From the moment he landed on Survivor South Africa season 7, Olympian javelinist Rocco van Rooyen (26) from Cape Town stood out as a powerful and popular player with the ability to win physical challenges in a flash. Unfortunately, Survivor SA’s Superman – as Rob dubbed him this week – was destroyed by a Kryptonite of deceit after the show’s second Tribal Shuffle. The newly-formed Tribe Ta’alo cunningly conspired to fly the mighty man who they feared would become an unstoppable force once the Tribes merged. When host Nico Panagio read the votes, Rocco – who has never been to Tribal Council before – became the seventh person to be voted off Survivor SA: Island of Secrets.
Even though Ta’alo lost a valuable Tribe member, they entered and left Tribal Council with the same number of castaways. As Superman exited, his spot was immediately filled by the show’s one and only Lara Croft. The formidable fitness model and former Miss Namibia Steffi had been waiting anxiously in the wings to become part of all the action again. Being the only castaway who literally did not dip her hands into a new Tribal colour (teal for Ta’alo and purple for Sa’ula) before this week’s Reward Challenge, the action-heroine-without-tribe was then sent to isolation on the Island of Secrets, where she heard that she was stuck in limbo until the next person’s torch was snuffed at Tribal Council.
While Steffi was in a mild shock, most of the players were chuffed to be part of their new Tribes. The new Sa’ula reunited two of the Amigos from the original purples, Nicole and Nathan. Danté and Meryl could also continue their shenanigans together and were joined by besties Geoff and Mmaba as well as Durāo from the Misfits – the name the three die-hard members of the now non-existent Tribe Laumei gave themselves.
The new Ta’alo players were Rocco and Laetitia – who have been on the same side from the start – as well as Amigo Rob, Mike, Cobus and the two other Misfits, Jacques and Seipei.
Jumping into a co-operation challenge straightaway, Ta’alo came out tops. Their reward? Everything Laumei had won up to that point – the egg-laying chickens, the sweet treats, the flint and a bonus bag of rice. What more can a bunch of starving, conniving Survivors want? Tribal Immunity, of course. And when that was up for grabs, nothing could stop Sa’ula – not even Rocco’s superpowers.
Based on the challenge, Laetitia was the obvious one to be ditched by Ta’alo at Tribal Council. The slow-moving 58-year-old nurse was dead weight in this game of strength and speed and then also injured her leg, ripping off all the skin from her knee to her ankle. In Survivor, however, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Prior to this week’s developments, Rocco’s time in the game had pretty much been plain sailing, mainly due to his Tribes’ success at challenges, but behind his back, there have always been rumblings of the danger he posed to his rivals and plans to get rid of the guy who’s like a saint, as Rob described him to Nathan, were whispered more than once. Instigated by Rob, the deal was quickly sealed with Jacques, Mike, Seipei and Cobus who all believed that Rocco was the one who stood between them and the ultimate prize of R1 million.
Rocco’s fate might have seemed unfair, but when he said goodbye, there wasn’t a trace of bitterness in his response. His parting shot to the ones who dumped him was “I still love you guys”.
But that’s how Rocco rolled in Survivor!
More reasons why fans will remember Rocco:
- Even if he wanted to, playing under the radar was never an option for the gentle giant. Starting his Survivor journey on Tribe Laumei, his tribemates picked him as their leader at first sight. Remember how he then went to the Island of Secrets with the other two Tribes’ leaders, Cobus and Paul? He was the only one who resisted the temptation of leaving with the clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol. Instead, for the sake of his Tribe, he took the flint, but then pulled off a double whammy then Paul went for a swim, leaving the clue in the back pocket of his pants. Yes, brawn doesn’t always come without brains! And sometimes you can add some mischief too!
- Like the Man of Steel, Rocco represented the inherent goodness of the human spirit and the gold standard of heroism, compassion and responsibility. Just a pity he couldn’t keep a secret, like alter-ego Clark Kent! It was important for Rocco that the Tribe knew everything about everything and everyone, which doesn’t really help when you’re trying to form strong alliances.
- That victory dance! It wasn’t Beyonce, but brought great entertainment – and even greater social media gifs!
Other talking points from the episode:
• Hidden Immunity Idols. At both Tribes there was the vexing question of the existence and whereabouts of Immunity Idols. At Sa’ula, Nicole suspected that Danté and Meryl, who had an Immunity Idol of her own – were onto her little secret, but she played it cool.
• Nathan’s new injury. Laetitia grinded her teeth to hide the pain from tribe mates in Ta’alo, in the fear of being voted off. But when Sa’ula’s Nathan gets hurt – and it seems to happen often – he likes to bathe in sympathy. This time, he cut his finger.
What will happen next?
Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets is screened on M-Net every Thursday at 19:00. It will also be available on DStv CatchUp. Fans can visit www.mnet.tv/survivorsa and follow all the breaking news and conversations around the show on Twitter @MNet/#SurvivorSA and on the official M-Net Facebook page.
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