‘Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance’ spotlight: Can Vytas Baskauskas go the distance?
The Baskauskas family clearly has a knack for playing “Survivor.” Aras won “Survivor Panama: Exile Island,” and then both he and his brother Vytas went on to make the merge on “Blood vs. Water.” If things went a different way, it was easy to imagine them going so much further in the game, with one of them possibly even winning in the end.
This is one of the reasons why spotlighting Vytas for our “Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance” series is so fun. He is one of those people who did some pretty great things the first time, and really just made a couple of small mistakes. He wasn’t a someone who played a terrible game by any means, and as you’ll see in our take on his chances of winning this time around, there are a number of things going for him as we prepare for the premiere on Wednesday, September 23.
History lesson – 10th place, “Survivor: Blood vs. Water.” His sibling rivalry with his brother was a huge storyline throughout, in particular when you saw the two go head-to-head in challenges. Vytas was a redemption story for the show thanks to his past, and he played very well. His demise was brought on mostly by Aras trusting that he had Tyson and Gervase in his pocket, when they helped to lead a charge to get the two out of the game in succession. Once Aras was gone, there wasn’t much time for Vytas to make a move and he was a sitting duck.
What worked last time – Vytas is obviously an asset in challenges, but more than that he showed himself to be very good at endearing himself to people. Some of the most impressive stuff we saw from him came after the tribe swap, where he somehow convinced a tribe of all women to keep him around, even knowing that a merge was coming and he’d be reunited with his brother. He’s a good social player, and he has a strategic mind.
What needs to change – We saw with him being on the same tribe as Brad Culpepper last time that Vytas is more than fine being somewhat reserved on a tribe, and he’ll need to keep that mentality. Also, he’s going to need to do a better job of securing an alliance, keeping track of it, and then being a step ahead of everyone else. This will be easier for him without his brother in the game, who had won the show at that point and couldn’t really look at things from the perspective of someone who had been voted off. He’ll need to make people less wary of preexisting bonds; there could be assumptions that he is working with Ciera Eastin just because they were on a tribe together previously, or that he and Terry Deitz could be allies since Terry was on Aras’ first season. (Granted, they were rivals in the end, so we’re not sure how much truth there is to that.) Ciera’s not on his Ta Keo tribe at the start of the game, but Terry is.
Potential obstacles – There’s going to be no hiding the fact that Vytas is game-savvy and intelligent, and he is on a tribe with two people in Terry and Woo who are known more for an upfront style of game. It may be more appealing to work with them, since you can read them a little bit easier. Come the merge there’ll also be the typical “threat” label applied to him that is applied to every strong, intelligent guy.
Prediction – Before the cast returned from filming, we made sure to write down who we thought the winner of the season would be just in case there are spoilers who try to ruin everything (we don’t know if there is; we’re deliberately avoiding the conversation). Vytas was our choice, and we’re happy to stand by that. He’s not a recent-enough contestant that there will be a bias against him, and he’s very well-rounded as a player. There are bigger physical threats on the season, and also people like Spencer and Stephen who are considered more game-bots and master strategists. If Vytas can lay low and strike at the right moment, he’s got a real shot at surprising people and being the second “Survivor” winner in his family.
Now, we turn to you: Tell us in the poll how well you want to see Vytas do this season? You can also click here to see our newly-revamped “Survivor” news page, and click here to get some other TV news sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)
