Luke Lineberger – Post II

Survivor Episode 3

Tension rises as the Coyopa Tribe comes to terms with Val being voted out, and Josh remains suspicious of John after flipping his vote. The Hunahpu Tribe focuses less on politics and more on their shelter, though _ stands out for his lack of contributions. When both Tribes meet to begin the challenge, Jeremy of the Huhnapu Tribe vents his frustration at John for failing to keep his wife, Val, in the game. Seemingly incapable of losing that kind of face without responding, John blurts that he made every effort to sway his group–right in front of them–and they are visibly unsettled by the realizing that his intentions were never completely aligned with their own.

Keith’s blunder in the challenge secures Wes’s victory and the break from the curse. The Coyopa Tribe chooses fishing gear and head off, with Josh accompanying Keith into Exile by Wes’s choosing. Back at their respective camps, Jeremy continues venting to all who will listen that John gave him his word as a man and failed to come through. This loss of credibility has earned John no friends.

Keith and Josh encounter little friction in Exile, but the Coyopa go through some changes as John earns goodwill by providing fish and Baylor tries to destabilize–little by little–the male alliance but fails to make an impact. In the Immunity Challenge, Hunahpu takes the win and John loses face once more when he responds to taunting from Natalie.

Back at the Coyopa camp, John works to sow dissent–he fails to convince the girls to vote Dale, and Josh finds himself unwilling to trust him, instead opting to work with Wes and Baylor to catch John by surprise.

In the end John heads home, having opted not to play his immunity idol.

Throughout this episode there was heavy interpersonal conflict–which is the norm for Survivor–but when John was accused of being prejudiced against African-Americans and homosexuals he was labeled as a bigot and became subject to heavy bias from almost every member of both tribes. Regarding individualism vs collectivism, it’s almost not worth mentioning–each and every person on the show is aware from the beginning that only one can take the prize, and most of them come from individualistic cultures. I can scarcely imagine how two teams of collectivists would handle Survivor politics at all.