Author Topic: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear  (Read 12246 times)

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Offline puddin

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Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« on: December 14, 2004, 11:59:46 PM »
Final Survivor was the best liar
Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear

ANALYSIS
By Andy Dehnart
MSNBC
Updated: 8:18 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2004Two highway construction workers with tenuous grasps on the rules of the English language but remarkable abilities to inspire ferocious emotion were the final two “Survivors.” But the one who lied the most and the best was the one who claimed the title, and the million-dollar prize.


Since he was incapable of crossing a balance beam during the very first challenge, viewers thought Chris Daugherty would surely be the first "Survivor: Vanuatu" contestant to be voted off. Instead, he ultimately outlasted 17 other players and easily won the game, beating Twila Tanner  on Sunday night's finale.

Although this outcome was strangely predictable, the finale did keep us guessing, and this time it wasn’t just because of Mark Burnett’s skillful, manipulative editing. The confrontation between the jury and the final two during last tribal council proved emotional. At one point it seemed like everyone was crying, even tough-guy Sarge and even-keeled Chad.

What did Chris and Twila do to inspire such passion, such hatred, such animosity? How did they outplay the more attractive, albeit clownishly dressed jury? Why did the jury overwhelmingly vote for the person who was less-than-honest throughout the game? What was with Jeff Probst’s machete-hacking, parachuting, motorcycle-riding cavalcade through the jungles of Vanuatu, L.A., and CBS Studio City?

Rewarding the liars
The last one aside, ousted contestant Julie answered those questions during the reunion, telling us that, during the game, “human nature took over.” Oh, did it ever. And what did we learn about human nature?

Liars win and losers reward the liars.

Of course, having just finished an election cycle, most of the United States of America knows this well. We like to be lied to.

 

We want to feel good regardless of the veracity of the statements that are making us feel that way, and we believe in fiction when it’s more appealing than nonfiction. From an early age, we learn that lies take precedent over truth when it comes to interaction with others. We lie and say that someone looks good even if they don’t; we’re told “good job” even when we fail. We always want to be removed from the ugly truths; we want our reality filtered.

It’s no wonder that reality television is so appealing — and it’s also not a surprise that it’s so condemned, because it’s a revealing, harsh reflection of the way our world works. Real things get edited into palatable, entertaining things, and we consume them with fervor. And of course, we don’t want to admit any part of that.

That childhood lesson clearly impacted at least three members of the jury, all of whom expressed teary regret over the trust they placed in Chris, and then turned around and voted for him despite (or because of) the fact that he lied to them yet again. The jury forgave Chris when he said what they wanted to hear. Twila refused to do that, and it cost her the game.

Both Chris and Twila lied on their way to those final two fireside chats. Twila’s biggest lie was ultimately more damning than anything Chris said — she literally swore on her son’s life. Chris ended up in the final two by constantly course-correcting; he adjusted his game play based upon the present situation, and made the best move available to him.

Fail to adjust and get your torch snuffed
Though viewers rarely see it, this is the only real way to play “Survivor”; those who fail to adjust their expectations based upon changing circumstances ultimately get voted out. Still, in Chris’ desperation as the last remaining man, he told a number of smaller, quieter, emptier lies, but ones that still impacted those around him. He twice betrayed Eliza, although smartly, as each of those decisions moved him closer to the final two. Each time she believed him. He lied to Julie after having a heartfelt discussion in which he confessed his brotherly affection for her and reaffirmed his friendship. Although they’d known each other for, quite literally, only days, Julie bought it, and then he voted her out without even flinching.

This set viewers up for some dramatic final tribal council confrontations. Instead, we had emotional clashes, ones that showed how impossible it must be to separate yourself from the game you are playing. When the pawns are real people and not plastic pieces on a cardboard surface, everything changes. Except it doesn’t, really; we’re still the same flawed human beings, ones that don’t like to look in mirrors that show clear reflections. We prefer mirrors that are cloudy or gauze-covered.

In a passionate final speech, Twila told the jury, “People kill for less than what we’re playing for right now. … And ["Survivor"] actually turned me into someone I don’t like. … It wasn’t the game I intended to play, it was the game that ended up playing me.”

Although she apologized and asked for forgiveness, Twila still was telling the jury what they didn’t want to hear: that the game somehow revealed a truth about all of them, that they all played in a way they didn’t really want to. Voting for Twila would be tantamount to admitting that, on some level, they were just as guilty as she was of playing ruthlessly.

And everyone on that jury played ruthlessly. The men, Sarge and Chad, allied with others to vote off the younger men who were physical threats, even though Sarge admitted later that many of the younger men had stronger characters than the flabby old ones.

