Survivor 4: Marquesas

23 April, 2002

Week 7 Wrapup

Well that was pretty impressive. In a twist of fate never before seen on this show, the power group suddenly finds itself broken and backed into a corner. Going into this week it looked like the power belonged solidly to the group of John, Zoe, Robert and Tammy. Paschal and Neleh were clearly stuck together and also weakly attached to the previous four. Kathy was on her own for the most part. Sean and Vecepia were definitely on the outside looking in. How that tight knit group of four managed to lose there way made for possibly the most entertaining episode ever.

As the show opens, Kathy is leaning on Zoe for the truth. Kathy knows that she isn't really part of the group anymore but Zoe continues to deny this fairly obvious fact. This made it clear to Kathy that she needed to try a new approach to the game. She could see the numbers were in her favor but only if she could bring the five players on the outside to join together. She approaches Paschal and Neleh with no success. That pair, for some reason, still believe themselves to be allied with John and his crew. Kathy doesn't need to convince Sean and Vecepia, they already can see the writing on the wall.

The turning point was the immunity challenge. The tree mail warned them to play nice or face the wrath of their fellow contestants but John & Co. had become so cocky that they didn't heed the warning. The challenge was basically a trivia contest. Contestants had to answer survival questions. Getting a question correct gave everyone the opportunity to cut down one of three bundles of coconuts of another contestant. Sean got off to a good start and took out two of John's bundles. Unfortunately, the numbers caught up to him and he was quickly out. Vecepia was out next. At this point, John & Co. made the mistake of revealing their true alliance. In no time flat they eliminated Kathy, then Paschal and then Neleh before competing against each other for the immunity necklace. Tammy walked away with the win but that whole group had exposed their true intentions and in an excessively cocky manner.

Fall out was immediate. Paschal and Neleh were furious with their treatment. When it came time for tribal council, there was an unseen shift in power. John & Co. continued their cocky behavior, acting as if they expected to quickly dismiss Sean. But when the votes were tallied, it was John who was out. His exit speech was a thing of beauty. He started off by trying to say he was proud of how he played, moved on to hoping his mom would be proud and ended by bawling like a baby. It's great fun to see extraordinary cockiness cut down so quickly. I'm actually really looking forward to the next episode for once. We've already seen John face the consequences of his behavior, now we get to see how his comrades react.

Episode Rating: 9.5 out of 10

- John Shea