I think there is a bias in the editing bay towards female winners, too. The male winners get story arcs about how they won as individuals, the female winners
get their story arcs about how they won as an accessory to the alpha male (Amber, Natalie, Sandra, Tina), story arcs that are more about how their opponent in
the final (typically male) LOST the million (Danni, Amber, Natalie), edited as an antagonist that was widely panned when the final aired (Jenna) or completely
edited into the background and then winning in a bizarre twist of events (Danni, Vecepia, Natalie.) The only one that truly got what I would call a
"male" winner edit would probably be Parvati. Tina got a good edit post-merge but was AWOL the first few episodes. Conversely, we have had some
female players that were definitely edited to be seen as strong strategists who just happened to have not won (Kathy, Cirie, Stephenie, Helen, and Amanda are
the ones really coming to mind.)
I also wonder if the shift from 2-person tribal councils to 3-person final votes also hurt more UTR female players? Of the five seasons with a 3-person final, four of them were won by men, even though 7/15 finalists were women. Included in those seven women are all three that were completely shut out of votes (Sugar, Cassandra, and Becky.) I think with three choices instead of two, a lesser-of-two-evils kind of winner such as, say, Amber or Vecepia (or, for the men's side, Chris) would struggle more to win.
And as for the misconception that a woman struggles to beat a man in a final 2 tribal council, of the eight seasons that ended with a man vs. woman final TC, women are 3/8. Also, women actually do have a 24-21 advantage over men to actually making it to the jury vote stage of the game (even though the men have a 11-8 advantage at winning the game.) *edited for math error
I also wonder if the shift from 2-person tribal councils to 3-person final votes also hurt more UTR female players? Of the five seasons with a 3-person final, four of them were won by men, even though 7/15 finalists were women. Included in those seven women are all three that were completely shut out of votes (Sugar, Cassandra, and Becky.) I think with three choices instead of two, a lesser-of-two-evils kind of winner such as, say, Amber or Vecepia (or, for the men's side, Chris) would struggle more to win.
And as for the misconception that a woman struggles to beat a man in a final 2 tribal council, of the eight seasons that ended with a man vs. woman final TC, women are 3/8. Also, women actually do have a 24-21 advantage over men to actually making it to the jury vote stage of the game (even though the men have a 11-8 advantage at winning the game.) *edited for math error
