Survivor Nicaragua, the 21st season of Jeff Probst’s reality show, wrapped up last Sunday night. A blond 21-year old known as Fabio (real name: Judson Birza) received more than half of the nine jury votes, crowning him the $1 million Sole Survivor who played to "outwit, outplay and outlast" his competition.
It was great to see all the 20 players looking all cleaned up, the real versions of themselves pre- and post-Survivor. After spending many days (39 for the final three) in the jungle minus the conveniences of home, it must have been a total relief for everyone to get back to their real worlds. Especially for that player named Dan Lembo who brought a pair of $1,600 leather shoes to the jungle. Frankly, I couldn’t understand why he would even venture into the wild and starve himself to death if he had that kind of cash. Maybe it’s the complacency of his real world abundance that pushed him to such an out-of-his-comfort-zone adventure. People, rich or poor, need challenge to get them out of the doldrums of everyday living!
Jane Bright was the player I was rooting for to win. This 56-year old mother was a hard working team player at camp, but rose to the occasion of Feisty Queen when it was called for. Her physique may look frail, but she outplayed her competition by winning two individual immunity challenges. A couple of tribal councils before the Final Four reveal, her own alliance might have voted her out, but the fans recognized her fantastic game play and recognized her as the “Sprint Player of the Season,” making her $100,000 richer.
I have to hand it to these Survivor players. They might have made jungle life look likable on our TV screens, but it certainly must have been the worst experience in their lifetime. Hopefully, for many of them, every discomfort was worth the trouble with the possibility of earning fame and fortune in their future.
And this Fabio guy will not only have a brighter future in his modeling career, he has the million dollars to spend and enjoy! Hopefully, he remembers to donate some to charity and invest some for his future. The runner-up (Chase Rice) lost by one jury vote, but he might end up pursuing a singing career. Sash Lenehan, the third player in the top three, may not have received any jury votes, but his future might be brighter too after leaving the jungle. You see, chasing rainbows, even in the deepest and darkest forest, can end up finding the pot of gold.
I think ordinary mortals should have a shot at this Survivor game. It might bring us to our knees and make us genuinely humble. I’m sure that undomesticated wild living is not for everyone, but it might be the cure for human arrogance. How can anyone act proud and mighty when there’s a roof to be built, fish to be caught, and fire to be ignited? Besides, the cold night can snuff out anyone’s smoldering fire for sure.
Can you imagine waking up with unidentified insects walking all over your body? Can you even picture yourself going on food ration every day? What about sleeping at night with eyes wide open looking out for the wild’s crawling creepy creatures? Or not sleeping at all because the weather won’t let you? What about the matter of hygiene… not having soap and bath tissue at your disposal? And bathing in sea waters that might contain crocodile crap as one of the elements?
I’m certain that this kind of lifestyle is normal for many tribes in other countries. And the tribe folks probably have grown to love that kind of living. But Americans who have been raised with good plumbing in their homes, a nice little room for bathroom duty, comfortable linens and pillowcases on their beds, and three meals a day to enjoy without climbing up a coconut tree… jungle lifestyle will be hell on earth for certain. My hat off to the players who took time out of their busy work life to experience the jungle creature lifestyle... messing with other people's mind... stabbing them in the back... and in the process, risking their clean-cut image in real life. My hope is that their personal sacrifices were all worth it!
Besides taking care of Jeff Probst’s financial future, the Survivor television franchise has left a wonderful legacy to the avid viewers, giving us an up-close look at life on the other rugged side… the life devoid of material conveniences and advantages. The show took us inside a world that reveals that without creature comforts, people in our nicely organized world can react drastically different to the same situation in a state of deprivation. Most of the players proved the authentic Survivor spirit of making it in the jungle with whatever it took. They may have often snapped along the way. Broken bonding ties. Food and sleep deprivation can do that to people. It’s obvious that a few lost their will to fight before the end, probably because in their comfortable real worlds, everything was convenient and that kind of living had spoiled them rotten.
