Survival rule #1 of Survivor: being a fence-sitter and refusing to pick an alliance can be extremely hazardous to your game health.
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Survivor: Vanuatu's second episode opened with the men's tribe, Lopevi, having returned from their previous evening's first Tribal Council and once again attempting to create fire in order to be boil their undrinkable water. Despite their best efforts, the group once again failed, with the effort coming to an ironic conclusion when the skies opened and the rain extinguished their nascent embers. Over at the women's Yasur tribe, boiled water was plentiful due to the flint that they had obtained as the result of their Episode 1 challenge win, however the group's spirits took a hit when they discovered the plantain bushel that they'd managed to harvest was infested with maggots.
Assembling for the Reward Challenge, the tribes learned that they would compete in a balance beam competition that would require both balance and teamwork, with the winning tribe receiving some much-needed blankets, pillows, and a hammock. Yasur's tribe of mostly svelte women had a clear advantage over the generally portly Lopevi men, and the group quickly traversed the beam (and each other) to victory, successfully completing the challenge before the men's tribe had even gotten two of its team across the beam.
Upon their return to camp, Lopevi's Rory Freeman, the 35-year-old housing case manager from Des Moines, IA, began to express indignation regarding the bad sportsmanship exhibited by Yasur, a celebration that began with a "moonwalk" by Mia Galeotalanza and swelled into a full tribal dance and cheer.
Over at the women's camp, despite their strong initial start to the game, factions were already developing within the group. The "sorority girl" group of Mia, Julie Berry, and Eliza Orlins had teamed with 44-year-old Lisa Keiffer to form a "younger women" alliance, and Scout Cloud Lee, Twila Tanner, Ami Cusack, and Leann Slaby had come together to form an "older women" alliance, leaving the 25-year-old Dolly, who wasn't really the sorority-type, in the middle and having to chose between the two groups.
The tribes reassembled on Day 6 for the second Immunity Challenge, a blindfolded team scavenger hunt and puzzle assembly reminiscent of last season's "The Blind Leading The Blind" All-Stars challenge. Despite some harsh collisions that undoubtedly resulted in some nasty bruising, the men's Lopevi tribe finished first, winning both immunity and the fire-making flint reward that had managed to elude them for six days.
Faced with the reality that they would now soon be facing their first Tribal Council, Dolly's alliance indecision took on a greater urgency, with Eliza going so far as to suggest to her alliancemates that perhaps they should approach the older women's foursome regarding the possibility of teaming together to oust the indecisive sheep farmer.
Whether Eliza ever followed through with her suggestion wasn't shown during the broadcast, however based on the evening's Tribal Council voting, it appears that, at minimum, Eliza might have had some private conversations of her own with the older group. In the surprise 5-4 vote, Eliza was the only younger woman to vote for Dolly, with the balance of Dolly's five votes coming from the older foursome of Ami, Leann, Scout, and Twila.
This week's correct bootee prediction lifts our Survivor: Vanuatu prediction record to 2-0. In Spoiler Island fantasy game action, Episode 2 scores have been posted and there's still a hundred-way tie for first place. Congratulations to all, we'll see if Episode 3 further thins the leaderboard. And if you haven't signed up yet, there's still time -- sign-up now.
So what happens next week? What's the argument between Mia and Twila all about? What's the cause of Rory's latest flare-up? And what's up with Jeff's sudden announcement that there will be two Tribal Councils? Check out our Survivor spoilers forum for the latest details on these and many other hot topics!
