Joyous Jon, Irritated Rick
The jury has spoken - Jon, the student from Southern Ontario has outwitted, outplayed and outlasted twenty-one other players for the title of Sole Survivor. The jury voted 8-1 in his favour over his competitor and ally, Rick.
Why Jon Won / Why Rick Lost
To recap, let's look at how the jury voted:
votes for Rick - Janei
votes for Jon - Staton x2, Kelley, Miriam, Diana
votes against Rick - Tabatha, Shane, Michelle
It was obvious by now that Rick had stepped on a lot of toes on his way to the Final Two. He would have done anything to get there, and definitely did it. He did not shy away from lying and backstabbing, and switched allies on a weekly basis. Rick was a master of building alliances and then tearing them down on their ill-conceived foundations. He made strong partnerships with the people who mattered, and yet knew that every ally was a competitor and did not hesitate in putting himself first.
Rick's "sacred alliance" with Diana was definitely a smart move, and one they kept under wraps. His cold determination for advancement also has to be acknowledged and on some level respected. He unerringly cast an elimination vote at every tribal council he attended. However, it would not take much to realize what he was doing. As those of the final six began arriving in the Jury Room, they quickly realized just who was behind their betrayal.
While implementing his endgame strategy, Rick noted: "If you play to make it to the Jury, you'll make it to the Jury. I'm tired of making it to the Jury. I'm playing for Final Two!" Rick failed to extend his reasoning. In playing for Final Two at all costs, he got exactly to Final Two and no further. Diana noted in her vote, "Single-minded focus on one goal does not guarantee the obtaining of said goal." And so Rick cost himself the game.
Jon's situation is different. Though Jon had been strong in the tribal challenges, he lacked in alliances and found himself very vulnerable at the merge. He openly confessed to going along with Rick's strategy, even when he was morally opposed to it, so as not to make a target of himself. Jon flew so far under the radar that most of the players didn't even know he was there until it was too late.
If there was a flaw in his plan, it was that he was too much under-the-radar. Compared to Rick, Jon didn't have personal connections with many of the jurors. Many said, in their questions or with their votes, that they didn't really get to know Jon. Looking at the vote reasons, only half of the jury actually voted for Jon — it was three jurors who voted against Rick, and would have voted against Rick no matter who was standing beside him, that put the vote decidedly in Jon's favour. Jon sacrificed personal relationships in order to maintain a low profile, and against anyone but Rick that might have cost him the game.
In any kind of quantitative sense, Rick was the better player — he cast the most elimination votes, he tied for the most individual wins, he even won a challenge without participating in it! It might be said that Rick won the game, but he lost the jury. And it's the jury who have the ultimate say.
The general consensus was that Jon played with far more honesty and integrety than Rick. Rick had hoped to stack the jury with his allies, but had instead alienated and estranged himself from them. It was the human factor, not cold game-playing, that caused them to want Jon as their winner.
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