The women united arbitrarily, based solely upon their sex, and systematically eliminated men — until they started to turn on one another.

Thus, Chris, the one survivor that was able to lie the best, pulled ahead and became the sole survivor, winning easily with five of the seven jury votes. Most of those votes came from the women he disparaged routinely in interviews and betrayed during the game. Twila’s problem was that she was genuine, and that genuineness, although the source of some thoroughly satisfying one-liners, was exceptionally irritating to her tribemates, and frequently to viewers.

Twila also refused to apologize for who she is and what she did, whereas Chris instantly kowtowed and gave transparent but effective answers, the ones his interrogators wanted to hear. He did what he did throughout the entire game, and the jury bought it once again. And ultimately, so did we.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news

 © 2004 MSNBC Interactive

surviordude_JT

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2004, 10:07:33 PM »
I think they both told the jury a bunch of BS  B:) B:) B:) B:)


Riverrat

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2004, 11:02:03 PM »
I think Chris tols them a lot more BS than Twila. JMO  She didn't swear on her sons life btw. She only said she swore on his name. I don't think Chris was one bit sorry and that in itself was the biggest lies.

Sarge was a huge disapointment. He wasn't even there when Twila did the swear on my son thing. His butt had already been booted so, he sure as heck didn't really know what went on. I think he was just angry because she didn't vote Chris off to or, because she didn't help him more. If he is the best we have in our military we are in deep doodoo. He needs to grow up.

Offline 'keeta

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2004, 04:17:07 AM »
River, I agree with you on Sarge.  *()*

Talk about being righteous! He was coming down on Twila for hearsay and it didn't even have anything to do with him. I can't believe I had to listen to his BS just to find out he wanted to make sure Chris was going to still be his friend.  :':') What a big baby!
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Riverrat

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2004, 06:36:17 AM »
Yeah, and I kept asking myself if Sarge actually believed Chris. Ole Chris, to me, didn't have a good lying face. I was surprised that he fooled so many people. Didn't Sarge swear on his honor or conutry or, something early on in the show? Dang one day I am going to start taping this stuff.


Offline 'keeta

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2004, 12:36:49 PM »
I can't believe no one on the jury didn't bring up Chris shrugging off Eliza as she was booted! What an arrogant SOB.

Didn't Sarge swear on his honor or conutry or, something early on in the show?

I can't remember a specific incident. He was big on honor. Any idea who he might have said something to? I am trying to remember what he said to Twila when they decided to take her to F4 after the splitting of the tribes.   ?:)?
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surviordude_JT

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2004, 05:12:27 PM »
Yeah sarge should have kept his mouth shut about Twilas son thing

Offline puddin

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2004, 07:53:57 PM »
DCReads56
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(12/15/04 11:50 pm)
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   SURVIVOR INSIDER: Vanuatu, Episode 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Welcome to Survivor Insider!


---------------
Chris Worked on Twila
---------------

Description: Hours before the Final Tribal Council decides his fate, nervous Chris assesses his chances against Twila. He has just spent the day with her, trying to get her “worked up” enough to blow her chances with an outburst.

Chris (Confessional): I look pretty good. Spent a little time on my own and just reflected on the game and everything that’s happened. Got to go on a walk with Twila – me and Twila decided to go on a walk and maybe venture into some places we’d never been, and ended up going down. We ran into where the Yasur camp was at the beginning of the game, which was really neat because Twila was familiar with the area. I think she liked going back there and seeing her old camp. Seeing the hut the women built and the kind of life that just 9 women put together.

And they did a good job. They had a fire hut. They had a really good little bungalow that they built to live in. They were real close to the creek. They really put their camp in a good location. It surprised me how capable they were of making a life there.

Twila immediately took us up into the jungle and found some sugar cane where she knew it’d been growing previously in the game. That was nice. A little energy boost.

Basically, I wanted to go for the walk with Twila basically to work with her on Tribal Council tonight. The jury and how she might react to the jury questioning us about the game. She was pretty quiet. I think Twila’s stressed out. She realizes that she played a hard game. She definitely made some enemies. She made it to the Final 2, but I don’t think Twila’s feeling real confident about her position in the Final 2 with me.

I didn’t get much out of her. I worked on her a little bit. Messing with her head. Letting her know – I was a little bit persistent that I’m not going to take any verbal abuse. Tried to get her worked up a bit.

Twila – I don’t know. She’s been thinking all day. I think she’s been feeling a bit of stress. She’s pretty worried about tonight. She hasn’t had much to say about it. She’ll talk about anything but Tribal Council tonight. So there was only so much I could do. Just working her.

