Hey Everyone,
In case you missed it, last night (Sunday, May 15) was the finale of Survivor, which was very exciting because Jen and I really enjoy watching that show. It is always interesting watching the challenges and seeing how the tribes vote and how the game plays out. Last night was the finale and it was a great end to a great season.
SPOILER ALERT**** Boston Rob won!
In the Survivor reunion show which was immediately after it was interesting to hear the different players talk about the game and what happened and the fallout of it. One comment that really stood out was, Boston Rob was talking about when he had to vote out his best (in-game) friend Grant. He said, the game is very difficult because the relationships you make in the game are real yet it remains a game in which you must break almost all of those relationships.
This made me really think, because I watched every episode and it was true that Rob and Grant had a great friendship, but when it came down to it Rob was able (because of his years of experience in the game) to realize, a game is a game and Grant had to be voted off. But Grant was hurt by it because he felt betrayed, he thought he could trust Rob.
In essence, to win Survivor you must be a sociopath, now before you get all up in my grill, let me explain. A sociopath is someone who has three or more of the following:
- failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
- deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
- impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead;
- irritability and aggression, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
- reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
- consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
- lack of remorse, as indicated by indifference to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another;
A person who does good at Survivor is able to build those relationships and be able to completely disregard the emotional part of the relationship and do what they need to do to win the game. Most likely throughout the game they will meet at least three of the above criteria. Qualifying them to be diagnosed as a sociopath (if it were real life and not a game).
Now this is not to say that all of the past winners of Survivor are sociopaths, I think they are able to think of it just as a game and not get emotionally involved. On the flip side if you are a sociopath, I recommend you apply for the show, you will probably do very well!
