Interesting story from the first “Survivor” book that was put out. This incident happened during the first Survivor competition at Pulau Tiga, and the survivor in question was B.B. Andersen.
B.B. had done a Very Bad Thing ™ by Mark Burnett’s standards. A retired contractor by trade, B.B. knew that making fire would be one of the primary concerns of the people on the island – so, instead of leaving it to chance, he had a special pair of glasses made with magnifying glass in them, just to hedge his bets. It worked like a charm – the Pagong tribe had fire, IIRC, on the first day.
Sadly, B.B. was rewarded for this ingenuity by being the first Pagong, and the second overall contestant, voted off the first edition of Survivor.
First of all, Richard is probably the shrewdest player that’s ever competed in Survivor. He’s not only deliciously evil, but also a strong competitor. He’ll have a tough go of it in Survivor All Stars, but here’s how get won the first series:
Rich knew from the moment he landed that Survivor is only a singles game up to a point – it actually made far more sense to bring others under his Pink Parasol of Evil, if he wanted to stick around for the long run. In fact, from nearly the first day, he, Sue Hawk, and Rudy Boesch were the trifecta to beat. It didn’t matter whether or not they won challenges – it only mattered who DIDN’T win immunity, and the people that didn’t were in for three automatic votes, with Rich being the triggerman on the majority of them.
Rich worked the mathematic system to a T – even to the point of setting up other contestants with seemingly-innocuous single votes, which could come back to haunt them in the case of Tribal Council voting ties.
When the two tribes merged, Rich, Sue and Rudy set their sights on the strongest members of the former-Pagong tribe first – Gretchen and Greg. As soon as they were out of the way, it was literally a shooting gallery. Then, after the Pagongs were all gone, the three turned their attentions to the remaining members of Tagi.
It finally came down to the final 4 - Rich, Sue, Rudy and Kelly Wigglesworth, a Las Vegas river guide. Then it started to get interesting – Kelly began to win immunity at nearly every turn. The Alliance of Three had no choice but to vote out Sue. Then came the final three challenge – the remaining contestants had to place their hands on a totem. Whoever kept their hand on the idol for the longest period of time would be granted immunity.
Rich took his hand off after a short period of time, figuring (rightly) that, of the final two, neither would be so foolish as to NOT take him to the final. (Rich isn’t completely oblivious to what others think of him, which is, he’s a smarmy jackass.) Rudy went to wipe sweat from his brow at one point, forgetting his challenge, and that was it. Kelly chose to vote out Rudy, and it was Kelly vs. Rich in the final.
I won’t go into specifics on the final tribal council, because much of it has been pored over enough, but the jury felt (in a 4-3 favor) that Rich had “played” the game the way it was intended – with deceit and malice and such wondrous evil – and was deserving of the million dollar prize.
However, I posit THIS little piece of trivia to you…
At one point during the final Jury Vote, juror Greg Buis (who Rich had voted off) asked the two finalists to pick a number between 1 and 10. Greg would reveal later on that he felt so little of the two remaining Survivors that he cast his vote for the player that chose the number closest to his number. Greg’s vote, while arbitrary, ended up being the vote that swung the million dollar verdict.
Yep, that’s right. A million dollars, and all because Rich picked closest.
Thanks to Chastain86 for the most excellent synopsis of SURVIVOR I. Now I will at least understand why I despise the Hatchster! I would like to think that if his MooGoo Gai Pan tribe ever loses immunity that he and his naked bod will be the first to be booted off the island!
But they’ve never done the “previous votes in case of a tie” thing ever again.
I agree, Richard was pretty shrewd that first time around, as was Brian in Thailand, but this is gonna be a whole new ballgame.
Not true. They did utilize “prior votes” in Survivor: The Australian Outback. If two contestants receive an equal amount of votes, the two are allowed to “make their case” to the tribe members to sway votes. Then, a revote occurs – the other tribe members must cast their vote again for one of the two. They may keep their vote the same, or switch it to another member.
