Surviving Vanuatu, Episode 6: “Trust” Is a Four-Letter Word

It’s time once again to visit Vanuatu and see how our groups of Survivors are doing. Since things were all mixed up last week, it seems logical that if Yasur loses, Rory will go home; and if Lopevi loses, either Twila or Julie will go home. But who knows what might change in the span of a few days? I guess there’s one way to find out, so let’s see what happens!

We begin at Yasur, where Rory is working on the fire and also telling the women flat-out that he is not impressed with them. He explains to us that they made a mistake in telling him at Tribal Council that he was the original target instead of Bubba, so he’s going to play that up. Not sure exactly what he hopes to accomplish, but at this point, I don’t suppose it can really hurt him.

Scout takes the bait and says she hasn’t judged him – he’s still here. He tells us that he knows he has to balance what he says and be careful so he can give himself a little opening. He says they need to decide if they want to keep him. If they don’t, they should at least tell him. He shares with us that it’s part of his plan. But Scout tells us he needs to get off the pity pot and start a new day. Heh.

The next morning at Lopevi, Sarge says it’s a blessing to have women around. Not that they need them, he adds, but it’s nice. Chris says a pretty woman can fly under the radar and sweet-talk her way into the final five. Julie (the pretty woman in question) seems to enjoy being with the men, as the women were too passive-aggressive all the time for her.

The women go off to gather wood together and talk about what they should do. Twila points out to us that both are vulnerable and know it, but at least she’s talking to Julie now – she never did before!

Yasur gets treemail, which has a wooden pig and a clue about mud. Hmmm. After they do a “1-2-3-Yasur” chant, Rory apologizes for what he said about them in his mind the previous night. Um, okay. I’m pretty sure none of them knew that, so why tell them? He continues that when he gets angry, he gets hurtful. But he came to the tribe with the expectation that they would give him a fair shot (if that’s true, he’s not too bright) and he did his damnedest to show where his loyalty lies. He says he can’t go back to Lopevi because they will assume he sold Bubba out (ridiculous – there is no reason they would think that). So by default, if nothing else, their side is his side. However, he will not bother to work around camp if he doesn’t have a shot at making it through the next Tribal Council.

Privately, he says his speech was so cheesy that he couldn’t even believe he was saying it! He figured none of them bought it, but who knows. I’m also thinking none of them bought it.

The tribes arrive at the challenge and Lopevi gets to see that Bubba is no longer in the game. Host Jeff Probst moves quickly into a description of the challenge. First he notes that pigs are highly valued in Vanuatu, even being used as currency (“Do you have change for a sow?” “Yeah, I’ve got four piglets in my pocket.”)

The challenge involves catching pigs in a muddy pen. Five tribe members (one at a time) are catchers who must get two pigs each. One is a gatekeeper. (Didn’t they have something like this, but with chickens, on Celebrity Mole?) The first tribe to get ten pigs gets… steak and eggs! What? No bacon, ham, and sausage?

Julie is the gatekeeper for Lopevi, Scout for Yasur. No word on who the Keymaster is. (Sorry, little Ghostbusters joke there.)

And they’re off! Rory and John are out first. Each get one. John goes back for his second while Ami goes out for Yasur – two different strategies at work. John gets the second, Ami gets one. Chris and Lisa are next. Chris gets Lopevi’s fourth at about the same time Lisa gets Yasur’s third.

Eliza and Chad are out. Chad gets a fifth while Eliza is just getting muddy. Chad tackles a pig and brings it in while Eliza gives up and is replaced by Leann. I have to say, I don’t see quite what the point of Eliza giving up is – each player has to get two, so if she gives up now, she’s still going to have to get back out there later. Not too smart.

Twila corners a pig while Leann gets one for Yasur. Lopevi up seven to four. Twila gets a second one while Rory – back out again – loses his. Lopevi is up eight to four and it’s down to Sarge. He gets one while Rory gets Yasur’s fifth. Ami gets a sixth but Sarge gets the final one for Lopevi and they win! That’s three challenges in a row for Lopevi.

Lopevi returns to camp, quite happy for obvious reasons! Twila laughs about the prissy girls who didn’t want to even get their fingernails dirty. Time to cook up the steaks!

Discussion around the dinner table centers on how Eliza had given up during the challenge. Somebody heard her say she couldn’t do it, and then she just stopped – as we saw. Twila can’t understand why Yasur kept Eliza and got rid of their muscle (Bubba).

At Yasur, the mood is not so bright. Like Lopevi, Leann is mystified by the way Eliza acted. She didn’t get a pig at all. In fact, she wonders to us, “Did she even get dirty?”

Rory takes the opportunity to try to rally support for himself. As Lisa complains that they’ve lost three challenges in a row, Rory says if the lose immunity, he is gone and then the tribe is really in trouble.