First Jury Member
As the merge makes the game an individual competition, strong minority player Staton is the second-choice to vote out when Miriam wins immunity, and becomes the first member of the Survivor Canada 3 jury.
The Story of Staton
Staton was, without a doubt, one of the strongest, hardest-working players in the game. He was one of only two players to have perfect challenge attendance, and he came close to winning two individual challenges.
While on the Cree tribe, Staton had a loyal partnership with Aiden and a weaker alliance with Karen. When Miriam was targeted at the first tribal council, Staton encouraged her to not give up. Staton was well-liked and very diplomatic. When arguments started, Staton became Cree's peacemaker.
However, Staton's top ally, Aiden, came to resent Staton's efforts at keeping the peace when Staton refused to vote-out troublemaker Rob. This distanced Staton and Aiden somewhat. Given that Rob's disposition never improved, it's interesting to contemplate what might have happened if Staton had moved against Rob and, in a Rob-free environment, Aiden had stuck with the game.
As it turns out, Cree lost both Aiden and Rob, and the merge came with Staton's tribe at a severe numbers disadvantage. Staton made a valiant effort at the first individual immunity challenge, but was left the more threatening of two vulnerable players at Tribal Council.
Why Staton?
Voting reasons cited that Staton was a strong player (3 times) and that they didn't really know him (3 times), but the number one reason stated was alliance obligations (5 times). Certainly it was a combination of the above, with particular determination in the first test of the Paleo alliance.
Save Yourself, Staton!
What could Staton have done to save himself? He could have won immunity, though it looks very much like he gave it his best effort. Another option might have been to sabotage Miriam and/or help someone else to win immunity, keeping it away from Miriam so that she could be voted out instead of him. I don't believe for a moment that Staton would do such a thing.
Staton also could have made more effort at building bonds with his new tribemates. However, that may have backfired. Over-friendliness combined with challenge strength seems to be exactly what made Miriam the primary target of the Paleo Pride alliance. Nonetheless, Staton needed someone on Paleo Pride to side with him, either to: (a) lobby within the alliance to vote Janei; or, more ambitiously, (b) to vote with the three former-Cree and Michelle against Paleo Pride.
If Not Staton, Then Who?
Miriam - Miriam was Paleo Pride's designated target. Because she was so friendly and outgoing, they feared it would become more difficult to vote her out and that she might even break up Paleo Pride if given enough opportunity. It seems that Miriam escaped by winning a very important immunity. She will have to watch herself. But this isn't the first time this clever lady has had a close call, and Miriam is already on the defensive.
Janei - Diana is holding a petty grudge against Janei and would have preferred to vote Janei over Staton, as would Miriam. However, Janei was far less of a threat for winning immunities, and Diana did not want to stand out by lobbying Paleo Pride to change the vote.
Michelle - It is stunning how quickly paranoia has struck Paleo Pride, and sent some of them turning on Michelle over a couple rumours which might not add up. Whatever comes of that, the rumours surfaced too close to the Tribal Council for Paleo Pride to maneuver a second change of target.
Diana, Jon, Kelley, Rick, Shane, Tabatha - Take your pick. If there was to be a move against Paleo Pride, this was the time to do it, while there were three outside votes and Michelle's double-vote, then just one more for a majority. But numbers were still too close, especially given the rewards in play, and it is difficult to pass up the opportunity to vote-out strong players with uncertain allegiances.
Conclusion
Staton was an excellent player who wound up vulnerable on the wrong side of the merge. It is difficult to point out a flaw in his gameplay. His only big mistake was to have started on the wrong tribe.
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