Archive for date: December 2nd, 2014

After last weeks surprising blind side elimination of Jeremy, this weeks show had a lot to live up to.  It has become very apparent that an alliance means nothing from day to day.  One day you can be best friends the next you are leading a revolt agaisnt your best friend.  This week was noticeable for the methods of motivation that were on display.  During the immunity challenge there was a clear reward motivation.  Jeff challenged the players to resist the tempting food rewards that were being placed in front of them.  Many of the contestants found the food to be worth more than the potential immunity reward.  This tactic came back to hurt Wes the most.  He decided that chicken wings were more important that the immunity idol and now he is free to eat all of the chicken wings he wants because he was voted off of the show.  There was also an overriding feeling of the motivator known as sense of choice.  Reed concocoted a plan to overthrow Jon and forced the other tribe members to make a tough choice.  The choice was a motivation for each and every tribe member.  They could chose to keep going along with what they had been doing and maybe that would work out.  Or they could chose to overthrow the most powerful person and change the game, potentially majorly, in their own favor.  In the end however Jon wisened up at the last moment due to a critical blunder by Keith.  Jon played his immunity idol and the aforementioned Wes was the tribe member that was sent packing.  See you next week….

This chapter is perfectly suited and relative to Survivor as it entails the aspects that create the alliances that decide the fate of the tribal council decisions. Through the different aspects of group motivation, tribe members learn what and how they are motivated and how these concepts will dictate their alliance position and how they will vote.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is also a very visible part of the experience on Survivor. Obviously shelter and food are a vital and pivotal part of life on Survivor. Although these needs are necessary for life and they seem very important, success on the show may more importantly come from motivators. Because the goal of the game is essentially to survive tribal council, motivators play an essential role in dictating how tribe members will find their motivation to side with which alliance they choose and ultimately how they will vote at tribal council. Feeling a sense of belonging and having trust in your alliance is absolutely vital in motivating how members will ally and play the game.

Critical decisions are made when members, such as John, decide that having a sense of meaningfulness promotes him to vote off the strongest competition like Jeremy, rather than simply voting safely and taking the easy route at tribal council. The dynamics of the alliance and their strategy also implicates a groups sense of choice. When contradictions about which way the alliance vote, some tribe members will feel that their sense of choice is inhibited. John and Jaquelyn have forced their alliance to question their sense of choice, as they have switched thier vote at the last minute the last two tribal councils, going against their alliances original plan.

A sense of competence has also been vital in the challenge aspect of the game. When picking a team leaves one member unpicked and out of the game, usually Missy or Keith, it reveals that the tribe members do not feel a very strong sense of physical competence in them. This likely also reflects on the Missy and Keith’s own feelings about their place in the game and their group roles and how they are motivated.

This episode directly tied back into chapter six from the fifth edition of the text in regards to rewards. Natalie and Jeremy gave both Jon and Jacquelyn their reward from winning a challenge as a thank you for sticking to their alliance and helping them vote out Josh at the last tribal council. This gave both Jon and Jacquelyn a sense of personal recognition from their alliance because in front of everyone in the whole game, Natalie and Jeremy singled them out to say a special thank you. But, the material compensation that was highly valued by the rest of the players in the game was the icing on the cake.

One issue that came up at the tribal council meeting was that Keith was withholding information, especially from the women. By not being open with the women that are also vital, strong players in the game Keith is not fulfilling the intrinsic need that they have to be accepted by the group. This came back to bite him after Reed found out that he had an idol, and spread the news like wildfire across the camp. Reed now desperate once again became an important player in the game, making himself a fountain of information.

I am really bummed Jeremy got voted off. He was my favorite player and I really wanted to see him go all the way to the end and win the prize. He was smart, creative and very determined and overall not a nasty player. He stuck to his guns and tried to use his intelligence and cool demeanor to win over people to his alliance, and as we can see it worked quite well. That is, until now. My money is now on Jon as the main power player as the game continues. I’m hoping that he can stay in the game while longer with Jacquelyn.

Everyone is betrayed! After last week we are really beginning to see what happens when there is a lack of leadership and genuine communication. Like a bad relationship, Survivor is beginning to become a terrible thing.

When Jeremy got voted off it changes the entire dynamic of the island. There is a lack of trust between basically everyone, and no one should feel too comfortable about their situation. In fact, everyone should be trepidatious.  I feel that the characters at this point all feel as though they are deserving of winning. They have all made it quite far in the show and have gone through some pretty difficult obstacles. Furthermore we see that this has created a huge issue  of entitlement toward winning the prize. This has led to a very vicious type of gameplay. I would not want to be on that island right now.

THe hidden agendas are also starting to surface as we see that John may be removed from the island if Natalie and Baylor are able to execute their plans.

I also noticed in this episode that Wes was actually short handed due to the immunities. He has played a fair game and wasn’t as terrible a air as some of the other players. It is unfortunate that the game has come to this, but we will see how it all pans out in the end.