Hall of Fame Moment – Survivor: Micronesia’s Amanda Shows Everybody How to Use the Hidden Immunity Idol

On reality TV, it seems that Hall of Shame Moments are a lot more frequent than Hall of Fame Moments. But sometimes, a moment just leaps out and absolutely demands that it be recognized – there can be no doubt, no debate.

Amanda’s use of the hidden immunity idol on Survivor: Micronesia is exactly that sort of moment. As soon as it happened and the show ended, e-mails began coming in to nominate her – but really, I had already determined that she was getting recognized. Hall of Fame voters quickly confirmed it.

To recap, Erik had won immunity, meaning the women of the tribe would have to turn on themselves before they had originally planned. Amanda, apparently sensing danger, had previously volunteered to go to Exile Island. When she was there, she followed the clues and found out that the immunity idol was hidden back at the tribe’s camp.

It turned out that this was a blessing. She knew that Natalie had previously dug through Jason’s belongings to find out that he had the immunity idol. So when Amanda returned to camp, she dumped out all her belongings in a big show to prove she didn’t have the idol. And she didn’t! Yet. She came up with a story explaining why she hadn’t been able to get to third clue, and it seemed completely plausible – she did an excellent job selling it.

Then Amanda went about discovering what her position in the tribe was like. It was a grim situation, as player after player told her they were voting against her. She tried to convince them otherwise, even playing the guilt card against Erik because she had saved him previously. Nothing worked, but it really didn’t matter. And she even slyly figured out where Cirie stood for later in the game by not only asking how she was voting this time, but what she would do if the situation changed.

Amanda put on a sad face and convinced everybody she was upset that she would be going home (well, almost everybody – we’ll get to that in a bit). Apparently, we didn’t even see the half of it. In my interview with Alexis, she talked about a conversation we weren’t shown:

What you don’t see if she was bawling to me earlier and I was feeling so bad. I said, “I won’t lie to you, I am voting for you.” My fault. I spent the whole day feeling terrible about it. She’s like, “No, I understand.”

Just to be sure, Amanda carried that acting job all the way through Tribal Council. She played up that she was resigned to going home, that she was depressed, that she would soon be on the jury. Even as some people were still voting, she looked over to the jury and gave a motion indicating she was doomed.

Alexis described Amanda’s acting job by telling me, “She played it perfectly. It was an absolute blindside.” She added, “Even watching it [on TV], I’d have fallen for it again.”

Of course, Amanda couldn’t have done this all without Parvati, so she perhaps deserves an honorable mention here. Amanda needed somebody to make sure the others were distracted while she dug for the idol. Parvati filled that role and also acted out her bit part in the drama of Amanda’s supposed eviction from the game.

But it really is Amanda who did the work that is being recognized here. She not only played the idol, but she first was smart enough to learn where she stood with everybody, gathering intelligence that not only helped her with this one situation, but could help her make it to the end of the game. It may even help her in front of the jury, as they were obviously shocked and amused at what happened. Jurors generally want to see finalists do something to make them worthy of a vote. Amanda might have just done the something she needs for a vote in the finale. As of this writing, of course, we don’t know if she’ll make it that far, but even if she doesn’t, it was a good showing in front of the jurors.

What we saw in this episode was a moment that I believe we will remember for as long as Survivor is around – and probably beyond that. After two miserable weeks of the idol-holders being voted out without using it, Amanda showed them – and everybody else – how it should be done. For her amazing and convincing play, Amanda is being recognized with this Reality TV Hall of Fame Moment.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Micronesia articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Fame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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