So, a couple weeks ago we talked about stereotyping. That was fun, right? Well, after a week away, I’m back and I still want to talk about stereotyping, sort of.

 

Last time, we discussed the cognitive process that happens in the brain when people stereotype others. In that case, I believe, Reem was older than everyone else, so she was stereotyped as old, motherly, etc. It led to her downfall.

 

This week, I think we saw something similar with Wendy. That’s why we’re going to talk about the phenomenon of stacking. We usually talk about stacking in relation to sports, but since Survivor is basically a sport, I think it works.

 

OK, so what is stacking? Stacking is a concept that describes why there is an over- or underrepresentation of a particular race or ethnicity in a sport or specific position based on stereotypical beliefs. If you’re interested in a study that talks about this, maybe check out this one by Daniel Buffington and Todd Fraley, or one I co-authored. In general, though, stacking studies ask participants to place athletes of different races into categories based on the sport or position they play. Basically, one potential study could be me giving you a poster with blank squares that underneath give positions in football. Then, I give you a set of cards with pictures of anonymous football players on them and ask you to put cards in specific squares. Most stacking studies show that people will, for example, put white players in the quarterback or left tackle or center squares and black players in the wide receiver or running back squares.

 

Does that make sense? That’s racial stacking and it’s essentially a way that stereotyping happens.

 

Well, that’s what I think we’ve seen Manu do with both Reem and Wendy. Both of these castaways actually look pretty good in challenges, but they don’t look like they should be good in challenges, so we hear folks like the Wardog consistently talk about how they’re not strong. That’s BS.

 

 

Now, with that said, can I talk a little about Wendy? While she’s probably a very good person outside of the game, I’m really not digging her as a player. Basically everything she does is counter-intuitive to winning this game. I don’t care if some of it makes her a better person in real life — although the hypercritical stuff with the chicken is not a good look — I want my Survivor players trying to win. She is not doing that at all. Even when players make dumb decisions, that’s OK if they’re decisions aimed at winning. Wendy does not want to win. She wants screen time.

 

If Manu was smart, Wendy was the move this week. And it’s not because she’s not great athletically, because she’s really good. The reason is, as Wardog actually noted in episode one (sort of), this is not a person to ever align with. She’s not someone who will consistently vote with an alliance. Again, she doesn’t want to win, which means she’s not playing rationally. Good players remove wild cards. Good players don’t target someone like Chris when he’s bringing you consistent information, when he trusts you.

 

Does this make sense? I know it’s weird I’m not talking about Chris this week, but we barely got to know him and he made some obvious boneheaded moves. There’s really nothing to say.

 

And that’s the case with most of this season so far. It’s not been good and we don’t know who many of these folks even are at this point. What we do know is the tribe keeps targeting “weak” players who aren’t actually weak, they just look weak (stacking). We know Manu probably couldn’t win an immunity challenge if it was their whole team against just Joe. And we know Wendy is a bad Survivor player who should have gone home week one.

 

That’s all I got. Let’s just hope this season gets better, but, in the meantime, let’s talk about the remaining, non-Extinction players:

 

Manu

 

• Rick: So far, I really like Rick’s game. He’s done a really good job of making himself the fulcrum between numerous groups of people. However, I have a middling feeling for Rick. He, to me, screams the type of castaway who gets to about top seven and no further.

 

• David: I’m not really sure about David’s play so far. First, in general, I’m not sure why he wants to target Kelley so bad. Second, if he does need to target Kelley, he’s got to just do it. This kind of half-assing for two episodes doesn’t make any sense to me.

 

• Wendy: I’ve talked enough about Wendy. She can’t win.

 

• Lauren: A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how Lauren seems to have a lot going for her in that she’s already proven she can find an idol and she’s super athletic. I still haven’t seen anything, though, that makes me think she can take the lead on a Big Move™.

 

• Kelley: It’s weird in that out of all the returning players, I think Joe is the only one who’s improving my opinion of himself. Kelley is basically the same person as always, just with a bigger target on her back. She’s been a potential vote off two episodes straight and seems to have only two allies.

 

• Dan: OK, so I get the idea of the meat shield, but I really think Wardog made a bad move this week. Eliminating Chris helped Kelley and only Kelley. That was not at all good. But I guess when you nickname yourself Wardog, I probably shouldn’t trust your instincts.

 

Kama

 

• Joe: I still don’t think he can win, but Joe really does surprise week in and week out. He’s been better strategically than I thought and, of course, he’s the greatest challenge person we’ve literally ever seen. If this group lets this dude make the merge, shame on them.

 

• Victoria: Oh, Victoria. I didn’t get to talk about you after episode two, but your conversation that essentially amounted to being too lazy to look for an idol was not a good look. And talking strategy about Joe, in front of Joe, not good. I do, though, think she’s been pretty funny sometimes, so I’m hoping for a turnaround.

 

• Aubry: Good for Aubry with the idol. I also think nobody is helped by the upcoming tribe swap more than Aubry. I think if Kama lost, she was going home, so this a good thing.

 

• Ron: I have to say, I kind of thought Ron would be a camera hog this season, doing many things just for screen time. And maybe that’s happening, but we’re not seeing it. And, let me emphatically say: I am happy about this.

 

• Julia: I only know who Julia is since she’s on my fantasy team. That’s it.

 

• Eric: My Winner Pick™ keeps impressing me. It could all — and probably will — go bad any episode now, but Eric seems to know how to blend in, while still doing things that make him look good. If that makes any sense....

 

• Aurora: OK, can I just say that if you told me the Kama tribe would be all newbies against returning players, but only one newbie aligned with the returnees, Aurora would have been my literal last guess.

 

• Julie: I’m not sure if I’ve asked this before: What kind of toys does Julie make? Answer the question, Julie.

 

• Gavin: If only Survivor producerswould plan an individual immunity challenge around playing Fortnite. If only.

 

OK, that’s all I got. Let’s talk next week.