Survivor: Pearl Islands, Episode 3 MVPs – Hat Tricks and Goose Eggs

Well, after last week’s MVP fiasco, I wondered if Rupert had it in him to make it three weeks in a row. I also wondered if the Morgan tribe would get their act together and have at least one person stand out in order to gain the MVP award. Boy was I shocked at this week’s episode and how it would echo the sentiments of last week. What, you may be asking, does that have to do with what happened this week? Well, read on to find out who the MVPs are this week and who pretty much just threw in the towel.

As has been for the previous two weeks, let’s take a look at the Drake tribe first, only because this will be an easier one to examine. There are actually several people on this tribe who I think are looking pretty good. The first is Sandra. Some feel that she will be the first one voted out because of her big mouth and anger management issues. I tend to disagree. I actually like her a lot. Her going off on Jon was a good idea, in my opinion, because it looks like everyone is getting fed up with him at this point. Was she an MVP this week? No. Who else do we have – ah yes, Christa. She did an excellent job at looting the other tribe’s camp this week. It did seem like she was a bit overly friendly, but I think that is just the way she is and not so much trying to come across as fake. She tried to socialize with the other tribe, see how they were, and actually have a chance to kind of get to know them. It wasn’t MVP worthy, but definitely on the cusp of honorable mention. That leaves us with six people to choose from, and I think by this point it must be fairly obvious who the MVP is. This week’s MVP is none other than Rupert – who has now obtained the ever so coveted hat trick!

To those of you who are not sports-inclined, a hat trick is when a player in hockey scores three goals in one game. It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, it’s huge! Every player would love to have a few hat tricks in their professional career. Anyway, Rupert pulled it off again. His play in the reward challenge was tremendous. His sheer brute force basically sank that one Morgan ship all on his own. It was amazing to see him use all his strength to force so much water into the other boat that they were down in a few minutes. This guy is a power to be reckoned with, but with that there is a downside. After the merge, I’m willing to bet he is the first one targeted to go because of all that strength he has. Until then though, let’s look more at what he did this week.

The immunity challenge would have never been won if Rupert was not on Drake. He basically carried the team, as did Osten for Morgan in that challenge. I had no doubt in my mind that Rupert would win based on what we have seen so far. I mean, he ripped a tree apart! This guy is strong and we know it. I have to give Rupert the MVP this week based solely on the fact that he won immunity for his team and played a huge role in them winning the reward challenge as well. Way to go, Rupert!

This is the part that I dread. I really really really didn’t want to do this article this week based on the way Morgan is playing the game. In fact, it took me all weekend to think about it because I had no idea who the MVP was for Morgan, just like I didn’t know last week either. There were some people who I think may have deserved it, but then again, I would realize that they did something equally as stupid to balance out anything good they might have accomplished.

First, we have Osten. He did his very best in the immunity challenge and I could tell that he was putting forth 110% to try and win. However, I still can’t get it out of my head that he wanted to quit, and then when we look at his attitude overall, it just stinks. That is put on top of the fact that his reward challenge performance was sub-par, first by making his boat leave the other one so it could be double teamed and then by helping to sink his own boat by standing up and not getting proper leverage!

What about Andrew? He’s the leader of a losing tribe, but forever has high morale. That is good in one aspect, but I think his downfall, to me, was when he lied to Lill. He told Lill that he would keep her posted if she was going to be the one voted out. What did he do? Well, he lied. If you want to be the leader, you have to be able to tell people when they are going or if they aren’t pulling their weight. I think he had the final say if it would be Darrah or Lill and I think he made the wrong decision. Darrah likes to lie around from what we have seen and heard. She also isn’t exactly the best at physical competitions.

So we still have Lill right? She could be the MVP, correct? No. Well, why? As much as I loved Lill and I think she was an asset to the game, more so than many of the other in her tribe, she played a bad game. She constantly had high morale and was basically one of the only ones who did anything at camp. I couldn’t make her an MVP though because she dug her own grave. Just being the oldest on the tribe was strike one against her. Making friends with the wrong people may have been strike two. Strike three came when she went off on her own and lost the hook. I think everything finally caught up with her and she was the one to go, no matter how much I can’t agree with her being the one ousted.

Once again we are left without an MVP for the Morgan tribe. How long will it take this tribe to come together or at least have one person shine? I have no idea, but they are due for a win. If they don’t win something soon, I think they will all pretty much forfeit. They better pray the Drake tribe self-destructs because that is the only chance they have at this point.

So there you have it, Rupert for the hat trick and a big goose egg for the Morgan tribe. I can only hope that they give me something to write about next week because I’m very tired of looking at Morgan and seeing nothing. If Rupert gets four a row next week, I’ll be in awe. He’s definitely the man.

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

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