Survivor: Vanuatu, Episode 4 MVPs: Native Talent

Like the dedicated RNO writer that I am, I look forward to Thursday nights every week. That is, of course, because every Thursday, I get to watch my two favorite shows - Survivor and The Apprentice. Interestingly, on both shows, the teams are currently divided by gender. But while on The Apprentice, the all-male Mosaic team is dominating, the opposite was true this week on Survivor. The women won the always important immunity challenge, as well as a very nice reward challenge. On those two tribes, which players played the best this week? Why, the winners of the MVP awards, of course!

Let’s start with Lopevi. There are two team members left who I think are going to have a hard time in the weeks ahead. One of them, of course, is John, the last of the strong young men. Sure, there’s a tribal shakeup coming next week, but it might not be enough to save him. There aren’t very many players left in the game who identify with the younger crowd, and the women could find him to be as much of a physical threat as the men do. The second, surprisingly enough, is Bubba. It seems like every season on Survivor, we’ll see a player talking about how much he misses his family, and just about every time, that player is not long for the game. Bubba is missing his family already, which makes me wonder if he’s going to start to lose focus. Hopefully, he’ll be inspired by his family, not distracted, since I like Bubba and wouldn’t mind having him around for a while longer.

Two people on the Lopevi tribe stood out this week – Sarge and Chris. These two guys are the ones who really seem to be calling the shots, as evidenced by the fact that Brady and John approached them to talk about the vote. Sarge definitely looks like the leader, which is why I’m giving the MVP award this time around to Chris. Chris is definitely on the inside, has a say in what happens at tribal council, and is respected by the rest of the team. But by stepping back and letting Sarge lead, he’s avoiding putting a target on his back. Very smart. Chris is in a good position right now and deserves MVP status.

On the women’s tribe, the reality of the situation is that the most valuable player was honorary member Dah. Dah not only taught the women how to find food and make their shelter more comfortable, but he also raised morale and helped the fractured tribe come together, just in time to win immunity. But giving the MVP award to Dah seems like cheating, so we’ll just give him an honorary award this week.

Eliza deserves an honorable mention this week for her performance in the immunity challenge. As the eyes – and mouth – of the tribe, she did a great job leading the others in solving the puzzle. As everyone struggled to arrange the tiles, Jeff mentioned that there is a trick to getting it right. Eliza figured out the trick, was smart in whispering the strategy to someone instead of shouting it so the guys could hear, and swiftly led her team to victory. Well done, Eliza.

Last week, I gave the MVP award to Lisa for choosing a smart time to switch alliances, and mentioned that I was curious to see how well she’d use her advantageous new position. Well, it looks like Lisa is continuing to play smart. After tribal council, Eliza chewed her out for switching sides. It was really hypocritical of Eliza to say so, since she did the exact same thing at the last tribal council, and Lisa said as much. But she didn’t start a huge fight about it, and she didn’t apologize for what she did. Instead, she happily enmeshed herself with the elder women’s alliance, where she should be quite safe. It was good strategy, and earns Lisa her second MVP award in a week.

Next week, it looks like there will be a tribal switch. Will players continue to stick together on gender lines, or will they forge new alliances? Will the younger players figure out a way to stay in the game? We’ll find out on every reality TV fan’s favorite day of the week – Thursday!

Betsy is the Associate Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com.

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