S31: Terry Deitz

[Whimsy]

Meet Terry Deitz from Survivor: Panama (Season 12), who returns to play on Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance.

 

Terry stood out in a few ways. First, he was big threat to the other castaways on Survivor: Panama. Then there was his rivalry with Aras, plus his Final Immunity challenge loss to Danielle DiLorenzo, which happened after she reneged on her deal. Finally, let's not forget about him winning five individual Immunity challenges in a row. Unfortunately, all those things couldn't bring Terry a final victory and he ended up in third place at the end of the season.

 

Fun fact: Terry was the second castaway to find a Hidden Idol, but only the first to do so on Exile Island.

 

 

Here is your Terry Deitz topic.

[peachmangosteen]

A tweet from Shirin. Wow, Terry. WOW. I always hated him and this just solidifies it. I hope he goes next.

Edited September 24, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[ProfCrash]

Yeah I saw that on Survivor Sucks. I would like confimation that he said that. If he did, that is just fucking rude.

[cooksdelight]

Abi is one of Terry's biggest supporters, during the illness of his son Danny and his subsequent heart transplant. If Terry did say that, she didn't hold it against him.

[ProfCrash]

Good on Abi for letting it go but that doesn't change the fact that it is insanely rude. If it happened. I like to have multiple points of references before I jump on somebody.

[cooksdelight]

Agreed. I hope it was just a joke by Terry.

[NutMeg]

Maybe weird humour from Shirin?

 

I've never liked Terry much, but this still would not seem in character from him to say.

 

Among the reasons I didn't like him in his first season is his thinking he and his tribe were the good guys and that was enough to turn anyone from the other tribe, his being happy to see his tribemates sacrificed one after the other without even trying to use the idol to actually change the dynamics (use as in play at tribal rather than dangle in front on anyone the threat of using it), and - this one is shallow - the way that despite all his challenge wins, he never had the easy grace of some other challenge monsters, that "poetry in motion" that can make me forgive the most obnoxious behaviour from people because it's just mesmerizing watching them perform. (Ozzy was the first example of that for me)  

[KimberStormer]

What'd he say?  Twitter is blocked for me.

[LadyChatts]

I could see that being humor from Shirin.  It seems like a Shirin thing to do.  However, if Terry actually said, just another reason to dislike him.  Though I have a feeling Shirin may now fancy herself some Survivor vigilante and take issue with even the smallest thing someone does that she doesn't like.  I don't like Terry at all, though it is hard to root against him as much as I want to, knowing what his son is going through.  But, taking that out of the equation, I can't stand the guy.  Didn't like him in his original season, his whole "boys club" (plus the worthless Ruth Marie) alliance.  At least he's perceptive enough that he knew his social game was horrible the first time.

[ProfCrash]

Kimber

 

It is a twitter from Shirin that reads "Shirin Oskooi ‏@theshirin: Why we are appalled: Abi was reading treemail & Terry interrupted, "Can somebody who speaks English read it?"" And has a picture of them reading the first clue for the challenge.

[KimberStormer]

Thanks ProfCrash!  That's Terry for you.

[fishcakes]

This is the photo she includes with the tweet.

 

 

Not that Terry isn't prone to saying dumbass things, but that picture doesn't really match what Shirin describes as having happened. Kelley is holding the treemail, not Abi; Kelley and Shirin are looking at Woo, who appears to be speaking; Terry isn't visible, although I assume he's there; and Peih Gee and someone are talking. It doesn't look like a group of people who are disgusted because someone just said something bigoted.

Edited September 24, 2015 by fishcakes

[cooksdelight]

Good assessment, Fishcakes. I think Shirin is blowing something out her something-or-other.

[ByaNose]

Personally, I think Shirrin is a man hater and Terry is probably too alpha male for her. I've always liked Terry. He looked awesome last night building the shelter & talking with everyone. He rocks the salt n pepper hair & scruff. The guy just looks awesome for 55. That said, he's now in the minority in his tribe. I'm afraid the younger people might take him out before a merge unless they can win the next few immunities.

[fishcakes]

I don't think Shirin is a man hater. Her best friends from last season were Max and Mike, and she got along well with Joe. She works and has been really successful at Yahoo, which I would assume, like most tech companies, is male-dominated. And I don't necessarily think she's lying about Terry making the "someone who speaks English" comment; he very well might have said it since he can be pretty tone-deaf. I mean, this is the guy who responded to Aras's accusation of sexism by saying something like, "I treat flight attendants really well!" as all the female pilots and executives at American Airlines no doubt sighed mightily.  I just wanted to post the photo and point out that it doesn't prove he said what Shirin claims because I know that weeks from now this will come up again and someone will say, "but there was a picture of everyone looking shocked when he said it!"

