User blog:TDFanatic52/Digging Deeper into Tyler's Eliminations

If you asked me about my personal feelings towards Tyler, I would say that he should be lucky he is wearing red because otherwise he would blend into the background. I find him to be very bland with his appearance on the show being nothing more than a supporting character in somebody else's story. When it comes to Tyler's eliminations in both Total Drama Island and in Total Drama World Tour, I do believe that there is more than what some people might want you to believe. Heck, Tyler's reasoning on why he lost might be the most interesting thing about him. In this post, I do hope to expand on the reasons why Tyler lost both of his two seasons.

One might ask, how will this be accomplish? Well, over my absence since my last post, I have been listening to Survivor Podcasts. My favorite being Why ___ Lost, one of the many podcasts on Survivor's Rob Cesternino's website. One of the hosts of this particular podcast, David Bloomberg, wrote a list of rules a Survivor contestant must follow if they want to win the game. I am going to use those same rules and appendixes.

The rules (which can be found in full detail here) are as follows:
 * 1) Scheming and Plotting
 * 2) Don't Scheme and Plot too much/Scheming in Secret/Don't Betray unless Necessary
 * 3) Flexibility
 * 4) Emotions
 * 5) Pretend to Play Nice
 * 6) Managing Threat Levels
 * 7) Advantages
 * Appendix A:Keeping End Goals in Mind


 * Appendix B: Jury

However, because there are some rules that do not apply to Total Drama Island nor Total Drama World Tour. As such, the rule regarding advantages will not be included. Since Total Drama rarely has a jury, Appendix B is also out the door. The rest remains

The reason behind Tyler's loss in Total Drama Island is described as "his phobia of chickens was seen as a nuisance and his inability to conquer them contributed to his team's lost." Well that part is true, mainly Tyler's inability to face his alektorophobia, I don't believe this is the full case.

During his stay on Total Drama Island, Tyler broke Rule 1, Rule 3, and Rule 4. We never did Tyler do some scheming or plotting in the course of the first season. The best we got in this category involves a strategy that failed tremendously in Dodgebrawl during the dodge ball challenge. At number two regarding this rule is him being a cheerleader, cheering the Killer Bass on, in Phobia Factor.

The main issue with Rule 3 is that a person cannot tie themselves to just one alliance and hope for the best. This is the fluidity of any Survivor (or in this case, Total Drama) game. For Tyler, he never expanded his boundaries with, surprisingly, his own tribe. In fact, he spent most of his time with Lindsay, somebody from the opposing team. While this might seem great if Tyler reached the merge, it was not a good idea to be bonding with the other team during not only a challenge, but very early in the game. More on that when we get to Appendix A.

A common defintion to being emotional is to feel sad or depressed. However, Tyler did let his emotion take him in Total Drama Island, and that emotion is love. As mentioned about Tyler's flexibility, he spent most of the time with Lindsay, somebody that he was romantically in love with. Tyler's love for Lindsay could have caused him to break the third rule. Finally, we get to Appendix A, which is applied to all contestants, not just Tyler specifically.

This rule, as stated by Bloomberg, is to instruct the contestants on how they should vote. Long story short, they should vote off the weak then the strong then the weak then the strong and so on and so forth. The definition of the word strong does not apply to physical strength, but also to strategic strength and social strength.

While Tyler does have physical upsides, he is not strong strategically nor socially. Fast forwarding for just a minute, in Greece's Pieces, it is revealed that Tyler is bad at secrets. Going back to the episode Dodgebrawl, we see Courtney scolding Tyler about going off with "that gopher girl." In that conversation, Courtney was concerned that Tyler might have been telling Lindsay all of the Killer Bass's secrets. An assumption could be made that the Killer Bass knew about Tyler's inability to keep secrets, making him more of a liability in the social department.

What is the main reason why Tyler lost Total Drama Island? If I had to pick just one, it would be his emotions. His love for Lindsay would explain why he wasn't flexible with his own team and would make the Killer Bass vote him off for being socially weak. Based on what I explained here, Tyler lost because he wasn't strategizing, he was not in anyway flexible towards members of his own team, and let his emotions control his actions. Coupled with the fact that Tyler chickened in front of chickens (yeah, I went there) lead to the ultimate goodbye of Tyler.... until he returned.

If I am being honest here, what you just read has been the easy part. The hard part is World Tour... and I hope I could make things clear in that season as to why Tyler got voted off.

As mentioned in the elimination page of the Wiki, Tyler lost Total Drama World Tour by "accidentally destroying the alien artifact that they were supposed to hold on to." Duncan voted for him because Tyler let out the fact that Duncan and Gwen kissed. The main problem with that is the bond Alejandro had with Tyler. Critics of the reasoning could not understand why Alejandro voted off his number one ally in the game. We will get to that in Appendix A. The rules to which I believe Tyler broke in Total Drama World Tour are Rules 1, 2, 3, and surpisingly 6. Tyler was also emotional, as seen as how he was angry at DJ in Newf Kids on the Rock, after Lindsay was eliminated in the previous episode. However, I do not see the emotional connection with that compared to his departure in The Ex-Files.

Once again, Tyler broke the scheming and plotting rule... and he also broke the rule saying that scheming and plotting too much is a no-no. Though it is hard to comprehend, it does happen. Fans who watched Survivor: David vs. Goliath would know about what happened in the third episode and that third boot. That person, according to Bloomberg, broke rules 1 and 2. If you have no idea what or who I am talking about, watch that season. It is fantastic (a bit of recency bias, but still one of the better Survivor seasons).

