Welcome to Inside Survivor’s 50 For 50, a semi-regular feature highlighting 50 former castaways who we think should be considered for a spot on Survivor 50. In a snake draft, the Inside Survivor team selected ten players each, with the only rule being they couldn’t have played more than twice.
PROFILE
Name: Vecepia Robinson
Age: 58
Season: Marquesas, 2002
Finish: Winner
HIGHLIGHTS
Vecepia’s winning game began quietly as an integral member of the disastrous Maraamu tribe. While her tribemates Hunter Ellis and Rob Mariano were busy fighting to be the tribe’s leader, Vecepia was content to stay away from the dramatics. When she wasn’t putting out the fires created by Maraamu’s infighting, she could be found taking precious notes in her journal of poetry (more on that later).
Vecepia wanted no part of the drama on Maraamu, but that drama would follow her onto Rotu 2.0 after her original tribe’s third straight immunity loss. The tribe swap left Vecepia in the minority with Rob and her closest ally, Sean Rector. While it was clear she was on the outs, her social game kept her in a better position than her Maraamu counterparts. While Rob and Sean pushed back on Rotu’s tribe dynamics, Vecepia was happy to integrate herself into the group as long as it kept her in the game.
By the time the merge hit, Rob was gone, and Vecepia was in a worse position than ever before. She and Sean were decidedly on the bottom of the pecking order, with Kathy Vavrick O-Brien not too far behind. It seemed like the Rotu 4, which consisted of John Carroll, Tammy Leitner, Zoe Zanidakis, and Rob “The General” DeCanio, were destined to make it to the end, while Sean and Vecepia would be the next two voted off.
Then, an unprecedented change in the game occurred. The infamous Coconut Chop challenge blew up the Rotu 4’s spot when they gave away their priorities, prompting Neleh Dennis and Paschal English to flip over to Vecepia, Sean, and Kathy’s side. John Carroll was blindsided in the following vote, and the remaining Rotu 4 members would follow his fate.
Vecepia’s game was calm, cool, and collected up until this point, but she had to take her strategy up a notch after Sean was voted off at the final five. Remember that journal of poetry she had with her? Well, it turns out she was keeping notes on her competitors, which helped her to secure an immunity win when she needed it most.
She would then go on to make a deal with Neleh, which landed her in the final two. Despite Neleh having more of her original tribe members on the jury, Vecepia was able to sway the necessary numbers over to her side as she eloquently explained her strategy throughout the season. At the end of it all, Vecepia became the Sole Survivor by a 4-3 vote and was the first Black player to do so.
WHY SHE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED
To say Vecepia is long overdue for a return is an understatement. Her absence on Winners at War is perhaps the most egregious error that production has made in the show’s recent history. Now is the perfect time to right the wrongs of the past and give Vecepia her flowers. Not only is she the first Black player to win Survivor, she’s the first Black player to win a reality competition show as an individual player. There are game changers in Survivor and game changers in the history of television. Vecepia is both.
One of Vecepia’s greatest personal strengths in the game was balancing her faith with her desire to win. Yes, she lied and deceived, but she was also very open with her Christian faith, often thanking God for her victories and praying for guidance during her struggles. We have often seen players’ faith be used in the game, often in ways that verge on hypocritical, but Vecepia’s take on merging her faith with strategy was truly remarkable. Her religion was a point of strength for her, but never would she allow it to hinder her chances of winning. This approach was so well done, yet is not often replicated by other players trying to achieve the same balance. Vecepia’s win was no accident; it was a series of calculated decisions on her end.
Vecepia took a nuanced approach to the game that had not yet been seen in the show’s previous seasons. She was under the radar for sure, but that’s exactly how she wanted it to be. As a result, we got a win that came with a lot of Survivor ‘firsts.’ She was the first winner to win multiple individual immunities, the first winner to share a tribe with everyone on her season, and the first winner to switch tribes and go on to win the game. This just covers the surface of the many “firsts” Vecepia’s game and eventual win brought to the franchise.
To undermine Vecepia’s win is an insult to the myriad of ways that we have seen players become the Sole Survivor. The beauty of the game is that there is no one way to win it, so why do we regularly see only certain types of wins get rewarded with recognition, air time, and multiple chances to return? The more Survivor we see, the more evident it is that Vecepia’s win was truly an impressive feat. To have her not return for Winners at War was, at the very least, a terrible mistake; let’s not make the same one for Survivor 50.
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Her win was quite controversial because Kathy wasn’t taken to the final 2 and therefore 2 lesser players were left. Vecepia’s game was quite boring because she didn’t want to make waves. It was smart but boring. She would most likely do the same again so I hope she won’t be back. There are so many others that deserve it more. Vecepia already won.