Survivor host Jeff Probst says the Heroes decision to send home a healthy Tom over a hobbling James may be their dumbest decision yet. James injured his knee during the reward challenge, in what was a night of two more challenge defeats for the Heroes. It’s unclear what exactly went wrong with his leg, but the injury immediately took him out of the challenge and barely able to walk, TvShark reports.
“As the Heroes headed into Tribal Council, it seemed like a no-brainer. A no-brainer,” says Jeff. “But then I reminded myself, ‘oh yeah, this is the Hero tribe. They’ve made more silly decisions than Tiger Woods. The consistently lousy decisions made by the Heroes have been one of the biggest surprises of this season.”
“But the biggest surprise of the entire season for me has been James and his new found social game. Set aside his lousy and increasingly agitated attitude, the gravedigger has learned to play the social game. How else could he still be in the game? He has influenced more than a few votes by talking to other people and manipulating them with his arguments. You have to give him credit.”
“I was really impressed that he was able to convince the majority to keep him in the game over Tom. Yes, I know it had to do with alliances as much as anything but when you consider how many challenges the Heroes have lost – to keep a guy with a bum leg was a really crazy move and you have to give James some of the credit.”
“Once again, Rupert tried to sell his vote based on keeping his tribe strong. But Rupert if you really believe that James, with his bad leg, is still stronger than Tom, then you need to stop drinking that pirate grog because you’ve lost your mind.”
“Rupert is doing what he needs to do to keep his alliance strong. Once again, let me point out why this makes no sense. Your own personal alliance may be intact, but your tribe is dwindling and if and when there is a merge, you are putting yourself in a very weak position because you will have fewer members than the Villains.”
“For the record, my niece most definitely could have beat James in a foot race,” Jeff says about James’ assertion that he could still beat the host’s niece in a race.
“I just didn’t want to push the point for fear of him hobbling across tribal council with that bad attitude and messed up knee, and thoroughly kicking my ass. Because that’s something James could definitely do, even with two bad legs.”