Boulevard of Broken Dreamz

Survivor bills itself as the “ultimate social experiment”. Bring in a bunch of random people that would likely never cross paths in real life, put them together and watch the results of their interactions. Add in the fact that everyone is playing for a million dollars on a nationally televised program that could lead to some media attention after the game and you’re sure to have everyone looking to make some fireworks happen.

For my money, Survivor was never more of an intriguing social experiment than in Survivor: Fiji with Dreamz Herd, Yau-Man Chan and what is infamously known most as “Truckgate”. Most people remember the outline of what happened. After the car reward, Yau-Man, who had just won a 2008 Ford Super Duty, offered to give his new car to Dreamz in exchange for immunity at final four should they both still be there and Dreamz won it over Yau. Having stated how badly he needed a car, Dreamz accepted the deal.

Come time for the final four immunity challenge, Dreamz and Yau are both still standing. Dreamz had tried to engineer Yau’s vote out before the final four to avoid falling into a scenario where his deal would kick in but Yau pulled off the first successful “modern” idol play to keep himself alive. As the obvious favorite to win the immunity challenge, Dreamz pulled through and won safety for the final three. Faced with the decision to give up his safety and honor his deal or renege on it, Dreamz could not get himself to giveaway the immunity idol and Yau was promptly voted off for being far too big of a threat to win it all with the jury.

So close.

The decision was costly for Dreamz both in the game and in real life. The jurors spent much of their questioning of Dreamz focused entirely on the truck deal and did not give him an inch of pity. The audience, who had fallen in love with Yau over the course of Fiji, did not respond well to Dreamz’s betrayal and he quickly became one of the most hated players in Survivor history. These are some comments that were pulled by USA Today shortly after the season had wrapped up`:

I think that either Earl or Yau-Man were deserving winners. Dreamz is a pig and a loser. That is why, at his age, he doesn’t even have a CAR! He has a loser job. He will probably end up wrecking that expensive truck. Loser, loser, loser. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes on judgment day. Cassandra is a loser to. She did NOTHING in the game and I have NO respect for her. Dreamz lost his integrity, and a million dollars by going back on his word to Yau-Man. The only thing worse was the fact that he then lied to the jury and Jeff P. by saying that this was his game plan all along. Dreamz is a pathetic loser. I feel sorry for his son Yau-man should have won. Dreamz was very dirty to play him the way he did. He broke a promise to steal a truck from a nice, old man. I hope he lives to regret that very public betrayal. I was so mad when Earl voted him off after Dreamz betrayed him that I turned off the tv. I think this has become a forum for deceit and lying and for that I will not watch another show.

You wouldn’t want to be him on judgement day? That’s fucked up bro. These are the messages people felt brave enough to post. Imagine what Dreamz had to deal with in private. For so many it was such a black and white decision of “Dreamz is bad, Yau is good” but it’s 100% not.

What is first important to understand is how Dreamz grew up and the realities that he lived through. Never before had Survivor cast a person who had been actually homeless for parts of his life. Dreamz grew up in legitimate poverty and without many chances to breakthrough those financial struggles that were holding him down. It should be no surprise that Dreamz had never owned a car because in his everyday life, there was no way he could have afforded to buy one when he was more worried about finding food and shelter. For many people a car is just something everybody owns and uses, for someone in Dreamz’s situation, a car is a pipe dream of luxury.

Because the castaways understood Dreamz’s situation having lived with him for a month, they all agreed they would do something nice for him. Yau, along with Earl Cole, Boo Bernis, Cassandra Franklin, and Stacy Kimbal had all agreed that regardless of who won, they would all give the truck to Dreamz. This was not something that Dreamz was aware of and neither was the audience. It only came out in post-game coverage of Fiji. When Yau won the truck, he already knew that he was going to give it to Dreamz but he figured he could try to get some leverage out of it.

Yau-Man is always thinking.

As an intelligent man, Yau could see the writing on the wall going into the end-game. Dreamz and Cassandra seemed like a tight pair and he was tight with Earl. He also knew that Earl was aware of how much of a threat Yau was going into final tribal council and that going with Cassandra and Dreamz would be a much easier path to victory. Having realized all of this, Yau correctly theorized that the only way to make it into the final three was by having immunity at final four. With the truck in his hands and knowing he was going to hand it over to Dreamz either way, why not ask him for something in return?

For Dreamz, giving away immunity at final four is such a long ways away. Throughout Fiji, Dreamz has been flipping around, playing a very spastic game that made a lot of people weary of him. He was never one for the strategic elements of the game and the truck deal is no different. This is someone who could never in his life envision owning a car, let alone a truck worth $60,000. Remember that Dreamz grew up with nearly nothing and had to learn to survive by taking as much as he could when he could. Now that a truck was being dangled in front of him, of course he was going to accept it regardless of the conditions.

Yau knew that there was no way Dreamz would ever refuse his deal. It may have been an act of kindness but there was also calculated strategy behind his decision. Yau admits it himself in confessionals and Dreamz sees through it too. I don’t doubt that Yau was happy to give Dreamz something he had never had before but he also knew that it could be what eventually won him a million dollars. It was a gamble and Yau knew it. The reason Yau took the gamble is because he knew that without it, he was likely not winning either way.

Another huge element that is impossible to deny is that Dreamz is a black man. Switch Dreamz and Boo in this situation and don’t tell me that Boo receives the same kind of treatment. There is absolutely some racial motivations for people who saw fault in what Dreamz did as “another poor black man” which is absolutely stereotyping in the worst way.

At the final four immunity challenge, Jeff Probst tells the remaining contestants that Fiji will be a final three instead of a final two. None of these people had seen Cook Islands, which was the first final three ever so nobody expected one to show up in Fiji. All of a sudden, all that stood between Dreamz and a chance for a million dollars was a deal he had made with Yau at the final six. Back then Dreamz didn’t think of it as the last step before final tribal council and this new information lingered in his mind.

Understand again Dreamz’s life circumstances. Winning a million dollars would absolutely change his world. In confessionals, he spoke a lot about honoring his deal to show his son important values but the more he thought about the money, the more Dreamz realized how much it could help his son’s life. He can explain to his son why he reneged on the deal later, he won’t have another chance to win a million dollars.

Despite how small the chances of winning might have been, having a shot at the money is better than being a certain vote-off at the final four. Painstakingly, Dreamz decided to keep immunity for himself. The people that hate Dreamz seem to think of him as this terrible human but it’s very obvious how much it hurt Dreamz to go against his word. You can see it in his face throughout tribal council as he tries to explain his decision and it’s even more obvious when he leaves behind his immunity idol not only at tribal but on the chair that Yau had been sitting.