I sure hope that Earl takes the Yau-man family on one very nice vacation. He could never have won without Yau-man. And I think Earl is the kind of guy who would do that, too.
There’s a rule that you cannot share your winnings with other people on the show. In s2 Tina bought Colby a motorcycle, I believe, and it was frowned upon. They might have tightened up the rules even more since then to prevent people from circumventing the winner-takes-all element of the show by agreeing to split the money in exchange for a vote.
Money is fungible, and it sounds like Earl makes enough money that he could easily just say none of it came out of his winnings. Imagine the bad press they’d get if they went after Earl for taking Yau-man on a vacation. I think he’s safe
And the case with Colby was different, since he handed Tina the win. They knew that would be the result. There wasn’t anything like that going on between Yau and Earl.
To continue my previous list:
Folks whose stock went up after the Final Tribal Council/Reunion
*Yao - what a stand-up class act. Instead of turning against Dreamz a la the other 4 HorsesAsses, er, Horsemen, he told him that the truck fiasco was his own fault and then gave Dreamz an opportunity to own up to his previous lie (that he was playing people all along – An opportunity which Dreamz didn’t take.) He also gave Earl a chance to say, “I voted you off because you would have beaten me.” which was true and a good, understandable answer. And he completely ignored Cassandra, which spoke volumes. If there were a “Viewers Decide Who Wins the $1m prize” like last year, he would have won it hands down.
***Rocky ** - he had nowhere to go but up. He was a bit brash at Tribal Council, but fair. He understood that lying and manipulating is integral part of the game and didn’t harp on people for their warped morals like the other hypocrites (Alex, Lisi). I’m glad he called out Cassandra’s stupid politically correct answer to “What is the kickiest (most manipulative) thing you did in the game.” “I felt like I listened to people and tried to get to know them.” If Cassandra had any chance of winning a vote, she ruined it with that answer which was straight out of a job interview.
*Stacy - She asked a fair question, “Should I base my vote on need?” and then sat down.
***Mookie ** - he made sure Dreamz knew he was unhappy that he lied and betrayed the alliance, told them that it would be in their best interest not to lie (hello, Dreamz, that was meant for you) and then sat down. Considering how much I detested him during the game, I was glad he didn’t pull an Alex.
Neutral
*Edgardo - He at least didn’t give a freaking “You are soooo unethical” speech. He asked one question, looked stricken when Earl confirmed that it was Dreamz who sold his alliance down the river then sat back down.
*Cassandra - When Alex and Lisi went postal, I think she handled herself with dignity. However, she didn’t offer one speck of evidence as to why she should win a million bucks.
***Boo ** - I half expected him to pass around a collection plate, but I think it was fair to call Dreamz out on his decision to betray Yao. And I think it was fair to call him an immature Christian. I also like that he let Dreamz know that no one believed his lies.
The problem with Dreamz is not that he lied, everybody knew the kind of person he is. The problem is that he tried to pass for intelligent and claim to be playing the game. He said he would do it when nobody was watching, he cried like a Judas at the TC. He was weak (and I don’t blame him) but then he tries to convince others that he was just playing the game. Even more scary is that he appears to have convinced himself, that that is what he wanted to do. That’s sad and scary. I hope he has to walk to the police station to pick up his criminal son because he already wrecked the truck. I can’t believe people trust their kids to him.
I think you are right…I am 40, and I never heard the racist version until a few years ago. I honestly never knew it was racist. I’m willing to assume that she didn’t know, either…but the deer-in-the-headlights looks that Cassandra & Earl had when she was saying it told me that THEY knew. They actually looked relieved to me when she said “liar.”
I’m 41 and I’d heard the “n” version as a little girl. It may be a regional (southern?) thing.
Wow, I have to agree that Yau was the smartest player ever. To play his immunity idol at the right time was brilliant. To rock the spear throwing and arrow shooting challenge (“I’m choosing the straightest arrow, Jeff”) was studly. To diffuse the four horsemen’s confrontation about him secretly having the idol was total gamesmanship. To send himself to Exile Island to get the clue to the rehidden immunity idol was a stroke of genius. To navigate the maze and drawbridges fastest was pretty darn impressive. And the creme de la creme?
To actually foresee an immunity challenge that would play out two tribal councils later. Wow. Gotta give the “Man” props, that is some stunning prognostipainting.
Yau essentially behaved as if he could see the future. I’m still not convinced he can’t. If anyone were in his shoes and knew the last immunity challenge would be about upper arm strength pitting your stick-like arms against the mighty oak trunks that Dreamz sports, who wouldn’t propose his deal? You may even choose to make that deal knowing Dreamz would renege… why not choose a more interesting path with drama that ends up making you look good?
There was really no scenario that would’ve allow Yau to win this season, so why not use your supernatural intelligence to visualize exactly what will happen several days ahead and position yourself to win on a future season of Survivor?
He even asked Dreamz the key question that Probst parroted again in the reunion… when you made the deal, were you playing the game?
As for his class act (even going as far as to tell Dreamz to enjoy his truck)… that’s pretty strategic as well. Why make a young, emotionally unstable goon mad at you? I’d much rather lose a truck I didn’t need than worry about Dreamz looking me up one night and getting his misguided revenge on me.
