Why Lisi Lost
Survivor: Fiji – Why Lisi Lost by David Bloomberg -- 04/09/2007 It might seem to be a waste of time to wonder why Lisi lost, given that she asked to be booted. But she did take it back, and we have seen occasions when allies refused such requests on Survivor before. So what did Lisi do to put herself in such a bad position? Why did Lisi lose? Lisi was all happy and proud of herself when she was in the Moto camp as part of the ruling alliance. But then she went through bizarre mood swings starting as soon as the tribal switch-up was done and the Lisi stood alone. Did this lead directly to her ouster? Was it really this obvious? Why did Lisi lose? Yes, it might seem a little redundant to ask these questions about a person who told her allies to vote her off, but unless you’re a contestant taken away for medical reasons, you get treated to a column about why you lost. As always, we will address the situation by looking back at What Fiji Survivors Should Have Learned and using it as a blueprint. So let’s get to it! Lisi told me in my interview with her that she had barely seen any Survivor on TV. Yet she did manage to figure out that she had to scheme and plot to stay alive. While Moto only had to (well, chose to) vote off one person, there were still some very clear divisions in the tribe. On the one hand, we had Alex, Edgardo, Boo, Lisi, and Stacy. On the other hand, we had the rest of the tribe. Lisi was in the controlling alliance and put her power there to good use, ensuring that Liliana would be the one who left because Lisi felt threatened by her. Even once she got to Ravu, she was still in the main alliance. Alex, Edgardo, and Dreamz managed to pull the wool over the eyes of Rocky and Mookie, convincing them to vote out one of their own in Anthony. From that point on, original Moto would be able to control Ravu. So they booted Rocky next, and then they didn’t even need all of original Moto – just the three from the core group. Once again, Lisi was right there in the thick of it. She wasn’t the leader or the planner, but she was a solid part of the alliance. Lisi even managed to mostly follow the second rule by not scheming and plotting too much. Then again, that may be because she wasn’t the one doing most of the plotting, but rather following along in it. She didn’t do much with the “keep your scheming secret” part of the rule, because it was obvious to one and all who was “in” and who was “out” on original Moto. But since they only needed to vote the one time and the majority seemed pretty solid, it didn’t end up mattering. The third rule tells players to be flexible. As we saw from the way Lisi cracked up when things changed, flexibility was not really her strong suit. In her Early Show interview, Lisi said she was fine when she was coasting, but she wanted to go when things went downhill. Not exactly a flexible attitude there. If she actually knew anything about Survivor, she would have realized that, as this rule notes, “producers will throw in more twists and turns,” and, “Players have to be ready for anything.” Lisi was ready for nothing. This was, in large part, because Lisi was completely controlled by her emotions and made no attempt to hide it. When she wasn’t picked to be on a tribe during the switch-up, she threw a little tantrum. Then she got better. Then she threw another tantrum later. Then she got better. Etc. Lisi was a roller coaster ride, and I can only imagine her tribemates screaming, “I want to get off!” Or, more appropriately, “I want to get Lisi off – the island!” Lisi didn’t help herself any by violating the fifth rule, which says she should have pretended to be nice. This stems back to her being controlled by her emotions, but some of the things she said. Some of it was behind people’s backs, but she also obviously displayed a fair amount to their faces. Dreamz and Cassandra certainly took their fair share of abuse, for example, and Liliana said, in her interview with me, that she certainly saw that side of Lisi. It was this attitude that made Dreamz her mortal enemy. He had been nursing a grudge against her for… well, about as long as the game had gone on. So when he saw the opportunity to get rid of her, he pounced on it. While Lisi now claims her last-minute change of heart saying she wanted to stay was nothing more than creating drama for the TV cameras, I don’t buy it. I think her roller coaster emotions came back to ground level and she realized that she should try to stick around. Perhaps if Dreamz didn’t have it out for her, she might have been able to convince her old Moto tribemates to target the lone remaining Ravu, Mookie (yes, I know he has the immunity idol, but if they gave him no reason to suspect he needed to use it, it wouldn’t have mattered). But Lisi’s previous behavior towards Dreamz made that a virtual impossibility. The sixth rule tells players not to be too much of a threat. Lisi certainly was no challenge threat – according to her, she didn’t care if they won or lost (though she then whined when they lost and called her tribemates “losers”). So if she had made it to the merge, nobody would have had to worry about her in individual challenges. But she was a threat of another type. First, she was an immediate threat for both Dreamz and Mookie, either of whom could have been targeted if she stuck around. Second, she was a threat