Last of the Cree
Alone and isolated, Janei accepted the inevitable and skipped both reward and immunity challenges. At her 8th tribal council, Janei is finally voted out, the last of her original tribe.
The Story of Janei
Janei is a tough one to peg down. Was she a lazy, semi-active player who coasted through the game? Was she being emotionally cautious and not investing too much of herself into it? Or was she lying low, using an under-the-radar strategy to keep herself from being targeted? Janei didn't really fill out her confessionals until the merge so I can't say what her strategy or goals were. If I had to put a label on her, I would say that Janei was a "follower" — on the same level as Jon or Kelley. She did her part, she voted along with her allies, but so far as I could see she never took the lead.
When Janei unexpectedly lost her allies just hours before the merge, she knew that she had to jump ship and side with Paleo. Janei openly pointed out that it wasn't a merge so much as three people joining a mostly-intact Paleo. While Miriam was stirring up drama, Janei adopted an easy-going attitude. For example: on the story-writing challenge Janei told an obvious and humourous fiction, which seems to be a deliberately calculated move to appear likeable and non-competitive. Janei connected with Shane and tried to get in with Michelle, Diana and Rick. She played-up her vulnerability and let them know that she was a willing vote. Unfortunately for her, nobody on Paleo saw any value in having her vote. Speaking to how little they needed and/or trusted her, Janei's vote was cancelled the one time she sided with the Paleo majority.
In her final words, Janei said that outlasting Miriam was, "the sole purpose as to why I fought for immunity" in the previous immunity challenge. It would seem that Janei gave up on any pretense of surviving another round and was settling for the already-earned accomplishment of having outlasted everyone else from her original tribe.
Why Janei?
To say it again, Janei was the last player originally from Cree. She had done a lot to appear non-threatening. The strategy had gotten her this far, but it simply wasn't going to get her any further on its own. It should be mentioned that the bad side of appearing inactive is that potential allies can't be sure if they can depend upon you to show up and do your part. Of six challenges since the merge, Janei fully participated in only one of them (the one she needed to beat Miriam). If you can't vote, then you're of no use to a voting alliance. When Janei failed to compete for immunity and was penalized with a self-vote, it sealed her fate.
Save Yourself, Janei!
On her bio, Janei gave her motto as: "You have to play the cards that are dealt your way." Making the best with what you have is a good attitude, but in retrospect it seems to carry a hint of acceptance, of defeat, when Janei found the odds against her and resigned to playing-out a losing hand. Janei might have kept in mind that there are other people playing at the table. To carry the metaphor: she could exchange a couple cards with the person next to her so they both have better hands; she could bluff; she could count cards; she could watch her opponents for their "tells." In poker and Survivor, you don't play cards — you play people.
So if Janei wanted to save herself, she should have tried for immunity. It was a difficult challenge and she might have gotten lucky. But even if she didn't win, she would have earned the right to vote and had a bargaining position.
Janei could also have tried to set up an alternate target and aligned herself with those players. She actually was doing a pretty good job of setting up Shane, throwing two votes at him over three Tribal Councils so that, as one player put it, "Shane is shaking in his boots." However, Shane stuck by the other original Paleo players.
If Janei wanted to push to actually split the Paleos, she needed to do more than scare Shane. She needed to convince him that he was next to go... she needed to spread rumours around and create some impression of a plot against him. Ironically, there was a plot against Shane in the works. If Janei had only thrown some random rumours out there, Shane or Tabatha might have uncovered a hint of the truth and flipped. Shane had turned on Michelle, and might have been paranoid — or insightful — enough to do that again.
Situations are never as desparate as they may seem. Where there's life, there's hope. That's a big Survival lesson, and not just for the game.
If Not Janei, Then Who?
Shane - Shane had been set up as an alternate target with 5 of 8 votes. Forfeits on a difficult immunity reduced that to 2 out of 4, however, and penalty votes on Kelley and Jon would have acted in Shane's favour. Probably the only chance of Shane becoming the primary target would be if Janei had won immunity, and offered a fifth vote against Shane... but I personally think it doubtful that Diana and Rick would have risked giving Janei the swing power.
Kelley - Kelley seemed to be the target of Shane and Tabatha, or at least the one Rick and Diana were presenting to them. With Kelley receiving a penalty vote and little time to change plans, Diana and Rick might have had to throw-in with Shane and Tabatha and vote out Kelley if they couldn't vote Janei.
Rick or Diana - These two are playing a dangerous game, and if the other Survivors talked to each other at all, Rick and Diana would be out on their asses as quickly as Michelle had been two tribal councils ago. However, for the moment, no-one seems to suspect them.
Conclusion
Janei could have gone far with the right allies. On her own she gave it a good try and came closer than she realized to pulling off an upset. She didn't quite make it, but she earned her spot as last of her tribe.
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