Psychoanalysts speak out on the Colby-Tina dynamic
The ClubHouse: Archives: Psychoanalysts speak out on the Colby-Tina dynamic
Ocean_Islands | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 05:58 am  From The Star HOW TINA SEDUCED $1M AWAY FROM COLBY Inside story behind surprise ending of Survivor II... SURVIVOR II winner Tina Wesson cleverly scored the $1 million first prize by "seducing" runner-up Colby Donaldson into thinking of her as his surrogate mother, a stand-in for his own beloved mom. That's the conclusion of noted New York psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky and famed Beverly Hills psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman, who believe Tina won by playing a complex head game with Colby. "Once Tina figured out Colby's uncommonly close relationship with his mother, Tina tied him to her own apron strings and seduced him into handing her that $1 million on a platter," Kuriansky tells Star. "It's clear Colby has a strong mother fixation -- what psychologists term an Oedipal complex -- which occurs when a child develops unusually strong feelings toward a parent of the opposite sex." Millions of Survivor fans were on the edge of their seats for the May 3 finale in which Colby's obsession with blonde Tina, 40, a private nurse from Knoxville, Tenn., was revealed. Colby, 26, a custom auto designer from Dallas, Texas, had to choose whom to take with him to the last tribal council, where Survivors previously booted off the show voted for the winner. The Texas cowboy stunned everyone by choosing Tina over disliked gourmet cook Keith Famie. "No one would have faulted Colby for not picking Tina, because his odds of winning would have been better if he faced Keith," says Kuriansky. As the final tally was revealed on live television, Colby and Tina held hands like contestants at a beauty pageant. When Tina was announced as the winner, Colby leaped to his feet, pumped his fists in the air and bellowed in triumph, as if a member of his own family had won. "Tina played on the mother thing," says Lieberman. "When it came down to the final three, Colby wasn't thinking strategically. He was voting to protect his 'mother,' and his instinct was to vote off the 'bad father.'" Fans of the CBS reality show saw how deep Colby's affection for his real mom ran in episode 13, when part of his reward challenge prize was an emotional visit from Gaye Donaldson, a blonde rancher from Christoval, Texas. Tina picked up on that, say experts. But this isn't the first time Tina, a twice-divorced mother of two, has displayed her cunning when it comes to captivating men, say sources. "When Tina wants something, she doesn't let anyone stand in her way," says DeAnna Cagley, who lost her husband Dale Wesson to Tina. Tina and Dale were college sweethearts, engaged to be married. They broke up when conservative Christian Dale became wracked with guilt over their premarital sex. When they met again years later, they were both wed to others -- but that didn't stop Tina. She divorced Jim Collins, the father of her kids Katherine, 13, and Taylor, 12, in July 1998, and married Dale in May 1999. And when it came to seducing Colby, Tina was even sneakier. |
Twiggyish | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 06:34 am  I don't think it was intentional. If Tina reminded Colby of his mom, that could be why he chose to align with her. |
Seamonkey | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 11:08 am  The theme of Tina's cunning IS popping up here and there.. including what Jeff Probst, who had quite the view of the whole dynamic, said about Tina busting her butt to get to the rice before Keith did after the flood... But.. she played the game and she won.. |
Bijoux | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 11:36 am  Given what the other contestants have said about her (and most have said some pretty decent things) it seems as though Tina found a way to "seduce" many. She was conjoined at the hip with Marilyn, friend to Mitchell, sister to Keith, and, maybe, mother figure to Colby. Intentional? I think so. If it was just about personality and making friends, she wouldn't have made it to the end. |
Fruitbat | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 12:30 pm  Psychologists can, not always, but often read too much into a situation. It is their job and I see their focus to be intense and overly keen when presented with analyzing. Tina is a mother. So am I. Would I have acted maternally to Colby? Sure. I don't know whether I could turn that off, having 2 sons of my own. I certainly would have felt that way toward Bessy and Amber. I don't believe she connived to seduce Colby by "acting" the mother figure. If, indeed, she was acting motherly it came naturally. It would be very hard not to be yourself for 40 days under any conditions. I maintain that Tina was being sincere and very much herself. Every try to be something you are not, even for a day? She went on the damn show to win, so I bristle at those who critize her cunning skill at playing the game. This was not a spiritual retreat. All signed up to go through hardship to win a million dollars. It is so easy to look back and create something that may have not been there. I just don't believe things were that complex and calculated. You move along playing to win and form attachments, friends and ememies along the way. It is just like life only concentrated, like miso. I wasn't even a fan of Tina's but I want to defend her now. Colby would have been harshly critized for choosing Keith, as well. He would have had the money though.  |
Ocean_Islands | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 12:43 pm  I agree Fbat. I definitely believe that Colby chose Tina thinking 'she deserves $100,000. If you watch the tape and look at his face, you can tell he thinks he's going to win the million. He just runs a bit short in the thinking department. I do think though,referring to the above article, that Keith did become the 'bad father' to Colby. I see no other reason why Colby was so against him. |
