S33: Zeke Smith

[Rachel RSL]

He's extremely well-spoken. He would have aced the final TC.

[ljenkins782]

16 hours ago, Rachel RSL said:

He's extremely well-spoken. He would have aced the final TC.

Definitely a good speaker, though I'm on the fence about his massive overuse of the word "right." Particularly in the scene that waving feather is referring to, he's talking to a camera but constantly saying 'right' as if someone's going to respond. "I thought I would be pretty good at this game, right?" "You'd think I wouldn't trust him, right?" etc. 

It's something you typically do to engage the other participant in the conversation, but when there isn't one, it really stands out. He's an interesting enough speaker that it doesn't completely bother me though.

[Maverick]

 Well, Zeke's swelled head still has shrink.  Does he think he's auditioning to replace Peachy?

[ElleryAnne]

Maybe it's because he seemed so dismissive of Ken, but Zeke came across as so obnoxious and full of himself in FTC. 

[enlightenedbum]

Such a wanky question.  Shut up Zeke.  And I still liked him when he went out.

[Jextella]

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 8:55 PM, ElleryAnne said:

Maybe it's because he seemed so dismissive of Ken, but Zeke came across as so obnoxious and full of himself in FTC. 

Zeke's dismissiveness of Ken was one of the few "ugly/aggressive" remarks the entire season.   I thought it was interesting during the finale when Jeff asked Zeke about something not related to game play, Zeke used the opportunity to make sure we all new he convinced 4 people he'd previously worked against to go to rocks.  I get the sense that Zeke wants to get more credit for his gameplay than he's been getting and is a little bitter about it.  I like Zeke, but these two things tarnished things up a smidge.

Chris giving credit to Adam for Ken's decision to get rid of Dave was also kind of ugly.  I hoped for better from Zeke.  My hopes/expectations for Chris weren't as high.  I'm glad Ken called Chris out.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Jextella

[kikaha]

Zeke got less interesting to me after the merge.  Before then he was playing relatively UTR, making good relationships, doing well in challenges but not outstanding, quietly getting his way without the others seeing him as a big threat.  He was one of my favorites.

That all changed after merge.  He took on more of a public power position, and I feel the power got to his head a bit.  In just several days he went from subtle to the #1 threat out there.  So while I pulled for him earlier, when he got booted I wasn't sorry at all.

I felt his FTC question had nothing to do with the game they just played, but rather an intellectual attempt to write Survivor history, before it even happened.  Blechh...

[peachmangosteen]

I agree @kikaha.

Spoiler

And that's why I fear Zeke will be insufferable next season. I think he's really bought into the hype and thinks he's a much better player than he actually is, which is likely to make him someone I hate this time around.

[Jextella]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 10:36 AM, kikaha said:

Zeke got less interesting to me after the merge.  Before then he was playing relatively UTR, making good relationships, doing well in challenges but not outstanding, quietly getting his way without the others seeing him as a big threat.  He was one of my favorites.

That all changed after merge.  He took on more of a public power position, and I feel the power got to his head a bit.  In just several days he went from subtle to the #1 threat out there.  So while I pulled for him earlier, when he got booted I wasn't sorry at all.

I felt his FTC question had nothing to do with the game they just played, but rather an intellectual attempt to write Survivor history, before it even happened.  Blechh...

I know some of the blindsides Adam was hoping for didn't work about, but dayum, the boy was nimble.  He adapted as needed at each turn.  Seriously.  This was a great cat and mouse/chess game between a large number of players.

Anyway, I recall a scene in which Adam says he was playing too strong and boldly and that it would be good to lay low for a bit.  If I recall correctly, I think this is around the time Zeke acknowledged he was playing an aggressive and visible game.  While Adam realized this could be a detriment, Zeke didn't seem to worry too much.  I'm not sure it was arrogance but more riding an exciting wave.  Regardless, his strong gameplay was ultimately his downfall.

I think Adam played a really good game for a lot of reasons - but one of the big ones is that he was cognizant of peoples' perceptions and he played to them - and he was successful at it. 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Jextella