It’s February 2003. Many of you are not born. Some of you wish you weren’t. Nevertheless, something emerged from the shadows to change the course of our lives and the show we pretend to love; Survivor: the Amazon.
Christy Smith, then a 24 year old, first graced our screens. Labeled a “Children’s Adventure Guide”, she did that and then some, my young gays. She gave us an adventure, an adventure through adversity of empowerment. Now, let us follow her thumb and go back in time, to a time when Christy Smith was the greatest understated villain of early Survivor.
**time machine noises**
We start out with a story, that of an underdog. When Christy reveals her status as a deaf woman, the tribe is mixed. Tribemate Heidi Stroebal is quoted as saying the “communication barrier would be a problem”.
To further the underdog narrative, Christy was unable to communicate at night with her tribemates, given the lack of vision to perform sign language. Even the resident IQ-genius Heidi was unable to detect the night motions.
We are groomed to feel sympathy. To feel Christy’s pain. Valid pain at that; however, Christy was not just a victim. She was a villain. A power-hungry villain at that.
When tribemate JoAnna Ward informed her tribe of keeping the immunity idol at camp given her religious beliefs, Smith is quoted as saying the idea was “stupid”.
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It’s February 2003. Many of you are not born. Some of you wish you weren’t. Nevertheless, something emerged from the shadows to change the course of our lives and the show we pretend to love; Survivor: the Amazon.