Rob Mariano’s entire Survivor: All Stars challengers have all lost their fire in the game and seem to have settled into a complacent state of trust regarding their individual alliances with him, waiting out to see what fate has in store. Why is this happening? Why aren’t some of the less assured competitors rising up to challenge him? In the past two installments, Rob Mariano did not have immunity status and could have been removed from contention. Prior to his vulnerability, his closest ally, Amber Brkich was exposed to a unanimous ejection when she was the only original Chaperan isolated in the clutches of the new Chapera tribe comprising of the enemy Mogo Mogi. Yet her safety was secured in exchange for one of their own due to an ill-fated negotiation between power players Lex Van den Berghe, Kathy Vavrick-O’brien and Rob Mariano. To the legions of Survivor fans the scenario seems unfathomable and unexplainable.
The answer seems to lie in the master plan devised by Rob Mariano and assisted in its implementation by Amber Brkich early on in the season, being the only true all stars playing the game. First, he was keenly aware that the Mogo Mogo tribe had strength in experienced finalists and physicality and therefore he had to garner and harness the natural and devised strengths of his tribe – powerful athleticism and comradery. Next he derived a tribal power system of unopposed leadership by creating unquestionable loyalty in his followers. In order to do this he had to dominate and assure victories in the arenas while maintaining a jovial “family” life at camp. But there are other factors that also played an important part in maintaining this image of “the chosen hero” who would lead his loyal troops toward achieving their dreams. He had to keep his emotions in check (self-admittedly a difficult task for him to do), always play the game (never allowing outside factors to distract him), and keep a watchful eye over the ranks so that outside influences from segmented infractions do not attempt an uprising.
This is where his careful research of former successful gameplay has served him well. He built a tight alliance with the most loyal person in his original tribe, Amber, implemented early so that time would secure its duration and stronghold. Then he utilized the intricate multiple alliance strategy that worked brilliantly for Brian Heidik of Survivor: Thailand but not so well for Jon “Fairplay” Dalton of Survivor: Pearl Islands. He needed Amber because she would help him keep his emotions, particularly his wise mouth, in check and keep a watchful eye over the others to quash any insurgent factors. She was ideal for this requirement because she could be trusted, having a history of remaining loyal to her leader, Jerri Manthey in the Australian Outback season. Rob needed her to keep his image as a hero from getting tarnished. On the Survivor: All Stars season, he is Rob “The Robfather” Mariano who commanded respect from his subordinates and opponents alike. He understood, however that if he no longer controlled with respect and loyalty, then he was nothing more than Boston Rob from Survivor: Marquesas and was expendable. He then created the delicate infrastructure with several sub-alliances with all of the different splinter groups comprising of former Saboga and Chapera members. He needed Amber to help keep these subgroups believing that their alliance will hold to the end. This is a key factor that must constantly be nurtured because of the underlying premise that betrayal is inevitable in order to survive to the next level when elimination is part of the game. The others must believe that they are not next in line for betrayal.
That strategy worked successfully for Brain Heidik winner of Survivor: Thailand. He lead his older, weaker Chuay Gahn tribe to victory over the younger but fractured Sook Jai tribe by pagonging them out of contention. Then, having earned their individual loyalties by securing their passage into the individual challenge phase, he created the intricate secret alliance system, promising final two partnerships to everyone. The danger was discovery but even if they had exposed him, he knew he has to convince them he was lying to everyone else but them, and turn their backstabbing on each other. It was difficult work, but Brian succeeded due to his charming endearing personality and truly deserved his reward as the grand architect of this advanced Survivor design.
This technique was later utilized by Jon “Fairplay” Dalton during the Survivor: Pearl Islands season. He was unsuccessful because his repugnant personality would not allow others to trust him. He plan was also exposed by other vocal opponents such as Sandra Diaz-Twaine (winner) and Lillian Morris (first runner up). He attempted a partnership with Burton Roberts to distract his detractors and to keep a watchful eye but in the end, it backfired as Burton became over confident and isolated themselves with an overnight reward, allowing the remaining underestimated women to target them. Rob Mariano most likely studied the implementation of both players technique, observing why one worked and the other failed. He then realized he would use Brain’s tactical manipulation but needed a safeguard to defuse his personality flaws that more closely resembled those of Jon Dalton.
