12 MVP – Who Dat Ninja?
Survivor: Fiji, Episode 12 MVP – Who Dat Ninja? by Betsy Wasser -- 05/09/2007 Alex tried to go into “ninja mode” in his final days on Survivor. Judging by the results, he must have been a ninja in a neon colored outfit with squeaky shoes, since he got voted out. Who played better than he did this week? Alex once again found his back to the wall, in serious danger of being voted out. He swore over and over again that he wouldn’t go without a fight. But this time, he said that he’d be “like a ninja,” stealthily gathering information and using it against the other players. Alex did try his hand at some strategizing, I’ll give him that. But he took the completely wrong approach. He said it would’ve been a mistake to come across as too aggressive, that it would be better to wait for someone to come to him. It makes sense to think that a player amenable to switching would be the one to talk to him, but at this point in the game, Alex really needed to take a more aggressive approach. Was he afraid that he’d be perceived as desperate, as willing to do anything he could to stay in the game? Well, if he did, then so what? That’s the truth of his situation, and everybody knew it. Because he decided to wait for someone to approach him, he wound up talking to Cassandra. This led to Alex trying to convince Cassandra, Earl, and Dreamz about the possibility of voting out Yau-Man. Really, that wasn’t the right group of people for Alex to approach. Alex’s ninja-stealth routine should have helped him figure out that Earl, Yau-Man, and Cassandra are extremely tight… and feel comfortable where they are. Dreamz, of course, is more malleable, but Earl and Cassandra were wasted efforts. A better bet would have been to approach Stacy, Boo, and Dreamz, all of whom should feel like outsiders. Alex should have approached the three of them and proposed that they either vote out Cassandra, saying that they don’t want someone to make it to the end under the radar. Or, even better, he could have gunned for Earl, pointing out the way Earl objected to the way everyone else wanted to vote at the last tribal council. Do they want Earl to push them around, or do they want to win? But that’s not the approach Alex took, and that’s why he lost this week. The only player in this game who was in serious trouble of being voted out other than Alex was Boo. Earl tried to get Yau-Man and Cassandra to consider voting out Boo. Later, Alex asked Dreamz to change the vote from himself to Boo. Dreamz likes Alex (for what reason I’m not sure, considering the way Alex’s alliance treated him way back when). I think Dreamz might have really meant it when he told Alex he’d try to save him, at least for one vote. Boo played so well in this episode that it was impossible to vote him out. Boo absolutely dominated the reward challenge. He beat out Yau-Man and Dreamz by almost three pounds! That’s a lot of meat. As a quick aside, I was more than a little bit grossed out by the reward challenge. Watching Stacy get smacked in the face with a big hunk of pork was fun, but I could have done without seeing the little flecks of meat all over everybody’s clothing and faces. And can you imagine how much the players must have been dying for some dental floss when it was all over? Anyway, Boo won the reward, which was an important victory. The rafting trip looked like a blast, and the picnic and letters from home were surely a nice morale boost. But the most important thing was that Boo walked away from the challenge with an advantage in the immunity challenge. That advantage, of course, was the climbing steps. Boo not only automatically made it into the finals, but he also got to skip the whole digging aspect of the challenge. That surely had him feeling a bit more energetic than his competitors. That energy served him well, as he was able to use just a few steps, pulling himself up most of the way. Boo handily won immunity. Boo didn’t show any really amazing strategic play this week, but the MVP award recognizes athleticism as well. Boo had two great performances in a week where it may well have been important for him to do so. I think he’ll be in trouble next week, now that Alex is gone. But if he keeps playing like this, he’ll have enough staying power to stick around.
Survivor: Fiji, Episode 12 MVP – Who Dat Ninja? by Betsy Wasser -- 05/09/2007 Alex tried to go into “ninja mode” in his final days on Survivor. Judging by the results, he must have been a ninja in a neon colored outfit with squeaky shoes, since he got voted out. Who played better than he did this week? Alex once again found his back to the wall, in serious danger of being voted out. He swore over and over again that he wouldn’t go without a fight. But this time, he said that he’d be “like a ninja,” stealthily gathering information and using it against the other players. Alex did try his hand at some strategizing, I’ll give him that. But he took the completely wrong approach. He said it would’ve been a mistake to come across as too aggressive, that it would be better to wait for someone to come to him. It makes sense to think that a player amenable to switching would be the one to talk to him, but at this point in the game, Alex really needed to take a more aggressive approach. Was he afraid that he’d be perceived as desperate, as willing to do anything he could to stay in the game? Well, if he did, then so what? That’s the truth of his situation, and everybody knew it. Because he decided to wait for someone to approach him, he wound up talking to Cassandra. This led to Alex trying to convince Cassandra, Earl, and Dreamz about the possibility of voting out Yau-Man. Really, that wasn’t the right group of people for Alex to approach. Alex’s ninja-stealth routine should have helped him figure out that Earl, Yau-Man, and Cassandra are extremely tight… and feel comfortable where they are. Dreamz, of course, is more malleable, but Earl and Cassandra were wasted efforts. A better bet would have been to approach Stacy, Boo, and Dreamz, all of whom should feel like outsiders. Alex should have approached the three of them and proposed that they either vote out Cassandra, saying that they don’t want someone to make it to the end under the radar. Or, even better, he could have gunned for Earl, pointing out the way Earl objected to the way everyone else wanted to vote at the last tribal council. Do they want Earl to push them around, or do they want to win? But that’s not the approach Alex took, and that’s why he lost this week. The only player in this game who was in serious trouble of being voted out other than Alex was Boo. Earl tried to get Yau-Man and Cassandra to consider voting out Boo. Later, Alex asked Dreamz to change the vote from himself to Boo. Dreamz likes Alex (for what reason I’m not sure, considering the way Alex’s alliance treated him way back when). I think Dreamz might have really meant it when he told Alex he’d try to save him, at least for one vote. Boo played so well in this episode that it was impossible to vote him out. Boo absolutely dominated the reward challenge. He beat out Yau-Man and Dreamz by almost three pounds! That’s a lot of meat. As a quick aside, I was more than a little bit grossed out by the reward challenge. Watching Stacy get smacked in the face with a big hunk of pork was fun, but I could have done without seeing the little flecks of meat all over everybody’s clothing and faces. And can you imagine how much the players must have been dying for some dental floss when it was all over? Anyway, Boo won the reward, which was an important victory. The rafting trip looked like a blast, and the picnic and letters from home were surely a nice morale boost. But the most important thing was that Boo walked away from the challenge with an advantage in the immunity challenge. That advantage, of course, was the climbing steps. Boo not only automatically made it into the finals, but he also got to skip the whole digging aspect of the challenge. That surely had him feeling a bit more energetic than his competitors. That energy served him well, as he was able to use just a few steps, pulling himself up most of the way. Boo handily won immunity. Boo didn’t show any really amazing strategic play this week, but the MVP award recognizes athleticism as well. Boo had two great performances in a week where it may well have been important for him to do so. I think he’ll be in trouble next week, now that Alex is gone. But if he keeps playing like this, he’ll have enough staying power to stick around.