Troyzan was a rare bloke who was actually attempting to play the game. Us Survivor analysts were long ago preparing essays on how poorly he played in anticipation of his imminent exit. Troyzan postponed his fate by one week by winning a crucial individual immunity challenge. But the moment he failed to win immunity, his time was up. In hindsight, we can consider what he could have done to change the game. Despite the numerical disadvantage, it was not really as dire as it seemed.
In the original Manano, Troyzan stayed safe, and while he may not really have been safe in the new Salani, his tribe never had to go to tribal council. So he made it easily to the merge. The merged tribe had six blokes and six girls, and the side that lost one at the first tribal council could easily eventually be annihilated. Jay and Michael felt safe in their false alliance, and gladly voted out Jonas, hardly bothered about there being one too many girls after that.
Once Jonas was gone, a domino effect took place, and there was nothing the blokes could do to save themselves. Troyzan could surely have seen this coming, and while the blokes had countless differences among themselves, they had to at least put themselves in the majority now that there was a merge. If people voted according to their previous tribes, there would have been an undesirable tied vote. Troyzan had an idol, which he appreciated that if played on the right person would have been devastating. Looking back on the last two seasons, an idol was wasted at this stage each time, and as a result one alliance completely took over the game. But this time it would definitely have worked.
Troyzan should really have played the idol at this crucial moment. There was no doubt that most of the votes were going to Jonas, since the blokes were not voting together, and it looked like a routine elimination which no one cared about since it was not them. So there was no chance of wasting the idol to protect Jonas (and Troyzan, having immunity, was definitely not getting blindsided). They could have targetted Kim or Chelsea, and that would have been devastating. What an opportunity missed!
The next poor move by Troyzan was to believe Kim's story about Michael wanting him to be voted out. It was just too easy for him to agree to vote out Michael - which was exactly what Kim wanted. Couldn't he have at least talked to Michael? He could have clarified matters, then considered playing the idol, since it was quite clear that Michael was due to be blindsided. Another opportunity missed.
After that, Jay was earmarked to be the next bloke to go, but had no clue about it. Troyzan did the right thing by telling Jay the truth, but it was impossible to get through to him. Jay insisted on voting for Alicia, and there were four blokes who could have been mobilised to do this. But Troyzan voted alone for Kim, Jay and Leif voted for Alicia, and Tarzan joined in the vote for Jay. They were not even voting together. Troyzan protected himself with the idol, just in case it was him instead of Jay, but this only ensured it was Jay. We cannot really blame Troyzan for protecting himself under the circumstances, but he had blown his third chance to shake up the game, and there was no way back now that he had used up the idol.
As the only credible threat, Troyzan was targetted ahead of Leif and Tarzan. He was in a hopeless situation, and could only delay the inevitable by winning the next immunity. He tried to rally support to get Kim voted out, but was too public about it at tribal council. The girls could even allow for the possibility that an immunity idol would be played, and split their votes. Tarzan probably wanted to protect himself, and voted for Leif. Two votes for Kim were not enough even for a tie. Kim should possibly have played her hidden immunity idol at this point, just in case. But clearly Christina and Alicia, and even Tarzan, were hardly interested in helping Troyzan, and there was nothing he could do.
And finally, the moment he was eliminated from the next individual immunity challenge, he knew it would be all over. Troyzan tried to persuade Kat and Christina to support him, but it seemed only Christina was willing to vote for Chelsea. But Troyzan sensed a tiny chance that since Christina would get some votes (in case he had an idol), he could join those votes and she might then have more than him. For once Tarzan voted with him, and he needed two more from the other girls. Unfortunately only one was available, and that was the end of Troyzan. Christina would have been blindsided as a reward for faithfully voting for Chelsea. It should not have been impossible for him to get Kat, Christina, and Tarzan all to vote for Chelsea, but he must have sensed that Kat would not agree, so it did not happen. The girls' alliance was perhaps not invincible, but they might have seen Troyzan as a common enemy and got rid of him first before targetting each other.
So, Troyzan's journey on Survivor has ended, and despite his idea that he played well, it is clear he made a mess of it. He should perhaps have learnt that the best use of the idol is to play it when no one expects it, and take everyone by surprise. Instead, he merely used it to protect himself, only to have an ally voted out in his place, which would hardly have mattered to the opposition. Really pathetic. A great player in his situation would have inflicted tangible damage,
but he only made himself look too obviously threatening, and even those who could have supported him must have been turned away.
At this stage, Tarzan has succeeded in his modest aim to be the last man standing. He has been operating in a world of his own, and seen as so feeble a player that no one has been bothered to vote out too soon. Perhaps he might go further than at least one of the girls, as they might need to consider targetting each other now rather than when they really have to. Perhaps the real action begins only now.
Comments
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and I cant wait to see what will happen next week
"Troyzan should really have played the idol at this crucial moment. There was no doubt that most of the votes were going to Jonas, since the blokes were not voting together, and it looked like a routine elimination which no one cared about since it was not them. So there was no chance of wasting the idol to protect Jonas (and Troyzan, having immunity, was definitely not getting blindsided). They could have targetted Kim or Chelsea, and that would have been devastating. What an opportunity missed!"
OMGGGGGGGGGGGG!! GIRL!!!! I was screaming at the TV at this point!!! hahaha!!!! I was like HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!!! Wake the hell up!!! I'm so glad you made this point I was like am I the only one who see this!!! So frustrating !! I love these blogs!!! They are truly amazing... I look forward to them every week!!! Philomena
Actually I didn't realise he had the idol at that time. I must have missed that somehow. Otherwise I might have written about it then.
How many people felt he should have played the idol to protect Jonas? I don't know, but not too many, I don't think. Did he even think of it? Surely a 100% chance of a successful coup was good enough.
and I cant wait to see what will happen next week