Kathleen A. "Kathy" Vavrick-O'Brien[1] is a contestant from Survivor: Marquesas and Survivor: All-Stars.
In Marquesas, Kathy was initially the de facto leader of the Rotu tribe, though she rubbed her tribemates the wrong way until she was switched to the rival Maraamu tribe at the Tribe Switch, where she was perceived as more likable, enough for her to gain the trust of Neleh Dennis and Paschal English. Kathy later became a key contestant in the downfall of the Rotu Four alliance by forming a counter-alliance with Neleh, Paschal, Sean Rector, and Vecepia Towery. She was able to make it to the final three, but when Neleh won the Final Immunity Challenge, she voted out Kathy the day before the Final Tribal Council as Neleh thought Kathy was highly likable among the jury.
In All-Stars, Kathy took control of the Mogo Mogo tribe alongside Lex van den Berghe, managing to "bamboozle" the series' first winner, Richard Hatch, and convincing Lex to vote Jerri Manthey out over Amber Brkich, the latter of which would ultimately lead to both of their eliminations after the merge after Rob Mariano reneged on their deal.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has lived in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, N. Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D.C.; and San Diego, California. She attended Cohasset High School in Massachusetts before her four years of college at the Rhode Island School of Design. Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien currently works as a real estate agent. Prior to this, she was self-employed for 10 years running her small businesses: a unique paper, gifts, and art products store and an event-planning business. She also worked in newspaper advertising. Her favorite hobbies are hiking, skiing, sailing, road-biking and fly-fishing. In 1998, she biked across the United States for the American Lung Association as a dedication to her father. The trip was 48 days from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and raised over $1.5 million. Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien currently resides in Burlington, Vermont. She has one son, Patrick. Her birth date is Jan. 6.[2]
Since finishing in third place on Survivor: Marquesas, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien began a foundation to help women gain self confidence through outdoor adventure, challenges and risk taking (www.therealfoundation.com). Kathy also has established a new business (R3) to encourage and inspire corporate teams and individuals. Kathy was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has lived in Boston, Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and San Diego. She attended Cohasset High School in Massachusetts before her four years of college at the Rhode Island School of Design. Kathy currently works as a real estate agent in Northern Vermont. Prior to this, she was self-employed for 10 years running two small businesses: a unique paper, gifts and art products store and an event-planning business. She also worked in newspaper advertising. Her favorite hobbies are hiking, skiing, sailing, road-biking and fly-fishing. In 1998, she biked across the country for the American Lung Association as a dedication to her father. The trip was 48 days from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and raised more than $1.5 million. Kathy currently resides in Burlington, Vermont. She has one son, Patrick. Her birth date is Jan. 6, 1954.[3] |
Survivor[]
Marquesas[]
Kathy was initially the rank outsider on an extremely tight-knit Rotu tribe. She was often seen breaking down in tears in the early portions of the game, and many of her tribemates noting she was the black sheep of the tribe, and did not quite gel as well with the rest. Due to Rotu's dominance in the early challenges though, she remained safe due to never attending a Tribal Council with Rotu triumphing in three consecutive challenges. Then by virtue of the Rotu majority in the Tribe Switch, with Neleh Dennis and Paschal English keeping her protected in both swapped tribe votes, she would make the merge.
Come the swapped tribes and come the merge, Kathy came into her own and developed better social bonds with both the remaining Maraamu players- Rob Mariano, Sean Rector, and Vecepia Towery, and her own former Rotu tribemates. She also was the first to notice the Rotu Four alliance of John Carroll, Tammy Leitner, Zoe Zanidakis, and Robert DeCanio, who had been separated from Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal during the tribe swap. After the final nine Immunity Challenge, where the Rotu Four arrogantly seemed to display the former Rotu alliance pecking order by chopping down the coconuts from ropes in order of the intended boot order to come, she helped to convince Neleh and Paschal to join her in flipping on their former tribe, joining the only two remaining Maraamus Sean Rector and Vecepia Towery in a new five-person alliance. John would be the first to be blindsided, and the remaining Rotu Four members would be Pagonged during the next several Tribal Councils. Kathy did consider interrupting the Pagonging at final six since she knew if Robert was voted out, she would have a tough road to the final three between two pairs in Neleh/Paschal and Sean/Vecepia. Despite that being the case, she stuck with her alliance.
