When this season of Survivor first began, I was thrilled to learn that my favorite castaway from last season, Stephenie would be back for another shot at the million bucks. As I said in an earlier commentary, I adored Stephenie in Palau, and I was really rooting for her to do well this time around.
While part of me still does hold a soft spot for Steph, I truly believe that she has burned far too many bridges to even have a chance at winning the million. Unless the finale somehow comes down to Steph and Lydia, Danni or Rafe should walk away with the title.
I've been thinking a lot about why this is and at first glimpse, it seems obvious. Steph has backstabbed every person she has formed an alliance with and every person who has taken her along on a reward win. When discussion of voting out Cindy came up this week among the contestants, I instantly found myself pleading with the TV, 'don't do it Steph! Don't do it!' And of course she did.
But the more I thought about the past few weeks, the more I realized who was truly in charge. Everyone seems to think that Stephenie is the she-devil who continuously hurts her buddies and while I don't necessarily disagree, I don't think Steph is the queen of the camp as everyone believes. So who is queen of the camp? Rafe.
Think about it. Whose idea was it to break the original Yaxha alliance of six and vote out Jamie? Rafe's. Steph was leery of the idea and said she would only go along with if Lydia did. Lydia agreed and thus, Jamie's journey came to an end.
Next in line was Judd. Danni was really the mastermind behind this plan and convincing the others to vote out Judd was almost too easy. And in this decision it essentially cemented the Danni/Rafe alliance.
This past week, Cindy was the next victim. Steph and Cindy seemed to have everything figured out when they were enjoying their reward challenge win together. Danni seemed to be the most obvious choice to vote out next because she is such a strong player. Back at camp, the four girls even discussed voting out Rafe because he too has proven to be a tough competitor. However, Rafe proved to be dominant once again as he convinced Stephanie that it was actually Cindy they should be worried about.
At the beginning of this season, Jeff made the comment that Steph was one of the strongest females the game of Survivor has ever seen. A few months ago I agreed wholeheartedly with that statement. Now, I don't think anything could be further from the truth.
To me, it appears that Steph is actually a fairly weak person who is unable to stand up for herself and what she believes in. She has allowed the other players to not only convince her to change her vote on several occasions, but she has also come out this whole game as the villain.
Rafe has pretty much masterminded every decision that has been made the past few weeks and yet Stephenie is the one getting blamed for everything. Everyone views Rafe as this great guy who is incapable of hurting another person. Personally I think all this makes Rafe look like a genius and if he wins he definitely deserves it.
If Stephenie does make it to the final 2 there is no doubt in my mind that the members of the jury will just rip her apart. And while she certainly does deserve some of it, I hope they at least save a chunk of that malice for Rafe.
Jillian Kuras is a 23 year old dance instructor and nanny from Massachusetts.
Other than reality TV, she enjoys The OC, Gilmore Girls, Lost, everything Harry
Potter and of course, the Boston Red Sox. She can emailed at Jillian@RealityTVCalendar.com.
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