Seamonkey | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 01:41 pm  What an image! A bristling BAT!!! I only criticize Tina for being cunning and constantly portraying herself as NOT cunning.. "Sweetness won!" i don't think so. And her continual Hatch-bashing.. I think she played the game very well. I think Richard Hatch played the game very well. They are different, but one isn't good and the other bad, by any definition. |
Ocean_Islands | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 02:11 pm  Awwwww! Yes they are! |
Twiggyish | Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 08:29 pm  I think as a mother, she found something in Colby and he saw something in her. It would be hard under those harsh conditions, to keep up a deception every minute. Just my opinion. |
Jetticat | Thursday, May 17, 2001 - 06:42 pm  Fruit bat, I agree with you! I am a mother too. I don't see myself walking into a situation and completely turning that off. I am a caretaker. If it would have been me, I would have gone for the rice too. People cannot, and this is just me, turn off who they really are for a long period of time. The thing with Marilyn was simply her not wanting to go against the group. If she would have, then she would have been the next to go. As for the Colby thing, it was his choice. At his age, people need to remember that he is a grown man. At his age, I was a mom. |
Fruitbat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 04:24 am  I don't think Keith was a 'bad father'. I think he was an irritable member of the group whose controlling nature grated on all from time to time. His own behaviour left him out of the final 2, nothing else. Colby is 30, hardly a child. Keith is 44. I definately have a hard time seeing this mother/father stuff. I see a group of people with varied personalities and backgrounds coming together and connecting with some and not others. Tina and Colby are both from the south. Jerri was impossible to warm to. Amber is very young. Keith was problematic. It is not a stretch to see that Colby and Tina would bond. They were both even tempered, only 10 years apart in age, mature, easy going and given the choices were the obvious 2 to connect. |
Jetticat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 05:26 am  Colby is 26 |
Fruitbat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 06:47 am  Well, 26 is hardly a child! |
Jetticat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 11:22 am  I am so glad you smiled! After I posted the last one, I was afraid you'd think I was being a smarty pants! |
Fruitbat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 11:28 am  Oh no, just straightening out the facts as I see it. Thanks. |
Seamonkey | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 11:45 am  Bat.. Colby's gonna GET you for trying to lose 4 years of his life!!! Be careful when you are driving across Texas wearing your Bat Hat.
kjh |
Fruitbat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 11:57 am  He should be flattered that I thought him so mature. |
Seamonkey | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 07:03 pm  Ah, so.. well I remember in the oh so distant past that when under 30.. 30 sounds so OLD. <snort> |
Jetticat | Friday, May 18, 2001 - 07:17 pm  I know, getting to 30 took me a week to get over. Then, in April, I turned 31. That was a piece of cake! I don't care how old he is, Colby is a hottie! I love those cowboys! |
Grooch | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 07:19 am  You should check out this week's National Enquirer. They have a picture of him in a garter and a miniskirt w/ one butt cheek hanging out. LOL! He still looks good. Now the story about Tina that is on the same page. That is another story. |
Fruitbat | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 07:31 am  Can ya recap it Grooch? |
Grooch | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 08:08 am  The news stories say she was adopted, but in actuality when she was 2, her mother divorced her father and they were so poor, her mother sent her to stay w/ rich relatives in the same town. She lived in the same town w/ her brothers and sisters and never acknowledged that they existed and many townspeople didn't know they were related. The story says that while she lived a nice life style, her brothers and sisters endured abject poverty, beatings, and abuse. They had no food to eat most days. They even ate blue jays. When her mother remarried, the stepfather beat the kids and let his friends beat them. The mother became a prostitute to support the family and one of the johns would take her brother to the hospital for his polio treatments. Her sister was going to get married, but the guy went and raped her mother. Her sisiter and brother have a lot of health major problems and no insurance and Tina has not even called them. When their other brother died in a car crash, Tina never even called. Then it says even though Tina doesn't acknowledge them, she used these stories to get sympathy from the other survirers in the outback. She promised to pay off her best friend's mortgage, but won't help w/ her polio strickened brother to stop foreclosure on his house. That is basically the story they printed. Can't vouch for the story's accuracy. |
Grooch | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 08:10 am  But I like the pictures of Colby in the miniskirt. Some people look good in anything. Check it out next time you are on line in the supermarket.  |
Seamonkey | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 11:37 am  Hmm it sounds like Les Miserables. (on the last Hollywood Squares, Tina did say she got Colby a Harley.. Rodger said he'd sure like one too and Tina said they didn't make a John Deere model). |
Fruitbat | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 11:46 am  So Colby has 2 Harley's? That is odd. |
Seamonkey | Saturday, May 19, 2001 - 09:22 pm  Not to mention whatever bike he was riding in his video. But then Tina and family have 4 bikes but she still might get a Harley. Easy come, easy go.. |
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