At the final five, tensions mounted at Tribal Council as Sean and Vecepia tried to swing Kathy to join them in ousting her former Rotu tribemate Neleh, stating that Neleh and Paschal were in an unbreakable two person alliance and would not take her to the end. Paschal confirmed this was true, but also countered to Kathy that Sean and Vecepia were also in an unbreakable two person alliance. Sean denied this being true, stating that perhaps this was assumed due to him and Vecepia both being black. Ultimately Kathy was torn, but decided to join Paschal and Neleh in voting out Sean.
At the final four Tribal Council, the intended next boot Vecepia saved herself by winning immunity. Knowing Kathy would be the target by Neleh and Paschal in this situation, she struck a deal with Vecepia. Kathy and Vecepia attempted to split Paschal and Neleh by voting off Neleh. Neleh and Paschal held firm and voted for Kathy, leading to a rock draw tiebreaker. In one of the most controversial events in Survivor history, Paschal drew the purple rock, while Neleh and Kathy both drew yellow rocks, leading to Paschal's boot despite receiving 0 votes both at that Tribal Council and throughout the entire game. Having made a firm Final Two deal with Kathy, Vecepia betrayed this deal when Kathy was the first to drop from the Final Immunity Challenge, making a deal with Neleh they would take each other to the Final Two regardless who won the final immunity. Neleh followed through and voted out her former tribemate Kathy, stating she knew she had a much better chance of winning over Vecepia than she did against Kathy, as Kathy from her rough beginning had become loved by everyone in the game at this point.
Kathy lambasted Vecepia for her betrayal at the Final Immunity Challenge and voted for her former Rotu tribemate Neleh to win. Despite Kathy's vote, Vecepia won the game in a 4-3 vote. At the Reunion Show, it was confirmed Kathy would have easily won against either Vecepia or Neleh in a 6-1 vote, losing only Paschal's vote to Neleh and Sean's vote to Vecepia.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rotu | Outrigger Fire Quest | Immunity | No | Won | |
| 2 | Float Your Boat | Reward | No | Won | ||
| Marquesan Menu | Immunity | No | Won | |||
| 3 | Raft Rescue | Reward | No | Won | ||
| Coconut Maze Race | Immunity | No | Won | |||
| Switched Tribes, Day 10 | ||||||
| 4 | Maraamu | Life's a Tapestry | Immunity | No | Lost | |
| 5 | Tiki Towers | Reward | No | Won | ||
| Distress Signal | Immunity | No | Won | |||
| 6 | Jungle Relay | Reward | No | Won | ||
| The Maze | Immunity | No | Lost | |||
| Tribes Merged, Day 20 | ||||||
| 7 | Soliantu | Sea Legs | Immunity | Won | ||
| 8 | Go Fly A Kite | Reward | Won | |||
| Parang Swing | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| 10 | Coconut Juice | Reward | Lost | |||
| High Stepping | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| 11 | Rock Bottom | Reward | Lost | |||
| Virtues of Fire | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| 12 | Turtle Roll | Reward | Won | |||
| Sands of Time | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| 13 | Second Chance | Reward | Lost | |||
| Marquesan Folklore | Immunity | Won | ||||
| 14 | Fallen Comrades | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Hard Idol | Immunity | Lost | ||||
| Voted Out, Day 38 | ||||||
| Episode | Kathy's Votes |
Voted Against Kathy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rotu Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Rotu Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Rotu Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Sarah | Sarah |
| 5 | Maraamu Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Gina | Gina |
| 7 | Zoe | Individual Immunity |
| 8 | John | - |
| 10 | Zoe | - |
| 11 | Tammy | - |
| 12 | Robert | - |
| 13 | Sean | Individual Immunity |
| 14 | Neleh | Neleh, Paschal |
| Ineligible | Neleh | |
| Voted Out, Day 38 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Neleh | |
All-Stars[]
Kathy returned to Survivor as part of the Mogo Mogo tribe, which found itself divided from the start, as the men and women immediately plotted against one another. After a brief meeting, the tribe agreed to set politicking aside and focus on winning challenges. For the first twelve days, Kathy was in no immediate danger as Mogo Mogo routinely finished second at Immunity Challenges.