I found his answer to Probst’s “why didn’t you try harder to convince Dreamz” question especially interesting. The truth is that he probably didn’t want to give Dreamz an excuse to renege. There was this loopy whack-brain Dreamz itching to jump on any excuse to renege. You say anything at all and Dreamz will claim “I was going to give him the immunity necklace, but he acted like he didn’t trust me, so that’s why I kept it!” or “Yau kept pressuring me to keep my word, so I stopped liking him and didn’t want to give him the necklace!” Instead, Yau was passive, giving Dreamz no reason to break his word. But the genius is this: Dreamz is essentially a psychopath. In response to Probst, Yau blamed himself rather than give Dreamz any reason to look him up after the show and murder Yau and his family.
So, I doff my hat to Yau-man, for clearly the most tactical show of intelligence on any reality show ever in the history of television.
p.s. Did anyone else find Cassandra’s “smile-talking” habit to be disturbing? She can apparently talk normally through a full toothy smile without needing to close her lips. Perhaps that would have been the correct answer to Rocky’s question?
No, not Southern. Maybe Pennsylvania.
Hey, don’t blame all of us – I hadn’t heard the racist version until I was in college, and that was in New York.
I absolutely disagree here. Both times it worked perfectly to give the jury a real choice. (Well, it would have if Dreamz wasn’t such a dumbass). Cassandra sat in Be
Is that where they think the “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo” song originated or are you just pointing out that racism was alive and well throughout the United States? The reason I theorized that it could be a southern thing is because I learned the “n” version from my southern cousins. Of course, looking back on this poll, it seems rather random.
(missed the edit deadline, here’s my full post)
I absolutely disagree here. Both times it worked perfectly to give the jury a real choice. (Well, it would have if Dreamz wasn’t such a dumbass). Cassandra sat in Becky’s seat from last year. i.e., The non-entity that would’ve been #2 at a boring final two and let #1 win in a landslide. Whether Earl or Dreamz won the F3 challenge (and Cassandra never won anything physical, so why start now?) they’d be Colby-style foolish not to bring Cassandra and win.
Dreamz may have blew it at the final tribal by not owning up to his lies, but if he had spun things well, he could’ve gotten a few votes, and not just out of pity. Cassandra had no chance of even one vote.
That's what I've been thinking. I know that if I had a daughter, and found out that her cheerleading coach was Dreamz I would be VERY concerned.
Not only is he a basic, survivor level liar (at no point in the game did he keep his word to anyone, except possably Cassandra), he is also in essence, a car thief.
He can claim to have been playing the game, but in the end, the lession and example he left for his son is: "lie cheat and steal, as long as you might win money, it's okay."It’s alive and well everywhere I’ve ever been. When I first met Edlyn’s parents in Minnesota, her mother told her — just a bad joke, I presumed — that I couldn’t smoke my peace pipe in the house.
Agreed. The F3, especially now that future players know that it’s a possibility, makes it that much harder for under-the-radar players to win, which should in theory provide a much more satisfying winner (unless they come up against bitter juries like in All-Stars). While I’d have loved to see Yau win, Earl was by far the next best option. Let’s face it, a Dreamz/Cassandra F2, which would have been a certainty had the F2 immunity challenge been as it was for F3, would have been horrible in a way not even matched by Vecepia/Neleh and Sandra/Lil. We’d also have been deprived of one of the closest competitions ever seen in Survivor, that of Yul and Ozzy. There was no way either of them were going to take each other to F2 over Becky.
Of course it’s possible that the future Rob Cesterninos and Yau-Mans will just be dumped out at 4th or 5th place in future instead of 3rd, but I’m going to stay positive.
Im ashamed to admit that I grew up in Western PA, and the n word version is the only one I knew until I moved south to Virginia. My parents were (and sadly, still are) terrible racists that have learned the hard way to never use that language around me. But I’ve lived in Mississippi and Louisiana, and that’s the same version they use.
Back to Survivor, I am amazed at the opportunity that Dre threw away. He could’ve parlayed the good will from keeping his word into a solid living, doing motivational speaking and rubbing shoulders with Oprah and the like. But now, he’s just a cheap liar who can’t be trusted. A poster a few replies back cast doubt on his aproppriate influence on the kids he coaches. You think that’s not the general perception of this? HeiDDi from the Amazon lost her job as a grade school teacher because she flashed her implant sacs for peanut butter and chocolate, and I don’t know if Dre is going to want to go the Playgirl route that HeiDDi and Jenna took. What a waste of an opportunity.
While Dreamz was agonizing over what to do, he had obviously not worked out that there was no way he could win the $1m. If he gave up immunity, he would be voted off. If he reneged on his promise, he would never win the jury vote. So irrespective of any thoughts of strategy and “it’s only playing the game”, he should have taken the classy way out and given up immunity. His honor was the only thing left in play at that point.
His honor and a few thousand bucks. According to best guesses, the fourth place finisher gets $70,000, third gets $85,000 and second gets $100,000. Assuming he and Cassandra split the 2nd and 3rd prizes, that’s $92.5K instead of 70K. Of course, I don’t think for a minute that any of this rattle through that disjointed brain of his. 
I found Jeff’s analysis of Dreamz’ behaviour interesting, when he asked if Dreamz believed that the way he grew up meant that he saw the “morality” of the game differently from the other players.
I think Dreamz’s life has taught him so far that you do what you have to do in order to survive and get ahead, and don’t let anything or anyone stand in your way.
It’s my opinion that Dreamz truly doesn’t think he did anything wrong, that he saw it as an opportunity to walk away from the game with a truck. He doesn’t have the sophistication to see the bigger picture, the possible future opportunities that singular1 points out. His life so far has not taught him to think that way, and as Yau-Man stated, hopefully he will learn those lessons at some point.