 

I'm pretty neutral on Terry. I don't think he's a douche, but I also don't think he's a particularly good player. I'm willing to have my mind changed on either of those points depending on how the season plays out.

[peachmangosteen]

I don't like Terry at all, though it is hard to root against him as much as I want to, knowing what his son is going through.  But, taking that out of the equation, I can't stand the guy.

 

Oh shit, is his son sick or something? You know what, don't even tell me, because I want to be able to continue hating him without feeling bad about it!

Edited September 24, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[BigRedCheese]

I have a feeling that if he said it, it was probably meant as a joke.

[peachmangosteen]

I really don't care if it was a joke or not. It's still gross. But I will say it being a joke does make sense from what I remember of Terry's personality last time.

Also, it was brought up that maybe Shirin was joking, but she doesn't appear to be. Someone replied to that tweet with 'Did you defend her?' and Shirin said, 'Yep.'

Edited September 24, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[cooksdelight]

Oh shit, is his son sick or something? You know what, don't even tell me, because I want to be able to continue hating him without feeling bad about it!

Peach, his son is recovering from having a heart transplant. He's OK now.

:)

You can feel what you feel, I think his son would probably get a good laugh about it.

[BigRedCheese]

 

I really don't care if it was a joke or not. It's still gross.

 

I agree, but I could see him saying something like that trying to be funny.

[Guest]

I would put it in the 'you had to be there' category.  I doubt it was said with malice, if at all.  He could've said it teasingly and laughed and it was an 'in' joke between him and Abi.  But Abi sure doesn't look like she's reading.  

 

I'm guessing Terry has something to do with Shirin's ousting in her mind now, though.  She bugs me.  Day 2 and she's already stirring up drama about bullies.

 

I never minded Terry.  His comment to Spencer was weird, though.  How could Terry himself not know more about Spencer than his kids?  Did he not watch Cagayan or read any pre-show buzz about his competitors?  Or is he pretending to be clueless as strategy?  

[ByaNose]

I guess Terry's kids could know more of the off the show stuff about Spencer. I would guess Terry knows everything about Spencer in the game but I could be totally wrong. Either way, it doesn't look like Spencer is with Terry at the moment. Hopefully, Terry can rebound. I like both he & Spencer. I want them both to go far. Gotta watch the girls guys. There're up to no good this season. LOL!!!!

[LadyChatts]

If Terry said that, he was wrong, even if it was a joke.  But something doesn't add up with the photo.  Either way, leave it to Shirin to be the one to mention it.  I know someone asked her what their reactions were all about, but she could have made something up.  I feel like she told the (alleged) truth on purpose solely to make him look bad and make herself look like a hero.

 

Looking at Terry and Spencer last night, I don't think Spencer had any intention of wanting to work with Terry.  That seemed more of an "he approached me, I don't need him right now but I'll keep it in my back pocket, but also not put trust in him" reaction from Spencer.  Terry, I'm not surprised he was going for one of the young physical and strategic threats out there.  It does seem like he's trying to possibly improve his social game.  Still don't like him, and if Terry was the next to go, I can't say I'd care.  

[Zuleikha]

I think it's rude of Shirin to put Terry on blast at this time in his life; I don't think she's obligated to protect him either, but she could have gone for a graceful, "I don't feel it's appropriate to speak about this while his son is recovering from a heart transplant." I also would like someone else to confirm that Terry really said that. That said, it would be a weird thing for Shirin to make up and it doesn't matter whether Terry was angry when he said it or delivering it like a joke. Saying "can someone who speaks English read it" to Abi-Maria would still be tacky and an obviously over the line comment. It doesn't magically transform into a funny, okay joke just because Terry didn't think of himself as being rude. 

[kikaha]

Shirin got so offended because some guy threw some insults her way last season.  What she did is far worse -- hitting a guy who is facing the worst tragedy imaginable for any parent.   

[peachmangosteen]

I also would like someone else to confirm that Terry really said that.

 

Me too. I find it kinda odd that no one else has said anything either way about it tbh. I'm sure many of them read Shirin's twitter and have seen that tweet. 

 

I think the most likely scenario is that Terry said it as a joke and Shirin, not knowing much about him or his relationship with Abi, didn't get that and said something. Then I imagine Terry and/or Abi explained it was a joke, but Shirin still didn't appreciate it.

