Vecepia Towery

Vecepia "Vee" Towery-Robinson is the Sole Survivor of.

She is known as the first African-American Sole Survivor. Initially a follower, Vecepia flew under-the-radar to further herself after her tribe was decimated early and a tribe shuffle that put more odds against her. Despite being accused for being a "holyroller," her quiet strategy earned her the title of Sole Survivor.

Profile
Born in Portland, Oregon, Vecepia "Vee" Towery attended Grant High School and Portland Community College before receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services with minors in Sociology and Psychology from Troy State University in Alabama.

Towery currently works as an office manager for a software development company. A former member of the United States Air Force, Towery spent several years in Soesterberg, The Netherlands, while on active duty. She was assigned to the 32nd Security Police Squadron and was the base D.A.R.E. and Crime Prevention Officer. She was awarded the base Airman of the Year honors and inducted into the United States Air Forces Europe Sports Hall of Fame in the first year of its conception. She finished her Air Force career in the Reserves stationed in Portland, Oregon; Montgomery, Alabama; and Marietta, Georgia. After leaving the military, Towery worked as an administrative assistant, information specialist and events coordinator/executive secretary.

Towery enjoys dancing, basketball, volleyball, and tennis, working with young girls and writing poetry.

Towery currently resides in Hayward, Calif. with her husband, Leander, and his dog Kunta. Her birth date is Dec. 9.

Survivor: Marquesas
Vecepia started out on the Maraamu tribe, which faced a power struggle between its leader-figures and the workers. This lack of unity heavily reflected on challenges, which sent them to Tribal Council three times in a row. Towery, as one of the subordinates, joined the alliance of Rob Mariano, Sean Rector, and Sarah Jones to overthrow the weak Patricia Jackson, who answered to Mariano's archrival, Hunter Ellis, who was voted out next. Being fellow African-Americans of christian faith, "Vee" and Sean formed a close bond.

On Day 10, the tribes were switched. This transferred Vecepia, Rob, and Sean to the rival Rotu tribe. The minute they moved to Rotu, it was clear that Vecepia, Sean, and Rob were on the outs of an already established "Rotu Four" alliance of John Carroll, Zoe Zanidakis, Tammy Leitner, and Robert DeCanio. However, when Rotu lost the Day 15 Immunity Challenge, the two pacts banded together to eliminate the lone floating Rotu member, Gabriel Cade, who was accused for being untrustworthy and apathetic towards the game. After Cade's elimination, Vee, Rob, and Sean were left at the mercy of the Rotu Four, but got spared when they won the Day 18 Immunity Challenge, entering the merge with seven members, as opposed to Maraamu's paltry roster of three. Vecepia had began to play for herself from the merge on and in doing so, she voted out her ally Rob on Day 21 when he lobbied.

The Rotu Four became overconfident they would run the game by making the others believe there was no alliance, until a rather revealing Immunity Challenge on Day 18. The challenge, which would require players to remove tribemates until one remain, has left Vecepia and the other non-Rotu Four members in particular trouble when the Rotu Four systematically eliminated them, thus realizing the alliance. The other outsiders were her only ally and remaining original Maraamu tribemate Sean, Neleh Dennis and Paschal English, who shared a father-daughter-like relationship, and the unaligned Kathy. As a solution, the five formed a new alliance, dethroning the Rotu Four's leader, John, after a 6-3 vote. For reasons best known to herself, Zoe also voted for John.

The new alliance would then systematically vote out Zoe, Tammy, and Robert, leaving the alliance of five to battle amongst each other, thus returning to their former sub-alliances. Vecepia and Sean and Neleh and Paschal both vied for Kathy's vote. Kathy sided with Neleh and Paschal, both of whom she had been with since her days as a Rotu member and as a member of the new Maraamu. The three voted Sean for his grating, vocal personality.

On Day 37, Vecepia won the next Immunity Challenge, leaving Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal vulnerable. Anticipating that Neleh and Paschal would never vote each other off, Vecepia and Kathy enforced a tie vote. When the tribe agreed they won't change their votes, Jeff Probst intervened by handing a bag of rocks to Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal, stating that whoever gets the purple rock will be eliminated. Paschal, who received no votes, drew the unlucky rock, sending him home. His elimination led to an all-female battle between Vecepia, Neleh, and Kathy.

At the final Immunity Challenge, Vecepia seized the opportunity to strike a deal with Neleh. She would give immunity to Neleh, if Neleh promised to take her to the Final Two. Neleh agreed, and Vecepia gave immunity to Neleh. That night, Neleh fulfilled her promise, and Kathy was disposed of.

It was revealed on Day 39 that Vecepia had made the move to betray Kathy because she felt that Neleh had been riding coattails, and the jury members would see that as well and not respect such a strategy. At the Final Tribal Council, several Jury members castigated both Vecepia and Neleh for hiding behind religion despite their duplicities (Vecepia for betraying Kathy the night before, and Neleh for "playing late"). One particular comment came from Tammy who found both of them to be hypocritical as both were religious followers and would boast ethics, morals and integrity but would then lie and deceive to get ahead in the game.

When the final vote came in, Vecepia would receive votes from Sean, Tammy, Robert, and John, proclaiming her as the fourth Survivor winner, as well as the first African-American Sole Survivor.

Post-Survivor

 * Vecepia returned to her normal life after winning and has generally stayed out of the spotlight. She resurfaced once briefly in 2004 when the birth of her first child was the subject of the TLC documentary "A Baby Story." Vecepia now goes by her husband's surname, "Robinson."

Trivia

 * Vecepia became the series' first African-American winner.
 * Vecepia is also the first African-American to win any reality show.
 * Vecepia never won a tribal or individual Reward Challenge.
 * Vecepia's luxury item was a notebook of poetry she wrote.
 * Vecepia was the only Maraamu member to win individual immunity.
 * Vecepia was asked to come back to Survivor: All-Stars, but declined due to her pregnancy.
 * Vecepia has been on a tribe with every contestant on Survivor: Marquesas.
 * Vecepia is the first winner to be on every tribe of her season.
 * She would be followed by Danni Boatwright.
 * Ironically, both ladies started on a yellow tribe and were switched to a blue tribe.
 * She is currently the only African-American woman to win an Individual Immunity challenge.
 * Vecepia is the earliest winner to not have her torch snuffed. Richard Hatch, Tina Wesson, and Ethan Zohn all competed on All-Stars and all three were voted out and had their torches snuffed.
 * She is the only person to vote against Neleh Dennis more than once.
 * Vecepia is the first castaway whose name starts with 'V'.
 * Before Vytas Baskauskas she was the only castaway with this distinction.
 * She is the only female castaway whose name starts with 'V'.