My Favourite, Miriam
That's right... Miriam is my favourite player of Survivor Canada 3. She loved to play, she never gave up, and she was generally pretty nice. As bad as things got for her in the game — and it got bad — she picked herself back up and dove right in. However, on the short side of alliances, Miriam accepted the inevitable when she was denied an opportunity to compete for immunity and in a 6-1-1 vote she became the third jury member.
Maid Miriam
Miriam began the game with a shocker as she was nearly voted out at the first tribal council. This was, perhaps, the beginning of the end for the Cree tribe. Miriam did her best to forgive and forget, and to work together with those who had voted for her. However, divisions resurfaced and her tribe self-destructed, leaving her in an unenviable position at the merge.
Miriam saved herself at Keyano's first tribal council by winning immunity. By the time of the second Keyano tribal council, Miriam had exposed Michelle for going behind her allies' backs, and Michelle was eliminated as being an even bigger threat to those in control of the Paleo Pride alliance. Miriam had saved herself by strength in challenges, and by offering up an unexpected target. But in a surprise twist, a reward prevented Miriam the opportunity to compete for the third immunity challenge.
I hate to say it, but it feels like Miriam was cheated out of a fair chance to save herself. I don't blame Jon for using the reward as he did, or the others for pressuring him to do so, and the Host didn't foresee things being as one-sided as this. But that's the way it feels to me. Sit-outs aren't any fun, especially at this stage of the game. It was a regrettable situation.
Miriam's Mentions
I'm going to break from format at this point to say that if I was giving out awards I'd give Miriam a big fat one. She distinguished herself in a number of ways. Miriam was the only player with perfect challenge attendance — no absences, no excuses. Miriam cast the most elimination votes at this point in the game. Miriam has the most total votes against her in the game... not from being unlikable, but battle scars from harsh treatment at the first tribal council. No one was more targeted by alliances than Miriam, and yet she saved herself three times and wouldn't let it keep her down. Miriam also came up with the name for the merged tribe. Miriam may have been a bit emotional at times and she was lacking in terms of strategy: this was by choice... Miriam refused to play against her conscience. Miriam is my Player-of-the-Game.
Miriam's Delirium
Miriam loved to play the game and she was my favourite. Enough saccharine — was she a good player? Honestly, I could never see her winning the game. Miriam was strong in challenges and diplomatic, she made friends and she stuck with them for the most part. But I don't know that she ever had a formal alliance at any point in the game. Miriam was always willing to work with the group, even when the group was against her. It seemed she refused to take sides. Alliances may be the most important aspect of Survivor, yet Miriam never took that step and really wasn't going to make it past an early jury spot without the support of allies.
Miriam's likability and joy for the game did, ironically, make her a threat to the power-players controlling the Paleo Pride alliance. Miriam was active and strong in challenges, she was friendly and had a potential for causing a split in their alliance. Perhaps worst of all, Miriam's philosophy of working with the group and voting people based on individual merit was in direct ideological opposition to the fascism of Paleo Pride. If Miriam's revolutionary ideals spread to the less-committed members of Paleo Pride, the power-players might have suddenly found themselves in a minority.
Mercy for Miriam?
Normally I would start off by saying that Miriam could have saved herself by winning immunity. However, that wasn't even an option for her. A reward challenge allowed the winner to block any player from competing for immunity. Miriam was already the majority's designated target, and anyone originally from Paleo would have neutralized Miriam. Janei understood that it was either Miriam or herself at this point, and would have done likewise. So Miriam would have had to win both the reward challenge and the immunity challenge. Given the nature of this particular reward challenge, there was nothing Miriam could have done better to win it.
Miriam might have used the reward challenge results — popularity ratings — as fuel to split Paleo Pride. The less-popular, less-liked Survivors might have felt bitter about it and agreed to side with Miriam and Janei. However, after Miriam exposed Michelle, Miriam had cut her legs out from under her, pretty much destroying the trust factor and her chances of getting into an alliance.
If Not Miriam, Then Who?
Janei - Janei, the only other remaining player originally from the Cree tribe, was the obvious and only alternate target had Miriam won immunity — and as Janei did win immunity, Miriam was the hands-down elimination. But there was a double-immunity up for grabs, which raises an interesting question: What if Miriam and Janei had both won immunity?
If Not Miriam Nor Janei, Then Who?
Jon or Kelley - semi-active players, they aren't counted among the inner circle who control Paleo Pride and should be the next of Paleo voted off... if the power players keep true to their word.
Diana - Ranked number one for popularity by half of the tribe, Diana might be seen as a jury threat... which is certain to become a factor toward the endgame.
Shane - Shane flipped on Michelle, is high on popularity and is the only other original Paleo to have taken votes — in a 4-4 split, Shane would lose a tie.
Tabatha - a strong competitor in pre-merge challenges, she may be seen as a threat for winning individual challenges. Also, everyone seems to know how tight Shane and Tabatha are, and may want to break up that partnership.
Rick - I'm surprised that nobody has clued-in to the way Rick pushes the Paleo Pride agenda... he clearly has plans (ie: multiple alliances) to survive the cut-throat rounds when it's Paleo against Paleo, and those who aren't included in such plans ought to wise-up and make plans of their own.
Conclusion
To last in Survivor, you need to get past Tribal Councils. Even the strongest player can't be immune all the time; and can't beat the element of luck forever. So it really is a game about alliances. Miriam did extremely well in her circumstances for not having any hard alliances, but she wasn't going to get any further without alliances and the dirty-dealing that often goes hand-in-hand with them.
Contents | Articles Previous Next | Miriam's Bio Statistics Elimination Interview Performance | Challenge Tracker | Vote Tracker | Site Map