[innocuouspuff]

If my mum had been walking around town back in the day insisting that no one could give her anything but compliments because of her tragically sick kids, I as one of said kids would have been the first person rolling my eyes. If it happened it happened, and imo illness is not a magic immunity idol against questionable behaviour.

[LadyChatts]

If Terry said it (and so far Shirin is the only one saying anything), I don't condone it or even think it was a funny joke.  But I have to roll my eyes that it was Shirin of all people to bring it up.  Like I said, I know she was asked, but it sounded more like she was getting in a dig in at Terry by telling.  Why not just avoid the question or make something up?  Who knows, maybe she's worried she isn't going to get the 'heroine standing up to the bullies' edit this season, so she's taking what she can get.

[Zuleikha]

Why not just avoid the question or make something up?

Because it's not her responsibility to cover for Terry. I do think she should have refused to answer because of Terry's son, but I don't think she was obligated to refuse to answer and I certainly don't think she should have made something up.

 

I think the most likely scenario is that Terry said it as a joke and Shirin, not knowing much about him or his relationship with Abi, didn't get that and said something.

I am not very familiar with Abi-Maria because I didn't watch her season, but nothing shown so far suggests she enjoys being teased about ANYTHING, much less her accent/English speaking ability. It seems more likely to me that Terry said it not realizing that he was saying something insulting and offensive than that he and Abi have a teasing relationship, but I am open to being corrected by those who are more familiar with Abi.

[Guest]

Maybe Shirin is embellishing it.  Maybe he said something like, "Can someone who speaks English more clearly read it?"  

 

And that's another thing they really should've aired, if it had happened like she said.  You know they tape the treemail reading.  It would've made great tv. 

Edited September 25, 2015 by Guest

[Wings]

I think maybe Abi stumbled over the clue and not because she is foreign.  Sometimes we all fumble words when reading something important out loud.  What she read could have changed to meaning of the clue.   There could have been a collective "what?" from the group.  Terry then, in humor, said what was reported.  I can see that happening.  Humor can be easily misunderstood.  AND PC vigilance is over the top and off the cliff these days.  

 

We also know Shirin loves to create some drama and stir a bit of shit.  

Edited September 26, 2015 by wings707

[Zuleikha]

Or Abi-Maria could have read the clue just fine, but Terry went for a cheap shot against someone his alliance already planned to target. And there was a collective "what?" from the group because Terry had just been really rude. That's equally likely.

 

We also know Shirin loves to create some drama and stir a bit of shit.

We don't all know that. I know that Shirin loves to talk about Survivor and Survivor strategy and doesn't always read a room. I didn't see her do anything last season that would be most accurately described as creating drama or stirring shit.

[Wings]

 

Or Abi-Maria could have read the clue just fine, but Terry went for a cheap shot against someone his alliance already planned to target. And there was a collective "what?" from the group because Terry had just been really rude. That's equally likely.

 

 

 

We don't all know that. I know that Shirin loves to talk about Survivor and Survivor strategy and doesn't always read a room. I didn't see her do anything last season that would be most accurately described as creating drama or stirring shit.

 

 

The collective "what?" was my speculation, it did not happen, that we saw.  Just thinking out loud to find a reason he may have been misunderstood. 

 

I saw Shirin promoting the drama last season, with her victim position but that has been discussed to death and MMV on that one.  Two camps saw it differently.  Best left to a past season discussion.  

Edited September 27, 2015 by wings707

[BigRedCheese]

 

I saw Shirin promoting the drama last season,

 

If you mean after the fact, while the show was airing, then yeah, she sort of was, she was using it as a way to bring attention to bullying and abuse, but during the show, while the game was still afoot? Nope, even when Will went off on his bizarre tirade, she tried to say she believed him and leave it at that, but his weird, irrational hatred of her kept him screaming and attacking her (while giving a pass to Mike, a guy that could easily beat him up, and Jenn, who he assured he had no problem with for saying the same things Shirin said). It was a strange situation, casting really screwed up in bringing Will on, they must have ignored something on his psych eval.

 

As far as her tweet about Terry, I would really prefer if they brought back the social media ban during the season, stuff like this is a distraction, plenty of time to talk about stuff like this after the season airs. But that's just me, I don't like social media to begin with.

[Miss Scarlet]

 

I think Shirrin is a man hater

I'm not the biggest Shirin fan, but just FYI women standing up against sexism or abuse is not man-hating. It's bravery. And you can do that while appreciating and having close relationships with many men. 

 

Terry hasn't learned anything from his first time in the game. I don't look forward to watching him this season - he's dull and interchangeable with Savage. 

