Just a quick post this morning on the Survivor finale from last night. Survivor continues to put out good season after good season even though I feel like a lot of people have gotten bored with it. This season was no exception with some great characters, a great winner, and some real drama. If you missed it, everyone is talking about a late game decision by Dreamz (former homeless guy) to accept a deal with Yao Man (sentimental underdog favorite) in which Yao gave him the car he won and in return he would receive immunity at final four (if Dreamz won it). Dreamz went back on the deal, saying that he never intended to follow through, even though we heard him in several different solo confessionals saying how much he looked forward to keeping his deal to show his son what keeping your word meant, and he was openly distraught and crying when he made the final decision. Dreamz can spin it however he likes, his intent was to keep that deal until he found out that he could be in the final 3 at which point greed took over.
A couple thoughts on this:
1) I’m sick of people thinking that the “just a game” card gets you out of these things. Nothing is “just a” anything. There are outside repercussions to everything we do even inside the confines of a game. Since when did we decide that winning matters more than how you play? Deception is a part of many games (poker and “Balderdash” come to mind), even a pump fake in basketball could be considered a lie, but that isn’t an excuse to behave poorly or go back on your word. Just because something doesn’t disqualify you from a game, doesn’t mean it is advisable, ethical, or even acceptable.
2) Dreamz should have known he had no shot at winning, and that going back on the deal would only seal it. In fact, even from a purely financial mindset to have followed through on his deal would have been the better choice. If he gives Yao the immunity, he might find himself on Oprah or Ellen getting a nice big check for his good deed, or even the benefit of an Internet groundswell of donation support. To renege was a no win situation. He should have given the necklace to Yao-Man because it was the right thing to do, but even beyond that, it still would have been his smartest financial move.
Finally, one last thing that stood out to me last night that I haven’t heard any one say anything about but was a bit shocking to me. When Lisi got up to do her jury questioning she started it off by quoting “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Moe” With an entirely black final three, did nobody else think this was an incredibly insensitive racial mistake? I’m not going so far as to say that it was meant as racist, but it certainly was a stupid thing to do. (In case this is news to you, the phrase “Catch a tiger by it’s toe” originally had an N in place of the t in tiger, and the poem was an incredibly racist reference to the slave trade.) I’m not usually one to throw coal in the PC furnace, but I literally gasped when she said it. Of course I’m also someone who feels that “sucks” is a completely vulgar term, so what do I know.
I am not entirely convinced that the comments by Lisi were not racially charged. Earlier on this season, she and Stacy were incredibly rude and excluded Dreamz and Cassandra from the rest of the group – wouldn’t even show them or explain how to make the coffee. Aaron actually paused the show at the point of her comment and said, “Do you realize what she just said?!?” At that point, I did a second take and said, “WOW! They are all black!” Then Aaron informed me that I must be colored blind. I just wish someone would have brought attention to it and the insensitivity of it all. But then again, I don’t think Lisi’s “comments” deserved a response. She was trying to live up to Susan’s reputation from Season 1. And what could she have had against the three in the finals when the only one that had a hand in voting her off was Dreamz.