Jeff Probst's 'Survivor' blog

Image Credit: Monty Brinton/CBSOkay, I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that there is a bit of an implied contract when you agree to be on Survivor.

On our side, we promise you the adventure of your lifetime. Something you have never experienced before and will probably never experience again. It’s a multi-million dollar, life-changing thrill ride that will test you on every level. We promise, and we always deliver. Always.

In exchange we expect only two things from you: Show up… and play. That’s it. When you fail to do one or both of those requirements you are not living up to your end of the bargain. One might say you are in breach of our implied contract.

That’s my new philosophy regarding quitters on Survivor. You’re breaking your contract. There are certainly exceptions to the rule, such as medical evacuations and family emergencies, but I’m talking about the contestants who just decide they don’t want to play anymore. In this case, Naonka and Purple Kelly.

You’d think that by the time you have gone through the long arduous process of casting, meeting the executives at CBS, suffering through your immunization shots, getting your passport, arranging to leave your life for 39 days, getting on a plane, meeting with the press, and then lasting 28 days to give yourself a 1-in-9 shot at winning a million dollars, that this would be a no-brainer. Of course you’re going to finish; quitting would be foolish, right?

I’m not going to rehash the events of the quit, that’s just a waste of time and space.

I will however mention that when Naonka had the chance to walk away from the reward in exchange for tarp and rice, I truly believed she would do it. I was initially shocked when she didn’t move. Shocked. Naonka had just told everybody she wanted to quit. She knew she would be eating real food and sleeping in a real bed within hours, and all she had to do was stand up and say “It’s the least I can do before I quit.” She would have redeemed herself just a little bit.

But upon reflection I can clearly see that my expectation was flawed. Naonka has been consistently selfish for 28 days, and for her to stand up and suddenly do the “right thing” would not be consistent. Naonka went out the same way she came in, “Looking out for numero uno.”

In addition to not being a lawyer, I’m also not a psychologist, but it never seems to stop me from offering up an opinion. So here’s my take on whether they will regret this later in life:

I don’t think Naonka is going to regret her actions for one moment. I think Naonka has a lot of maturing to do and it doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon. Quitting Survivor doesn’t make Naonka a bad person in my eyes, it was just disappointing. I’ll be curious to find out the reaction from Naonka’s family at the reunion show.

In the case of Purple Kelly, I think she will learn a lot from this experience and will at some point regret not sticking it out for 11 more days.

When you quit, when you give up and walk away from a task, even though you know you have some gas left in the tank, you are in a sense giving up on yourself. Purple Kelly had a lot of gas left in her tank. She’s a very strong and resilient young woman. Naonka gave her permission to quit and she took it and ran. I have a feeling the next time Purple Kelly is in the same situation she will think a long time before quitting.

JURY
I know a lot of you are angry right now because Naonka and Purple Kelly are allowed to be on the jury, so let me explain.

The reason they will both be members of the jury is because a precedent had already been set back when Janu quit in Survivor: Palau. Janu quit the game but was allowed to be on the jury, so we used the same reasoning with Naonka and Purple Kelly. It wasn’t an emotional decision, just an issue of fairness.

And yes…Marty, Alina and Brenda were very upset when they found out these quitters would still get to have a vote to decide who wins the million dollars.

IMPACT
Naonka and Purple Kelly quitting just blew this game wide open. It’s like we’re starting over. Their quit benefits some and penalizes others. The person who lost the most was Sash. He not only lost Purple Kelly, who would have voted any way he wanted her to, he also lost Naonka and her idol. He could have taken those two to the end with him and probably been a shoo-in for the million dollars. Instead he now must scramble to make something happen, and other than Dan, everybody else is a threat to win the game.

From a show point of view it’s an awesome turn of events. It changed everything and makes for an exciting and unpredictable finish.

Everybody left in the game has a legitimate shot to win.

Everybody except Dan. Dan’s best hope was to go to the final with Naonka and Purple Kelly. Now that they’re gone, I cannot think of a scenario in which Dan could beat anybody to win. This makes Dan a great person to take to the end. The dilemma is going to be who else do you take to the final?

I am not picking on Dan, I actually enjoy Dan quite a bit, and I could be wrong and Dan could win. If he does win, stay glued to your television because there is a very good chance that at the live show, as I read the last “Dan” vote, I will become light-headed and pass out on the CBS stage. Fortunately, Dancing With The Stars tapes nearby, so Tom Bergeron could run over and handle the rest of the reunion show.