Both Jon and Rob have a tendency to brag and gloat, thereby exposing them to retaliation. Both share the same quick temper emoting openly in public feuds thereby losing support or likeability from their peers. Jon Dalton got into arguments with Shawn Cohen and Rupert Boneham on the Pearl Islands. Rob Mariano got into arguments with Hunter Ellis and John Carroll in Marquesas. Rob is doing phenomenally well on his own but still managed to get into a skirmish early on with Alicia Calaway, to which he held a grudge when it came time to vote her off. This is where Amber’s influence comes into play. Most men when engaged in a competitive arena become overly stressed with any slight situation and become enraged, particularly when competing with other males. This sudden rage then causes them to act irrationally. Amber, like most beautiful women, act as a comfort to sooth the inner rage form these stressed competitive males in order to defuse the situation and permit them to behave rationally. Amber helps Rob to keep focused. Those who object to this rationale as overly simplistic are in denial of the power and influence of the natural primitive biorhythms in young males and females.
Amber Brkich is another contender for the title of ultimate Survivor: All Star winner. She is keenly aware of her mistakes from the Australian Outback season and wants to play a more contributing role in her fate in the game. She is aware that her strategy had merit in the previous season but that she had aligned with the wrong partner. She chose to follow Jerri Manthey because she viewed her as a strong woman with a plan. She failed to observe that Tina Wesson had the same plan but correctly aligned herself to the strongest young [malleable]male competitor, Colby Donaldson who together would lead each other to the final two. Tina Wesson was the mastermind behind the decision making who took a passive role in the alliance. Colby Donaldson was the aggressive front man who carried out all of the necessary victories and activities, such as flirting with Jerri or partaking in male bonding with Keith Famie to keep them in check. If the others feared longevity, they would focus their attention on Colby but he was untouchable because of his unbeatable winning streak in individual challenges. Tina went undetected because she played the unthreatening maternal role that no one envisioned was calling the shots, perceiving that role belonging to the young cocky straight shooter, Colby.
Amber has studied and masterfully duplicated Tina Wesson’s winning strategy. It was also utilized successfully by Ethan Zohn in Survivor: Africa and Jenna Morasca in Survivor: Amazon. Ethan followed Lex as a silent partner to the final three in Africa. Lex was the aggressive front man while Ethan carefully analyzed from the safe sidelines as naïve all around good guy. Their partnership to final two was broken only when Kim Johnson endured the final individual immunity challenge longer than her male counterparts and selected Ethan to go against in the final two. Jenna had a tight partnership with Heidi Strobel but flirted and aligned herself with intelligent and master strategist, Rob Cesternino until Heidi was voted out and she defeated three men in the final three challenges. Amber correctly assessed that she should accept Rob Mariano’s offer of a partnership early on in order to establish his desire for her continued role into final two. Unlike Tina who assumed the maternal role over Colby who responded well to that, given his strong attachment to his real mother, Amber recognized that Rob is attracted to pretty young females. Rob's perchant for comely partners was evident during Marquesas when he stood up for Sara Jones when Hunter Ellis wanted her ousted due to low productivity and contribution to the tribe. Amber used her femininity to secure her partnership with equally ambitious Rob.
The two of them have the fundamentals of successful master plans, each one attributed to a successful winner within their own gender and capacity. Rob has duplicated Brian Heidik’s technique with modifications, such as a tight partnership with another member that would aide his particular needs and appropriate for the current game. Amber has duplicated Tina Wesson’s tactical maneuvers tailored to meet her own specific skills and benefits such as beauty and alluring sweet sensuality appropriate for the unpredictable all star version. The finale ingredient that permits two individuals to work together when only one may have immunity per round depends largely on the mind set of the remaining followers. The plan of attack against the dynamic duo was first breeched when Lex unwittingly trusted Rob to offer allegiance toward him and Kathy in exchange for protecting Amber when she was separated from her group. The outcome reinforced the secured numeric advantage Rob needed to pagong the remaining Mogo Mogo tribe. This achieved a dual benefit. First, it annihilated a rival tribe from contention. Second, it cemented the alliances he had established with two other important sub factions, Rupert Boneham and Jenna Lewis, and Big Tom Buchanan and Alicia Calaway separately.
