Every Survivor fan knows the motto of the show and the key to winning the $1 million grand prize: outplay, outwit, outlast. I'm sure that this season, that's exactly what Crystal and Kenny think they're doing. I'm sure that if they make it to the final two or three, that's what they'll say to the members of the jury. However, as someone who's been watching the show since Borneo, I think I can say this: a group of underdogs who have nothing to offer their tribe and are incapable of making real social connection who band together to get rid of others so that they don't get picked off, is not exactly worthy of $1 million. It also makes for one frustrating season that looks to be headed towards an uneventful finale.

A similar thing happened, in a way, a few seasons back on Survivor: Fiji. Up against completely irrelevant player Cassandra and one of the most hated villains of all time, Dreamz, Earl Cole ended up winning just by pure luck. He was just in the right place at the right time and didn't really do anything to earn the title of sole Survivor. There's a reason why Fiji goes down in history as being one of the worst seasons of Survivor in the show's history and the uneventful finale is a large part of it.

There have been winners who have been great physical players, like Tom Westman of Survivor: Palau. There have been winner who played an impressive social game like Todd Herzog of Survivor: China and of course, there are winners who are masters in the art of manipulation, like Richard Hatch or Survivor: Borneo. There are even winners who have the uncanny ability to utilize brains, brawn, and charm to get ahead like Yul Kwon of Survivor: Cook Islands. When you're a winner like Earl Cole or perhaps a Crystal or a Kenny, yeah, you may walk away with that grand prize but nobody is going to talk about you for years to come and appreciate the way you played the game.

Crystal, Kenny, and Susie clearly have not outplayed. According to Randy, in his interview with BuddyTV, Crystal has the worst losing record of any player in Survivor history. They didn't really outwit because, thanks to two tribe switchups, they just lucked out with numbers in their favor. Any underdog would try to latch on to others like them and boot out strong players like Marcus or Charlie. I guess they outlasted but man, if those are the final three this season, I have no idea how anybody on the jury could even write a name down to win. Randy said he would walk right off the set if Crystal and Kenny were final two. That's just about the only thing that would make the finale worth watching.


- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)