Sam Phalen is so bad at individual immunity challenges
By Gerald Ng
Another episode of Survivor 47, another episode where Sam Phalen comes up short in an individual immunity challenge. How is one of the perceived physical threats so bad at individual immunity challenges?
There are seven individual immunity challenges now since the tribes came together, and Sam has not even come close to winning one. In this episode, Christine "Teeny" Chirichillo called Sam the typical 'All-American quarterback jock' type of guy. And with immunity challenge savant Kyle Ostwald now eliminated, it is time for Sam's time to shine right? Wrong.
Futility continues this week
Considering that Kyle is gone, this should have been Sam's week to shine in challenges. And he did in the reward challenge, being slightly faster than Rachel Lamont in landing balls on a beam 'basketball style.'
However, it was more of the same old Sam in the immunity challenge. After being one of the fastest to complete the obstacle course, he once again failed miserably. As Rachel landed her third ball in the tiny pivot to win immunity, Sam did not even have one of his balls landed. Another week, another challenging loss for Sam.
Reviewing the Past Challenges
Sam has not even come close in any of the previous challenges. He simply cannot win an immunity challenge to save himself.
Pre-merge immunity challenge: All thirteen remaining castaways had to balance a ball on a bow. There are thirteen people, and Sam is the second to drop the ball and gets eliminated in round one.
Beka immunity challenge #1: In this challenge, the 12 remaining tribemates were split into two groups of six, with the losing six going to tribal. Sam gets chosen into a group with Solomon "Sol" Yi, Andy Rueda, Christine "Teeny" Chirichillo, Sierra Wright, and Genevieve Mushaluk.
On paper, he had the way easier group. The other group featured Kyle, Gabe Ortis, Sue Smey, Caroline Vidmar, Rachel Lamont, and Tiyana Hallums. Sam's team won and he was safe from immunity thanks to both Genevieve and Teeny outlasting challenge beast Kyle. However, to not even come in the top two in this group of six has to be embarrassing.
Beka immunity challenge #2: Two immunity necklaces up for grabs, one for the best woman and one for the best among the men. The challenge is to hold up a bucket that holds 25% of your body weight. One could argue that this challenge favors skinnier tribe members like Kyle, but Sam is the first man out and does not even last as long as Gabe, Andy, and Sol.
Beka immunity challenge #3: This challenge is run in pairs for the first couple of rounds, with the top 2 pairs getting a chance to compete for individual immunity. Sam and Andy do not make it out of round one after ripping the fabric off the bag in the sand.
Beka immunity challenge #4: In this challenge, the players need to balance up to three balls on a tray at the same time. They are also standing on a thin platform. This was Sam's best performance so far, making it to the top 3 but not even close to challenging the final two of Sue and Kyle.
Beka immunity challenge #5: Last week's immunity challenge saw the conestants balance wooden blocks to spell out immunity while controling the moving platform attached to a string. Sam started quickly, but he eventually dropped. In the final sequence, it came down to Rachel, Genevieve and Kyle, with Rachel fending off a late surge from Kyle.
Does Sam just have bad balance?
What is the reason for Sam's futility? He should be the strongest of the remaining tribe members. Considering that most of the challenges require a certain level of balance, is Sam simply balance-challenged? Does he have bad concentration? Or is there some other reason to explain this inexplicably bad run?
The fact that he works in sports makes it so much worse. In his day job, he is a sports reporter covering the Tennessee Titans. He also came into the game with an impressive physique. Somehow, that does not translate to winning.