If another tie results, then it goes back to previous votes to determine who will be sent home. This is how contestant Jeff Varner was ousted in Australia, and ultimately led to the demise of the Kucha tribe.
…I’m something of a Survivor scholar.
Fire is very difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing and they clearly didn’t know what they were doing. I can’t imagine wtf they were thinking not studying up on this stuff. I lived in the desert for two weeks with nothing but the clothes on my back and a chunk of poorly knapped obsidian for a blade. I used that to cut a spindle, hearth, bow, and bearing block for a bow drill. I used nettle for cordage (that took the most amount of time). Took me almost 2 days, though I had to do a lot of other stuff in the meantime. Had I a knife and been willing to use my shoelace I could have had fire in about 30-60 minutes depending on how available good wood was. You can have thick black smoke and still not have a char capable of igniting tinder. And if you don’t pick the right woods: medium soft for the hearth and slightly harder for the spindle, and if it isn’t bone dry, forget it. If you don’t cut the notch in the hearth board correctly–also forget it. Once I got the bow drill working I could get ignition of tinder in 30 seconds. I don’t think they stand a chance.
FWIW, Richard’s arrogance is now self-defeating; he is merely looking to defend his ego at this point. He knew that making fire was more difficult than people thought and didn’t want to fail. Acting like an asshole won’t help him this early, though it admittedly has its advantages in some cases. Had they lost that challenge he would have been voted off.
The alliance to contend with will be Rupert and Rudy because they will trust each other implicitly which will be worth alot in this den of vipers. If they’re smart they’ll add Ethan to the mix, because he too is trustworthy, and will make them nearly unbeatable.
That’s the first thought that popped into my head too. Granted, they weren’t told much about what was going to happen this time around, but no fire was pretty much a no-brainer if you ask me. Why didn’t anyone think to spend a few hours in the comfort of their backyard with a couple of dry sticks? The fact that these people knew better than anyone what to expect, and instead of preparing, they all decide to struggle with sticks and whine drives me nuts!
Actually. With the whole rainforest type thing going on, everything is either wet or pretty ripe. Otherwise at least one tribe would have had fire by now.
Thanks to Chastain86 for the Season 1 recap, since that’s the only season I’ve missed. Did Richard actually win any challenges, or did he just manipulate the voting?
And this time around, is there any advantage in distancing yourself from the others, as he seems to be doing? Or can he just not help being a jerk?
(FWIW – all previous official stuff from CBS has referred to the first season as “Survivor - Pulau Tiga”, when they needed to differentiate between seasons. Last night is the first time I can recall hearing it referred to as “Survivor - Borneo”).
Rich actually held his own, winning one Immunity Challenge, and generally being good enough to not look weak yet strong enough to always be a threat.
I don’t want to give Rich short shrift on his accomplishments with the tribe, however. Beyond his jackassitude, Rich basically took the reins on keeping the remaining Survivors well-fed, doing the lion’s share of the fishing for the tribe.
Rich knows he’s got a gigantic bullseye painted on his flabby, naked ass. I’m interpreting his behavior as a way to keep under the radar as a potential threat. From the get-go, Rich is likely well aware that, as the first winner, it’s his crown that’s up for grabs. If he stays low, and doesn’t look like he’s planning anything sneaky and devious, perhaps others will think there’s nothing to fear from him.
Personally, I’d be most worried when Rich looks dormant. He’s a shark, plain and simple. Sharks don’t waste a lot of energy until they’re ready for the kill.
I wondered about that myself. I have no idea, other than people are more likely to have a vague understanding of where Borneo is, rather than the specific Pulau Tiga island chain. Keep in mind, however, that it was never referred to as “Survivor - Pulau Tiga” until well after the show had established its naming convention of calling each season “Survivor - (insert location here).” It was always just “Survivor,” until “The Australian Outback” set the precedent.
