One mistake can lead to disaster in the unique storm for Daniel to deal with, both of which were only a few of the challenges the castaway faced along the way.
Daniel experienced a rough introduction to the game from the very start. Daniel's physical game was jeopardized after he immediately dislocated his shoulder in the first challenge. Then, Vati tribe quickly paid the price of playing a daring game, with two being unable to vote due to the beware advantage and Chanelle risking her vote to gain an extra vote during a summit (which did not go in her favor.) Initially forming what seemed like strong alliances with Chanelle and Mike, progress plummeted for Daniel after an explosive tribal council during the third episode. After a tie occurred twice between Jenny and Lydia, Daniel immediately asserted that he didn’t want to draw rocks and become vulnerable to elimination. Daniel's persistence opened the door to tribal manipulations and his ultimate demise.
In an interview with I ever made in all of Survivor.”
Castaways need to enter tribal councils with a strong awareness of the vote, and Daniel had no clue how horribly the vote would go. “I can go back and watch the tape. I'm sure I made other terrible reads," Daniel explains. "That was catastrophically wrong. Cause the very first thing that happened when I try to go to Chanelle and go to Mike, they both run for the hills.” Getting little pulse from Chanelle and Mike, Daniel ultimately decided to switch his vote to Jenny to avoid drawing rocks. The choice caused him to immediately lose the trust of his tribe . Trust is valuable currency in the Survivor game, so Daniel knew it was only a matter of time before his time on the island was over.
No one wants to leave the Survivor game for something as trivial as drawing the wrong rock, which Daniel made adamantly clear during his second to last tribal council. But when playing Survivor, sometimes castaways need to take risks to avoid being manipulated, which was, unfortunately, the case for Daniel. Despite his articulate and tactical personality, Daniel suffered through a particularly difficult physical and social game in his last two episodes. Proving that the new era of Survivor creates an exciting new set of challenges, Daniel is but one gleaming example of how quickly one tribal council can jeopardize a castaway’s chances of winning Survivor.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
Source: EW