Why Survivor is still great television

14 seasons, and still going strong. Survivor has had its ups and downs over the years, but it’s season finales like the one that aired this past Sunday that prove the show has still got it. Intrigue, betrayal, multiple twists and turns, high drama. And one of the most emotional final Tribal Councils I’ve ever seen. Spoilers below, in case you're still planning to watch it.



Survivor Finale – SPOILERS

The intensity of the last two episodes of Survivor: Fiji centered around a deal made between two competitors, Yau-Man and Dreamz (I know--who could make up these names?!). Yau-Man gave the truck he had just won to Dreamz, and in return, Dreamz shook his hand and swore to God that if they should both make it to the final four, and if Dreamz should happen to win Immunity, he would give the Immunity necklace to Yau-Man, thus guaranteeing Yau-Man a spot in the final three.

Dreamz quickly realized that the only way to have his cake and eat it too would be to get rid of Yau-Man in one of the two intervening Tribal Councils before he would have to give up his Immunity to him, which would allow him to keep the truck and keep his Immunity without breaking his word. Dreamz was not able to manage this, and we were treated to many heart-to-heart camera interviews in which Dreamz seemed to have come to terms with the fact that, if he won, he would have to honorably hand over his Immunity to Yau-Man. He even stated that he wanted to try hard to win it, so he would have the honor of handing it over, and showing his son what kind of man he was. Dreamz did win the all-important Immunity necklace, and although he showed some signs of having second thoughts, everyone headed off to Tribal Council with the expectation that Dreamz would fulfill his part of the bargain.

But when the moment of truth came, and everyone--perhaps even Dreamz himself--expected Dreamz to hand over the Immunity necklace, he decided to keep it for himself. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen, and not just for Yau-Man, who actually took it very well when he consequently got voted out. Everyone was in shock. Dreamz was crying.

The crazy thing is, Dreamz should have known that it was all over for him at that moment. He may have moved up one place in the rankings, but only a fool would believe that he could win after that. Not only was he the “double agent” who sold out three other jury members, but now he had this shameful display to account for. Several of the jury members at Final Tribal council, as well as host Jeff Probst at the reunion show, tried to give Dreamz a chance to admit that he had accepted the deal in good faith and simply changed his mind, but Dreamz tried to play it as if he had been a master player from the beginning, and breaking Yau-Man’s deal was part of his master plan. This did not sit well with anyone on the jury, who could see that this was obviously not the case. While watching the final Tribal Council, I was riveted by the following exchange between Dreamz and Boo, who was voted out just before Yau-Man:

BOO: First of all, I want to tip my hat off to this man, Yau. I think, by far, he was the greatest all-around player. He relied on this man’s word; Dreamz didn’t come through. You can’t make a promise in your heart, and then say, “Oh, well I changed it now.” [Dreamz], when you made that deal with Yau, were you playing him as a game, or were you, as a Christian—and I’m coming to you with this because I believe in you as a Christian—I want to know your Christian answer. Were you playing him when you accepted that truck, or did you come back later and say, “You know what? I gotta play the game now; this is my chance.”

DREAMZ: [spouts a lot of meaningless crapola]

BOO (interrupting, emphatically): Were you playing the game? As a Christian man, I want your Christian word. When you accepted his truck deal, were you making that as the game, or were you making that because you wanted the truck?

DREAMZ: You don’t know. You don’t know what’s on the inside. I was playing the game. It was going to be me or him. And I thought about it, right here, sitting in this chair. What would everybody else do? Would everybody else give their chance up for a million dollars?

BOO (Sad, disgusted): Okay, Dreamz. My opinion? It’s a good try, but I see straight through it. And I still believe in you. But I still believe you’re an immature Christian, and I hope that one day you will be a strong Christian man, and be able to tell the Devil, "Dangle all the money you want in front of me; this Christian is not for sale!"

As strange as it sounds, I think they could have forgiven Dreamz if they had believed his deal had been manipulation from the start. But it was clear the deal was made because he wanted and needed the truck. It was a real-world, honorable deal made in the midst of the game, and when he broke his word, it wasn't simply game-play, it was a breach of honor.

It just goes to show what a difficult line between game and real life the Survivor contestants walk. There's a certain amount of lying and back-stabbing that is seen by all as "part of the game." It may hurt an individual contestant when it causes him to get voted out, but usually all is forgiven by the reunion show at the end of the season. But when the lying and back-stabbing crosses into the real world, as it did with "Jonny Fairplay" and his "dead" grandmother a few seasons back, there is something that makes us cry foul--that makes us believe someone is crossing a line--even if no one is strictly breaking any rules. This deal brought that line into sharper-than-usual focus.