Survivor Island of the Idols: Lauren Beck is episode 2’s MVP

Thanks to our episode 2 Survivor: Island of the Idols MVP Lauren Beck, viewers were treated with an exciting Tribal Council and the first big move of the season.

It didn’t take long for Island of the Idols to produce its first epic blindside. This week’s episode of Survivor picked up right where it left off in terms of the Vokai tribe. Jason and Noura were clearly on the outs, and once Vokai lost the Immunity Challenge, it was almost a done deal that one of them was going to get their torch snuffed.

Led by Jamal, the majority even decided to split the votes between Noura and Jason. When there’s an easy target and the group decides to split the votes, the door is wide open for a big move. Lauren Beck is watching this play out and picks up on who is really taking control of this game.

Several castaways began to realize that the trio of Jamal, Molly and Jack were calling the shots and building their confidence as the cool kids of the group. Out of the three, Lauren saw Molly as the most manipulative, and perhaps the most expendable too. Instead of passively letting this moment go by, Lauren went full tilt to take advantage of the circumstances.

First, she casually expressed the idea of this blindside to Kellee and Janet. What made her plea so successful is that she didn’t immediately blurt out that Molly is a big threat that has to go. Instead, she first worked the conversation in a way that emphasized the trio’s control and then she posed a question to them, asking them how they felt about Molly. That skillful reasoning allowed for Kellee and Janet to both come to the realization of Molly’s threat level by themselves.

Lauren already knew that Noura would have no problem voting Molly out because of their quarrels earlier. As for Jason, Lauren decided to talk to him herself to make sure he would be down for this blindside. Thanks to Lauren’s expert social game, she was able to convince everyone to turn on the trio and vote Molly out.

Does making a big move like this one in Vokai’s first Tribal Council make Lauren a threat? It sure does, especially with the potential blowback from Jamal and Jack. That said, I can’t see Lauren becoming an immediate target to take out, with bigger personalities still on the tribe including Noura, Jason, and Dan.

By taking out Molly, Lauren has balanced the power within the Vokai tribe and has gone from being a passive alliance member to an active game player. The Vokai tribe feels like it’s in total flux now, so it will be interesting to see next week how much power Lauren gained by this move.

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