Survivor: The Amazon, Episode 3 MVPs: You're Either a Leader or a Snake

Here we go again. It's time to figure out who on each tribe carried their weight just a little more than everyone else. Let me start out by saying that I am calmer than I was last week when we had JoAnna earning a Reality TV Hall Of Shame Moment and most of the women on the Jaburu tribe acting like morons. This week, they bounced back. I still see the isolation of Christy to an extent, but at least we didn't have JoAnna getting all up in her face. I don't think I would be able to watch that again. Over on the men's side, we had some bickering as well. Not only did Roger want Dan gone in the worst way, but Dan was loathing Roger as well. It was one of those mutual hatreds that you can tell if they lost immunity, one of them would be going. Well, that's depending on if everyone knows how to capitalize on it. But who were the MVPs this week? Who outshined everyone else? Let's take a look at the women first.

At first I wasn't sure if there were any honorable mentions on the women's side. After careful thought though, I decided that Christy deserves one. Instead of continuing to badger everyone that she felt excluded, Christy made attempts to fit in with the group and be a team player. She showed that she was trying to fit in by bathing with Deena and Jeanne even though she said she did not feel comfortable bathing in front of other people. However, it is a good idea to make it look like you are trying to be part of the team, and that is exactly what Christy was doing. Now, when it comes to making alliances, Deena and Jeanne will view the "boob troop" as a counter-alliance and want Christy to be with them. I guess it will all depend on where JoAnna lands. My guess is she would rather align with the elders because when the other faction is gone, she won't be the first one gone out of her faction, hopefully being able to swing Deena and Jeanne over to voting out Christy first. Anyway, Christy did a good job this week and deserved an honorable mention.

Which woman of Jaburu went for the gold? I think it is obvious that when Deena took on the "delegation role" she was set to be looked at as an authority figure. Now, even though she is looked at as bossy sometimes, they know she has what it takes to get things done. I don't think Jeanne and JoAnna realized what they did. By nominating Deena for the position, they made her a leader. Depending on how well she leads the group and how well she keeps everything in perspective, which she seems to be doing a good job at, the "boob troop" may not want to target her first. Knowing Christy is weak, they may not want to target her either. Jeanne and JoAnna either made a good decision in nominating Deena for this, or a very bad mistake. We will have to see about that one.

Deena was an MVP for several reasons this week. After being nominated as the leader she took it very seriously. First, she restored order to the camp. Then, she had everyone do their fair share of work by fishing, cleaning out the camp, boiling water and working on the shelter. They did more this episode on their camp than they did for the previous six days they had been there. This is all thanks to Deena. Who knows, maybe if she had emerged as a leader sooner, Janet might still be there. The women are kicking the men's butts, and now that they are more organized I can only see it getting better. Deena is the MVP this week for the Jaburu tribe. So what about the men?

Tambaqui really has to get it together. I could not even find an honorable mention on this tribe. I did stumble upon an MVP, but even that was by the grace of God. Who is this MVP you may ask? Well, Alex is starting to understand the way the game is being broken up. He has seen that he is quickly becoming the swing vote, and knows he can use that to his advantage. Alex was also smart enough to realize that Rob thinks he is smarter than everyone else. By staying a step ahead of everyone else, Alex is demonstrating that he knows how to play the game. I like the fact that he never "promises" to vote for anyone. He understands that it's too early in the game to be stabbing people in the back, especially when there is no reason to do so.

Alex knew that Dan and Matt were in a mini-alliance together, so keeping them both in the game and getting rid of Roger would not be a smart idea. I'm sure Alex knows that Roger can go at any time because I'm assuming besides Butch, Roger doesn't have any real strong allies. We know that especially because Matt doesn't like him, Rob has plotted against him, and he has already gotten into a heated argument with Alex as well. In the long run, Alex is setting himself up for a good alliance with Dave, Butch, and Rob. That is the way I think this tribe is going to end up. Alex played a good game this week, and knew how to use his political position to eliminated part of a mini-alliance.

There we have it. Week three of Survivor: The Amazon brought us someone ready to become a leader and someone ready to become a snake. Neither one was bad in this case because it earned them MVP status. I think if Deena figures out how to calm down a bit she will solidify herself as a much-needed person on the Jaburu tribe. When it comes to Alex, I think he is already in that position just by the way everyone comes to him to see where his vote is going to go. It will be interesting to see if the "leader" or the "snake" strategy will work for either of them. The snake strategy worked for Brian last season so it could be on a streak. I don't think we have seen the last of these two as MVPs. They are both going to be around for awhile and become MVPs in the process.

Phil Kural is a junior at Temple University, and can be reached at pkural@astro.temple.edu with any MVP suggestions.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recent Survivor articles at the Survivor: The Amazon page and take a look at our sections on Joe Millionaire and The Osbournes. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about reality TV, be sure to check out RealityTVFans.com and SirLinksALot!