On Day 13, a high-stakes Reward Challenge was held, with the last placing tribe to be absorbed by the other two tribes. Mogo Mogo finished first, and chose to take in Ethan Zohn and Jerri Manthey from the dissolved Saboga tribe as new tribe members. Two days later, Kathy and the rest of Mogo Mogo suffered her first immunity loss; and while it would seem the tribe was united enough to continue the ongoing trend of voting out former winners (in this case, Ethan), Kathy and Shii Ann Huang were approached by Lex van den Berghe, who proposed an idea to vote out their tribe's former winner, Richard Hatch, who was perceived as the biggest competition by virtue of being the first Survivor winner. Kathy found herself in the middle all afternoon between two blocs: Hatch and the women who agreed to vote out Colby Donaldson, and the men, who wanted Hatch gone. Ultimately, Kathy and the Mogo Mogo tribe unanimously voted Richard out.
Kathy joined a separate women's alliance consisting of herself, Shii Ann, and Jerri along with being in the main alliance with Lex. The women planned to vote off Colby first for his mistreatment of Jerri in their first season. Later, Jerri convinced Lex to join the women's alliance. When Mogo Mogo lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 19, Kathy was kidnapped by Chapera. She felt very accepted by Chapera and was surprised at the easy going nature of the tribe, in comparison to Mogo Mogo's serious nature. Since Kathy was at Chapera she skipped the Tribal Council where Colby was voted out.
When Kathy returned to Mogo Mogo, she was saddened because her small break from her tribe was over. After receiving Tree Mail saying that the tribe had to send a member from Mogo Mogo to Chapera. Kathy was selected because she had already formed a bond with the tribe. Once again Kathy had a great time at Chapera. Kathy returned to Mogo Mogo after the Reward Challenge. Mogo Mogo failed to win the Immunity Challenge sending Kathy to Tribal Council again. Kathy's alliance targeted Ethan for being the only outsider of the tribe and for being a former winner. Although Ethan was the easy choice, Kathy was approached by Ethan to form a counter alliance and vote out Jerri. At Tribal Council Kathy stuck with her original alliance and Ethan was voted off.
On Day 23, the tribes met with Mogo Mogo and Chapera expecting a merge. Jeff asked the castaways to pair up and have a private chat with one-another. Kathy was paired up with Alicia Calaway. Jeff later revealed that the tribes were not merging, instead they were switching. Kathy, along with all the remaining Mogo Mogo members were all switched to Chapera. Amber Brkich was the only new member on the tribe. Chapera celebrated when they reached their new campsite. The new Chapera tribe lost the Immunity Challenge and while leaving the challenge Lex struck a deal with Mogo Mogo member, Rob Mariano to save Amber. The tribe went along with Lex's idea and targeted Jerri. Kathy went along with Lex's plan to vote out Jerri and Jerri was voted out at Tribal Council.
The tribes merged on Day 26 into the Chaboga Mogo tribe. Kathy assumed she was in a good place in the game, having a previous bond with the members of Mogo Mogo and having made a deal with Rob. Kathy won the first individual Immunity Challenge. When Rob revealed he planned on betraying Lex, Kathy considered giving Immunity to Lex to save him but possibly eliminate herself, but Lex told her no and to keep her immunity. At Tribal Council, Kathy decided to keep her immunity so Lex was voted out. Kathy then became a target due to her being one of the last remaining original Mogo Mogo members. At the Reward Challenge, Kathy was teamed up with Jenna Lewis, Rupert Boneham, and Tom Buchanan. Kathy's team lost, which also prevented her from competing for immunity. Rob gave up his reward so everyone else can have theirs. Kathy wondered if the move was strategic or from pure kindness. Kathy warned the lower members of the Chapera Alliance to come with Mogo Mogo or be picked off. Kathy's lobbying failed and she was voted out 6-2.