long-term for Alex and Edgardo. Yes, she could be counted on for a vote, but she had already shown that she might insist on having things her way, period (as in the vote against Liliana). Beyond that, keeping her around ran the risk of alienating Mookie and Dreamz. While Dreamz may himself be a threat because of the likelihood of him jumping ship after a merge, Lisi’s presence ensured he would never stick with the original Moto contestants (if they had booted Mookie instead). And Mookie would have been feeling some heat himself if they had booted Dreamz and he would have remained the sole original Ravu on the tribe, meaning he might have jumped back to his old group. Booting Lisi undoubtedly made both Mookie and Dreamz a little bit more comfortable with the idea of working with Alex and Edgardo. Seventh is not to be lazy. While we didn’t particularly see much one way or the other on TV, Liliana certainly thought Lisi was on the lazy side. That may have affected what Dreamz thought of her, but not much when compared to her overall attitude. So did Ravu do the right thing in getting rid of Lisi? Not just yes, hell yes! I can’t imagine how they managed to be in proximity to her. She talked about her tribemates being losers, but didn’t want to do anything to help make them winners! Her roller coaster ride needed to come to an end, because it was only hurting the tribe. Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t just make this article short and say, “She asked to be booted and she was. The end.” But we’ve seen other cases of people keeping around an ally even though the person in question begs to be voted off. And if Lisi is to be believed, Alex and Edgardo did just that last week – keeping her around long enough to get rid of Rocky. But in looking at the big picture, we see that Lisi could not be allowed to stay any longer. Lisi was never going to be a star Survivor player. She was there to have fun, and when the fun ended, she was done with it. She wanted to leave, then she wanted to stay, then she wanted to leave, then she wanted to stay, etc. She argued but could not grasp simple logic. She tried to retract her final wish to leave only minutes before Tribal Council, but then could not answer a direct question from Dreamz as to whether she wanted to stay in the game. Lisi put herself into this position. She could not control her emotions, grasp basic strategic play, or treat people around her nicely. Even her allies thought she was unstable and only wanted to keep her around for an extra vote on their side. But at some point, her instability simply became too much and they had to cut her loose or risk losing the game because of her. That is why Lisi lost.
Survivor: Fiji – Why Lisi Lost by David Bloomberg -- 04/09/2007 It might seem to be a waste of time to wonder why Lisi lost, given that she asked to be booted. But she did take it back, and we have seen occasions when allies refused such requests on Survivor before. So what did Lisi do to put herself in such a bad position? Why did Lisi lose? Lisi was all happy and proud of herself when she was in the Moto camp as part of the ruling alliance. But then she went through bizarre mood swings starting as soon as the tribal switch-up was done and the Lisi stood alone. Did this lead directly to her ouster? Was it really this obvious? Why did Lisi lose? Yes, it might seem a little redundant to ask these questions about a person who told her allies to vote her off, but unless you’re a contestant taken away for medical reasons, you get treated to a column about why you lost. As always, we will address the situation by looking back at What Fiji Survivors Should Have Learned and using it as a blueprint. So let’s get to it! Lisi told me in my interview with her that she had barely seen any Survivor on TV. Yet she did manage to figure out that she had to scheme and plot to stay alive. While Moto only had to (well, chose to) vote off one person, there were still some very clear divisions in the tribe. On the one hand, we had Alex, Edgardo, Boo, Lisi, and Stacy. On the other hand, we had the rest of the tribe. Lisi was in the controlling alliance and put her power there to good use, ensuring that Liliana would be the one who left because Lisi felt threatened by her. Even once she got to Ravu, she was still in the main alliance. Alex, Edgardo, and Dreamz managed to pull the wool over the eyes of Rocky and Mookie, convincing them to vote out one of their own in Anthony. From that point on, original Moto would be able to control Ravu. So they booted Rocky next, and then they didn’t even need all of original Moto – just the three from the core group. Once again, Lisi was right there in the thick of it. She wasn’t the leader or the planner, but she was a solid part of the alliance. Lisi even managed to mostly follow the second rule by not scheming and plotting too much. Then again, that may be because she wasn’t the one doing most of the plotting, but rather following along in it. She didn’t do much with the “keep your scheming secret” part of the rule, because it was obvious to one and all who was “in” and who was “out” on original Moto. But since they only needed to vote the one time and the majority seemed pretty solid, it didn’t end up mattering. The third rule tells players to be flexible. As we saw from the way Lisi cracked up when things changed, flexibility