I’d really like her to shed some of that attitude tonight towards Ami or Leann. It’d definitely help to solidify my number one spot for the million bucks. I think Twila’s got a different game plan. I think she’s going to go in looking for some remorse and votes that way.

I’m extremely concerned. I chose Twila. I did it – I chose Twila, it’s been a couple weeks ago. Long before, there were 6 or 7 left. I chose Twila because of how she played the game and the enemies she made. I worked the vote. I was playing Twila for the jury and how the jury would react to her being in the Final 2. I don’t know. I don’t know if Twila can pull it off. It definitely concerns me. I can sit here and think to myself, “I’m in a great position right here.” I definitely got the head up. I think I’m in the lead to win this. And then I get to thinking, Twila’s ready to go in there and try to steal some votes for sure.

(Cut)

The closer Tribal Council gets, absolutely, the more concerned I’m getting. Anything can happen. I don’t know what the 7 jurors are going to base their vote on. I hope they base their vote not so much on game but maybe on more of a personal standpoint and how Twila came across. I’m real confident with 2 of the votes, of course. I’m real confident with Chad and Sarge. I played the game from Day 1 with them and we were tight.

In the back of my head, I just keep thinking “That Women’s Alliance.” That whole tight alliance they carried clear to the Final 7. That Ami, Leann, Julie, Eliza, Scout, all of them, might say, “The only way we can show this alliance worked – the only way we can prove this women alliance worked is for a woman to win this game.” And just out of spite, out of some kind of redemption because it ain’t a Final 2 with women in it, they can vote for Twila. That’s definitely a possibility. And that’s a possibility that’s come to mind in the last hour.

The closer Tribal Council gets the more scenarios that run through my head. I’m just going to have to go with it. I’m just going to go to Tribal Council and go on. Take it on the chin. Hopefully I made the right choice (laughs). Cause I keep thinking, like I’ve been thinking I’m going to go crazy before it even gets here.

---------------
Twila on Day 39
---------------

Description: Mere hours before the Final Tribal Council, Twila defends her actions in the game and speculates about her chances with the Jury. Though she’ll try her best to convince them otherwise, she thinks the Jury may not be with her.

Twila (Confessional): Day 39. Fantastic feeling. It’s almost over.

(Cut)

A little apprehensive about tonight. Nervous about Tribal Council tonight. So yeah, I’m a little nervous. Yep. Chris did a number on the girls when there towards the end before we changed on him. He played big-brother-little-brother syndrome. Did a bunch of stuff. And then the guys, seeing their expression on them when they saw he won immunity one more time in a row, I think Sarge is for Chris, definitely. So that’s what I’m thinking. Yeah.

(Cut)

I played the game to win. I’ll say that till I’m 100 years old. I played the game to win. I play to come out here to make friends. I talked a mouthful out of my ass a couple of times, I’m sure. I made one major regret that I had in the game, and besides that - I didn’t come out here to make friends. And now at the point of the game, it’d kind of be nice if you did.

(Cut)

I swore on my son’s name and I broke that promise towards Ami and Leann. They just keep running it in the ground and Ami made some pretty rough comments about it. I’m tired of hearing about it. Like I said, it’s between me and my son and the man upstairs. That’s all I’m worried about.

(Cut)

Nah, I think at Tribal Council, the jury pool that I have is pretty hardcore themselves. I don’t see it flopping. I honestly - Scout might be the only vote I get. That bothers me. I’m going to do my best to change it tonight, and reassure them I was just in it for the game. If I was back home – I lied more in the last 39 days than I have in the last 10 years. That’s not me. So if I can convince them of that.

It’s a game. I come out here to win. I didn’t come out her to kiss ass or hoo-haw round about it. I did what it took. If I had been in the alliance with Ami – for one thing, Ami was too strong. For two, Ami wouldn’t have took me with her. She would have took Julie and Leann with her first, no matter what our alliance was. I feel that, anyway. Look where I’m at and where I could’ve been. So I played the game. So I can say I played the game.

(Cut)

I don’t know. Some of the things that’s been said. I look at Sarge and Chad being buddies with Chris first – I feel like he’s going to get his vote, their vote. And then let Ami and Leann’s a follower of Ami, and whatever Ami more or less says and does, she does it, and I feel like they know, or one or the other of them knows they’re not going to vote for me or something. So it’s all, like I said. They told Eliza and Julie both to try to keep me out of the Final 2 no matter what because they weren’t going to let me win a million dollars. So, no, I ruffled some feathers. It might have done me in.