IIRC, in Survivor - Amazon, they did give them flint and steel and a can of kerosene. They (the producers) knew it was just too damn wet to make them try to build fires on their own. Ironically, that was the one where there where the camp caught on fire somehow (stray spark from the fire?) and burned the shelter and all their belongings while they were at a challenge or TC.
I ran across this explanation of the “why not use the glasses to make fire” argument that some people have postulated. This explanation was taken from Tina Wesson (the first booted Survivor)'s web chat after the first episode aired: Q: Why didn’t Kathy use her glasses to start the fire (or anybody else for that matter)?
Tina:On our tribe, Rudy has the lowest prescription pair of glasses and we used his but they just aren’t strong enough to start a fire. I’m not sure what Kathy’s level of prescription was but was surprised that they didn’t use them… at least it didn’t show her using them.
And, since I got in trouble in the other thread for not using the SPOILER box…
Previews for an upcoming episode seem to indicate that Kathy finally starts to use her glasses to start fire for her tribe.
Also, the comment below is SPECULATION and will be put in another spoiler box…
There are rumors afoot that one of the reasons Rich is so confident about his ability to start a fire is because he may or may not have smuggled matches onto the island, possibly in the Utili-kilt he was wearing at the beginning of the show. There is no confirmation of this and it may be totally bogus, but there may be a “reveal” about this in a future ep.
Only glasses made for a far-sighted person can work, since their lenses will be convex and will focus the sun’s rays. If every glasses-wearer around is near-sighted, with concave lenses, or if the sun isn’t out, they’re doomed to harder methods.
Nice observation about the “Burning Log” - that’s the key, I’m sure.
I taped the premeire for my kids (because it was on so late, and I didn’t know they were going to repeat it tonight) and when we watched it yesterday, they said “Burnt” Log not "Burning" Log.
I know a lot of people were speculating that “Burning Log” might be a source of fire, but I’m sure whoever was reading the map said “Burnt” Log.
Could be worth checking out, at any rate.
In Australia, I remember the final handful of Survivors did a fair amount of exploring. I would, too, if I were there. You never know what you might find that could be helpful.
I’m not so sure. It’s a dangerous game, but it could pay off for him. He knows he has no chance playing the classic strategy (the one he pioneered), so he’s trying a new one. He may be hoping that if he’s not perceived as a threat anymore, that perception plus the novelty value of having “the king” to kick around will make them not vote him off for a while.
If he can contrive to not be kicked off until the merge, and to make a solid alliance with one or two others (Shii Ann would be a good choice, since she’s both smart and an outsider, and she admires him. Kathy is also a possibility.) then he could be in good shape. If he manages that, I can easily see him joining forces with his old crony Rudy and Rudy’s new pal Rupert. That would be a power combo, to be sure.
Of course, he (Richard) has practically zero chance of actually winning, and I’m sure he knows it. I’m sure he’d be happy with at least making the jury though.
I’m betting people are right that the “burning log” on the map is a fire source that no one’s figured out yet. Probst seemed rather amused when he was asking everyone if they had fire yet. And wasn’t there a tribe in the past that took several days to notice there was the location of a well on their map? These people may be spending too much time scheming and not enough on the basics.
I agree that if I was going on Survivor, I’d be an Olympic class fire-starter before I left my house. And I concur with the bow/twirling stick method as the best way to go (aside from glasses). BTW, a flahslight sends out beams of light that are dispersed, and so is not a good anaolg to the sun. For all practical purposes, the sun’s rays are perfectly columnated for someone using a magnifying glass on earth.
I like the Rudy/Rupert aliance, too. I like it a lot. But why get rid of Tina instead of one of the other two girls? They need to get Ethan on their side next. He’s too strong, physically, to get rid of during the team phase of the game. I also think Richard is toast early.
Then there are the twists. I have no idea what they are, but I’m sure they’ll be doosies this time around.