Okay, so we are down to seven: Jane, Benry, Fabio, Holly, Sash, Chase, and Dan. There is going to be a lot of scrambling happening from here until the end. Here is my assessment of what each player needs to do:

Chase needs to form an alliance and stick with it.

Fabio, Benry and Jane need to start winning immunity or they are in danger.

Holly needs to keep mothering and nurturing and keep the attention on others.

Sash has the most work to do since his rug has been pulled out from under him.

Dan doesn’t need to do anything; it’s been working for 28 days. Why change?

It looks like we might have an exciting finish….

See ya next week.

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Jeff Probst's 'Survivor' blog

Image Credit: Monty Brinton/CBSFabio: “I call it being cool.”

Ah Fabio. You’re awesome.

Fabio continues to crack me up…in the best possible way.. every single episode. More on Fabio and “being cool” later…

REWARD CHALLENGE
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Survivor is you truly never know what is going to happen next. For the reward challenge, we did a random draw and ended up with all men on one team and all women on the other. To make it even more dramatic the challenge was the most physical of the season. The women had very little chance simply due to strength. The “stick crossing” and the “brick wall” at the finish was extremely tough to get through. We never anticipated an “all men vs. all women” challenge but that’s just how it played out.

I was very impressed with the women. Jane was completely spent by the time the challenge was over because she gave everything she had. Remember they have been eating very little for nearly a month. They are already severely depleted. To then be tested with one of the biggest obstacle courses we’ve ever done was a major challenge. The women really gave a huge effort and made it much closer than any of us predicted.

Another fun aspect of hosting Survivor is that you are living in the moment along with the contestants. After the challenge was over, I was very moved by the effort of the women. Purple Kelly was crying she was so hungry and Jane was barely standing. So I took the opportunity to give the men a chance to step up and say “I’m gonna give up my spot on the reward to one of the women.”

The reason you ask this question is that regardless of the answer, it is guaranteed to reveal something that will move the story forward. In this case, none of the men were willing to give up a spot to any of the women. Fine. I don’t blame them for the decision. But their answer gave us a story. What this showed everybody was despite any alliances this was an individual game. It’s a small moment but it registered with everybody and will live inside their brains as this game continues to progress. Survivor-is-an-individual-game. Never forget that.

Another surprise from the reward challenge was Chase choosing to back the women. It was a very revealing move and definitely raised a few eyebrows. He let the guys know that he is pulling for the women, which means he probably has an alliance with a few of them. In addition, not being with all the guys on the reward challenge removes you even further from the men. That move could haunt Chase for a long time. You could argue it was a bit of a lose-lose, as no matter which side he chose the other might be upset, but in this case I think choosing the guys would have done less overall damage.

BRENDA
If Brenda represents “every woman,” then Brenda is giving a free class on what women look for in men. Her comment about Chase…

Brenda: “Chase is like a little baby who is always going ‘wah, wah, wah.’”

…said it all.

Women want a guy with some balls. Balls! Come on, Chase. Where are they? Your balls, that is. Women don’t like wishy-washy. Chase is wishy-washy.

Brenda is in charge of this game. She says it’s her and Sash together but it’s not. It’s her. Not Sash. If you remember, when Brenda asked Sash what his plan was, Sash said, “My plan is your plan.” There ya go. Brenda is in charge. Don’t misunderstand – Sash is a very good player. He is great at looking out for himself and that simple little strategy is how Sandra Diaz won this game twice… by looking out for herself and nobody else.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
At this point in the game, the immunity challenges are really pressure filled. Everybody wants it and depending on where the alliances stand in each episode, a few absolutely need it. Tonight, Jane needed it, Chase needed it and Marty clearly needed it.

Memory Challenges always seem so easy when you’re sitting at home with your bag of Doritos and a Diet Coke. It’s kinda like watching Jeopardy. The answers are always so much easier from the couch. Okay that’s a lie. I could Tivo Jeopardy, watch it twice and still struggle to come up with the answers on the third viewing. But you get my point. It’s much more difficult to do these types of challenges when you’re actually out there with all the distractions, such as cameras and crew. You’re tired, you’re hungry. It’s hard to hold even the smallest thought in your head.

Whenever we do a challenge like this, I always ask the challenge guys to prepare lots of extra rounds because I am always afraid everybody will get every one of them right. In reality it never seems to go more than a few rounds. Pressure.