At the Final Tribal Council, Kathy was the second person to speak. Kathy reminded Rob on how after Marquesas he was worried about how he was going to be perceived. Her question to him was what will people think of him after he used and killed friendships to get to a place, where is that place and is he concerned about this. Rob admitted to abusing friendships and was worried about it, but he didn't know where that place was. Rob also claimed he was not a malicious person and would not intentionally hurt anybody. Kathy then asked Amber if she was playing Rob and if she won, and would she continue her relationship with him in real life. Amber admitted that she was initially flirting with Rob as strategy. However, as the game continued, she did develop genuine feelings for him and would hope to continue their relationship. Kathy then gave an emotional heartfelt speech about how Rob crushed her severely and that the finalists could have taken a different way that would not have left the jury as hurt as they are now. Kathy voted for Rob to win, reasoning that their friendship was still there, even if it had been fractured. However, he lost to Amber by one vote 4-3.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mogo Mogo | Quest for Fire | Immunity | No | 2nd |
| 2 | Stairway to the Stars | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Float Your Boat | Immunity | No | 2nd | ||
| 3 | Better Homes and Island Living | Reward | Yes | 2nd | |
| 4 | Match Maker | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Blind Cube Crisis | Immunity | No | 2nd | ||
| 5 | Shipwrecked Raft Rescue | Reward | No | 1st | |
| Pilfering Pirates | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 6 | Stomp-ede | Reward | No | Won | |
| 7 | Floating Puzzle | Reward/Immunity | No | Invited1 | |
| 8 | Log Jam | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Choose Your Weapon | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| Switched Tribes, Day 23 | |||||
| 10 | Chapera | Survivor History | Immunity | No | Lost |
| 11 | Rock Bottom | Reward2 | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 26 | |||||
| 11 | Chaboga Mogo |
Waiting to Exhale | Immunity | Won | |
| 12 | Big Bad-O Course | Reward/Immunity3 | Lost | ||
| Voted Out, Day 28 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 As part of Chapera's win at the Immunity Challenge, they kidnapped one member of Mogo Mogo who would share their reward and live with them overnight, thus allowing them to abstain from Tribal Council. Chapera kidnapped Kathy.
^2 The castaways competed as individuals. ^3 The castaways first competed as two teams for reward. Only the members of the winning team would have the right to compete for individual immunity. | |||||
| Episode | Kathy's Votes |
Voted Against Kathy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mogo Mogo Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Mogo Mogo Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | No Tribal Council | |
| 4 | Mogo Mogo Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Richard | - |
| 6 | No Tribal Council | |
| 7 | Kidnapped by Chapera1 | |
| 8 | Ethan | - |
| 10 | Jerri | - |
| 11 | Amber | Individual Immunity |
| 12 | Amber | Alicia, Amber, Jenna L., Rob M., Rupert, Tom |
| Voted Out, Day 28 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Rob M. | |
^1 In "Sorry... I Blew It", Kathy was kidnapped by the Chapera tribe, granting her immunity from Mogo Mogo's Tribal Council.
Post-Survivor[]
- Kathy attended the Survivor: Thailand Reunion Show.
- In 2003, Kathy was one of several castaways who appeared on MTV's Men vs. Women: Rumble in the Jungle, a preview show for Survivor: The Amazon and offered her commentary in the debate of which gender was stronger.[4][5]
- On January 9, 2010, Kathy attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.
Trivia[]
- Kathy is the first, and so far only, Survivor contestant to reside in Vermont during filming
- Kathy's luxury item in Marquesas was a painting kit.
- Kathy is the oldest woman on the original Rotu tribe.
- Kathy is the only member of Rotu to never sit out of a challenge.
- Kathy is the first woman to finish in third place.
- Kathy is the oldest castaway on the original Mogo Mogo tribe and the oldest woman to compete on All-Stars.
- Kathy is the first castaway to win individual immunity in two separate seasons. She is also the first castaway to win the first individual Immunity Challenge in two separate seasons.
- In All-Stars, Kathy became the first person to be voted out on Day 28.
- Both times Kathy played, she voted for the eventual runner-up to win the season.
References[]
- ↑ https://www-ancestryinstitution-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/discoveryui-content/view/272700679:62209?tid=&pid=&queryId=d9664c7d09a844ba3da865196ffb0799#?_phcmd=u('https://www-ancestryinstitution-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/search/?name%3DKathy_Vavrick%26event%3D_burlington-chittenden-vermont-usa_5648%26birth%3D1955_lancaster-lancaster-pennsylvania-usa_14386%26successSource%3DSearch%26queryId%3Dd9664c7d09a844ba3da865196ffb0799','successSource')
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20221002155718/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/20685/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221126185329/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/20507/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQ36WsW6O0
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io91MKjtoZM
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