Following Episode 8: This elimination provides yet another example of the directors/editors of the program misdirecting the audience's perception of the castaways. Nick's promotional clip before the season and comments to his tribemates and the camera in most of the episodes made him appear rather full of himself. Yet his prominent role in the last episode, in which he displayed level-headedness in the face of Jason and Scot's overconfidence, was a ruse to make the audience believe he had risen above that nature. As it turns out, his true nature always was what it was, and his arrogance over the proposed seven-person Brawn-Beauty alliance came through too loudly to let it pass by the female members in it (Cydney, Julia, and Michele). Nick probably would have gone much further than any of the remaining men had it not been for his foolish displays of consulting with Julia following the reward (which Cydney called out) and then boldly declaring that a Brain would be eliminated during the immunity challenge (reiterated at tribal council). His conduct this episode is the embodiment of the adage, "Pride goeth before the fall." His elimination continues a trend in which the reasons for elimination had far less to do with endgame strategy and more to do with bad or suspicious feelings about the given castaway at a given time. In this case -- no different than Darnell, Jenny, Alecia, Peter, Liz, or Anna -- it was strictly a matter Nick proving to be untrustworthy (i.e. a so-called threat to maintaining his word at a later stage). Even though there were equal or greater threats still in the competition, his brash behavior created a bad feeling that made him a desired target at this point. Perhaps this is why this season has been a bit of a letdown in comparison to recent seasons, because the level of strategizing seems to be quite low and based upon momentarily-held sentiments.
