge. You could be the strongest, the smartest, the luckiest or the fastest, but everyone has an equal shot to win it. The challenge is all on the castaways to pull out the victory.
Chelsea, Angela, Desiree and Kellyn had an interesting tactic before going into Tribal Council. They knew the attention was focused on Chris vs. Dominick, but they explored the possibility of taking the easier route by voting out Libby. With all the idols in play and the tensions rising, they could’ve taken the power and kept the original Navitis together. We should keep an eye on the Naviti women; they could secretly make the big moves going forward. And with Chris now voted out of Survivor: Ghost Island, the main target needs to be placed on someone else. Who could it be?
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