Survivor: Pearl Islands – MVP Moments for Everyone

Well, since I don’t normally pick one MVP from the final episode, largely due to the fact that it’s obviously the person who won – because they won – I’m going to stick with my annual picks on MVP moments for each castaway. That’s right, all the way from Nicole to Sandra, let’s take a look at everyone on the Pearl Islands. Because everyone had at least one shining moment, right?

Nicole – Some felt that Nicole was a little too abrasive when it came time to vote someone off. They got worried that she wanted to form an alliance to get rid of Tijuana before she really irritated anyone, besides Nicole that is. However, you have to look at it this way: if Nicole was on Drake and had asked Sandra to do it, it would have worked because Sandra would vote for anyone as long as it wasn’t her. Anyway, Nicole’s MVP moment was trying to form the first alliance this season. She thought she had the votes to get rid of Tijuana, until Lill spilled the beans and let Tijuana know what Nicole was up too. Not only did land her 16th place, but a good shout from Tijuana as well. I give her credit for trying, though.

Ryan S. – Poor Ryan looked like he was falling apart out there. Physically, I don’t think he was ready for the game. However, mentally, I think he understood what had to be done. I just don’t think he was physically able to prove to his team that he was able to stick around, so they got rid of him. Plus, I think Andrew was a tad biased against him. It’s somewhat hard to pick an MVP moment for Ryan, but I’m just going to say it was getting rid of Nicole before going first. I think everyone thought Ryan would be the first one gone, but at least he was able to help vote Nicole out before him. I guess that’s something.

Michelle – I liked Michelle. It seemed like she knew how to play the game and she had formed an alliance with Shawn and Burton that she thought would carry her pretty far. She just didn’t know that Burton would prove her wrong by making fun of Rupert a bit too much and suggesting that they throw an immunity challenge. As a result, she was the first one gone from Drake because of it – well, the second but Burton got back into the game. My chosen MVP moment for Michelle was when she hung in the air for hours, in an awkward position, to pull out an immunity win for the Drake tribe. I know it must not have been too much fun to do it, but Michelle withstood hours of pain and numbness to make sure her team would stay on top. She was a real competitor and I can only wonder what would have happened had she made the merge.

Trish – I thought Trish was going to get much further in the game than she actually did. In fact, I thought she would at least make the final four. Well, that got shot to hell when she decided to try to vote out Rupert. Anyway, we didn’t get to see too much of Trish until the episode she was booted. The only real MVP moment that I can think for her would be when she went over to the Morgan tribe and took their item. Of all the people that went over to loot, Trish was the nicest and truly made it look like she felt bad. I think had she made the merge, she would have gotten very far seeing that she didn’t seem too much of a threat and everyone had liked her. Like I said though, she never should have tried to stab Rupert in the back that early in the game.

Osten – First off, I’m not going to go on and on about the whole quitting thing. I think enough people have done that already. (Hell, he was inducted into the Reality TV Hall of Shame for it.) I truly think that Osten tried his hardest. His hardest just couldn’t measure up and he finished when he did. I don’t hold this against him. My first MVP for the Morgan tribe was Osten because I sincerely believed he wanted the team to do well and he gave it his all. In the first episode, Osten led the pack when it came to the challenge and getting up on shore and all. Those first three days, he was at his peak. That was Osten’s MVP moment – those first three days when I think his whole heart and soul were in the game. Besides those days, I think he realized what he had gotten himself into, and it was all over.

Shawn – I never really got to know Shawn. I know that he got in a number of fights with Jon, and that made me smile. I also know that he lost the spearhead and Rupert had to go out and find it. There wasn’t anything that really made Shawn stick out, and then I thought of it – when he tricked Jon into thinking that he would vote for Rupert, than voted out Trish. It was brilliant. Had it not been for the Outcast tribe, Shawn would likely have gotten very far because Jon would have been next, and not him. Shawn played an okay game, just kind of got the shaft because of the Outcasts. Well, that’s life, and at least he gave it his all.

Andrew – I think it’s pretty clear that I was never a huge Andrew fan. As the leader of the Morgans, Andrew seemed pretty pissed every time they got deeper and deeper into the whole they were digging. Finally, after a thrown challenge, he managed to rally his team to a very impressing comeback. I think they needed someone to tell them what to do every second because they were in such disarray after the third straight immunity loss. Andrew stepped up to the plate and motivated the remaining Morgan members to come together and get some wins. Even though he was voted out pre-jury, he got pretty far. However, that is the price you have to pay for being the leader of a tribe, and making it known. Andrew made it quite clear he was running the show, and the others made it quite clear they knew too – by getting him out of there as soon as possible.

Ryan O. – I liked Ryno until the reunion special where he went off saying it was okay for him to lie because he’s an electrician, but not for Lill because she is a Boy Scout troop leader. Even though they are playing the same game, it’s different. Okay, I’m not going to get into this. The moment I picked for Ryno was his scramble to try and not get voted off when he did. He exhausted almost every option he could trying to find a way to stay in the game. Alas, he wasn’t able to find someone that would bargain with him, but hell if he didn’t try. True, even his old alliance-mates ended up voting for him, but they had to since they really had no choice. Ryno was gone any way you look at it. He came, he saw, he got voted out.