On day thirty, power had clearly gotten to Russell’s head. He decided to tell Mick that he owns an oil company in Houston, which netted him 1.7 million dollars last year. Earlier in the game, if you recall, Russell had told his teammates that he was a firefighter who had lost his dog in hurricane Katrina.
The revelation did not stay between Russell and Mick for long. On the beach, Jaison began to consider who people would vote for in the final two, and told Monica and Brett that Russell was a millionaire who did not need the money.
This conversation regarding Russell’s income is actually representative of an issue that repeatedly occurs in “Survivor.” If you are on the jury, do you vote for the person that played the best game, or the person that needs the money the most? Russell not only possesses class advantage, he is male and White. He may or may not be a self made man, but socially speaking, he was built for success, and he knows it.
By choosing to vote for Russell, the castaways would in essence be supporting the dominant social power. At this point in the game, there are three women and two people of color and yet, no one is even considering the possibility that one of them will win the game. This speaks to who is valued, and who is not.
Rather than having a reward challenge and an immunity challenge, Probes announced that this week would be a double elimination. Russell saw this as an advantage, because his main goal is to eliminate people as quickly as possible. After a small game of bowling, Jaison emerged victorious.
Fearing for his ability to stay in the game, Dave began to target Shambo. He suggested that because she was a member of the now defunct Galu tribe and had been a hard worker around camp, that taking her any further in the game would be a dangerous play.
With the elimination of John in the last episode, Shambo’s vote is no longer essential to the former members of Galu. Still, if one were to posit which castaway presented the most obvious threat, Russell’s ability to manipulate others should rank him quite high. It is interesting that before this game became based on individual performance, women were all understood to be weak. Now, they are understood to be a threat. Regardless of the reason, the boys’ club mentality continues to thrive on the show.
The next day, Mick began to question Russell regarding his loyalty. Though he has been silent since the start of the game, Mick is now starting to be aware of Russell’s game play. No matter how bonded the former Foa Foa may be, only one person can claim the one million dollar prize.
At the next immunity challenge Brett emerged victorious, just beating out Mick. This left Monica scrambling because she suddenly became the next person on the chopping block. Determined to go down fighting, Monica questioned Mick as to whether or not he could trust Russell. She suggested that Russell was planning on taking Shambo and Natalie to the end. Mick responded by saying:
“It’s like a little kid sees a snake and the snake is like, ‘hey come play with me I’m not gonna bite you.’ The kids starts playing with the snake and the snake bites him. He’s like, ‘what happened, you said you were not going to bite me.’ ‘I’m a snake that’s what I do.’ So I’m very sceptical”.
Monica would not stop there. She approached Russell and threatened to turn the jury against him. She informed Russell that she knew how much money he made and promised him that her vote would be based on need and not want. Russell shook off her threat, but did not like the fact that his income had become public knowledge.
Russell immediately threatened Natalie, because Monica had misspoken about who gave her this knowledge. When Natalie denied revealing his secret he approached Jaison and asked him why he would reveal something so serious. Jaison claimed not to remember the conversation and assured Russell that Monica was just trying to stay in the game.
Alone with camera Russell once again descended to misogyny to express his anger at being challenged, calling Monica “a little bitch.”
More than any other castaway this season, Russell’s actions and language are a representation of issues with undeserved privilege. Each time a woman challenges Russell, he responds in a sexist, aggressive manner. A pattern of behavior has emerged.
In the equivalent of a dog marking his territory, Russell immediately pulled the immunity idol out of his pocket and placed it around his neck. When Probes gently questioned the castaways, Brett felt it was important to remind everyone that it is important to stay humble in this game. Clearly, this comment was aimed at the now openly arrogant Russell. For her part, Monica stated:
“Russell came into the merge and basically tried to push alot of buttons. I haven’t seen Russell’s buttons pushed, but today he was huffing and puffing all over camp: ‘Did you say this about me?’ I mean, he was fuming. Basically, I couldn’t [help] but having a sense of pride that if I put a scintilla of doubt… then I accomplished my mission.”
Probes then played into the patriarchal set-up when he suggesting that Monica’s gameplay against Russell was nothing original. Of course, the little women aren’t capable of thinking for themselves. They only exist for “Survivor” to get nice bikini shots. No such exploitation of male bodies or diminishment of male minds has taken place this season.
Though Russell tried to make it seem as though Monica had just begun to play the game, one does not become one of the last seven castaways without having some skill in this game. Monica was determined to have the last word and so she suggested that Russell’s position had more to do with immunity idols.
In the end, despite the fact that she put up more fight than any other eliminated castaway, Probes extinguished Monica’s flame and she was voted off the island. It is obvious now that the person who wins this game will undoubtedly be the one that manages to get Russell out.
Russell has been an effective bully, and if he is allowed to go to the final two there is an excellent chance that he will walk away with the title of Sole Survivor. Though Natalie has largely played in Russell’s shadow, she stands the best chance of being able to engineer the dethroning that is most certainly needed. We can only hope that she does just that.
If Russell had been a descent person, allowing him to continue on might not necessarily be so bad, but at this point, a win for Russell would only reinforce his misogyny and general air of privilege. How much power is too much?