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Inside Tribal Council
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Throughout my stay in Gabon, I knew I would be allowed to attend the show’s opening, witness both immunity challenges, and visit the individual camps. However, we were told that the press isn’t allowed at Tribal Council. With this being the age of the Internet, and knowing that keeping anything a secret is next to impossible, we all understood.
However, on our last night we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the producers had decided to let us tag along. I guess they got sick and tired of my begging.
What follows is my account of the first Tribal Council (the one where Michelle got the boot).
First of all, the set is huge and impressive. With massive hills on every side, the production team did an amazing job lighting the surrounding landscape to create an almost eerie atmosphere.
We were seated behind the set with earpieces and a monitor to make sure we didn’t miss any of the action. Host Jeff Probst welcomed the Fang (rhymes with “thong”) tribe in and asked them to dip their torches in the fire, because fire equals life and all that jazz.
With their torches lit, the tribe took their seats on individual stumps that are intentionally designed to be uncomfortable. That’s just mean.
I didn’t appreciate how mean that was until I realized that the five or so minutes of Tribal Council we’re used to seeing on TV has been whittled down from about two hours worth of discussion.
To start off, Probst tried to get the Fang tribe to discuss how poorly they had been performing. Interestingly, the tribe held up a unified front, refusing to admit that they were the weaker tribe. Especially interesting was the level of distrust they showed toward Probst. It was as if they thought Jeff was just trying to get clips of them arguing to make for a better show. Honestly, I thought that’s what he was doing, too.
Jeff kept pressing on, going so far as to mention the press trial run of the immunity challenge. Now, I wasn’t allowed to have a recording device there, but here’s a rough estimation of what was said…
“We had members of the press run the immunity challenge to give them a taste for how hard it is. And they would have kicked you’re !@#es. A bunch of out-of-shape, overweight journalists who spend their days behind a typewriter.”
My first instinct was, “Yeah, we’d win!” The second being, “Wait, out-of-shape?” And the final instinct being, “Jeff Probst thinks I use a typewriter?”
Unfortunately for Jeff, even that humbling admission wasn’t enough to get Fang to crack. The tribe continued with its assertion that everything was OK, with Dan especially taking the lead. Dan talked his way in circles around every question, never giving a concrete answer.
Jeff kept saying he was the tribe’s only advocate on the show. Nobody else was going to help them but him, and if they didn’t start to turn things around, they’d be wiped out. This seemed to get the group talking, admitting mistakes, and working through some of their problems. It was almost like a family counseling session.
Eventually, Jeff moved onto the topic of the tribe needing a leader. This pretty much went the way you saw it on TV with nobody wanting to step forward. Except, once it had been decided that G-C would be the leader, Jeff asked Dan if he was cool with G-C leading the tribe. Dan responded that he’s happy to have G-C as the leader of the tribe, as long as G-C listens to everything he says. This was met by a round of “Oooooo”s from the rest of the tribe as it was clear that Dan was disappointed in not being nominated for the leader role.
Fun Fact: Jeff knows absolutely everything that’s going on in the camps and isn’t afraid to use it at Tribal Council. There are cameras at the camps 24 hours a day. Basically, being at “Survivor” base camp is like being in high school and the 18 contestants are, like, the most popular kids. At breakfast every morning it’s like, “Did you hear what Corinne did?”
One thing that was left on the cutting-room floor that I found shocking was Michelle talking about how cold she was. She said she was freezing, but everyone else was fine because they had body fat. Maybe it’s for the best for her that that stayed out of the show.
Another interesting note was how Randy was on his best behavior. The cutting wit you hear in his testimonials is nowhere to be found when his tribemates are within earshot.
When it was time to vote, Jeff walked up to the voting hut and gave the players a few pointers. He demonstrated how quietly you had to speak during your testimonial so as not to be heard by the other tribe members. He also let it be known not to make big gestures while writing as some players had learned how to distinguish who was being voted for by the arm movements.
Then it was time to vote. One part that didn’t make the broadcast was Dan saying how Michelle had betrayed his trust. I hadn’t heard anything about that, and it obviously wasn’t used in the broadcast.
From there, Probst took the votes and went to talk to the producers. I was told that usually they take a while to figure out the most dramatic order for reading the votes, but I guess there isn’t much drama to be found during a unanimous decision, so he wasn’t gone that long.
The votes were read, Michelle was booted, and that was the first Tribal Council.
Click Here to Comment! What do you think of this season? Who's your early favorite? Where do you want to see "Survivor" go in the future?
Message Edited by Gordon_Holmes on 10-02-2008 03:36 PM
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