[LadyChatts]

No one's confirmed whether what Shirin has said is true.  If it is, I think it was in poor taste of Terry to say that, even jokingly.  But I also think it's tacky of Shirin.  I don't know, maybe if anyone other than her said that about the photo I wouldn't have as big of an issue or a had time believing it.  If Will never went off on her, she'd be known as the annoying little half naked sidekick to Max.  And probably not our TV screen for however long she lasts in this game.

 

I agree that they need a social media ban.  I thought they used to?  I guess I get it, though, that if they don't let the cast post and interact with fans, that loses promotion.

[pennben]

From a Redmond episode one column, regarding Shirin's tweet:

 

 

Many people saw this Survivor Second Chance photo released by CBS press for the premiere and wondered why Kelley and Shirin were making such fierce faces. We got some clarification from Shirin’s Twitter, but here’s the full story with a little bonus. Confirmed by several different sources.

Abi was chosen to get treemail and read it for the upcoming immunity challenge. The font used for treemails this season looks to be styled after the alphabet of the Cambodian language, Khmer, and is difficult to read. Abi struggled to figure out some of the words, resulting in Terry saying, “Can somebody who speaks English read it,” assuming she was struggling because she speaks English with an accent. The Brazilian firecracker snapped at Terry, “Fine, you read it then!” And threw the treemail at him. Other tribemates snapped back at Terry saying the font made it difficult to read. This is when Shirin and Kelley glared at Terry. Somebody picked the treemail up off the floor and gave it back to Abi to continue reading it. As she continued on, Terry interrupted again, insisting somebody else with better English read it. Abi again threw the treemail at him. People protested, and more glaring occurred, but this time, Terry kept it and read. “Seventy-five years…um…” He not only got the first word incorrect, he couldn’t read the third one.

 

Also, if you go to the linked site, it shows what the treemail looked like.

[fishcakes]

That treemail does look difficult to read, but again, the description of what happened doesn't match the photo. And Redmond claims that Kelley and Shirin are glaring at Terry, but I would note that he's cropped the picture so you can't see who they're looking at. I posted the same photo upthread without the cropping, taken from Shirin's tweet, and it's clear they're looking at Woo, not Terry.

 

I'm not saying that Terry didn't say it, and I wouldn't be a bit fazed if we got a secret scene over on CBS where we actually see and hear him saying it. But I think it's weird that only Shirin has gone on record claiming it happened even though the entire tribe was there, and I would be more inclined to believe Redmond and his vague "confirmed by several different sources," if he hadn't altered the photo to make it look more damning.

[LanceM]

That treemail does look difficult to read, but again, the description of what happened doesn't match the photo. And Redmond claims that Kelley and Shirin are glaring at Terry, but I would note that he's cropped the picture so you can't see who they're looking at. I posted the same photo upthread without the cropping, taken from Shirin's tweet, and it's clear they're looking at Woo, not Terry.

 

I'm not saying that Terry didn't say it, and I wouldn't be a bit fazed if we got a secret scene over on CBS where we actually see and hear him saying it. But I think it's weird that only Shirin has gone on record claiming it happened even though the entire tribe was there, and I would be more inclined to believe Redmond and his vague "confirmed by several different sources," if he hadn't altered the photo to make it look more damning.

 

I don't think that is clear at all as for we know Terry is standing next to Woo. All we know is that they are glaring at someone off to their right.

[pennben]

I guess I don't need the description of what led to this moment to match perfectly to the photo to believe the story. I assume Shirin and his other sources looked at the photo and realized, "oh, yeah, that was the time we were reading the treemail when Terry was a dick about Abi's English speaking abilities"  thus why they look annoyed in this photo, even if it isn't the precise minute of Terry being a dick. They weren't captioning the photo, just describing why they looked so annoyed in the photo.

Edited September 27, 2015 by pennben

[Wings]

I agree, pennben.  I believe that happened; he was there.  As far as the picture, it sounded like the clue landed in several of their hands and the pic was snapped during the fray. I suspect they all wanted to see it.     That font is ridiculous, I bet they will change it.  It is stupid, really. 

[fishcakes]

I guess I don't need the description of what led to this moment to match perfectly to the photo to believe the story. I assume Shirin and his other sources looked at the photo and realized, "oh, yeah, that was the time we were reading the treemail when Terry was a dick about Abi's English speaking abilities"  thus why they look annoyed in this photo, even if it isn't the precise minute of Terry being a dick. They weren't captioning the photo, just describing why they looked so annoyed in the photo.

