Surviving Survivor: Russell’s Fatal Strategic Flaw
I’m not usually much of a fan of popular TV shows, but my son wanted to watch the ending of Survivor the other night, so I watched it with him. It was down to the final three survivors: Russell, who, according to Jason, was the best player ever in the history of the game, but in playing the game had betrayed everyone on the jury; Natalie, who didn’t really have a strategy except to align with, and hide behind, Russell, and some guy who was there because he had won recent immunity challenges.
Clearly the producers of the show agreed that Russell was the most focused, strategic, manipulative, cutthroat, driven player in the history of the show. He was, according to Jason, a manipulative genius. They showed clip after clip of his negotiating and strategizing with other players, winning their trust, and then betraying them at the vote. The others should not have been surprised by his betrayal, in my opinion. He was clear with them all from the beginning that he was there to win the game, no matter what it took. And wasn’t he the embodiment of the American individualism and rugged work ethic?!
It wasn’t just his strategies that made him a clear winner. He was physically strong as well, and pulled much more than his own weight in survival tasks and games of skill. When he combined his physical strength with his mental focus, his performance was spectacular.
But all bets were off when the jury of former players, all of whom had been betrayed by Russell, questioned the remaining players as to why they thought they should win. It became clear that many of the other players did not respect Russell for his determination to win and to be the best player ever. They hated him for betraying them after winning their trust. And since the former players could vote for whomever they liked, they voted for Natalie.
Russell was clearly shocked and upset by the vote. There were tears in his eyes as he begged Natalie, and offered her ten thousand dollars, to have what’s his name say that Russell was a better player than her. He was that invested in his image of himself as the best.
He truly was an awesome player, but obviously there was a fatal flaw in his strategy: He thought that the others saw the game the way he did. He projected his values onto them and couldn’t understand that they understood things differently. If ever there was a person who needed a course on the enneagram, or other personality type theory, it was Russell!
My son asked me, “So mom, what enneagram type do you think he is?” I exclaimed wholeheartedly, “Three, with a four wing,” and went on to give reasons for my opinion.
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He is aggressive, but in a smooth, image-conscious way.
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He was able to repeatedly deceive others into trusting him. Deceit is the passion of the three, and yet he was healthy enough to not deceive himself as to his motivations.
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He was totally goal oriented; driven by the need to be successful; to be the winner.
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He didn’t hold grudges and was willing to realign with others to accomplish his goals. He didn’t take anything personally because he assumed others were playing to win as well and would do as he did.
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He was completely driven by competence; he could set emotion aside except when he used emotion to gain the trust of others.
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He could change himself into what he thought he needed to be for the situation he was in. When a jury member asked him if he was “like this” in real life, he said that no, he was completely different. At the final ceremony they asked his wife what he is like, and she said that he’s a really nice guy, and a devoted and loving father.
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When he talked about his business, he talked about working hard and struggling for three years until he started becoming successful. He prides himself on being hard working and goal-oriented in “real life.”
IMO, Russell is not unhealthy. At least while in the Survivor game, he is aware of what he is doing and uses his type rather than letting his type use him. He knows when he’s deceiving other and he knows that he playing a game. He’s just not aware that other people don’t share his perspective and values. We may never know if, in real life, he has integrated his heart’s desire into his life or he is driven by some external definition of success.
The moral of the story? If you really want to be a winner, learn to understand that other people don’t see the world as you do. Learn about different personality types and their values. Don’t assume that people think the same way as you do.