Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-29432626-20170103231436/@comment-33820580-20171130162127

Absolutely he was bullied! And yes, Parvati was herself everything she accused Penner of being. It was crazy that she was never called on the fact that she said Jonathan was lying about Yul having the idol, and angering that she and Adam stayed in spite of her lazy, hypocritical behavior. What is more arrogant than lying around waiting to be served? What is more manipulative than getting naked to try to win votes? And Parvati and Adam both went to Aitu saying they'd prefer the other get voted off first, so they backstabbed each other in the end. Jonathan had no choice but to "backstab." It was stupid to follow Candice, but he didn't know she was a turncoat witch (talk about backstabbing! Penner loyally follows her and her first move is to tell Adam Jonathan was the sole reason he went to Exile?) and was just being true to the person he felt was his tightest alliance. He shouldn't have followed her, but if he hadn't, I feel like the Aitu 4 wouldn't have been the driven, seamless power unit they became, which was unlike anything in Survivor before or since. Jonathan got his punishment for mutiny, having to spend time with goofus Adam, slutty Parvati, Adam-hungry Candice, and clueless Nate. When Yul came and talked to him about the idol, Jonathan told him straight up he was only willing to switch if Yul really had the idol, in which case Jonathan was smart enough to realize there would be no other option (either side with Aitu or get voted out immediately/next). In other words, again loyal unless he would lose his life in the game because of it. Jonathan explained all this repeatedly, in the confessional, and to the tribe after the vote. Yul explained it as well, when he showed the tribe the idol during the auction, at Tribal Council, and in the Reunion show. Still, for some reason, people don't understand Penner had no choice but to "backstab" after choosing mutiny for loyal (if stupid) reasons. It wasn't backstabbing, it was survival. It made sense. To see the hypocrites on the show put him down for playing well (better than most of them), doing either exactly what they did or behaving in a completely understandable manner is utterly surreal. I was shocked that more disbelief at the way he was treated didn't come out on the reunion. Candice & Co. should have been shamed. The only slightly foolish behavior I saw from Penner was being a little loud after winning and eating all the food at the auction. He was a bit too brash there, but objectively, it wasn't his fault that the others were too stupid to bid on anything! Seriously. He won a hot dog/fries/beer for $100, a pizza for $240, and dental care for $100. Yul, Adam, Candice, and Becky wouldn't bid high enough to win anything. Adam and Candice the morons wouldn't even go an extra $40 to try to get the advantage when they're the underdogs. Becky won all Candice's money after sending her to Exile, but she still didn't bid on anything at all! The anger about Jonathan's post-auction talk and belching (come on, he had to eat a whole pizza, of course he would belch) was mostly due to their own regrets about how stupid they were, not anything real he should have been blamed for. Meanwhile, Jonathan is the one getting multiple fish a day to feed these people, and they whine when he fairly wins food at an auction in which they're too timid to take part. In my opinion the actual backstabber was Candice, and I hope she really did have a hard time on Exile and later learned her lesson watching herself on the show. This season suffered greatly because of so many stupid, shallow, lazy people making it so far into the game (Adam, Parvati, Candice, Nate). Ozzy, Yul, and Jonathan made it a season worth watching, and were some of the best players the game has ever seen.