I’ve been watching Survivor on and off since it began 10 years ago, but I’ve gotten particularly into it over the past few years. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my Survivor fervor has increased with my participation in poker, as the reason I enjoy it so much is because I am whipped off the strategy involved.

As each episode pans out I try to figure out, even in the early days, how each player should map their way to the final tribal council. There are rarely many players who try to think ahead all the way to the end, and even when they do they don’t do it very well.

These past two seasons though (particularly this last season) have been my favourites. This is because I had a legitimate sweat in the form of the ‘most hated’ Survivor contestant of all time- Russel Hantz. Russell has played the game from a purely strategical stand point, and even if I sometimes disagree with specific moves he makes his general approach to the game has made me a massive fan. This fandom has turned the experience of watching Survivor into a far more interactive experience, more akin to watching a sports team I support, because I was genuinely rooting for everything to fall his way at every point of the game.


So with all that in mind, the finale was obviously a pretty disappointing experience for me. Not really all that surprising, but disappointing none the less. Last season Russell dominated the game start to finish without anyone getting close, but in the end still didn’t take home the title. In that case the jury voted against him rather than for his opponent, and he was very stunned/hurt by their lack of respect for the game. This season he had obviously hoped that the ‘all stars’ would respect the game in a similar sense that he does, and award him the victory for a similarly dominant display. No such luck.

In truth he didn’t control the game to the same extent he had the previous season, and there were moments when Parvati in particular threatened to usurp him as the dominant player in the game. Still, if the game was being decided on the factors that Russell/me would like, he would have won.

I loved it at the reunion show when everyone was congratulating Sandra (who incidentally was my least favourite person on the season) and he unerringly explained that if such a person could win twice there was obviously a flaw in the game. He did win the fans favourite award again, and he brought up the idea at the reunion show that America’s vote should have some bearing on the ultimate winner.

Although I completely agree with Russell’s vision of what would make a good game/show, the host was correct in asserting that this wasn’t the game he was involved in. In Survivor part of the game is that you have to play in such a way that people will vote for you at the end. Clearly, if Russell didn’t get a single vote this season, then people (remembering that these guys were ‘all stars’ who presumably have more respect/understanding of the game than most) simply don’t care who is the best strategically based player (in making it to the end, they would argue that being likable is all part of the strategy). They will vote for whoever they like the most/ are the least upset to hand $1 million.

So, I think there is room in the market for a show that does provide the type of game that I/Russell want to watch. A game that maintains the human chess board aspect of Survivor, but with an end game structure that rewards that ‘any means necessary’ mentality. I’m not totally convinced on the viewer voting system being the right way out, as I feel like that could also produce some bad results.

I would like to open this up to the Leggo-verse. If we were given effectively infinite funds with the mandate of ‘create the best new strategy reality show possible’, where should we start? What should we incorporate? Where should we set it? Should we use a pubic voting system? Should we use a judges panel? What sort of challenges should we incorporate? etc

With enough suggestions I’ll put together a detailed outline to send to CBS. I’ll obviously be executive producer, but I’ll make sure that a ‘Thanks to Leggo Poker’ message is attached to the credits of at least one episode. We’ll all be winners.

Till next time.


2010 Pokerstars VPP Count: 329,448 VPP