Rome Cooney played Survivor with joyous abandon but with no subtlety whatsoever

Rarely have we seen anyone have as much fun playing Survivor as Rome Cooney has in season 47. Unfortunately, he didn't play the game with much skill, subtlety, or awareness. During the first tribal council with all three tribes participating together (not merged!), Rome was sent packing after a rather unique and oddly touching tribal.

Rome had been playing hard from the moment he hit the beach. He found an idol very early and earned an advantage as well. His tactics and attitude, however, tended to rub his tribemates the wrong way. He was bossy, arrogant, heavy-handed, and controlling.

Because of his advantages in the game, some of his tribemates had to follow his lead. In a small group, he had a lot of power. When the players were all thrown on the same beach, Rome immediately started to sow seeds of discontent, but like everything else he had done in the game, he didn't approach his plan with much strategy.

What led to Rome Cooney's downfall on Survivor 47

Rome's plan was to immediately gather information from as many people as possible, but he did so by asking loaded questions designed to lead to impartial or easily twisted answers. He then went to others and told them what everyone else supposedly said. It didn't take long for everyone in the game to connect the dots.

When Sol Yi and Teeny Chrichillo, two of his Lavo tribemates, began to fill in the rest of the players on how Rome operated, an easy vote emerged. Rome, for his part, tried to throw his vote toward Sol, his biggest nemesis in the game. It didn't work. Rome, however, was convinced he was in charge of the game, and his confessionals showed a total lack of awareness for the game of Survivor.

I've tried searching my brain to recall if there has ever been a unanimous vote with 13 people voting, and I cannot remember a specific instance. Of the 12 people who voted (idol-winning Kyle Ostwald did not have a vote nine voted for Rome, two placed backup votes on Andy (who wasn't happy at all), and Rome didn't even vote for Sol, who he thought everyone else was voting for. There was no flipping, no chatter about alliances, just a plan to vote out Rome, and it worked perfectly.

Overall, it was one of the most clueless performances we've seen on Survivor. Rome's perception of what was happening was so far off that it was comical. That a whole (almost) merged tribe could be so united in ousting someone says a lot about Rome's lack of Survivor strategy.

Rome's later revelation at Ponderosa that he had never heard of Survivor until recently explained much. Now, it all makes sense as to why he played the way he did and showed little understanding of the game. It explains why he had no strategy and certainly not enough paranoia.

Still, he was highly entertaining and fun to watch. Everyone could see the trainwreck coming, except for Rome, of course.

The knowledge that Rome wasn't a true fan of the came also tainted a remarkable moment at the tribal council. Jeff gave up his chair in front of the tribe to allow Rome to mansplain why the people holding the amulets had to play them that night or have targets on the back. Initially, it was cool because, to my recollection, Jeff has never given up his chair at tribal council in the previous 46 seasons, and by Rome's reaction afterward. He seemed touched and emotional about it, but if he knew nothing of the game, it is hard to believe he truly understood the significance of that moment.

Survivor 47 may not be as entertaining as it was with him, but the game should return to a more normal flow.