"Grandma, What A Big Liar Your Grandson Jon Is!"
Posted by Grimme on 2003-11-27
“The better to really kill me with shame and embarrassment on national TV,” Jon’s Grandma might now reply after Jon and his buddy Dan faked her death to win sympathy (and the reward challenge) from his fellow Survivors.
What has been touted as the “biggest lie ever” on Survivor and one that “causes much pain” was thus revealed tonight. In consideration of Jon’s “loss”, the other Survivors gave up their chance to be with their mother, their husbands, their fiancé and their boyfriends so Jon could spend time with his running buddy Dan and find out all about his Grandma’s “death.”
But, as if such a lie wasn’t bad enough within itself, Jon almost tearfully berated Sandra for being uncaring about his “loss” and she snarled back, “It isn’t always about you!” Then, in Tribal Council, Jon told Jeff that it had been “a rough, few days.” Dan and Jon both congratulated each other on their “performance”. Truly sickening.
I don’t think Jon will actually know what “a rough, few days” will be like until his fellow Survivors learn about his lie, either within the game or when it ends, and, much more significantly, when he learns of the reaction of the North American TV viewing public. What a wave of revulsion is coming Jon’s way!
But, in one sense, Sandra was right, this episode wasn’t all about Jon. It started off with the tribe blaming Christa for sabotaging the tribe by throwing out the fish that Rupert had caught for them before he was evicted.
In reality, it was a vengeful Sandra who secretly did the deed and she quite cleverly made sure that juror Rupert learned about it at the Tribal Council. Quite understandably, Sandra kept quiet and let a weepy Christa take the heat, and probable trip home, from the others while her own cover was that of publicly arguing with Jon and trying to turn “you ladies” against his scheming. This was before the Reward Challenge.
I was a little surprised at the Reward Challenge’s “walking the plank”. I wouldn’t have wanted to jump down to the ocean from that height and Burton’s mother and Sandra’s and Lillian’s husbands were not young people. I wonder if they had to be persuaded and whether CBS had to take out insurance on them?
Once Jon was allowed to win the Reward Challenge, he and “Deceiving Dan” got Camp Balboa to themselves while the other Survivors had to spend an uncomfortable night on a desolate beach of an island called Isla Hermanita (which means “Little Sister”). I really thought they would also be allowed to spend some time with their loved ones, especially since CBS now knew about Jon’s lie, but it was not to be.
Sandra and Christa tried to sway Tijuana and Darrah to ally with them. When Jon and Burton went on another of their talky, chatty walks---apparently never realizing that Sandra has spied on and overheard them several times already---Sandra took Tijuana with her to hear their scheming with her own ears, an excellent ploy which worked.
Tijuana then convinced Darrah to work with Sandra and Christa, an alliance that would outnumber the trio of Burton, Jon and Lillian and vote one of them off. All that was needed was to see who won immunity.
The Immunity Challenge was to be first to come up with 20 words of specified length (3-word, 4-word, 5-word etc) from the three words “Survivor Pearl Islands”. Burton was mistakenly declared the winner until Jeff Probst discovered a mistake (Remember that, Jillibean! “Liaison” has two “i”s just like “Jillibean” does…). A second Immunity Challenge among the 3 remaining contenders saw Darrah become the first woman to win an Immunity Challenge in Survivor: Pearl Islands.
So Burton didn’t win immunity (and, for once, I won some points from him in our Survivor Pool game but very teensy compared to the gigantic point loss he’s already saddled me with and will, no doubt continue to do in the following weeks) and seemed like a sure bet to go, 4-3 but it didn’t happen. Why? Probably because Tijuana tried to corner Jon into joining the four women into voting against Burton. This alerted Jon to the danger to his main ally and he used the valuable time to negotiate with Sandra and Christa, swearing “on my grandmother” that he was telling the truth. They finally and reluctantly agreed in return for Lillian’s head at the following Tribal Council.
Sandra was probably both a little miffed that a bragging, blabbermouth Tijuana had unnecessarily tipped their hand to Jon and maybe felt that it would be better to keep an unpopular Jon around rather than a much more likeable Tijuana. Sandra has always been very aware of the food supply so Jon’s suggestion of “Keep Burton, keep eating” no doubt had an impact on her as well.
Whatever the reasons, Sandra and Christa joined the trio of Burton, Jon and Lillian in ousting Tijuana in a 5 to 2 vote. Once again Darrah was left out of the loop, a situation she is probably getting tired of.
Previews for next week show Lillian becoming suspicious of Burton’s loyalty to her being in the Final 2 with him and Sandra negotiating with Darrah.
Jon’s lie also reveals two items of interest. One is how Jeff Probst, at least this time, doesn’t always use information that he knows about to affect the game by asking leading questions that would cause the other Survivors to know the truth.
The other item of interest is why Jon would lie just to win a not particularly important Reward Challenge. The fact that he planned this strategy with his friend Dan, in advance of the game’s beginning, shows that Jon has watched previous Survivor shows and knows that relatives/friends will visit if one is still in the game.
Surely then, since Jon is familiar with past Survivors, he must realize how very bad he will appear in the eyes of the TV audience, Jeff Probst and his fellow Survivors. Not to mention his Grandma. The real puzzle is why? Does he fancy himself another Dr. Will from Big Brother?
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