Survivor: Game Changers: Why didn’t Troyzan get any jury votes?

Third place is still a fine finish in a game like Survivor, but Troyzan didn’t even have a jury vote thrown his way in Game Changers. Why did that happen?

Survivor: Game Changers had a final three, just like the bulk of Survivor seasons do. However, it never seemed to really be a final three, did it? During that Final Tribal Council, it seemed like all eyes were on Sarah and Brad, not Troyzan. Troyzan didn’t even get a single jury vote, and his final plea to the jury made it seem as if he knew he wasn’t about to win.

The fact that the finale episode itself barely showed Troyzan being addressed or having a chance to speak during that Final Tribal Council says quite a bit, doesn’t it? He found an idol, and many fans promptly forgot he had one until he used it to knock Cirie out by default at that final six Tribal.

My colleague, Daniel George, has followed the Survivor edit all season, and he pointed out after episode 12 that Troyzan had fewer confessionals than Tony. It may have improved after the finale, but the fact that I can’t definitively say off the top of my head taken with the Final Tribal basically sums it up.

Brad and Sarah both had cases to make about how they had had an impact on the game. Troyzan, because he’d been in an alliance with Sierra and Brad for the start but didn’t even merit a mention in the leadership of that alliance, really didn’t quite as much. Now, as I noted in my recap, Sierra did speak positively about Troyzan at Final Tribal. But then we circle back around to those missing jury votes.

About the only time that Troyzan really influenced the game was as a potential target. At the final five, we saw Aubry trying to save herself by saying that Troyzan and Brad came as a package deal for the final three, and that Brad would be the one to watch there. It didn’t work — it ended up not needing to — but when you’re a target not because of what you can do but because of what someone in your alliance might do, it says that the other game players don’t see you as too much of a threat, either.

Next: Why Brad came in second place on Game Changers

While Brad and Sarah both could point to concrete accomplishments, Troyzan simply couldn’t. But hey, he did place third in Survivor: Game Changers! That’s still something.