The Scoutmaster is a Survivor

[eagleSM]

 

 

CBS's Pearl Island "Survivor" show SM Lillian Morris has made it to the Scouting Magazine issue for October 2004 (page 12).

 

i would be interested in hearing other's opinions as to how Scouting was represented by her on the show.

 

eSM

 

 

 

 

[mich632]

i am an avid watcher of survivor.

 

I was very disappointed in her performance as a scout.

 

The game is great. But to play it, you must violate many if not all the laws of scouting.

 

She felt winning was more important that following the aims of scouting.

 

Which would be OK, if she was not wearing the scout uniform. By wearing the uniform she was representing me and all the other SM in the world. And she did not do us justice.

 

 

[Rooster7]

Since Lil was stranded in her uniform, I saw her as having two choices:

 

1) Stake claim to the BSA and everything it stands for, and act accordingly. This choice would have been the most noble, but it doesnt give one much of a chance to win the game.

 

2) Openly recognize that Survivor is not the real world its a game, and declare to those around you that youre here to play the game. This choice, while not as noble as the first, would have been an honest approach. It recognizes the realities of the game and gives fair notice to everyone.

 

Unfortunately, Lil saw a third choice. She staked her claim to the BSA and its ideas - without any disclaimers, but then she proceeded to play the game exactly like everyone else. Only at the end game, when her fate was already decided, did she declare to those around her that she intended to play the game like anyone else.

 

Now, there are some who would say she was subjected to a double standard. Why should she feel compeled to announce her intentions of playing the game? Heres why

 

She was the only one wearing a BSA uniform.

She was the only one who openly staked claim to the ideas of the BSA.

 

Given these two facts, I feel she not only did not represent the BSA well but she was the most dishonest and exploitive player of the game. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too.

 

NOTE I am most curious. If the shows producers had not thrown these folks a curve ball (i.e., stranded them without forewarning on the island), I wonder if Lil would have still worn her BSA uniform and/or told others that she embraced the values promoted by the BSA. Bottom line She used her affiliation with the BSA to gain the confidence of others and then acted as if she was just another player.

 

[BadenP]

My feeling is that she knew she was going on Survivor and knew what kind of show it is and how it is played. The wearing of the scout uniform was not only totally inappropriate but her resulting conduct on the show was an embarrasement to scoutleaders everywhere. Lil did not exercise even basic common sense as to when to where the uniform, she used it as a gimic that backfired on her. Scouting Magazine is just as bad as the show, exploiting her to muster PR for the BSA, she is not the example I want my scouts to follow.

[Scoutmaster Ron]

If you read the article remember Lil had not planned on wearing the uniform while the game was on, she had been told they were only going for a publicity photos and was then told "game on jump overboard"

[acco40]

We all have our foibles in living up tothe Scout Oath and Law. From the article:

 

Unexpected "twists" came from the start when Lillian Morris appeared on the CBS reality show "Survivor."

 

Having impressed program executives with her Scouting acumen, Morris was asked to wear her Scout leader uniform for publicity photos with other competitors. She understood she had been allowed to take the uniform along with her personal effects as a "luxury item" which would not be part of the actual competition.

 

However, she wasn't aware that, instead of posing for pictures, the group would be forced off a boat and straight into the gamewith only the clothes on their backs.

 

"They tricked us," she says. "I never intended to compete in uniform."

 

Surviving "Survivor" is the hardest thing she's ever done, Morris says. Her Scouting skills, however, kept the experience from beating her.

 

She was the only one in her "tribe" who knew how to make a fire, sharpen a machete with a stone, and tie sturdy knots. The need to boil water, to kill infectious bacteria, was critical, but the tribe's pot kept falling over until Morris built a tripod to suspend it over the flames. No one else knew to boil a flea-infested blanket to make it usable.

 

Unfortunately, practical skills couldn't overcome the dog-eat-dog atmosphere of the game. After being initially "voted off," Morris returned as an outcast, determined to succeed for her family back home.

 

"The first nine days I tried my best to be up-front...with the other competitors," she says. "That approach failed, and I realized I had to change my ways if I had any hope of winning. I owed it to my family to try." As emotions raged and hardship took its toll, Morris says her internal restraints frayed, particularly when it came to language. Comments she says she normally would never allow herself to make came flying out of her mouth. She credits these lapses to the extreme physical and emotional conditions of the competition.

 

"You haven't had decent food or water for days. You're sleep-deprived and eaten up by bugs," she says. "And you're surrounded by people you really can't trust."

 

According to Troop 617 parent Kathy Skeels, Morris's action during the final round of "Survivor" was an example of how she "walks the walk" of Scouting.

 

When selecting a competitor to go with her before the final jury, Morris chose a hardworking mother, the eventual winner, rather than another person she probably would have beaten, but whose behavior she did not want to reward. Her decision cost Morris $900,000.

 

This was an incredible lesson for the troop, says Skeels. "The boys were crushed to see her lose, but they were so proud to see her make the right choice. They'll never forget that."

 

 

[srisom]

My quesion is why she was wearing the uniform in the first place? Was it her decision or did the show ask her to wear it? Either way, I do not think she should have worn it.

She, and the show, played up the Scouting angle and it did not put it in a good light. She should have had more respect for the uniform and the values it represents.

Also, BSA should not have used it for promotion. There should have been no recognition from the BSA.

A poor decision from all concerned.

[Spiney Norman]

Put into the same circumstances can anyone here say that they would have been able to operate in this situation without reproach?

I for one could not.

Would any of us choose to bring long a scout shirt as "luxury item"? That would not be number one on my list. Of course, the main reason she was cast on the show was just because she is a scouter. "Ooooh! What gripping TV it will make if we see a Scout leader acting badly"

She was manipulated. She was manipulated knowingly.

I would be very interested to know her motivation for appearing on the show to begin with.

[Rooster7]

She was manipulated knowingly.

 

That's one of saying it. Another is - She exploited the opportunity to be manipulated.

 

Certainly, if I found myself on this show, I would have tried to win the game - no question. BUT, I wouldn't have gained people's trust by claiming to be a moral purist - AND more importantly, I wouldn't have used my status in the BSA as validation of that claim. That's my gripe with Lil. Not being perfect is fine. But she flaunted her affilation with the BSA to gain people's trust and then stabbed those people in the back.

 

Dont get me wrong. I think shes probably a decent person at heart. I just dont think she or anyone else should be puffing her up as some kind of great example. She wasnt.

 

 

 

[Spiney Norman]

Having never watched the show it would be wrong of me to comment on her actions.

However, You know darn well she used her affiliation with BSA to get herself on. Maybe she thought she could operate in such a moral free fall zone and escape whole.

Maybe she didn't even think about it.

I have an axe to grind with all of these reality shows anyway. I call them car crash television. You know it would be better if you didn't look but you do anyway. These shows prey on our human weakness to watch others fall prey to theirs. So Sad!

I think the idea of even appearing in uniform for these hucksters is just bad judgement.

I sure her intentions were good, their just isn't a merit badge for fighting sharks.

[Hunt]

I was disappointed in her performance, too--but I do think she acted out of principle at the end. I have no doubt she would have won if she had chosen the final other competitor differently. I'd give her a C, maybe a C+.

I'm sure the producers were determined to have her wear that uniform during the competition--I suppose we should choose to believe that she didn't know it.