The Backwards “Veggie Shield” Strategy in Survivor

[@SpanishFly120]

3:48 : "Brandon was awful at the challenges" *Captions*: "He sure is!"

[@iabansstuffwithan_i]

I saw that too lol

[@simonreilly213]

Quality editing right there

[@valetboy21]

Ken from Gabon attached himself to Crystal and together they pulled off the Veggie Shield so well that Bob became an unexpected challenge beast.

[@uglyaniimals]

let's not forget the fact that matty, a young, fit PERSONAL TRAINER made it to the final 4 but repeatedly got his ass kicked in challenges by bob (and susie, and ken)

[@joshvanklomp]

You missed perhaps the greatest example of veggie shields in Survivor history: Redemption Island. Name me better veggies than Natalie and Phillip.

[@spoonfulofserotonin5629]

I think you have to be a bit of a "veggie" yourself for it to be a veggie shield, just like you have to be a "meat" to form yourself a meat shield

[@enderdude13]

Except the point of those two was never yo go home instead of Boston Rob. They were goats, players dragged to the end as easy beats in tribal council. A veggie shield is explicitly meant to take the attention off you when the tribe is looking to take out a weak link

[@joshvanklomp]

@@enderdude13 Rob learned that juries were quick to find someone to give the million to over him in all-stars. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the two he brought to the end were the youngest one out there and the least liked out there.

[@enderdude13]

@@joshvanklomp I'm not saying it was a coincidence. I'm saying the opposite. A veggie shield isn't meant to be taken to the end

[@ngweso]

@@spoonfulofserotonin5629but a meat shield in that scenario wouldn’t work if you yourself are also meat.

[@spoonfulofserotonin5629]

I think that a crucial difference between the veggie shield and a goat is that the person forming the veggie shield is a bit of "veggie" themself. Your veggie shield is ment to be lost if it's between you or them (therefore a "shiled") unlike a goat that you want to drag to the end and triumf over them only at ftc. That's why I wouldn't consider Phillip to be Rob's veggie shield but just a goat.

[@kharihammon9784]

I think Cirie also eliminated Joel with Chet being her Veggie shield.

[@AlexH274]

Chris in Vanauatu is one of the greatest stories in Survivor. Chris had to squeeze every chance he got in that game, and played his position perfectly every round.

[@freddytang2128]

As soon as I heard definition of veggie shield, I thought of Caryn picking Willard in Palau's school yard pick. Must be humiliating being a muscular young man, and seeing an old man like Willard be picked over you

[@SpanishFly120]

Yeah, well that's what happens when your social game is so bad that half the cast thinks your name is "Kevin". Spoiler: His name was actually Jonathan.

[@jross123]

5:55 I wish you would’ve played the rest of Todd‘s strategy. He had a what I think is still the best strategy. An alliance with 1. someone smaller than you 2. someone bigger than you 3. a ride or die.

[@jmagicd9831]

Seems accurate. You basically want to avoid being superlative in any category that decides votes. Biggest/Strongest = Challenge Threat, Weakest/Smallest = Challenge Liability. Most Sociable = Jury Threat, Least Sociable loses for obvious reasons. Best to be somewhere in the middle

[@KevinA13465]

Evvie keeping tiffany over abraham. I remember them clocking in a confessional the fact that they would be next after Tiffany if it went by tribe strength

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

I find the final 7 vote of 46 really interesting since Venus was fully assessed as a complete goat that had a next to 0 chance of even getting a single vote Yet she gets voted out near unanimously over the eventual winner of the season in Kenzie who was made the backup plan in spite of being a bigger problem for Q, Maria, and Charlie It’s a bizarre goat shield strategy where you align with someone volatile enough to cop the votes in your place, similar to the way Rob used Phillip in Redemption Island, it can even work with passive players like Kim Spradlin and Christina Cha

[@uglyaniimals]

it's funny bc i'd ordinarily say that modern casts are too strategic for something like that to work but the fact that it worked in the most recent season kind of disproves that huh :P god 46 was a weird season

[@4Tom4lepus4]

I think the reason why they kept Kenzie made sense for most of them. Q and Kenzie had a long lasting relationship and he had a better chance at repairing that relationship than working with Venus. Charlie was in an alliance with Kenzie and once Venus told him about her advantage, she became too dangerous given how volatile she was. Now even though it made sense, it was still a bad move. Q could only win against Ben and Venus and Charlie threw away his best chance of getting out Maria and winning at the same time. Given how alone Venus was in the game, it would have made sense to pick her up, use her advantage to take control and then go to the end with her and Ben.

