Why Survivor: Micronesia’s Jason Is Not in the Hall of Shame

Jason Siska was well on his way towards a possible Reality TV Hall of Fame Moment. Instead, he very nearly ended up here in the Reality TV Hall of Shame instead. His own actions kept him out of the first and the actions of others saved him from the second.

First, why did I say he almost ended up in the Hall of Fame? Because Jason was in a situation almost identical to that faced by Shii Ann Huang in Survivor: All-Stars. Shii Ann ended up with a Hall of Fame Moment because she knew she would be voted out if she didn’t win the identical immunity challenge that Jason was in – and she held on to win! Jason could have had the same outcome. But he didn’t.

Indeed, the situations are so similar, allow me to quote the opening paragraph of Shii Ann’s Hall of Fame Moment:

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Shii Ann Huang would be the 12th person voted out on Survivor: All-Stars and the third member of the jury. After all, since the two tribes merged, Shii Ann saw the other two members of her tribe, Lex and Kathy, sent home. And the week before, when she and Kathy tried to get one of the ex-Chabogas to switch sides, they didn’t even get a nibble of interest.

So Jason knew he was leaving unless he pulled off an immunity win. He said as much several times – he needed to put together a string of immunity wins. And Jason’s task was much more difficult than Shii Ann’s – she “only” had to hold her arm above her head for some two hours; Jason had to hold the position for over six! He was virtually a lock for a Hall of Fame Moment.

Then he started listening to the lies of others – and believing them. Parvati was Jason’s sole remaining competition, and she suggested that if Jason chose to accept the temptation offered by host Jeff Probst, which would be shared among all those who had already left the challenge, he could make some friends. Natalie added that they would likely not vote him out that night at Tribal Council.

Jason, not being a complete idiot (despite having fallen for Ozzy’s fake immunity idol/stick), said he’d need a guarantee from everybody that he’s not leaving. The problem was that when they all promised, he believed them enough to step down and hand over the immunity necklace to Parvati. At that point, in my mind, his Hall of Shame Moment was already being written.

Jason seemed to figure he was taking an acceptable risk – he said it was either a huge mistake or it might keep him around a little longer. What he failed to recognize was that even if the others stuck to their promises and kept him around past this Tribal Council, that is no guarantee he’ll last longer than that. He would be back in the very same position of needing to win immunity next week. And with everybody promising not to vote him out, that meant (if they were being honest) one of them was essentially signing their own game death warrant – which certainly none of them would do willingly.

But if he had hung on to win immunity, he would have forced a breach in whatever group alliances existed. Since just about everybody was paired up in some way, he could have used that breach to find out who wasn’t as safe as they thought they were, and perhaps wriggled himself into a longer-term alliance.

Furthermore, as I noted in my recap, “What I would be thinking about is that if everybody is truly willing to guarantee his safety, why not let him win immunity and have Parvati drop out?” He should have realized this – if his safety was indeed guaranteed, then Parvati could have just as easily stepped down and given him the one true guarantee of safety – the immunity necklace. That should have been a huge red flag for him, but he completely missed it. He went from being a virtual lock for a Hall of Fame Moment to a virtual lock for a Hall of Shame Moment, because as Ozzy said in the episode, “one of the dumbest, most naïve moves in Survivor history just got played out.” He was right.

But then something happened that had nothing to do with Jason. Cirie saw an opportunity and made a move. She managed to pull together Parvati, Alexis, and Natalie into a vote to take out super-threat Ozzy when he would least expect it. Of course, Jason went along with this vote, but he played no role in initiating it.

By all rights, Jason should be receiving a Hall of Shame Moment. Trusting the others in this situation was an incredibly stupid move. However, we can’t know for certain what might have happened if Cirie had not made her move. It’s possible, though unlikely, that Jason could have tried to pull something off. And it’s even possible that it could have worked (after all, Cirie’s plan did). It may not be very likely, but Jason might have come up with the same idea as Cirie and then, even though Jason didn’t have any actual allies, Cirie or somebody else could have taken it from there. It’s a big maybe, but we’ll never know.

So when it comes right down to it, Jason is not in the Hall of Shame because of moves made by other people. In short, Jason got lucky.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Micronesia articles on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Shame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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