I May Be Fat But I'm No Fool

I May Be Fat But I'm No Fool is the second episode of Survivor: Vanuatu.

Day 3 (Night)
The Lopevi tribe returns to camp having just voted Todd out at the first tribal council of the season. Despite the unanimous vote, all eight remaining men feel nervous considering the already dire state of the tribe.

The rain starts coming down once again, leading to the frustrated men to abandon a late night attempt at starting the fire. Thanks to their strong shelter, the men are able to stay somewhat dry, but continue shivering throughout another cold and wet night.

Lopevi
The entire tribe sit around the bare fire area, passing a bowl of worms and termites between them, with it being the only source of 'food' they've managed to trace the past few days.

Yasur
Helene reads treemail aloud to the group, letting them know that they will be facing their first reward challenge of the season. The women all agree to give it their all, knowing that there's a strong chance the men are still without fire.

Reward Challenge
Challenge: By the Numbers

One at a time, each tribe member must maneuver past the other players standing on a balance beam and get to the finishing platform. If one of them falls or touches more than one other player at once, they must start over. First tribe to get all eight members on the platform wins.

Reward: Hammocks, blankets, and pillows

Additional Stipulation: If Lopevi wins, they would get fire in the form of flint.

Sit-Out (Yasur): Virginia

Winner: Yasur

Lopevi
The men return to camp after losing the reward challenge and their chance of receiving a flint with it. The mood appears understandably low, with Max O., Marvin and Charles going off to get materials to once again attempt to make fire.

Minutes later, Charles, Marvin and Max O. return with dry wood and husk to make a fire, spending a total of thirty minutes preparing it. Max O. and Marvin work together to rub the bamboo, with Max O. giving strong verbal direction throughout.

After several more minutes, Max O. nurses the small flame into a respectable fire, giving Lopevi the means to boil water for the first time in almost four whole days. The entire group celebrate the achievement, crediting the three men who collected the materials, with particular praise going to Max O.

The men immediately get to boiling the water, waiting for it to cool down before finally hydrating themselves. The mood in camp goes up for the first time in days, with each man now feeling more prepared to take on the challenges thrown their way.

Yasur
The women return to camp victorious, excitedly placing their blankets and pillows inside the shelter whilst Helene and Shirley tie the hammock between two nearby trees.

In the shelter, Virginia sets up the blankets and pillows so that the others can start laying down, jokingly telling them not to fall asleep as it'll "mess up their nights rest". Despite Virginia's warning, Evelyn falls asleep inside the shelter for a majority of the afternoon, failing to join the others in completing daily chores. Whilst collecting plantain, Helene, Donna and Minnie begin to comment on Evelyn's lack of participation.

Towards the end of the working day, Evelyn joins the rest of the tribe for the evening meal. Despite her clear laziness, Evelyn appears to be completely unaware of the irritation she has caused the rest of the tribe, failing to notice the eyerolls around her every time she gets involved in conversation.

Lopevi
Jonathan and Youseph spend time walking down the beach together, discussing the state of the tribe and their feelings on the other men. Jonathan admits that he isn't completely sold on the alliance, feeling as though Craig could be a liability down the line with his poor social awareness. Youseph agrees, but calls Craig "loyal" to the two of them, instead trying to persuade Jonathan that if they are to lose another challenge; voting out Charles or Marvin is best for the tribe.

Back at the shelter, Raymond, Charles and Max O. sit together, cutting up green plantains which they had gathered earlier in the day. Knowing his position on the tribe remains shaky, Charles decides to openly ask both men their ideas as to what could occur if they are to return to tribal council within the next twenty-four hours.

Simultaneously, Marvin has joined Craig and Max H. on a wood collection trip throughout the jungle, utilising his time to try and wriggle his way into the better social dynamics of the tribe. Both men seem somewhat arrogant in their tone, clearly believing that they are amongst those running the tribe, letting Marvin know that he is likely to remain in the game if he "continues performing well".

Yasur
During the day with no challenges, the women take time to continue to socialise whilst completing daily chores, also having an opportunity to relax thanks to the previous days reward. Helene, Minnie, Shirley and Virginia go off together as a group in order to see if they can locate a suspected chicken near the camp.

After over an hour of searching, the women are unsuccessful in their search for the perhaps mythical chicken lurking around the Yasur camp. The four come to a clearing and take a break on the beach together, taking a moment to talk between them before returning to the rest of the tribe. All four women seem confident with the direction the tribe is going, generally admitting that none of them feel particularly at risk should they go to tribal council in the coming days.

Back at camp, Minnie and Nargis work together to collect campfire and an array of foliage to use as roof coverings for the shelter. Ruth, Evelyn and Donna sit around tending to the fire, appearing to be doing less work in comparison.

At the shelter, Ruth is in the midst of leading a conversation about alliances with Donna and Evelyn, talking about the need for the younger girls to stick together against "the obvious threats" (Nargis and Helene), saying that the pair are working closesly with the older women.

The three women continue talking for several more minutes, unaware that a silent Mildred had snuck into camp mid-conversation, and has been lurking behind the shelter listening in for the duration of their strategy talk. Mildred waits a few moments more before walking around the shelter and dropping down the firewood next to Evelyn, saying nothing as she walks off nonchalantly.

