Let us discuss Sandra Diaz-Twine
(My
little disclaimer: As with all Survivor
profiles, I am totally making all this
stuff up as if I actually have a clue.
I do not in any way know any of these
survivors. However, I've received many
emails from past Survivors complimenting
me on my insight. So, although I make
this crap up, sometimes I'm actually right.)
Sandra tries absolutely too hard to have
'tude. She's a 'tude wannabe.
If you look at her favorites and her
bio, there's really nothing that stands
out as bad or exceptional. But then, if
you go to her CBS profile page and watch
the video profile and her audition video,
whoo boy is she annoying.
(Note: Every quote is an exact quote
from her videos.)
Now I happen to like independent women
who are strong, intelligent and who aren't
afraid to say what's on their minds. But
there's a difference between saying what's
on your mind and getting right in my face
and screaming because you think I'll respect
you more if you scream.
It'll be interesting to see if she made
the video with the sole purpose of making
herself out to be the token in-your-face-oh-no-you-don't-be-talking-smack-about-me-behind-my-back
woman, while in reality, she's not that
at all.
In fact, I wonder if she's uses all that
'tude as a way to convince herself that
she is all that she is, but is actually
a bit low in the self-esteem department.
How will she act around all these super-successful,
super-smart, super-gifted people who have,
for the most part, gone to college while
also having struggled through adversity.
I say that last part about adversity
because in her audition video she acts
like she's the only person able to overcome
adversity and make something of herself
by doing things all on her own. It starts
like this...
WARNING: CONTAINS AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF
'TUDE
"It's me Sandra. Anyway, as you
can see, I'm doing this all by myself.
Why? I didn't have a choice because nobody
wants to help me. But that's ok, that's
cool. I don't need them no-how, you know
what I'm sayin'? I can do this on my own.
Nobody has faith in me."
She talks about how she can handle it,
how, if she can survive the heat of Miami,
Puerto Rico, Louisiana, desert in Saudi
Arabia... she can survive anything. "It's
all good, you know what I'm sayin'. It
don't matter to me."
She says she could really use the million
dollars because "needs to get something
goin', you know what I'm sayin',"
because she's tired of wasting her money
the lottery and bingo and the casino.
She adds that she thinks that the only
way she'll get out of her situation is
to win Survivor, "it's my one shot,
so you guys have to make this happen for
me."
So, I'm trying to understand her...
The only way she will ever be able to
step up in this world out of her "rat
hole" is if she is basically handed
a lot of money with having done not a
lot of work.
Throughout the video, her child (I'm
assuming it's a toddler) is somewhere
off-camera constantly sqeaking some toy.
This toy just so happens to be picked
up EXTREMELY WELL by the camcorder microphone.
So, it's like...
"blah blah lot's of 'tude blah...
You put me out there on SQUEAK! that
island, don't even worry about it. I'm
going to be nice SQUEAK! to people.
I'm going to let them SQUEAK! finish
their sentences because that's a big thing.
My friends and my husband say, 'You don't
let SQUEAK! anybody talk. You only
hear what you want to hear. I SQUEAK!
can't even get a word out. Blah blah
blah.' But I ain't trying SQUEAK! to
hear all that, you know what I'm saying?
SQUEAK! But I'm going to be nice.
I'm going to be nice to everyBODY, until
it's cutthroat time SQUEAK! and
then it's..." (neck-cutting motion)
"... FORGET it. SQUEAK!"
Her video profile starts with:
"It's easy to piss me off. If you
even mumble and i don't hear what you're
saying then I'm already upset because
it's like oh she's mumbling about something..."
She later says that she loves to gossip
and that she can't keep a secret.
So, I wonder how long she'll last out
there if a) she gets pissed of easily
if people are whispering, and b) she can't
keep a secret. I first wondered why they
even allowed her on the show, but then
I realized that they DO have to have people
who are among the first to be voted off.
There's a stereotype about Hispanic women,
about that Latin fire. (Carlos Santana
knew, for example, by Rob Thomas' lyrics
to Smooth that he married a Hispanic woman.)
I wonder if Survivor, and especially Big
Brother, will ever be able to get away
from stereotypes. It won't happen this
time because if Sandra is everything she
says she is in her videos, we'll be seeing
a lot of that Latin fire.
And if she's truly all she says she is,
maybe we'll see her voted off really early
because the 'tude just as to go.