These types of challenges also tend to show whose mind is the sharpest. If you watched Marty during this challenge he kept running the list in his head, you could see him saying the words to himself over and over and over. It was clearly a pretty effective strategy, but in the end he lost to another very sharp mind – Brenda.

BEING COOL
Benry and Fabio hanging in the shade, talking Survivor strategy. It was almost like a trailer for a new comedy:

Benry: You and I should just lay low… play stupid.
Fabio: I know dude, I hate playing stupid so much… but it’s like the smartest thing to do right now.
Benry: It’s easy.
Fabio: It’s… real easy.

Come on! That’s brilliant. That’s yet another beautiful element of reality shows. People forget the cameras are there, they stop thinking about what they are saying and they get so depleted that can’t even monitor what they are saying. Put those elements together and you end up with moments that wouldn’t be half as funny if you wrote them in a script.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
Naonka deserves a special achievement award for still being in this game. That alone is one of the most most amazing achievements this season, maybe ever. She stole Fabio’s socks, she stole flour, she stole food, she tackled a woman with one leg, she yells at everybody whenever she’s in a bad mood and is one of the most despised contestants to ever play Survivor…but she is still in the game. Not only is she still in the game but she has a hidden immunity idol. In case there was any doubt, I am so happy Naonka is still in this game. In order to have a good season you need big polarizing characters like Naonka. Love her or hate her, she is a gift from the reality gods.

HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20-20
It’s so easy to backseat drive. I do it all the time. Every day. “Monday morning quarterbacking” is one of the great American pastimes. And while I do it every day, I hate it when people do it to me about something I did or said.

Case in point: It was the second episode of the first season of Survivor. We had just finished tribal council and Mark Burnett, the Executive Producer of the show, came up to me and started to make a suggestion about a different way I could have asked a question. To be clear, as EP he is fully entitled to not only suggest but to firmly encourage me to do something differently. But being a new host of a new show with a format that had never been done before, I was overly sensitive to being “back seat” driven during Tribal Council. I sensed that he was about to criticize the way I ran tribal and my brain (ego) quickly foresaw a problem. If he said something that made me think he was second-guessing me, how would that impact the way I’d run Tribal Council from there on out? So I stopped him and said something to the effect of “You can’t second guess me. I need to know you believe in me or I’ll never be able to fully run tribal council with confidence.” In hindsight, it was probably a major overreaction on my part but to his credit, Mark never said another word.

I’m sure there have been many times when he wished I might have asked a different question or handled something differently but he never lets on and in doing so, he instilled a confidence in me that has helped me do my job for 21 seasons over 11 years.

But like I said, that doesn’t stop me from doing it! Especially with Marty.

I’ve given Marty a hard time the entire season but I’m the first to admit, I’m really bummed he is gone. Marty is a story starter and a story finisher. He’s a good interview. He’s confident enough, even cocky enough to believe he is the best player in the game. He is willing to make big moves and say outrageous statements.

Marty is a pretty good player of Survivor but with a bit of tweaking I believe Marty could be a great player.

If Marty made a mistake it was in not seeing that maybe his best option would have been to just “back off.” Pushing to get Jane voted out seemed to me to be a personal agenda as opposed to a truly “big picture” strategic play.

I could be wrong, I’m not inside his head. I am merely backseat driving as I do every week in these blogs. I think his ego got too involved. If Marty played again I think he would play a better game. I’m sure he learned a lot.

I too have learned a lot from Survivor and one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is that in any negotiation (and Survivor is a 39-day negotiation) the less you talk and the more you listen the better off you will be. Marty should have listened more.

So is that advice for future Survivors… or simply lippy “Thursday morning quarterbacking?” You decide.

SURVIVOR MEMORABILIA HEADS UP: I’ve opened up my personal stash of Survivor memorabilia and it will be up for auction immediately following this season’s live finale. I found some great items such as:
a. My “oversized” shirts and shorts from our first season, Survivor: Pulau Tiga. (Talk about a great Halloween costume!)
b. The rice tin that Tina pulled from the raging river in Survivor: Australia.
c. The pot they used to boil their water in Survivor: Australia
d. The original buffs from Survivor: All-Stars.
c. Some original Q/A cards from Survivor: Africa.

I’ll have all the details as we get closer to the finale.

See ya next week.

Oh, be sure to check out several treats in the video player below, including: an exclusive deleted scene from last night’s episode, my personal pick for the best Survivor Tribal Council ever, and Dalton Ross’s pre-game interview with Marty. And don’t miss Dalton’s ‘Survivor: Nicaragua’ recap: Open Warfare.

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