Survivor: Pearl Islands, Episode 9 MVP – Did You Expect Any Different?

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As much as I would like to say otherwise, this ninth episode of Survivor was actually way more predictable than any of the others had been this season. From the beginning, I think almost everyone knew that Ryno was going to get the boot. I mean, let’s look at the facts: He’s strong, able-minded, and it seemed like he was the one with the most influence in the old Morgan tribe. Therefore, it was really no surprise to me when he was voted out, even though his old tribemates joined in on voting him off. However, we still have to find out MVP from this episode and I think it’s fairly obvious, even though it looked like HE might have been the one to leave. Plus, we have an honorable mention as well. Let’s take a look at who was on their toes this week.

I did some thinking and an honorable mention was in my thoughts. At first, I thought it might be Christa, for that fact that she does her work around camp and seems to have the whole alliance building and scheming part of the game figured out. However, I think she is making enemies with some people and it will come back to bite her in the end. Unlike Jon, Christa goes out of her way to try to be “fake nice” and even as much of a slime ball that “Jonny Fairplay” is, he is upfront with most of the stuff he is doing, or at least it seems that way to me. However, there is someone else who is doing a good deal of scheming and getting away with it every minute. This person is also a hard worker and a force to be reckoned with at challenges. This person is my pick for an honorable mention, and that would be Burton.

When the game first started, I basically pegged Burton as a meat head who wouldn’t understand the game. He has proven me wrong and I have actually come to like him more than most of the others left in the game. He has a very solid alliance with Lill, the old Drake tribe has realized the errors in their ways when they voted him off the first time, and I think the old Morgan tribe, or at least what’s left of it, knows they need to get him on their side in order to survive the rest of this game. Burton has more than proved his worth to the rest of the tribe. He is good at getting food, he has no problem working around camp, and his tribal politics are off the chart. His talks with Lill over the breakfast helped her to figure out what she was going to say to certain people, not spoiling any plans. He constantly has talks with Rupert and the women to make sure they are all on the same page. I think of all the people left, including our MVP from this week, Burton may be in one of the best positions. However, this week, I didn’t choose him as the MVP. Who did I choose? Well, who else but Rupert!

Rupert had an amazing week. It’s odd that they showed so many people plotting against him this week, but for one reason or another, I think this was all in the editing. I’m sure the castaways talk each other just as much as they talk about Rupert, but that is what we are shown. Rupert managed to rally his way back during the reward challenge, then was nice enough to give it to Burton, who had given him immunity the night before. He knew that he would owe Burton one down the line and got it out of the way early. This could also be because Rupert didn’t want to leave camp and give everyone enough time to talk about him behind his back, which was another good reason for him to give the breakfast away. Of course, we got to see more fishing, which Rupert does best, and it was so cool to see how everyone was petrified to put a coconut into his bin during the immunity challenge. He just holds that much power, and it’s incredible. This may come to play against him. What I will say is that he has played an outstanding game to this point and if he is voted out in the next two or three weeks, I would definitely be more than surprised.

There you have it folks, this week’s MVP and honorable mention. It was actually pretty easy to pick them this week because Burton and Rupert both stuck out for different reasons. I have no doubt in my mind that these are the two biggest competitors left in the game and they will stop at nothing to win. It will be fun to watch which one of them comes out on top of the other because you can bet neither one is going down without a fight – a big one.

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

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