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THE SWING VOTE CHOPS AWAY -- SEAN RECTOR VOTED OUT
May 16, 2002
On night 36, after a heated Tribal Council in which strategies evolved and disagreements emerged, Sean Rector, the 30-year-old teacher from Harlem, New York, was voted out of the tribe. Earlier at Soliantu's beach, the question of race became an issue -- specifically whether Sean and Vecepia were in some sort of alliance, and whether that alliance was assumed by others simply because the two tribe members were of the same race. With Kathy as the swing vote, two factions were courting her allegiance. In the end, her loyalty lay with Paschal and Neleh, as her vote became the decisive factor in voting Sean out 3 votes to 2. Sean becomes the twelfth member of Survivor: Marquesas to be voted out of the tribe, and the fifth member of the Jury, which will ultimately decide who will be the Sole Survivor. Exiting Tribal Council, Sean gave his final words: "I just know that, through it all, it's been a blast. I am just a humble young man trying to find my way through the world. God bless America." ( Sean's Final Words
)
Playing the Race Card?
With just six days remaining, the harsh living conditions at Soliantu beach were taking their toll on the Survivors. Sean described the unpleasant situation: "At this point people just want to eat, get through another day, win some immunities, count down the days and see where the cards lay." Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, the 47-year-old real estate agent from Burlington, Vermont, found herself caught in the middle of two factions: Sean and Vecepia as one faction, and Paschal and Neleh the other. Kathy explained her predicament, "Vee mentioned that I am definitely the swing vote, it's going to look big, playing the race card, and I actually hadn't thought about that until Vee said that." Aggravated with the assumption that race was a determining factor in the game of Survivor, Paschal English, the 57-year-old judge from Thomaston, Georgia, vented his own frustrations, adding, "Vee is coming to Kathy and suggesting that this is a race issue. I bet Kathy feels like an absolute fool being asked to even consider something like that." ( Paschal on Vecepia's strategy )
