Terry vs. Tom - A Closer Look

So we're almost halfway into this Exile Island season, and by now, you've seen it everywhere: "Terry Deitz is definitely the new Tom Westman", or "Terry is Tom version 2.0", or even worse "Tom was just like Terry". What the hell? Why these comparisons? Tom Westman really is the coolest thing out there. With regards to Survivor, Tom as a character was an original. Terry, on the other hand, has been attempting to copy Tom over and over again, and is one of the biggest tools Survivor has ever seen. These two men are nothing alike. And my goal right now is to prove that.

Challenge Performance

This is an easy one to start with. Terry's tribe has lost 3 out of the last 4 Immunity Challenges. Reward Challenges? Quite a few as well. Terry has performed well in a couple of the challenges, namely the nerfball slingshot thing, although those balls were being shot directly to him every time, so I'm still not that impressed. Just because you go first in a line doesn't mean you're carrying your team in the challenges.

Tom, on the other hand, was on a tribe that won every Immunity Challenge. Sure, his team did lose a few Reward Challenges, though I'm sure Tom and his tribemates were much happier with that Immunity Idol each time than a Sewing Kit and a canister of "Extra Cheddar"-flavored Pringles. Now, we haven't even started the Individual Immunity Challenges yet, but it is going to be very difficult for Terry to top Tom's record of 5-for-7 in the individual immunities. Those challenges aren't just "throw this football" or "swim from point A to point B". I'm not sure Terry's realized that yet.

All-in-all, from what we've seen so far, Tom Westman has been the more versatile challenge performer. For Tom, it wasn't just physical strength like it is for Terry. Tom was also adept at puzzles, endurance challenges, problem solving (i.e. the rising water hold-your-breath challenge), eating dead animals, ... basically everything except using a gun. Obviously, we haven't seen the entire Exile Island season to know how Terry does in other types of challenges. But by now, we should have seen Terry doing well in something else besides just always being the "strong guy" who simply carries or catches everything in order for us to be convinced that Terry might be something of a Tom. But, nope. Sorry. Not the case here.

Strategy

Tom adapted to the situation. His strategy of telling Koror "We need to keep the strongest" when it was time for Willard to leave was a consequence of the fact that his tribe had won 4 out of 4 immunities so far. So, why not keep winning more? Keep the numbers, because that's what's working for you. Tom also had numbers so that, if Koror was losing members, he could maybe get people like Coby out sooner. Above all, Tom had an alliance of 5 and didn't start voting off members of that alliance until absolutely necessary. Then he saved his core of 3 players for the very end.

Terry, meanwhile... first of all, where the hell did he come up with an all-male alliance? Where's the sense in that? This only proves how dull Terry is as a person (more on that later). But the thing is, Terry votes off Dan after making a sub-pact with him. Why? Because, of course, Terry needs to copy Tom with a "We need to keep the strongest" strategy. Terry, you're a moron. Keeping the strongest isn't a priority when A.) the merge is right around the corner, B.) your tribe is losing a lot of the challenges, and C.) you have the numbers anyways. Don't use an old strategy. ADAPT, goddammit. Keep Dan around for loyalty and break up Nick and Austin. You control them anyways.

Tom clearly wins on strategy. And I can't wait to see Terry waste his hidden immunity idol. He has so much bargaining potential with it and I'm sure Terry will use it the wrong way anyhow.

Personality

In confessionals and around camp, Tom had a personality. Tom was funny and maybe even a little sarcastic. I'm sure Tom was more of a joker than we even saw. Tom's alliance held together primarily because they probably got along so well around camp. His confessionals had depth and emotion. We saw a human side to him when he went into panic mode before some of the votes, when we watched him get a little homesick, and when he reached out to people (i.e. Janu). All of these things allowed us to see Tom Westman for who he is.

But Terry? Pfffft. He's using recycled Tom Westman lines over and over (i.e. "ace-in-the-hole"). Terry only belts out lame catch phrases from cheesy 80's movies at challenges, like "Radical" and "Tubular". And camp life? Oh man, that stuff puts me to sleep. Terry's confessionals are just awful, something along the lines of:

Terry (confessional): "Well today we're um just figuring out um what to do for today. You know. I think we're gonna eat later on today. And then go to sleep."

No facial expression. No personality. Nothing to like. I'd rather watch paint dry.

Social Skills

Survivor is a very social game. It comes into play with alliances, pecking order, Final 2 jury votes, everything. Tom Westman interacted with his tribe. Constantly. I think Tom is rarely given credit for his social domination of his season: knowing what to say, when to say it, how to say it, and how to completely mess with people's minds when he needed them to help him. This, I think, is where Tom won his season. Not just the physical.

Terry, however, is only presented to us in the form of "physically strong survivalist". We've seen no social dimension, however, to Terry's character. Nothing. At La Mina, he just kinda sits there under the tent and says "Good morning everyone." And that's it. He doesn't interact with people, and if he does, this isn't being shown to us. To the remaining members of La Mina, Terry is just their boring Dad who just sits there in the rocking chair reading the Wall Street Journal, saying "Finish your broccoli, then go clean your room." Nothing else. This lack of socialization doesn't bode well for Terry in the long run.