A smug looking Mildred returns to Nargis, who has a fresh bundle of wood in her arms to bring back to camp.

The two women walk back to camp together with their wood, trying not to raise any suspicion that they are aware of the conversations that have been taking place back at the shelter; instead deciding to wait before they mount a counter attack.

Yasur
Donna reads tree mail aloud to the group, letting them know that they're facing their next immunity challenge, with the losing tribe as usual attending tribal council where somebody will be voted out of the game.

Several of the women look at each other in confusion over Ruth's attempts to deciding to sit-out before seeing the challenge, doing their best to hold their tongues over ever growing frustrations.

Immunity Challenge
Challenge: Four On The Floor

One caller from each tribe must guide three groups of blindfolded tribemates (each tied together, in two pairs and one group of three) to retrieve twelve pairs of puzzle pieces on land and in the water, then work to assemble three puzzles on a set of scaffolding. The first to assemble the puzzles and climb the scaffolding wins.

Additional Stipulation: If Lopevi wins, they would get flint.

Info: For Lopevi, Jonathan acts as the caller, successfully guiding the men throughout the course in quick time. The pairing of Craig and Youseph somewhat struggle initially, but quickly set themselves right to catch up with the others. All eight men additionally work quickly through the puzzles. Virginia acts as the caller for Yasur, but fails to get her voice loud enough to pass on good directions. Evelyn and Shirley in particular fail to listen or hear her, slowing the entire tribe down. At the puzzle, Donna and Mildred both do well to help the tribe make up time, but it isn't enough to prevent their first defeat of the season.

Sit-Outs (Yasur): Ruth sits out for Yasur.

Winner: Lopevi

Yasur
The nine women return to camp having just lost their first challenge, knowing that after tonight they will be down to eight members. Despite the loss, several women seem optimistic as to what this can mean for them as a tribe. Once all the women have put their belongings away, they get to socialising around the camp in order to establish who will be leaving the game in just a matter of hours. Helene, Nargis, Donna and Minnie walk off together, leaving Mildred, Virginia, Ruth, Shirley and Evelyn back at the shelter. Ruth decides to lead a conversation about voting for Nargis, wanting to bring in as many of the tribe as possible.

Mildred continues laying into both Evelyn and Ruth seemingly without a care, stunning Shirley and Virginia in silence, who watch on as both women begin arguing back, accusing Mildred of being "rude" and "condescending". The argument continues for several minutes longer, leaving Ruth and Evelyn quickly feeling as though their plans may not come to fruition. Out in the jungle, the other four women stand in a circle to discuss the vote. Donna briefly throws out Mildred's name as cover, not wanting to allude to the fact that she had spoken about voting for Nargis with the others. However, Nargis already passed the information onto Helene and Minnie, leading to her confronting Donna without Ruth and Evelyn present.

Realising that she has been found out, Donna throws both Ruth and Evelyn under the bus to the other women, admitting that conversations took place but that she had only agreed in order to keep them from voting for her. She apologises to Nargis, claiming that she had never intended to vote her out, instead suggesting that they vote for Evelyn or Ruth first.

The women eventually return to camp, finding out about the blow-up between Mildred, Evelyn and Ruth. Conversations ensue between the younger women, with Evelyn and Ruth now trying to flip the vote onto Mildred. Elsewhere, Mildred firmly joins Nargis and Helene after drawing a line in the sand, wanting to decide who is leaving between Evelyn and Ruth. At tribal council, the women waste no time in getting heated at tribal council after the drama between Mildred, Ruth and Evelyn is brought up. Mildred goes on another scolding verbal tirade against the girls, calling them out for trying to plot against herself, Virginia, Helene and Nargis, also exposing that they believed they could control Minnie and Shirley's votes. Despite Evelyn and Ruth doing their best to defend themselves, Nargis speaks up by stating that "others" (Donna) have confirmed that Mildred's story is true. Ruth goes on to claim that Mildred's energy is the cause of a lot of issues around camp, blaming her for the lack of participation from others.

Jeff asks Helene if she feels that the all-women dynamic is to blame for the lack of unity. This causes a passionate response from Helene, who states that such a response is "founded in the desire to see women do badly". Helene goes on to say that nobody would ask the men in their situation if it was due to a single-gendered tribe, and instead there's a stereotypical belief that "women cannot work together".

The mood of tribal turns more upbeat after Helene's speech, with it becoming clearer that issues in the tribe largely centre around Ruth and Evelyn, confirming even to the two girls that the likely outcome is that one of them will now be leaving the game. Minnie talks about her beliefs that the tribe will get back to winning once this tribal council is over, and that the men have shown themselves to have clear weaknesses that as a tribe Yasur will be able to exploit.

Ruth smiles, glad to be off a tribe that she clearly had a hard time fitting into. She only briefly acknowledges Evelyn before heading over to Jeff, keeping her large smile as she exits the tribal council area. The other women also appear to be smiling, glad to have a near unanimous vote and to have ousted their weakest member from the tribe. Jeff notes that their optimism for the future is a good sign, but that regardless improvements will be needed to ensure that they don't begin a losing streak.