‘Survivor’ student’s alliance, plans pay off

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No trust
Amanda admitted to both us and to Todd that she didn't trust her ally, although Todd insisted that he fully and completely trusted her. While she could have easily turned on him and at the very least forced a tie in the penultimate Tribal Council, Amanda stuck with Todd.

Ultimately, it was another alliance that started to chip away at Amanda's chance at winning. Amanda apparently promised Denise that she wouldn't write her name down, and then did, leaving Denise feeling betrayed. But even before that, Amanda told everyone at the second-to-last Tribal Council that while she had an agreement with Denise, it had essentially expired earlier.

That prompted an incredulous response from Todd and served as the beginning of the argument he made to the jury about why he deserved the prize.

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During the live reunion, Todd explained his strategy, which he constructed before meeting his challengers. He recognized his own weaknesses and compensated for them, and played to his strengths. "I needed a second person who I could trust from day one. I needed someone smaller than me. I needed to be friends with a strong guy. I had all of these people in my mind that could help me get here and I can't believe it worked," he said, still shocked.

Ego boost
What also worked was a bit of ego inflating. During the final Tribal Council, Todd did what many winners before him have done, stroking the egos of their juries. Todd focused most on Jean-Robert, who ended up giving him that all-important tie-breaking vote.

Perhaps more important, Todd did his best to draw a distinction between his friendships and the game. In his opening statement, he said, "I had to lie, I had to backstab, and I had to hurt people I care about," but hoped the jury would differentiate between "my strategic game and the [relationships] I built with you." They did.

Too often on other competition-based reality shows, such as CBS' "Big Brother," contestants use "it was a game" to excuse their abhorrent interpersonal behavior. Here, though, the explanation actually seemed genuine. Todd simply voted his friends out — betrayal, sure, but he didn't precede that behavior with weeks of elaborate lies or alliances that shifted on a daily basis, as we've seen in past seasons.

Todd held firmly to his core alliance and shed members of his larger tribe and alliance when that made the most sense, and there really is no better way to play a constantly shifting, ever surprising game like "Survivor."

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