Thread:BarBar/@comment-1734566-20150409013113/@comment-2091662-20150410121508

If you don't believe me, ask the jurors: ERIK: I can't really say Russell [has the best gameplay], because he's aggressive but he looks like a total idiot when he comes to our tribe. He came over to us and he shows 8 different people the idol and makes promises to everybody. I thought his gameplay sucked. INTERVIEWER: Having watched the episodes now, what do you think of Russell H?

ERIK: Total bush league! He pumped himself up and made out as though he was the best thing in Survivor since sliced coconuts. He was the Ty Cobb of Survivor! This guy steals second base but not because he got a great jump or was really fast - he stole second base because he went first and stabbed the shortstop in the throat! This guy stands on second base, pounds his chest and proclaims he's the best second base stealer in the world? Come on - that's bush league! ERIK: Russell made a comment like, God made him for Survivor. I don’t know about that. KELLY: I think the one thing that Russell is forgetting is that he's treating all of us like game pieces on a board. Not once has he connected with anyone on an emotional level. So I think that could catch up to him and bite him in the ass in the long run. KELLY: I just thought he was a creep and manipulative, trying to play everyone against each other. KELLY: Little creepy guy, always running around... Like he said himself, he'd lie, cheat, and steal to be there, but that says a lot about his integrity and his character: lying, cheating, stealing? To be honest, I don't think that many other people in the game behave like that and play like that, because I don't think that was necessary to get to the end. LAURA: First off, we never bonded. Nat and I did. Russell is just plain creepy. He was aggressive and was trying to bully me. I will say, for the most part it was a friendly rivalry, but there was a time when he crossed a line and became threatening. I didn't much care for that side of him. LAURA: I knew he was creepy - you can't hide creepy! LAURA: I wouldn't say I respected [his game], because that would mean I looked up to that. I get what he is doing and I see his gameplay, but there were a couple of times when he crossed that line and his gameplay got really aggressive, he tried to be intimidating and he tried to bully some people and I don't like that. LAURA: You have one guy that just lied, stole, and cheated -- admittedly so... he found every Hidden Immunity Idol 'cause he's just sneaky and creepy and lurked around camp all the time. INTERVIEWER: What about the scrambling around to vote out Shambo? Was that exaggerated for the sake of the show?

DAVE: That was Russell. That was all Russell. He came to me and said "I was thinking of voting out Shambo" and I was like, "I'll listen, whatever you say, dude. I'll vote for Shambo no problem."

INTERVIEWER: How did that fall apart?

DAVE: It didn't fall apart, it was never a reality, it was a lie.

INTERVIEWER: Why do you think Russell did that?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: It's just how Russell does things. He lies, cheats and steals and then he brags about it. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: If you think it's a social game, he's alienating a lot of people. Jeff Probst has said before that it's a social game, and he's ticked off a lot of people. If it's a social game, he's not playing a very good game. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: What was your impression of [Russell] while you were in Samoa?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: Skeevy. You could tell he was just a fast-talking, shiny-haired…well, if he had hair…used car salesman.

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: When he’d come to you with ideas like voting out Shambo, did you know he was playing you?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: Did it look like I bought it?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: Not really.

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: I’m just checking. That’d be stupid. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: Does it bother you at all that he’s become somewhat of a fan favorite?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: Yeah, a little bit.

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: I talked to Laura and she said they’re not showing how aggressive he’s been.

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: He was pretty aggressive and obnoxious behind the scenes.

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0.357142857142857em;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">INTERVIEWER: Last night they discussed his oil company, but he has also said he was a New Orleans fire fighter. Is everyone buying this?

<p style="margin-top:0.357142857142857em;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: When he told me he was a fire fighter, I believed him. Because why would someone lie about that, and why would I care? Part of me thought it was true, because how horrible of a person would you have to be to lie about something like that? It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes home and someone punches him right in the face. That’s a line you don’t cross. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">DAVE: My prior assumption was "I'm gonna give this to 'whoever played the best game', 'cause that's the only valid criteria." And now I'm like, well, maybe the human element is a valid criteria. If you make a million dollars a year and you lied about being a firefighter, and you're a total JERK... <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">MONICA: I think everybody has a lot of cliches when they think of who works where and who has a lot of money or whatever. I was definitely shocked to see that Russell was one of those people. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">MONICA: Has he played a good game to win a million dollars? No. He's furthered his position in the game but I don't think that he really invested in the social game, in making sure he can get those jury votes. If he makes the Final Two, Three, whatever it is, I think he's going to have to make some strong points to sway the jury in his favor. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">MONICA: People want to go to the end with Russell because they know they can beat him at the jury based on the vindictive and crazy game he played. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">MONICA: I think he definitely underestimated the social game and was a bit too vindictive and deceitful, and didn't really pay attention to the fact that he had to play up to the jury and win their votes. It's going to depend on how people look at that and how they perceived him. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">SHAMBO: [Watching the show] just confirmed that he went on Survivor to be the ultimate nasty, bad guy. Kudos to you. You succeeded. My hat’s off to him. When I walk down the street, I’m happy I’m Shambo and not Russell. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">JAISON: Everybody hated Russell... I think Russell did not get the votes that he wanted because he just pissed off a lot of people. I really think that's part of the game. He played, in my opinion, to get to the finals and not to win. We can base our vote on whatever we want to base it on, and when he makes that many enemies, I don't know how that makes you think you have a 55% chance of winning. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">JAISON: I just think that his overt arrogance and negativity was different than what we were doing. In the last episode, he's telling Mick and Natalie how full of crap they are and how they're all getting second place -- not giving them any credit or any due. When people were after him, we were trying to save his butt, plus we were trying to save our own to keep the group together. I just felt there was a different sort of vibe come from that guy -- a different sort of backstabbing than what we were doing. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">JAISON: I think this game is a lot like real life. Everyone works in an office on a team, working on projects like our challenges, trying to get individual distinction so that they can move forward while, at the same time, winning the games and the challenges, and I think everyone who works in an office also has a Russell there, who says "I didn't come to work. I came to play." And I think it's interesting that people really seem to be valuing his negative contributions over someone like Natalie who's trying to be more positive and moral. So, for me, Natalie played the better game. So it's interesting to me that people HATE Russell in real life. They go to work every day and go, 'I HATE THAT GUY!' But then you come on Survivor, and all of a sudden, all the backstabbing and pouring out water and burning socks is GAMEPLAY? I mean what is that? I just think it's wrong. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">BRETT: I developed solid relationships, and that was my strategy. It was a heavy social-based game. Russell didn't really play into that too much. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">BRETT: I think because he felt he deserved to win more than anyone else, that really was his downfall. I remember during the Tribal Council a few weeks ago, [host Jeff Probst] is like, "Brett what do you think about Russell wearing the Hidden Immunity idol around his neck?" I said, "In this game you have to be humble, and you have to keep that social context." I think for him -- analyzing his strategy -- he didn't really necessarily do that. At the end of the day, you've got to have people write your name down to vote for you. As brilliant as his strategy may be perceived by some, he wasn't able to get votes. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">BRETT: Anything Russell said in terms of gameplay I knew he was BSing. <p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">BRETT: He played an aggressive game and the strategy is easily identified to the television audience. Natalie’s strategy — similar to my own — not as easily identified to the television audience.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.42857142857143em;">Those are the words of the people who matter. Not Probst, not the audience who DON'T SEE EVERYTHING, the jurors. If you don't believe me, believe them.