 

I agree with this, and for the record, I take no position on whether Terry did or didn't say it mainly because I don't care that much (although I must care some because I keep participating in this conversation), but Redmond's description sounds false to me because it's so oddly specific and detailed, what with the number of times the clue was thrown and picked up and pinpointing the specific moment when Kelley and Shirin first glared at Terry. The fact that he's got all these precise details about what was said and what Terry assumed and in what order everything happened months after the event took place just makes the story sound really bullshitty. And "more glaring occurred." What an odd thing to say. Like, who was keeping track of how many times glaring happened?

 

As for who Kelley and Shirin are looking at, I guess I'll rephrase it and say that it's clear to me that they're looking at Woo. If other people see it differently, I certainly can't refute what anyone else sees.

Edited September 27, 2015 by fishcakes

[LadyChatts]

Redmond's version sounds just like a re-hash of what everyone has been saying.

[Donny Ketchum]

I liked Terry well enough in the early goings of Exile Island.  But as his immunity wins started going to his head and he started showing what a bad player he truly was, the hate started coming in very quickly.

his being happy to see his tribemates sacrificed one after the other without even trying to use the idol to actually change the dynamics (use as in play at tribal rather than dangle in front on anyone the threat of using it)

And what's sad about that whole thing (well . . . for Terry, anyway) is that he could've won the game had he used it right.  The perfect time to use it was to bounce Aras at the Tribal Council that claimed Nick.  All he had to do was play it on him after the votes were read (since this was when the idols could be played after the vote rather than before), Nick would've been safe, and Aras would've been gone.  After that, at F9, he could've swung Bruce or possibly even Cirie to his side, and he has the numbers for the rest of the game, all the way to the win.

 

I still can't for the life of me see why he didn't play it when he could've.  Exile Island might've turned out so much differently if he had.

[BigRedCheese]

 

I still can't for the life of me see why he didn't play it when he could've.

 

The HII was still pretty new at that point, nobody really knew what to do with it, I don't think anyone had even figured out vote splitting yet. I didn't watch that season when it aired, I binge watched it last year, and I liked Terry, maybe because I didn't like Aras and wasn't crazy about Cirie. He wasn't a great player, but the immunity wins were pretty great.

[Donny Ketchum]

The HII was still pretty new at that point, nobody really knew what to do with it, I don't think anyone had even figured out vote splitting yet. I didn't watch that season when it aired, I binge watched it last year, and I liked Terry, maybe because I didn't like Aras and wasn't crazy about Cirie. He wasn't a great player, but the immunity wins were pretty great.

Meh.  Not really, since those were pretty much what he had to depend on due to his stupid gameplay.

[NutMeg]

This may sound silly, but it annoys me that Terry is called Deitz by Jeff this season.

 

Then again, I'm not a fan of random Probst's favs being "upgraded" to last name status.

 

The only way I'd be fine with it is when two contestants have the same first name - but I can't remember him ever going to last names in such a case.

 

ETA:

 

The HII was still pretty new at that point, nobody really knew what to do with it

And that's another reason why I think Terry was not a great player: a strategic player finds a way to use any tool, while a mediocre doesn't see further than what's already been done. I like players to be creative! :-) 

Edited September 28, 2015 by NutMeg

[pennben]

Not just that, but they are both Kell[e]y W, so no way around it.  I'm not sure of the history of Jeff and the 'last name honor', but Terry is Terry, if you will, he's been that for so many years that it seems silly to try to change that up.

[ProfCrash]

OK, so Redmond confirms what Shirin said. Pretty much everyone on the tribe reacted negativly.

 

I think it might have effected Spencer's vote. Spencer saw the reaction to Terry's statement and realized that Vytas and Terry were targets for a variety of reason. He might not want to have been alligned with people who were seen in a negative light and decided to work with Shirin, Kelly Wentworth and PG. That would move Jeff V and lead to the surprise vote.

 

CBS didn't show it because the clue was hard to read or they decided it wasn't that important or they decided they wanted to avoid the negativity of last season and left it out because it was a one off thing.

[BigRedCheese]

 

a strategic player finds a way to use any tool, while a mediocre doesn't see further than what's already been done. I like players to be creative! :-)

 

I hear ya, I just don't think not knowing what the ins and outs of idol play would eventually be while it was still new makes him a bad player. Now, his "hey, I have this idol, and you can take a break from playing the game for a few votes, don't even have to worry about it for a few votes. Yeah, the game you've been dying to play and put your life on hold to come out here to play, you don't have to play it anymore until we have no more use for you and vote you out."  That I can see as proof he's not so good at the strategy part of this game, still, the immunity wins were pretty epic in my book.