Pre-Ep.14: Jury jeopardy S34

Published: May 23, 2017

The True Dork Times writers (Ben, Dan, Pat, Jeff) combine their prognosticatory powers to predict the outcome of the Game Changers jury vote. And beat RHAP, Inside Survivor, and Reality Blurred, of course.

Ep.13: Where do we stand? (A look at the Final 6)

Published: May 22, 2017

Pat dispenses with the theory, looks back at this week's two boots, then takes a final look ahead, ranking the remaining six Game Changers by order of likelihood to win.

Ep.12: Do it and do it swiftly

Published: May 13, 2017

Pat examines Swift Trust Theory, and whether the short-term trust established by sharing a secret Advantage is enough to build a bond in Survivor. The answer? Not in Sierra's case, apparently.

Ep.11: Don't rock the boat - we like it stable

Published: May 7, 2017

Pat applies the concept of social stability to explain the (non-Andrea) majority alliance members' willingness to go along with booting Zeke, and other observations from Episode 11 of Game Changers.

Ep.10: Sarah revolts against dominance

Published: May 1, 2017

Pat describes how social dominance theory (SDT) applies to Survivor, specifically Sarah's perception that she was at the bottom of the six-person alliance's hierarchy, and how it induced her move to change the game.

Eps.8-9: Booting Hali the rational choice

Published: April 24, 2017

To examine this week's two boots, Pat employs rational choice theory, arguing that Hali was the rational choice for the first post-merge boot, not because she was a threat, but because she wasn't.

Ep.7: With the merge comes power rankings

Published: April 17, 2017

Pat eschews theory this week, in favor of examining the impact of Zeke's outing (and Varner's ouster) in Ep.7 of Game Changers, and looking ahead at the contestants' relative winning chances, heading into the merge.

Ep.6: The drive to boot Sandra

Published: April 9, 2017

Pat dips into Drive Theory, and argues that in order to please the audience, returnees are driven to target former winners, as seen in Sandra's ouster in Episode 6 ("Vote Early, Vote Often") of Survivor: Game Changers.

Ep.5: To compare or not to compare

Published: April 3, 2017

Pat compares JT's seasons, then delves into Social Comparison theory, in order to explain JT's curious conclusion that he was in a better position than Michaela in Episode 5 ('Dirty Deed') of Survivor: Game Changers.

Ep.4: Producers innovate, but it's unfortunately disruptive

Published: March 28, 2017

Pat applies the theory of disruptive innovation to the Tribal Council twist (and gift idol) in Episode 4 ('The Tables Have Turned') of Survivor: Game Changers, and wonders what industry will be toppled, besides Malcolm's.

Ep.3: Organize differently and boom, different culture

Published: March 17, 2017

Pat looks in depth at organization theory, and how social norms affect Survivor performance after a tribe swap, as in Episode 3 ("Survivor Jackpot") of Survivor: Game Changers.

Eps.1-2: This cast is sure primed for fun

Published: March 10, 2017

Pat looks again at priming theory, and how the host's repetition of the theme is designed to inspire and drive the gameplay on Survivor, this time with Game Changers.

Cast: And the winner? I don't know?

Published: March 2, 2017

Pat tries (again) to pick a winner, after sorting the Game Changers contestants into groups of people whose winning chances are: Likely, Possible, Unlikely, and Impossible.