Rob Kim/Landov
Survivor is rough business. Almost a year after returning from Tocantins, I still have scars along my back, welts on my legs, and bruises where there were bug bites. But for all that I got beat up by the challenges and the elements, I got to play my game to the end. You have my sympathy, Russell S. Just like Jeff Probst cancelling tribal council, for the first time in the history of this blog, I will award no Fishies this week.
Before Samoa, there had been six medevacs, caused by fire, infection, blocked bowels and ant bites. It’s proof of just how real Survivor is. You really are sleeping in the dirt. When it rains, you have nowhere to go and no weather report to reassure you that it will ever end. Doctors check up on you at every challenge, but the medical care is basically medieval -- their prescription for every malady from a suppurating wound to a broken ankle is “Boil your buff and keep it clean.” You almost wish there were leeches.
The conditions this season are some of the worst ever. Samoa is the first season to see any -- let alone two -- castaways simply overcome by the difficulty of a challenge. While Mike Borassi was a medevac waiting to happen -- he was pulled from Tocantins for high blood pressure before our season even started -- Russell S was a powerhouse, Galu’s strongest player.
It’s a freak accident and it shows just how much luck goes into this game. What if Russell had picked Dave to push that ball? The game dynamics from now on will be irrevocably altered by his absence. It’s like that famous saying about the Butterfly Effect. A butterfly flaps its wings in Samoa and has to be pulled from the game for overexertion.
Russell may not have been on a path to certain victory. His obsession with leadership had alienated his tribe and ultimately drove him to overexert himself. But nobody wants to be pulled prematurely. “Being taken out of the game for medical reasons is the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life,” he says.
Is it worse than staring down Jeff as he snuffs your torch? To get some perspective, I asked a few former Survivors who had been medevaced how they felt about the experience. Joe Dowdle from my season was pulled just after the merge due to a spreading infection in his leg. “Being medevaced is worse,” he said. “Anything can happen at any time to change the game. You want to have a chance to benefit from those developments.”
Michael Skupin was the first player ever medevaced on Survivor when he passed out into a fire in Australia. Like Joe, he felt he had left Survivor with unfinished opportunities, though no regrets. “The tribe never spoke up on my departure,” he said. “Mother Nature, fate or the game had spoken. Metaphorically, my torch still burns.”
While Russell’s evacuation may leave him frustrated, fortunately for the rest of Galu, it won’t upend the tribe hierarchy. Dave, Erik, John and Brett are still on top; this episode, they pull in Shambo as their klutzy fifth wheel. I loved watching Erik try to school her in subtlety -- “pounding fists is not locking it up.” The big question now is, can she keep their move against Mean Girl Monica under wraps for three days?
Given Shambo’s track record of breaking everything she touches -- she really is Galu’s Gilligan -- I’m betting there will be some hijinks next episode. -- Stephen Fishbach
Tell us: Is being medevaced worse or better than being voted out? And how do you think Russell’s exit will affect the game?
Rob Kim/Landov