You see, Tom has something called "social intelligence". Terry doesn't. To understand what I'm referring to, go to Terry's CBS biography page favorites. Don't you think it's a bad idea to tell an audience of 20+ million people that you swing a certain way on the political scale if you're trying to get people to like you? Okay, just for the record, I'm Republican like Terry, too. So it's not that I don't like him over political differences. I just don't like the fact that Terry makes this an issue when it doesn't have to be. I generally don't like people who bring crap like that up. It's trivial. And by the way, a majority of my friends are not Republican. It isn't an issue.

As for Tom, we don't know what side he leans toward (if any at all). But do I care? Absolutely not, I like and respect Tom either way. You wanna know why? Because Tom doesn't make politics an issue. And he doesn't need to.

There you have it, folks. Social intelligence. Example 1 of approximately 50,000.

Attire

Tom was instructed to wear clothes he would wear to work. Thus, a firefighter shirt and a bathing suit under his pants - practical, and the bathing suit idea was clever.

But then along comes Terry, who has to take the plagiarism game to a whole new level and has come onto the show wearing the exact same bathing suit as Tom wore, just red instead of blue. Gimme a break. As for his other clothing selections, Terry appears to have dressed up as though he was told on Day 1 that he was going to the Olive Garden for lunch. Making things even worse, Terry exponentially raises his doucheness factor every time he pops his collar.

Leadership

Tom was the leader of his tribe, well at least this is what CBS kept trying to show us, in order to add to his story. I agree Tom was a leader, but there were several instances where we saw Tom slyly try to pass off the leadership role onto someone else (i.e. Gregg and/or Ian). Tom Westman didn't hop onto the beach on Day 1 saying "Everybody come over here and look at me, I'm the leader." He's smarter than that. On Koror, it just, well... probably just kinda happened. Tom probably didn't want to be the out front leader. Most of the people in real life who make the best leaders often want to do anything but lead. There must have been some need for it, so with his early success in challenges, the tribe rallied around Tom and respected his ideas and opinions. Granted, he didn't always have everyone's approval on everything. But good leaders rarely get everyone to agree with them. And besides, Coby was just a pain in the asss anyways.

Now Terry: "Hey everyone, I'm the leader, look at me." Either that, or everyone on LaMina is spineless and is afraid to take any sort of power position. But it's obvious Terry went with the intention of leading because, well, that's what Tom Westman did. Is that why all those casual watchers keep saying "Oh Terry's such a strong leader like Tom." And sorry, Terry, but how great of a leader are you when your tribe is now down in numbers because you've lost so many challenges?

Leader, my asss.

In Real Life

Tom Westman was a firefighter. He willingly put himself into a profession where he would actually have to save lives for a living. That's big. That's selfless. Many attach the label of "hero" to people who are drawn into jobs like this. And I agree (especially considering some recent events...). Now the extent to which you describe someone as a hero is open to interpretation. But at the bare minimum, someone who spends 20 years doing this deserves some credit.

Terry. Navy Fighter Pilot. I'm not gonna play it off like it's nothing. I'm sure you have to work hard to get good at that and clearly joining military service requires some sort of self-sacrifice. But labeling Terry as a hero? You've got to be kidding me.

This is where the difference lies. Compare the 2 CBS Biographies. Tom's is simple and gets to the point. It tells us what he did. Terry's, however, just reeks of self-entitlement. I don't think 20 million people care about all 26 different aircraft types you've flown, Terry. While Tom's biography says "This is who I am, in a nutshell", Terry's biography reeks of "Aren't I awesome?".

Humility, Terry. Try it sometime.

Why Terry Can't / Won't Win

Too many reasons to list here. Most of them are scattered throughout the sections above. Simply put, Terry has no story to tell, other than finding an immunity idol and just kinda being in charge of the tribe. Zero shreds of personality. No social interactions. Just strategy confessionals and starting fires. Terry Deitz, those things alone do not win you $1 million in a game of Survivor.

I'm not sure how Terry's being edited yet, at least in terms of how he'll finish. Maybe he's getting a 7th place edit? (They've been getting positive edits lately: Steph, Gary). One thing's for sure though, winners always get a somewhat balanced edit, in order to give the viewers a full picture of who the player is, both good and bad. With Tom, we saw some animosity directed toward him from tribemates, even if subtle. We got to see Tom as someone fallible at times.

Terry, however, is being handed a "hero" edit, while Tom outright earned his "hero" edit. Big difference. With Terry, it's a blatant attempt by CBS to shove him down our throats and tell us "He has gray hair, he flies planes, respect him!"

I don't like you, Terry, because you're just plain arrogant. You made matters worse by repeatedly copying Tom and attempting to be like him. You're done. At least we can rest easy because you just have no chance at winning this game. Personally, I will have a 6-pack of the finest beer, Guinness, nectar of the Gods, waiting for me in my fridge once you're stripped of that idol. It will be there in anticipation of the night you get voted out of the game. And I will celebrate like a madman when it happens.

There. Story's done.

And just in case you didn't know everything about Tom Westman, read below.....

Did You Know .... ?

Tom Westman can speak Braille.

Water boils faster when Tom Westman watches it.

Tom Westman can divide by zero.

Tom Westman puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".

Tom Westman uses all 7 letters in Scrabble... Every turn.

Tom Westman can slam revolving doors.

Tom Westman counted to infinity... Twice.

Tom Westman always gets Blackjack. Even when he's playing poker.

If at first you don't succeed, you are obviously NOT Tom Westman.

So tell me, how many of those things can Terry do?