Shii-Ann Huang in the opening sequence of episode 13 admitted that Mogo Mogo had been pagonged and is now alone. She knew she had to either win immunity or persuade the others to abandon their long established and seemingly secure plans for an alternative ploy to take Rob and Amber out. Against all odds, she won immunity but boasted with such bravado that her subsequent reasoning to act now to take out either Rob or Amber fell on deaf ears. And there in lies the secret to success that Rob borrowed from Brain Heidik, have the other followers battle each other in order to vie for his favor. The Reward challenge once again set the pecking order for all to see. Big Tom and Jenna were taken out first, Rob administering the initial ouster by smashing Tom’s face in effigy. Shii-Ann and Alicia were removed midway through the challenge, a signal from Rob to Rupert that they were expendable and that he was calling the shots by taking Alicia out personally. Rupert won the challenge and rewarded the food accordingly to his vision of the corresponding alliance. It matched Rob’s vision with Rupert, Rob, Jenna and Amber in the alliance. This should have triggered Tom and Alicia to see Shii-Ann’s point that they will be systematically removed, much the same way Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien convinced Nele Dennis and Paschal English to combine with her, Vecepia Towery and Sean Rector to fight back as a force of five against the Rotu Four: John Carroll, Robert DeCanio, Zoe Zanidakis and Tammy Leitner. Instead the inept all stars feared they would not have the numbers, four against three and felt more secure with Rob’s promise to final four.
Shii-Ann had the best opportunity to take out one of the dynamic duo. The problem was, all the others were complacent with their respective alliances with Rob and Amber, confident that theirs was the bone fide true pact. This is reminiscent of Thailand once again when Brain Heidik convinced Helen Glover, Ted Rogers, Clay Jordan and Jan Gentry they each had a true alliance to final two. He had them ach compete against each other instead of realizing they needed to target him! What Shii-Ann needed to do was awaken the Shii-Devil within her an instigate Rob into an open battle, tripping him up to reveal his numerous alliances in front of the feuding factions so that they question his reliability and reduce his powerful influence. Shii-Ann was either unwilling or unable to fluster rob into this public breakdown. So instead, she sided with the majority and removed Alicia from contention.
By episode 14, Shii-Ann recognized that she had her back up against the ropes. Fearing Rob’s influence she opted to focus attention away from herself and onto another strong faction member Jenna Lewis. She once again knew she must win immunity and did the best she could to win it. In a suspense filled marginally close final finish between Shii-Ann and Big Tom, he won the coveted immunity. Rob was vulnerable again but she was unable to break to bond he held with Tom and the separate one he held with Rupert. Each male felt that if they broke security pre-maturely, the others would target him next. Faced with the inevitable, Shii-Devil decided to shake things up and expose Amber’s quiet influence. The ploy did not prevent the unrelenting pagonging of the Mogo Mogo tribe but may have damaged Amber’s position given the Tina Wesson model Amber faithfully mimicked. Only five competitors remain and it appears that the three non-strategists have not learned they need to work together to remove Rob Mariano or Amber Brkich from the game. The problem is that the three detest each other more than they have their eye on the final outcome. Rob and Amber are secure with their emotions and have there feelings under control whereas the others do not. The three, Tom, Rupert and Jenna continue to bicker amongst themselves as Rob and Amber quietly sit back and allow the heated passion to build against each other, occasionally prepared to throw another coal into the fire of their internalized feud in order to ride the money train into final two.
I watch with interest to see if the others catch on, and fool Rob and Amber into falsely believing they were unaware so as to eliminate one of them. If not then I am curious to see how the final four tactical maneuvers play out – who wins immunity and who doubles up on who. If the final two are indeed Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, then which strategy wins out, the Brian Heidik model or the Tina Wesson model?
What are your thoughts regarding the issues, strategies or questions presented in this article? Your comments are interesting, insightful and appreciated so please share them in the comments link below.
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