(Cut)

I think the only thing that is my real downfall in playing the game, again, was bringing my son into it. I think they’ll use that as a stepping stone to squash me. To make sure - If I was on the jury – it was reversed – and I would probably swear this – I’d vote for the person that I thought played the game the best. That is just me.

And I feel like, out of Chris and I, I played the game the best. I honestly feel like I deserve the million because I did play the game the best. I didn’t suck up to anybody. I didn’t pretend to be something that I wasn’t. I kind of had to play the game between Sarge and them for awhile, and then between Ami and them for a while. It was part of the game.

But I didn’t act fakey and phony in the sense that I didn’t try to come out here and something that I wasn’t. I’m not a prim and proper girl. I’m a tomboy. That’s what - I don’t mind it. People back home don’t seem to mind it. So that don’t bother me none. I don’t care what these people think. Maybe that’s a bad attitude to have or a bad way to look at it. I fight for everything I have in my life, and I just don’t – stuff don’t faze me, I guess.


Edited by: DCReads56 at: 12/16/04 1:20 am

source
http://p085.ezboard.com/fsurvivorsucksfrm2.showMessage?topicID=18218.topic

Offline 'keeta

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2004, 06:15:51 AM »
Thanks, puddin!

I am glad Ami was able to see past her emotions and vote for the person that played the game the best!
Make it Idiot Proof and Someone will make a better Idiot.  :whip:

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2004, 09:23:43 AM »
The night this aired and Twila was saying she came to win to make a better life for her and her son. The camera cut to Ami and I saw the look in her eye. Right then I knew she would vote for Twila. I had hoped that she would have some influence over Leann and Julie to. Actually I didn't think Julie and Eliza needed any other reminders of how bad Chris lied to them.

People are strange critters. It's almost like they are saying you can treat them any way you want to if you like them better than the other person. Little city girls didn't like Twilas personality so-----


Offline Cecil

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2004, 10:37:02 PM »
In My opinion Twila didn't play the best game and she was lucky to get as far as she got.  She made no attempt to convince the jury why she deserved the mill and her inability to make friends in the game was her downfall.
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Offline puddin

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2004, 10:56:24 PM »
I was just logging off and wanted to shout  Hiya to Cecil  :)_{} ..nice avatar   ;)..I  just Love Eliza  :)()


Welcome to the Forum Cecil  (#)

Offline Cecil

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2004, 11:01:30 PM »
Thanks for the welcome.
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Riverrat

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2004, 11:45:33 PM »
Welcome to Cecil.  (#) Please come post with us often.

You're right. Twila didn't try very hard to make friends. She did admit that and said she was there to win the noney not make friends. Isn't that what they are all there for? 

Offline drumstyx47

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2004, 11:50:03 PM »
Twila played the game hard, but not smart. her plan was to make it to the final two, but she didn't seem to put much thought into the final tribal council. chris played smart, and thats why he got the jurors votes. he knew that people voting would look beyond his betrayals to the friendships that led to those betrayals. no one felt too betrayed by twila (leann and ami were more suprised than betrayed) because twila didn't have any friends outside of scout. the jurors were smart to look at the whole picture when voting and not remaining bitter about a single vote (i.e. sue in borneo and lex in all stars).
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Offline 'keeta

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2004, 05:40:47 AM »
Twila played the game hard, but not smart. her plan was to make it to the final two, but she didn't seem to put much thought into the final tribal council.

That was Twila's downfall. I believe if she would have stressed the point that she was playing a game and she wasn't there to make friends, she would've got the votes.

I think Twila wanted to play it down, because of how she got to the F2. I felt the same way about Rob in ASS. Both of them should have kept playing with the same audaciousness that got them to F2.  |:( |:(
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Riverrat

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2004, 07:27:22 AM »
Chakeeta, I'm thinking the swear thing by Sarge was when Twila told him he had promised both her and Julie final four spot. He was swearing that he didn't promise Julie anything. Anyway, a whole lotta swearing goes on in those games so if they are dumb enough to believe it,  :\/ 

The best and most disgusting had to be Jonny Fairplay. "I swear on my grandmothers grave." Yeah, the ganny that isn't even dead. Everyone thought that was a brilliant move. UGH!!!!

Offline Cecil

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #17 on: December 18, 2004, 03:20:28 PM »
Ahh Johnny Fairplay what a ploy that was.    :()()  Thats one survivor moment nobodys going to forget anytime soon.
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Offline 'keeta

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Re: Twila told jury the truth they didn't want to hear
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2004, 02:28:15 AM »
Jonny was such a weasel...I loved it! I also enjoyed Sandra being the only one that saw through him.
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