Survivor: Guatemala MVP, Episode 13: Drive My Car

Those diabolical Survivor producers really put Cindy in a quandary, didn’t they? After she won the reward challenge, she had to decide if she wanted to keep the new car she won for herself, or give it up and let the other four players have cars. To make matters worse, as Jeff made that announcement, those four shiny new cars came driving up.

Did Cindy make a mistake by not giving the other players cars? It certainly would have bought her some goodwill, and Rafe, Danni, and Lydia were clearly a little resentful of Cindy’s good fortune at their expense. Nevertheless, I think what Cindy did was okay, but that she handled it poorly. If I had been in Cindy’s shoes, I’d have told the other players that I knew there was no way any of them would trade me a million dollars for a new car. That my opponents were too smart to be bought that way. And who would want to go to the final two with the nice lady who gave two of the jurors cars?

But more than anything, I would have shut up about how great my new car was. Shouldn’t it have been obvious that the other player would be a little jealous? Heck, Lydia was resentful of how much food Stephenie was getting. A little bit of food was nothing compared to a brand new car. Cindy could have been around for another week at least, but because she played the car thing so badly, there’s no way I’m giving her the MVP award this week. But just to keep things fun (and since it’s Survivor week both at CBS and here at RNO), I’m going to give out two MVP awards this week.

The first one goes to Danni. Danni should have been voted out last week. She was the last standing of her tribe, and the other tribe had a firm alliance to stick together. But she worked hard, was smart, and won immunity, buying herself another week. It was well played, but could easily have only been good for one more week. But Danni was savvy enough to work with Rafe, exploit the hard feelings he had about the car, form a final two alliance, and not even be in serious trouble of going home. Danni has really turned the game around for herself, and I’m impressed with the way she’s been playing. Congratulations on a well-earned MVP award.

The second MVP award belongs to Rafe. Cindy tried to get the rest of the players to vote him out. They were coming down to the final four, and she pointed out that Rafe is a serious threat. He’s well liked, but more importantly, he has won quite a few individual immunity challenges. Whether the challenge is physical or mental, Rafe has been a powerhouse this season. They’d be smart to vote him out while they had the chance. The mere fact that only Cindy cast a vote against Rafe is a clear indication of the power that Rafe has in the tribe. He is playing his heart out, and at this point, he is the player I would most like to see win. Well done, Rafe, and best of luck in the final four.

We have just one episode of Survivor: Guatemala left, and I can hardly wait to see what happens. Stephenie must be thrilled to have gone from the losing Ulong tribe last season to making the final four this time around. Danni probably can’t believe her good fortune at still being in the game. Rafe has managed to play the game on his own terms and make it to the top four. And Lydia was a likely target for an early boot, but here she remains. I’ll be glued to my TV to see who comes out on top.

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She can be reached with any comments at betsywasser@gmail.com

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