October 07, 2004
Survivor Vanuata - Ep #3 "Just be one of the girls."
Posted after Ep #3, September 30, 2004. This post, and its comments, may contain spoilers....
Previous Survivor: Vanuatu reports:
1: An Age Imbalance.
2: C'mon, give me a little hug!
I guess I better post some Survivor notes before tonight's new episode.
I think this was a turning point episode. In past weeks I've complained about no one standing out, that I was having a hard time seeing who's who. Well this week some characters really started to stand out.
Early in the episode, Mia and Twila got into a pretty good fight. Later Twila said "I ain't here to make no friends." Did this woman not watch the past seasons? Making friends is the whole idea.
It seems that Eliza, Lisa, Mia and Julie are trying to form an alliance.
In the other tribe, Sarge and Rory are really at each other's throats. That could get interesting.
Walls Obstacle Reward Challenge. Interestingly, and we also saw this in the first two weeks, the men are better at cooperative activity. They do a good job at working throught the locks and win Reward.
In a new twist, the tribe that wins Reward also gets to compete for individual Immunity.
In the Ladder Puzzle Immunity Challenge, young John K wins. Another twist is that there will be TWO Tribal Councils, John K is immune in the first, then he gets to give his immunity to one member of the other tribe.
In order to decide who to give immunity to, JK gets to visit with the women and interview them.
In what, to me, seemed to be an odd way to proceed, JK focusses on who did and didn't vote for Dolly at the previous TC.
He also seems pretty annoyed at how Eliza talks too much.
Over at the men, JP thinks he's gone, and the young guys are trying to recruit Sarge.
Sarge seems to think he's in control. "Building a team, then tearing them down."
At the men's Tribal Council. They really like JK's tactic of getting the women to reveal their alliances by finding out the Dolly vote. I didn't realize how clever this was at first, but it really is.
The vote: Rory 3, JP 5. JP is voted out. But Rory is gonna go nuts back at camp.
At the woman's TC, JK gives immunity to Ami cause "she wasn't gonna be voted out anyway. You're gonna learn something about yourselves."
This kid may be smarter than he looks. Survivor is good at giving players a chance to earn the ill-will of the other players. For example, when Rupert had to portion out the desserts, and pissed-off people in the process.
I think that JK has almost completely managed to avoid this with his choice and explanation.
Maybe the most remarkable thing in the episode was at the women's TC when Ami seemed to break through to the tough Twila. "You need to become part of the group. Let someone french braid your hair." Twila actually smiled at the notion of being one of the girls. It will be intrigueing to see if this goes anywhere.
Women's vote: Twila 3, Mia 5. Twila survives to get her makover. The camera shows Eliza being very surprised at the vote result.
# Latest tribe list
# Yasur
Scout, 59
Lisa, 44
Twila, 41
Leann, 35
Ami, 31
Julie, 23
Eliza, 21
# Lopevi
Lea ("Sarge"), 40
Rory, 35
Chad, 35
Chris, 33
Brady, 33
Travis, 33
John K., 22
# Challenges
1 -- Obstacle Course Immunity & Reward -- Yasur Tribe
2 -- Balance Beam Hug Reward -- Yasur Tribe
2 -- Blindfolded Puzzle Hunt Immunity -- Lopevi Tribe
3 -- Walls Obstacle Reward -- Lopevi Tribe
3 -- Ladder Puzzle Immunity -- John K,
passed on to Ami
# Order Out:
1 -- Brook, 27
2 -- Dolly, 25
3 -- John P., 31
4 -- Mia, 30