Survivor: Vanuatu, Episode 5 MVPs: Hail to the Chief?

The tribes changed in Episode 5 of Survivor: Vanuatu, as did the dynamics of the game. A smart player will be able to roll with the changes, and this week’s MVPs did just that.

When the natives asked the Lopevi men to choose a chief, everyone looked to Sarge. He is, without a doubt, a natural leader. That tendency may put a target on his back later on, but for now, he has the respect and admiration of the tribe. And I think he made a smart choice by opting to choose his new tribe, rather than split up the two tribes. It let him choose the group that would work best for him, and I think he did – his tribe has a strong male majority, and he was able to get away from Rory. Plus, his team is doing great and won both challenges this week. So, once again, Sarge wins the MVP for his tribe.

As for Yasur, I’d first like to give MVP awards to two players on the team who handled the shake-up well. The first is Lisa. She had her choice of the two tribes, and she made the right choice. She stuck with the tribe with the strong female majority and should easily survive to the merge. Smart thinking on her part. The second is Ami. I know other RNO writers think that she was being a jerk for not wanting to tell the men all of the things they learned from the Vanuatu native last week, but frankly, I don’t blame her. She’s thinking ahead and trying to figure out how she (and the rest of her original tribe) can hang on to any advantages they might have. Knowing the best way to use the land is a huge advantage. She was also smart in refusing to tell Bubba how the vote was going. Sure, it might be nice to help someone avoid being blindsided, but giving someone warning is a good way to give them time to change their fate. Ami is the most interesting player in the game to me right now, and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

But the MVP for Yasur this week is Scout. Like Sarge, she was selected as the chief of her tribe for being a natural leader. Unlike Sarge, I think she has a good chance to stick around for a while. Her leadership style is much less overt, so no one is likely to be annoyed that she’s bossing them around. Plus, as an older woman, she’s considered less of a physical threat, so with the merge looming, she’s likely to stick around. Could Scout be another Jan from Thailand? If she keeps playing as well as she did this week, she could be around for a long time.

Congratulations to our MVPs this week, Sarge and Scout. Their tribes chose them as leaders, they rose to the occasion, survived the shake-up easily, and played smart. Neither of them is safe by any means. Sarge’s tendency to give orders and his strong leadership style could make him a target, just as Scout’s status as an older woman could make her seem expendable. It will be interesting to see how our MVPs handle those obstacles.

Betsy is the Associate Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com.

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