It is smart play if you are trying to survive on the floor alone. There's no reason to challenge Brian and win if you are not even assured $20K. Everyone is afraid to defend a large territory(the $20K one) for even a few duels unless you have something you are confident defendin. The floor is not a group sport. They want to let someone next to Brian take him out or if people have categories they like, they are trying to stop Brian from getting a boost the next time he chooses to play on.
The entire floor "technically" benefits if there is not once huge piece of land in a weird way but idk this isn't fleshed out idea yet.
For the floor as a whole, I think the floor is maybe trying to get to the point of "everyone can be randomized" again because everyone that goes back with 2 or 3 squares is safe for a certain number of episodes. They are trying to avoid "to win 20k, you must go through x"
Clint has a very safe wall of territory in front of him and he's gonna be here a lot longer.
"You're just paying brian" - Calrione(Boy Bands) guy
The floor: We're not doing this for you calrione. Everyone is fighting for themselves. They're not fighting for you or to take out brian. Everyone wants to take out brian, but no one voultneered to be the sacrafical lamb and there's never a guarantee that sacrafical lamb will even take him out.
Basically, everyone's chicken, but being a chicken keeps them in the game.
Not if there are still more than 3 duels left.