was not really her strong suit. In her Early Show interview, Lisi said she was fine when she was coasting, but she wanted to go when things went downhill. Not exactly a flexible attitude there. If she actually knew anything about Survivor, she would have realized that, as this rule notes, “producers will throw in more twists and turns,” and, “Players have to be ready for anything.” Lisi was ready for nothing. This was, in large part, because Lisi was completely controlled by her emotions and made no attempt to hide it. When she wasn’t picked to be on a tribe during the switch-up, she threw a little tantrum. Then she got better. Then she threw another tantrum later. Then she got better. Etc. Lisi was a roller coaster ride, and I can only imagine her tribemates screaming, “I want to get off!” Or, more appropriately, “I want to get Lisi off – the island!” Lisi didn’t help herself any by violating the fifth rule, which says she should have pretended to be nice. This stems back to her being controlled by her emotions, but some of the things she said. Some of it was behind people’s backs, but she also obviously displayed a fair amount to their faces. Dreamz and Cassandra certainly took their fair share of abuse, for example, and Liliana said, in her interview with me, that she certainly saw that side of Lisi. It was this attitude that made Dreamz her mortal enemy. He had been nursing a grudge against her for… well, about as long as the game had gone on. So when he saw the opportunity to get rid of her, he pounced on it. While Lisi now claims her last-minute change of heart saying she wanted to stay was nothing more than creating drama for the TV cameras, I don’t buy it. I think her roller coaster emotions came back to ground level and she realized that she should try to stick around. Perhaps if Dreamz didn’t have it out for her, she might have been able to convince her old Moto tribemates to target the lone remaining Ravu, Mookie (yes, I know he has the immunity idol, but if they gave him no reason to suspect he needed to use it, it wouldn’t have mattered). But Lisi’s previous behavior towards Dreamz made that a virtual impossibility. The sixth rule tells players not to be too much of a threat. Lisi certainly was no challenge threat – according to her, she didn’t care if they won or lost (though she then whined when they lost and called her tribemates “losers”). So if she had made it to the merge, nobody would have had to worry about her in individual challenges. But she was a threat of another type. First, she was an immediate threat for both Dreamz and Mookie, either of whom could have been targeted if she stuck around. Second, she was a threat long-term for Alex and Edgardo. Yes, she could be counted on for a vote, but she had already shown that she might insist on having things her way, period (as in the vote against Liliana). Beyond that, keeping her around ran the risk of alienating Mookie and Dreamz. While Dreamz may himself be a threat because of the likelihood of him jumping ship after a merge, Lisi’s presence ensured he would never stick with the original Moto contestants (if they had booted Mookie instead). And Mookie would have been feeling some heat himself if they had booted Dreamz and he would have remained the sole original Ravu on the tribe, meaning he might have jumped back to his old group. Booting Lisi undoubtedly made both Mookie and Dreamz a little bit more comfortable with the idea of working with Alex and Edgardo. Seventh is not to be lazy. While we didn’t particularly see much one way or the other on TV, Liliana certainly thought Lisi was on the lazy side. That may have affected what Dreamz thought of her, but not much when compared to her overall attitude. So did Ravu do the right thing in getting rid of Lisi? Not just yes, hell yes! I can’t imagine how they managed to be in proximity to her. She talked about her tribemates being losers, but didn’t want to do anything to help make them winners! Her roller coaster ride needed to come to an end, because it was only hurting the tribe. Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t just make this article short and say, “She asked to be booted and she was. The end.” But we’ve seen other cases of people keeping around an ally even though the person in question begs to be voted off. And if Lisi is to be believed, Alex and Edgardo did just that last week – keeping her around long enough to get rid of Rocky. But in looking at the big picture, we see that Lisi could not be allowed to stay any longer. Lisi was never going to be a star Survivor player. She was there to have fun, and when the fun ended, she was done with it. She wanted to leave, then she wanted to stay, then she wanted to leave, then she wanted to stay, etc. She argued but could not grasp simple logic. She tried to retract her final wish to leave only minutes before Tribal Council, but then could not answer a direct question from Dreamz as to whether she wanted to stay in the game. Lisi put herself into this position. She could not control her emotions, grasp basic strategic play, or treat people around her nicely. Even her allies thought she was unstable and only wanted to keep her around for an extra vote on their side. But at some point, her instability simply became too much and they had to cut her loose or risk losing the game because of her. That is why Lisi lost.