I live in Idaho, and the man's name sounds familiar to me. I haven't watched Survivor since the second season, but that's neither here nor there.

I was once a conservative. I have lived in this environment for decades. Most Idahoans that I have known are not the hardliners our voting history would suggest, but our "leaders" spend a LOT of time demonizing anything that would benefit the slaves.., er, workers here in Idaho. It's an information vacuum, and an awful lot of people don't do a deep dive.

Most of them are not raving lunatics trumpistas. Most of us, whatever our political bent, are also rather avid outdoorsy types. Skill varies, but an Idahoan doing well on something based on outdoor survival is not really surprising.

Moderate liberals (as if that's possible) have a serious problem when they dehumanize, same as the radical right. Radical leftists, in my experience, are significantly more likely to accept that people can make dumb decisions without being bad people. The polarization is as problematic (possibly moreso) than the ideological divide.

As for Tessa, yes, she's always like that.