S37: Pat Cusack

[Netta Leven]

Hi.  I'm a fan of Richard Hatch and Cochran, which tells you all there is to know about me.

Yeah. . . . Not much to grasp from this one.  He could go either way -- early or far for not being too much of a threat.

[SVNBob]

On 9/6/2018 at 5:44 PM, Netta Leven said:

He could go either way -- early

This was the way, albeit in an unexpected way.  At least he got a Survivor first out of it...

In seriousness, from the articles I've read, it seems like Pat had some weakened discs in his spinal column, which is apparently a common affliction for people in his line of work.  As speculated in the episode thread, his acrobatics while wielding an axe probably aggravated things, as did the first part of the IC, when he and John got into a tussle.  And probably the descent down the net too.  But it was the heavy slam on the boat that was the final stroke.

The final title card from the episode said that Pat did make a full recovery, but the articles said that he was well enough to get released from the hospital in time to join the rest of the pre-jury on the traditional excursion as they leave Ponderosa before the jury can check in.

Also from the articles, Pat revealed that while he was in the hospital the next day, he got a phone call from Peachy checking in on him that went on for about half an hour or so.  Which he didn't have to take the time out of his work schedule to do.  Peachy's still a good guy, even if his taste in winners and seasons leaves something to be desired.

[Neveragain]

That was terrible, I hope they bring him back.  I just hate when someone who has a hard life loses the one lucky break they may ever have.  And he was so useful and helpful and quite articulate too and hopefully he comes back to play again and goes a long way 

[LadyChatts]

I wonder if Pat would have survived the first vote.  It seemed like his bossiness was rubbing people the wrong way.  However he was strong and a hard worker, so that was going in his favor.  I am curious how the vote would have gone if he hadn't been medevaced. 

I do hope he gets a chance to play again.  I pity anyone that goes out via medevac, even those I don't like.  Especially as in most cases, it seems the contestants are fine within hours are a day or two.  And to go out first like that really has to sting even more.

[Nashville]

57 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

I wonder if Pat would have survived the first vote.  It seemed like his bossiness was rubbing people the wrong way.  However he was strong and a hard worker, so that was going in his favor.  I am curious how the vote would have gone if he hadn't been medevaced. 

I do hope he gets a chance to play again.  I pity anyone that goes out via medevac, even those I don't like.  Especially as in most cases, it seems the contestants are fine within hours are a day or two.  And to go out first like that really has to sting even more.

I expect Pat would’ve survived the first vote.  From all appearances Pat’s bossiness ceased with the completion of the shelter’s construction, and everybody seemed pretty damn appreciative of the result.  Pat also appeared to have the most brute force strength of any David, so I doubt the tribe would sacrifice his potential benefit in future comps.

[simplyme]

1 hour ago, Nashville said:

I expect Pat would’ve survived the first vote.  From all appearances Pat’s bossiness ceased with the completion of the shelter’s construction, and everybody seemed pretty damn appreciative of the result.  Pat also appeared to have the most brute force strength of any David, so I doubt the tribe would sacrifice his potential benefit in future comps.

I agree. As @Tasha Brand said, the editing seemed to suggest Nick was being eyed by several people, and according to Josh Wigler, Pat believes Nick would have gone home. (Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-david-goliath-season-premiere-explained-1147071 Quote: "For his part, Pat insists that public defender Nick Wilson would have been voted out at the David tribe's first Tribal Council, if not for the medical emergency; the events as depicted in the season premiere seem to back that claim.")

Before they came back from commercial to the medevac scene, I was expecting it to come down to Nick and maybe Carl, but I wasn't really worried about Pat.

Of course, that doesn't mean it would have gone that way, but it looked and felt to me like that's the way it was headed unless someone did something really dumb or really brilliant. Instead we got some interference from Tropical Cyclone Josie. What a bitch.

[ByaNose]

That was one of the most unusual episodes of Survivor I’ve ever seen. Even, with Skupin you saw him in the aftermath of falling the fire. They were showing the huge waves and I thought it was another cyclone and they were being evacuated.  Then you see the medical team and the stretcher. I was like WTH is this? It was a horrible way to go out. Especially, since it was all off camera, I guess they’ll need to start installing Go Pros on the boats. 

[Nashville]

5 hours ago, simplyme said:

Before they came back from commercial to the medevac scene, I was expecting it to come down to Nick and maybe Carl, but I wasn't really worried about Pat.

This was my expectation as well, depending upon how the back-at-camp discussions went - particularly with regards to how well/badly Carl handled any critique of his degree of responsibility in the loss.  The impression I got (which may have been 95% editing room magic) was the Davids were quite literally seconds behind the Goliaths in solving the puzzle - which makes Christian and the slider staff look good in making up that much time, but correspondingly magnifies Carl’s slow progress through the first obstacle as creating the time deficit in the first place.