Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and the dangers of overthinking
In the second round of Boston Rob vs. Russell, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains provided an object lesson in how not to get too clever in the game.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains had a great clash in the form of Boston Rob (and Sandra) vs. Russell, and episode 6, “Banana Etiquette,” features the first real moves between the two of them, mostly because the Villains had done a lot of winning up to this point.
One of the earliest scenes in this episode of Survivor involved Russell going to talk to Boston Rob in the early morning with Russell trying to convince Rob that there was no conflict (although there was definitely a conflict. Meanwhile, Boston Rob’s confessional explaining the scene explicitly mentioned “making [Russell] more paranoid” as a goal on his end.
Managing concerns and the like is an underrated part of the social and mental levels of Survivor. That includes your own mental state, because having an overactive imagination can lead your alliance partners to start worrying about you and start thinking you’re a liability. This will start becoming a problem for Russell later in particular in this season. Of course, it’s also helpful to make sure that everyone else in your alliance isn’t too paranoid, either.
The Villains could not believe Tom had left the game over James, but there wasn’t much time to process, because Jeff Probst showed off individual immunity for a dreaded double Tribal Council. The challenge itself consisted of racing while hooked to a rope. Candice beat the Heroes; Boston Rob took the necklace for the Villains. The two of them then raced directly, and Rob also secured the opportunity for the Villains to observe the Heroes’ Tribal Council and eat.
Rob had a brief confab with his alliance to ensure that they were all ready to vote Parvati off, but convincing Russell to play his idol. Rob then basically devised a foolproof plan: split the votes, force a tie and Russell to use his idol, even predicting that Tyson would be the target. Over and over, he said “We can’t lose.”
Here’s where overthinking came back into play. Russell started speaking to Tyson about targeting Parvati, even correctly guessing Rob’s plan in a confessional! And Tyson listened. (This was not Blood vs. Water Tyson, who ended up winning the game.)
The Heroes, meanwhile, had Colby say he didn’t want to do any politicking. That didn’t mean that J.T. in particular couldn’t start making plans to try and oust James, because of banana eating and also the knee injury.
So Tyson ended up overthinking his vote and switching it to Parvati at the last minute, thereby ruining Rob’s entire plan when Russell played the idol for Parvati. With three votes to Russell’s two, Tyson went home. He admitted he’d messed up in his parting words to the camera. Heroes vs. Villains could have played out completely differently if Rob had pulled the move off and sent Russell home early — the latter of which Tyson also acknowledged.
The Heroes then had to watch the Villains eat, although the Villains left before the vote. James went home with five votes to one for Colby.
Quick notes:
- This episode is all about “Banana Etiquette” for the Heroes. Amanda dropped the word “etiquette” first in a conversation with James, and James then said it at Tribal, making the Villains laugh.
- “It’s better to play with me than against me,” Rob said to Russell.
For our continuing return to Heroes vs. Villains, the Villainous fallout is going to be big.