Eman's Elimination
There was a lot of talk about Paleo "deserving" to go further than those formerly of Cree. I don't think anyone would include Eman in that statement. Arguably he should have gotten the boot three episodes ago.
The Story of Eman
What did Eman do in the game? That question requires investigation. I'd written that Eman could only be an improvement over Robby, whom Eman replaced after the very first challenge. I may have been wrong on that. Eman took part in one individual reward challenge, in which his answers were illegible and discarded; and he took part in one tribal immunity challenge which Paleo would have won by a large margin without his assistance.
Eman did talk with a few of Paleo in the first two episodes, though he was more interested in playing volleyball than doing any work around camp. Eman became a hanger-on with the now-defunct Diana-Dan-Jon alliance. But even Diana doubted whether Eman was worth keeping around. Many considered Eman to be the designated vote-out after Nathan (episode 3) and Dan (episode 4).
Eman's Easy Street
Emmanuel was very lucky. First for being chosen as an alternate. Second for being put on Paleo tribe which never lost immunity. And third for barely scraping by on the minimum participation quota. Eman would miss two or more challenges in a row and then participate just as he was facing eviction.
Eman mentioned his luck early in the game. "I guess I'm the good-luck charm this tribe needed. Ever since I got here... win, win, win." And that trend certainly did continue for Paleo, and thus for Eman. It is interesting to note that, only moments after Eman was disqualified, Paleo's streak of immunity wins was broken.
Why Eman?
Eman did nothing for the challenges and was unreliable. Because of this he had no firm place in alliances. Eman also seemed oblivious to his place in the game. When Diana suggested that the inactives needed to go, or disdained Cree's lack of participation — after Eman missed consecutive challenges — Eman agreed, apparently missing the hint. Eman was utterly out of his element in Northern Ontario, and the conditions left him at the mercy of his betters.
If Not Eman, Then Who?
Nobody. Eman holds the Survivor Canada 3 record for missing the most challenges: seven. Keep in mind that he also sat-out of one challenge and for another challenge his answers were illegible. Many better players were eliminated before him. It would have been an embarrassment to the game if Eman had been carried to finish amongst the top half of players.
Conclusion
Eman was friendly enough but not a very good Survivor. He was carried to the merge by a winning tribe, where he suffered the spot of last eliminated before the jury. Eman stated his weakness as "I never admit defeat." That is certainly true, as the Host had to put Eman out of his misery with a merciful disqualification.
Paleo Postscript
I thought to mention one other significance of Emmanuel, which has little to do with him personally yet is perhaps his greatest impact in the game. He was, to Paleo, a low man who could be sacrificed. So long as Paleo had an obvious, agreeable target to vote out, the active players never had to scheme and plot against other active players... who might then have taken retaliatory action. Such scheming may have led to divisions within the tribe, and made the Paleo Pride alliance a much less certain undertaking. Paleo Pride was very fortunate to have Eman to fill this role — a role now filled by three newly designated targets: Miriam, Staton and Janei, formerly of the Cree tribe.
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