I watch the episodes one time only and look at very little of the bonus content on the Internet. Labeling me a "casual fan" is not an insult. You are welcome to think of yourself as the greatest Survivor fan who knows more than anyone, and those who disagree with you must be somehow flawed. That mentality only matters to you. We are talking about a television program that is rather basic in nature and appeals to a wide range of people, not just people like you, which means anyone's opinion has merit, as long as there is no personal vendetta attached to it, which would then take away from its credibility. I am trying to talk about what we have seen on the show. You seem to want to do that, but then you lose credibility by also insulting me by insinuating things about my character without having anything to back it up. (And how could you?)
The problem is that you are clearly expressing a bias and trying to somehow prove that I am the one who is biased. I truly do not care about any of these contestants, because they have no impact in my life other than these thoughts which I express here. I try to be fair about everyone and give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible, which is something that everyone, even you, deserves. We have a difference of opinion. Since we are all strangers here, your opinions do not matter any more or less than mine. I am defending my point of view with facts and logical observations. You want to characterize me as a blind supporter of certain people over others and then make personal observations about me as someone who condones terrible behavior. I could make blanket statements about you, but that would be immature, a waste of time, and irrelevant to the substance of this discussion.
It was "Bookworm," not me, who first refuted your comparison of Scot and Jason's outbursts toward Alecia and Will's outburst toward Shirin.
And you say you are correcting mistakes but did not acknowledge how I just pointed out how your so-called "correction" actually further proved my original point. It is hypocritical and baffling that you write back and continue to want to point out how somehow I am mistaken, and then subsequently complain about me writing back (especially when you cannot help yourself from insulting me). With regard to the length of my messages, I write a lot because I am not interested in giving a simple opinion and then insulting someone to justify its superiority. Rather I prefer to provide thoughtful reasons for it. Some of what I write is obvious to the non-casual/diehard fan, but I cannot assume that everyone thinks the same way as a diehard fan, nor should you.
In the first episode, Alecia is established as the tribemate who works the least, which gets on everyone else's nerves. After her tribe loses the immunity challenge, Scot tells Alecia in a calm manner that she is not going home, yet she feels the need to instigate what appeared to be a lengthy, unwanted talk with Jason about voting strategy and is coy about the possibility of her or Darnell having a hidden immunity idol. She calls herself a "master manipulator" in a private confessional and a "mental giant" in front of the tribe. She promises to work harder, which we see in the next episode.
In the second episode, Alecia is on her best behavior, working tireless on the fire. Her scheming does not garner as much attention as Jenny's second-guessing her alliance with Jason and considering forming an all-girl alliance -- Alecia's idea -- which we know turns out to be the reason why Jenny is eliminated.
In the third episode, Scot and Jason again try to calmly discuss camp life with Alecia and expressed their desire to see her continue to contribute to what they hoped would be a stronger and successful tribe at the next immunity challenge. Despite their best efforts to be patient with her, which by no means rank anywhere beyond average in terms of the ordinary person's ability to be patient, she incessantly praised herself and made her case for why she is a worthy contestant. Numerous times, they tried to politely end those conversations, but, maybe out of insecurity, she dragged out those conversations, standing up for herself in a way that was not pleasant for anyone to watch. Scot and Jason said as much in their confessionals.
In the overall gameplay of Survivor, a contestant must play nice or pretend to play nice in order to be successful. With a limited number of people out there, it may not be easy to accomplish, but not doing so guarantees that, no matter how far in the game that contestant goes, he or she does not stand much of a chance of winning the title of Sole Survivor, unless that person is paired with a finalist who was even worse at playing nice -- unlikely to happen, since most contestants these days are very familiar with the dynamics of the game. There is no doubt that Alecia was dealt a tough hand being placed in the Brawn tribe, because Scot and Jason immediately (and justifiably so) viewed her as the weakest member of the tribe. Their behavior toward everyone else will be reflected back to them through the rest of the game. At this point, only Scot seems to have displayed a certain level of awareness.
Alecia did not play nice or pretend to play nice. She constantly sought validation and was relentless about it -- a sign of a fighter's spirit, but nonetheless misplaced in the dynamics of Survivor. As an underdog, she should have done her part to build bridges with difficult personalities, which is what people must do in the real world (e.g. bosses/coworkers who one must work for/with to succeed). Not everyone can have sunshine and rainbows all the time. Scot and Jason were by no means choir boys, but they extended the olive branch more often than she did, the last occurrence of which was when Scot explained the reason why he voted for her instead of Jenny at the start of the third episode.
Add to that how Alecia had shown herself to be distrustful by using lies to mislead tribemates ahead of their first two trips to tribal council, and you had someone who, if she was ever going to win favor and better treatment, had to do her part to play nice. Instead, she acted like her problems were everyone else's fault, and she talked in a way as though she felt she was owed something, emblematic of a spoiled and entitled younger generation who received "participation trophies" and was never told that they failed at something.
In the fourth episode, Alecia had her spat with Scot after the grueling reward challenge. She made the ridiculous comparison of working/cheering on a team in Survivor and doing the same in the NBA. Once again, she showed no understanding of anyone else's point of view but hers. In every interaction we saw involving her -- including the ones she had with women -- she wanted the attention on what she was saying and did not acknowledge the concerns or perspectives of her tribemates. This was what Jason summarized in his comment to Jeff following their loss in the immunity challenge, in which he pointed out her latest selfish comment and declare the tribe united in their intention to vote her out.
Bottom line: I did not like Scot and Jason's behavior toward Alecia. If I were out there on a tribe dealing with her personality, I would have shown much more patience than they did. At the same time, I am not going to render final judgment on them, since they have more to prove in the game. Scot has shown a degree of wisdom, fairness, and comradery -- first in how he succinctly and without animosity addressed the reason why Jenny was in trouble at the tribal council in which she was eliminated (even though he did not vote for her), and most recently in his forming a strategic and seemingly friendly bond with Tai. Jason has not shown any redemptive qualities yet, and I suspect he might not, which means he probably will be eliminated sooner.
Fair or unfair, I am able to render final judgment on Alecia, since she will not reappear this season (e.g. as a member of the jury). She may be a wonderful person and have deserved a better fate. Yet in these circumstances, she took a bad situation and made it worse with what anyone who conducts themselves as an adult would consider childish behavior. (I called it a "look at me" attitude.)