[@calebos268]

10:01 "The fact that you're a nuclear engineer is genuinely, genuinely scary" LOL

[@Staymad141]

Ikr like wtf??? She's The Most Weakest And Craziest. She doesn't sound like a nuclear engineer, she sounds like she's escaped a mental hospital

[@unclesquirrelstache7431]

Nami had a lot of potential cheese shields with all those jokes they threw around.

[@SissyFlower5]

As far as food group strategies go, I'm a bit fan of the underused "added sugars" strategy. After watching it be instrumental to Bob's win in Gabon, I'm surprised it has only briefly shown up once since then.

[@coralcarl3074]

Thank you for not explaining what this is at all

[@squeakyelbows]

@@coralcarl3074 There was a contestant in Survivor Gabon called Sugar. This strategy is a pun. The strategy has only come up once since then because she has only been on the show two times.

[@coralcarl3074]

@@squeakyelbows oh lol can’t believe I missed that, seeing an s on the end of sugar threw me off

[@anrick1362]

Veggie shield? I’m sorry, that’s a new one

[@jross123]

Goat strat!

[@DragoonSlime]

I’m surprised there was no inclusion of Charlie saying “I didn’t realize we were playing Stupid Survivor” or whatever he says about Fang’s draft choices

[@Michael-vn2jj]

"can't even see it, that's how small it is" 😂😂😂😂

[@nathanboyer7739]

This gives me life. I am a Survivor sprout that needed this kind of strategy video to supplement existing meatier Survivor schools of thought.

[@BrandonFromSurvivor45]

Are you insinuating I am not like Jonathan or Joe Anglim

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

Neither of them could live up to you❤

[@thebumpercar1344]

You're a legend! But you're not the monster, sadly.

[@thebumpercar1344]

I think you could consider Kenzie's post merge game as her constantly finding the nearest veggies and getting them to draw the heat away from her to make them forget that she's a mermaid dragon.

[@booshbear]

Caryn strategic goddess

[@hopeliz]

Could Russell Hantz be considered a veggie shield for Natalie? She used him and his poor jury management to steal the win from him😂

[@supermish8912]

Always a good day when peridiam posts

[@SurvivorAndBone]

Now I need the desert shield, if that is a thing.

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

Surround yourself with jury threats/sweet players to make your potential strategic or physical game look less threatening against people that would sweep the jury vote

[@SurvivorAndBone]

@@XanderMatthews-nv9zf That’s actually a good strategy, I can’t think of anyone who did that off the top of my head but I’m sure someone has

[@SurvivorAndBone]

@@XanderMatthews-nv9zf also I love you pfp. Is that Atticus from Infinity Train?

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

@@SurvivorAndBone 👍 yup

[@SurvivorAndBone]

@@XanderMatthews-nv9zf love it.

[@heatherparisi8250]

dean thinking he had the game on the bag and then voting out karishma instead of tommy like….. okay the delusion

[@Jungleside69]

Peridiam isn’t a veggie shield just a goat

[@spoonfulofserotonin5629]

I think that a crucial part of the veggie shield is that the person forming it is a bit of "veggie" themself. Also your veggie shield is ment to be lost if it's between you or them (therefore a "shiled") unlike a goat that you actually want to drag to the end and triumf over them at ftc. That's why I wouldn't consider Phillip to be Rob's veggie shield but just a goat.

[@leom7649]

Tina also dit it in season 2 saving Keith and voting out Mitchell. As otherwise she would have been the weakest player after Keith gets voted out.

[@MissDeal55]

Q was kind of both a veggie and meat shield in the last season

[@itsAzeuh]

I was fully expecting Liz to be mentioned in this video

[@teamsteed1]

There is a "Veggie Shield" in Survivor?"

[@supermish8912]

im at work and needed this

[@ANJIN-p4q]

I liked Tony's strategy of voting out the weak players and keeping the top dogs in the game. Most strong players rather keep the weak players around them

[@MMOGrind]

You missed the best example which is Rob. His entire tribe became a veggie shield.

[@ice-sk6wq]

Kellie and Bruce are the more emblematic Veggie Shield duo of 45

[@chrisjacobsen5558]

Fantastic as usual!

[@kitsuneinferno1114]

Oh nice, I wasn't sure what to call this, but I was thinking about it when thinking about why Sandra and Cirie are so iconic. Cirie was tight with Candice and Sandra with Courtney in Heroes vs Villains largely because they were perceived to be the weakest players on their respective tribes. Cirie ran the table in Micronesia taking out physically strong players in favor of Chet, while Ken used this strategy to great effect in Gabon, by using Kelly to pick off Jacquie. The veggie strategy works because it infuriates the strong players and mentally weakens them. Also it pisses Jeff off which is always a great idea.

