At the end of each season of “Survivor,” the power shifts to the jury, which is filled with castaways that have been eliminated. Their votes determine who gets selected as the winner of the game. At the end of the last episode, Jaison, Brett, Russell, Mick and Natalie were the last remaining castaways. The two-hour season finale involved two immunity challenges and two tribal councils.
Brett was the final member of tribe Galu and his life in the game was dependent upon winning both immunity challenges. In the first challenge, Brett barely beat Mick to gain a position in the final four and this forced the Foa Foa (Foa Foa, of course, being the second tribe originally on the island) four to eliminate one of its members for the first time since the merge. Russell waffled between Mick and Jaison, because he was unsure of who he could beat when the vote turned to the jury. At tribal council that evening, Jaison found himself eliminated without any warning from those he had aligned himself with throughout the game.
Russell was determined to win the final immunity challenge, because he realized that the jury was filled with former Galu members and he stood no chance of beating Brett in the final vote. After a few stressful minutes, he won the challenge, thus guaranteeing himself a slot in the final three. Brett’s elimination was perfunctory, even though Russell had previously promised to take him to the final three.
As with other final vote nights, Mick, Russell, and Natalie each got the opportunity to appeal to the jury. Russell went into the final tribal council with a great degree of confidence in himself, but other than Shambo, no one seemed to show him the support that he had expected. In the end, he estimated that he had a 55% chance of winning.
When the votes were counted, despite all of the conniving and backstabbing done by Russell, the title of Sole Survivor would go to Natalie. It was obvious that Russell was crestfallen when the decision was announced. He argued his case, telling Probes that, in his opinion, that no other person had played such a strategic game. At one point, he even had the audacity to ask Natalie to sell him the title of “Sole Survivor.” It is commonplace for men in Russell’s position to believe that everything has a price tag.
There can be no doubt that while Russell’s behaviour was absolutely heinous, he was the audience favourite this season. Russell won the Sprint one hundred thousand Player of the Game title, despite his obvious misogyny and the way in which he used his fellow contestants. When Jaison was asked by Probes what he learned about social politics he stated:
“I think that 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…Everyone who works in an office also has a Russell there, who says, I didn’t come to work, I came to play. I think it is interesting that people really seem to be valuing his negative contributions over someone like Natalie who is trying to be more positive and moral, whatever…So it is interesting to me that people hate Russell in real life but when you come on “Survivor”, all the backstabbing, pouring out water is game play?”
The observation that Jaison made is quite salient. This vote was not simply about who won the game, rather it was about the kinds of behaviour that we find morally acceptable. Despite having two daughters, a wife, and a mother, Russell was not in the least bit hesitant to belittle women at every turn. At one point, he even referred to the women he was aligned with as his “dumb ass girl alliance.” When questioned about this commentary, Russell declared that he had no regrets.
Ultimately, Russell felt that he lost the game because people did not take it seriously enough. Socially, Russell is well aware that being White and male means that he has a ton of privilege and therefore, in the normal course of events, any social discipline he receives is minor.
Though “Survivor” was filmed in Samoa, the fact that its contestants all came from America means that they continually reproduced the hierarchy they left behind. Those watching each episode approved and affirmed the behaviour (read: misogyny) that is a normal part of American culture. This was the driving force behind Russell’s fanbase.
Even though the jury was critical of Russell’s behaviour, in the end, while the game progressed, few had difficulty enabling him. It’s not surprising. The superior status of White guys is a phenomenon that exists because each day we take action to support it, whether out of habit or the belief that we can somehow benefit from it. This is why Jaison, who is a Black man, and Natalie, who is a White woman, found it advantageous to align themselves with a man that had openly displayed behaviour that continues to keep women and Blacks in the position of second class citizens.
While it is possible to see the vote for Natalie as an indictment of Russell’s behaviour, the fact that he won Sprint’s Player of the Game speaks for itself. Unlike the average viewing public, the jury was able to experience firsthand the negative results of Russell’s behaviour, thus enabling them to understand that his bullying tactics are not benign. Culturally, we have yet to see beyond the individual to understand that White male privilege is a systemic force impacting millions of lives globally. We can believe in God with no visual evidence, and yet with all of the evidence of the ways in which upholding White male masculinity as the ideal has proven to be historically damaging to those of us who are marginalized, we continue to deny that anything is amiss.
Russell may have lost to Natalie, but he won in the court of public opinion, and that is a sad state of affairs. Natalie made a deal with the devil when she aligned herself with Russell, but she made the effort to develop the relationships that he did not see as necessary. The very fact that Russell expected to be rewarded for treating people as disposable entities to further is success in life speaks not only of him as a person but to the general attitude of entitlement people like him possess. Maybe there’s a lesson in here for Russell. One can hope that there is a lesson in here for us all.
I don’t think Russell ever exhibited any racist behavior in the game. I think that people naturally admire Russell’s behaviour up to the point when they are the victims of it.