Back to Tyler.

Unlike in Total Drama Island, Tyler was involved of the scheming and plotting. But we saw that he was on the receiving end of that deal as Alejandro was mostly the one scheming and plotting to Tyler. Since Tyler was not in anyway controlling the votes, he was in the know... until his own boot came.

Tyler breaking the second of Bloomberg's rules is only an assumption made by me. Before the 10th eliminated contestant was revealed, Tyler said that he was stoked that Duncan was out. That made me assume that Tyler was campaigning for Duncan's elimination hard and was not keeping it a secret. While he wasn't strategizing too much, I doubt he was keeping it a secret, since Tyler is bad at secrets, thus breaking the part about strategizing in secret. More on this later.

Throughout Total Drama World Tour, Tyler's number one ally on his team was Alejandro. You would rarely see Tyler without Alejandro in his ear. Another assumption by me is that everyone might know that Tyler and Alejandro are working together. While Tyler was loyal, Alejandro could have wanted to get rid of Tyler to improve his own flexibility in the game instead of being secured with one person/alliance.

"But TDFanatic52, it doesn't make sense for Alejandro to lose his ally and keep Duncan who had an ally in Owen."

True, I could not deny that claim. But I am going to touch on that subject a bit more.

Remember what I said about Tyler being lucky he is wearing red because otherwise he would blend into the background? That sounds like an under the radar strategy, doesn't it? Well, Tyler got on his team's radar and they noticed him.

Going back to Survivor: David vs. Goliath, the person who was eliminated before the merge was able to blend into the background more than the person strategizing, according to either Bloomberg or his co-host. (I need to re-listen to that podcast on).

Tyler is the same way. The remaining players in World Tour would not view Tyler as a threat due to his early elimination in Island and for the fact that he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. This would allow Tyler to sneak through several eliminations until he would either make it to the finale or be eliminated for being a physical threat. This under the radar threat was too much of a threat that it is also possibility for Alejandro to boot him out when he did.

Going into Appendix A, it talks about how a team should vote. Though I am having trouble figuring out the criteria of how they voted, it can be rest assured that Tyler voted emotionally due to Tyler spilling the beans about him and Gwen. As far as Owen is concerned, he tends to go with the numbers. That leads to Alejandro and why he voted Tyler off.

As I mentioned previously, Alejandro had two reasons to vote Tyler off. The first is to ensure his own flexibility in the game and not be anchored to just one person. The second is being an under-the-radar threat. But I think there is one more reason why Alejandro voted off Tyler, and this is one that I am certainly is the main reason.

Tyler is a simpleton.

You read that right. I believe the man reason why Alejandro voted off Tyler is because Tyler is a simpleton.

To reiterate: the question Alejandro had to ask himself was not "is it better to keep Duncan or to keep Tyler?" but rather "Is keeping Duncan around worth it? If so, then who do I get rid of?"

Seeing as how Duncan managed to survive The Ex-Files, it is clear that Alejandro thought that keeping Duncan around was worth it. I would view this in similar fashion to Heather wanting off Owen instead of Duncan in Hide and Be Sneaky. I already mentioned this theory on why Heather wanted Duncan around in that episode, but if you didn't read it, click here.

What does that have to do with Tyler being a simpleton? Everything.

Team Chris is split in two. On one half, you got the gamers in Duncan and Alejandro. Duncan is known to scheme and plot and is shown to be good at the game. Alejandro is also good, but is keeping his scheming and plotting in secret. On the other half, you have Owen and Tyler, two contestants who couldn't strategize a way to get out of a paper bag.

I am under the belief that Alejandro wanted Owen off, but it is actually Tyler's simple mind that would question that move. Tyler sees nothing wrong in voting off Duncan, but keeping him is a whole lot of wrong. Tyler expresses his concerns to Alejandro to which Alejandro has to think fast. Letting Tyler think Duncan was the target, Alejandro needed to get rid of somebody to keep Duncan in, and that somebody was his simple-minded ally, Tyler.

People have criticized the move as being a bad move. I don't see it that way. I see it more of both a good move and a bad move, an even 50/50. It is a good move for Alejandro to keep Duncan around to prevent his own target from increasing. It is a bad move that the only option is for Tyler because of Tyler's inability to be flexible with the votes. If that move was a gamble, then it paid off. Team Amazon was divided, thanks to Duncan's idea for Alejandro to flirt with Courtney in Picnic at Hanging Dork and Courtney and Gwen being against each other in that love-triangle. Sweden Sour was a non-elimination episode, keeping Alejandro safe in case his team lost. Though Duncan was planting seeds in Owen's head about getting rid of Alejandro if they lose, it was never execute.

To finish World Tour, Tyler kept some bad habits since Island. Though he was seen strategizing, we never saw him do it, only receive it. His blindsided expression in The Ex-Files can only be seen as him plotting publicly, not privately. His inability to be flexible with Duncan coming back contributing to his social factors. Yes, he did destroy the alien artifact. Yes, Duncan voted for him out of an emotional response. But I think those two factors alone only contributed in the minimal amount compared to the rules Tyler broke.

To those who say that both of Tyler's eliminations were unfair, I would like to challenge them to think out of the box. The common factor in his eliminations was his ability to be socially flexible. In Total Drama Island, we only see him interact with one person, and that was with Lindsay. In Total Drama World Tour, not only did he interact with Lindsay a lot, but also with Alejandro.

Tyler is his own worst enemy. If he ever plays again, you can always bet that Tyler will be the reason why Tyler loses.