[@EzraDair]

The best Veggie shield was Broccoli

[@alejandroreyes9566]

toptier analysis in my opinion. Good Job Peridiam!

[@trezalkapeliskova2121]

Peridiam, I get that you are trying to make the cheese strategy happen, but I think it has too many... holes. I'll see myself out.

[@Bekah_Is_Trying]

Cheese shield could be those who are more socially threatening👀

[@michalmarek8337]

I would never keep them around since ppl rather vote with them latter on . In survivor i would never care about someone wining challenges i would always keep an eye on social players and vote them out as soon as possible or a) they vote you out since they are more likely get votes b) they let you in game but you lose in the finals . There is never win against social players . Look at Michele she played twice and twice go to finals just bcs she had amazing social play (and a little bit of luck)

[@andrewwolfgang7461]

I would call it the goat shield

[@emmadekemp1759]

Wait what wait what about production wanting Spencer to stay? I need this tea

[@kaijalen]

great video as always, would you consider Kim's run on one world to have been a veggie shield strategy or just a factor of a relatively weak cast? on a personal note i really appreciate the fact that your discussion of j'tia never felt even a little racial, which to me most survivor fans' discussions of her usually do

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

Kim’s last vote against her were at the final 9 while the backup targets somehow ended up falling against Sabrina and Chelsea Even Kat, Alicia, and Christina didn’t view Kim as someone to be sent to the jury so it’s more like a semi-meat shield game by the most social player

[@pickle_spears]

the underwear 🫵

[@ncjuppiter9595]

Dang Jeff hated Chris.

[@Cblazer100]

HOW WAS COACH and SOPHIE AND BOSTON ROB AND PHILLIP NOT MENTIONED IN THIS!!!

[@Meyjck]

Don’t forget cookie shield

[@daltonmerrill98]

Evvie voted off Abraham in season 41 in order to keep Tiffany as a vegetable shield. They wanted to prevent the guys on her tribe from targeting them next for being the weakest player on the tribe

[@NiklasO1988]

I feel like people always shit on Courtney as this huge challenge liability but honestly it was mostly because of how she looked physically and also because Jeff dunked on her and she reacted sarcastically to that. I think in the modern era of people like Brandon she really would not stand out as a weak link in challenges.

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

I think Brandon is an interesting case since I’d argue Lulu made the wrong move even without the benefit of hindsight Emily knows full well she’s on the bottom and if given the chance will jump to Reba or Belo if presented with the opportunity, meanwhile Brandon is not only completely loyal, he’s also very expendable if it turns out to be a “no swap” season Brandon may cost you challenges but at most he’ll cost you 3 and even then Sean and Sabiyah were the core 2 that held all the power right up until Sabiyah gambled her vote away so there should be very little fear of being decimated Jeff Probst has gone on record to say a tribe of 2 will never attend tribal council so at worst you get a Matsing dissolve or a full reshuffle Emily was great TV but keeping her just wasn’t the right vote to make

[@bencalebrod]

Brandon not having his vote that tribal was huge, as getting him out was 100% the right move for Kaleb and Emily (to have a solid 4 if they don't go to tribal again and have options if they do) and without having a 3rd vote Sabiyah wasn't able to get Emily out without really exposing herself and Sean as a duo.

[@KachowPowWow]

6:45 so basically betas versus alphas 😂

[@lerdog]

The goat army confessional from Dean is easily top5 cringiest of all time

[@Jack-jx6ln]

Never heard that Kass kept Spencer due to production. Don't buy it

[@tengurius3464]

Naw let's not attribute the Brains tribe decision to remove Garrett as a "smart" strategy, that was a dumb move no matter how you look at it lol, They only kept her in because Garrett tried to keep them from talking and she was a number, without that stupid move from him I think she would've been gone.

[@XanderMatthews-nv9zf]

No voting out J’tia would have been an awful move for both Tasha and Kass If they go to tribal again, do you really think Garrett and Spencer don’t take 1 of them out People don’t like J’tia but she was a very valuable piece in Tasha’s game

[@ryanb398]

Your intro puns were so cheesy.

[@Andreweis6]

Yo

[@iLoveTheEighties80]

Sorry dude, but this name isn’t going to catch on. 😂 It’s already known as the goat strategy.

[@sebv140]

Hi guapo peridiam 😘

[@ocho33]

This is a pre merge strategy only

[@ethanluma6094]

Hey the veggie shield strategy isn’t a real thing. Pretty sure you just made this one up. Come up with concepts that make sense.