WOW, where do I start?

First off, anyone who plays the game with complete and total confidence that they'll never get voted off is an idiot. So from that standpoint you always have to be looking over your shoulder in Survivor...now if you want to regard that as "fear" that's your call.

Secondly, I'm 99.9999% sure when Troy was talking about "playing in fear" he wasn't referring to being the first one voted off this season or first off your tribe. At the inception of the game when you have no idea who or what everyone is, it's only natural to be cautious and reserved. Actually when it's tribe vs. tribe the dynamics is much different than the "every player for themselves" concept post-merge.

But now that we're perfectly clear what I mean, I'll answer how it was different for Troy. Troy's PRIMARY objective was to WIN--first and foremost. And that's how he played the game. Being stuck on the Manono tribe on Day One did him no favors. Yes his "personality conflict" with Michael was well-documented, but it was Matt, not Mike, spearheading the Frat Pack alliance. An alliance pretty obvious in my mind Matt was purposely targeting the YOUNG men for "membership." So this leaves 51-year old Troy to go with the band of Misfits...Marvelous! If I were him I'd bide my time early on as well.

It's no wonder he jumps at the opportunity to align with Kim...the first "normal" person he met and shares the same primary purpose to win as he does. Unfortunately for him it was also the same person who wouldn't think twice lying to an alliance mate, but hey, at some point in the game you need to take a chance and try to trust someone and hope for the best.

That being said, I disagree with you comment that Troy "coasted" along before he realized he was next on the block (after Mike's boot.) He competed at a high level even before he realized Kim lied to alliance mates Troy and Jay. Fact of the matter he wins the very first individual IC even when he was NOT "next on the block." That's not "coasting" in MY book.

As for Troy ignoring Jonas' plea to get back together, I'm assuming you're talking post-merge. If you are...forget about it. Jonas' blowup with Tarzan IMMEDIATELY after the merge killed that approach. Tarzan's writing down Jonas' name at TC. And even with all the talk about a possible Christina flip, all that does is cancel Tarzan's flip for a 6-6 tie. Although rare instances exist where forcing a tie is not a bad idea strategically, I would never consider it with TWELVE players remaining in the game.

The F4 IC was WAAAAAY too late for Christina to put herself in a position to WIN. She, along with several others, blew their opportunites long before F4 because they were SO fixated on their primary objective to just "live for just another day."