Vincent "Vince" Moua is a contestant from Survivor: Island of the Idols.
Despite Vince being in a seemingly solid position within his tribe, a surprise visit to the Island of the Idols on Day 7 put a target on his back. After receiving a Hidden Immunity Idol by successfully completing the mentors' challenge, he was confident that the next vote would be for Tom Laidlaw, as the tribe's women had told him. At Tribal Council, however, the women voted against Vince to flush a potential idol, blindsiding him with his idol in his possession.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Age: 27
Hometown: Merced, California
Current residence: Palo Alto, California
Occupation: Admissions Counselor
Hobbies: Singing, photography, thrifting, and hunting for cool/unique cafes.
Pet peeves: When people are flaky and do not follow through with their promises. When people don't understand that the middle seat passenger has rights to both armrests. When people tell me, "Wow! Your English is really good!" and follow with, "Where did you learn English?" When people dismiss and/or invalidate my lived experience as a person of color.
Three words to describe you: Shamelessly-me, quick-witted, and not-afraid-to-flip-tables.
What accomplishment are you most proud of? It might seem a bit trivial, but I am most proud of buying my mother a new and modern refrigerator for Mother's Day in 2017. She and my father were not able to afford new appliances and had been using the same old refrigerator for 12 years, so it was really meaningful for me to buy her something she really wanted and needed.
Who or what is your inspiration in life? Like so many children of refugees, I am here today because of my parents' sacrifices. My father's journey was especially harrowing. He, Txooj Zeb Muas, is my hero and quite literally, a true survivor. Faced with unknown odds, he risked everything to have a chance at living. At 16 years old, my father and his two cousins ran from the mountains of Laos—through jungles laced with landmines and buzzing with bullets from communist Viet Cong and Pathet Lao followers—to refugee camps in Thailand in an attempt to escape ethnic genocide of the Hmong and Mien people who were abandoned after being recruited for guerilla warfare. After miraculously making it across the Mekong River and into the camps, he was relocated to Montana with nothing more than the clothes on his back. Despite the struggles of being forced into a totally foreign country with no immediate family members, he has never given up on living life to its fullest potential. I have had the privilege of growing up without the fears of being exposed to Agent Orange, ethnic persecution, and displacement because of his resilience, his perseverance, his defiance, and his traumatic experiences.
What's one thing we wouldn't know from seeing a photo of you? In 2015, after years of experiencing erratic and frightening out-of-body panic-attack-like episodes, my grandmother's Shaman Master declared that I was, and am, the next shaman to rise in our family!
Which Survivor contestant are you most like? Vince is Vince. Survivor ain't never had anyone like me before, haha. IF I had to choose, I'd say a mix of Shii Ann Huang, because she didn't let nobody mess with her. The Shii Devil, Cirie Fields, because she's humble, analytical, strategic, and inspirational, and Natalie Anderson, because she was loyal, innovative, and an overall boss!
What's your primary motivation for being on Survivor? Honestly, I am here to show minority young folk and people across the world that they matter, that their stories and narratives are important, and that they should never doubt their existence regardless of what others say. Survivor has been an integral part of my life. It showed me that a kid from Merced could dream of traveling abroad, take big risks, and be more than another statistic. I hope that winning the title of "Sole Survivor" inspires other kids to challenge the oppressive systems and institutions that seek to keep them down!
Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor? I have accumulated grit from the challenges that I've faced throughout my life and have always been able to gain the trust and confidence of others. I believe I can use my unassuming image and 209 vernacular to fool others into believing that I am not an immediate threat. However, I'd say I'm pretty crafty and will be able to use my smarts to create plans and execute votes that will eliminate anyone I feel is a threat to my game (if you're not with me, you're dead to me). I also understand how to deal with big egos and personal quirks and can use my social skills to build confidence among all characters. Lastly, I've got quite a mouth and can smack the Jury with an award-winning Final Tribal Council speech to guarantee my win.[2]
Survivor[]
Vince was initially placed on the Lairo tribe. He was open with his background, especially taking pride in being the first Hmong castaway. He immediately bonded with Elaine Stott and Tom Laidlaw as they gathered wood, although this gave the rest of the tribe the opportunity to potentially form a majority alliance. Vince was one of the players who failed at the puzzle portion of the first Immunity Challenge of the season, which made him worry that he would be targeted. Vince acted quickly, agreeing to multiple plans to target Elaine or Ronnie Bardah. Elaine managed to shift the target off of her and onto Vince, but Vince only received two votes as the plan to blindside Ronnie at the first Tribal Council succeeded.
Following Tribal Council, Vince was annoyed at Aaron Meredith for voting with Ronnie, which Aaron brushed off simply conceding that he thought that was the majority's plan. When Aaron later approached Vince about forming a male alliance to attempt to counter the female majority, Vince feigned loyalty and decided that his true loyalty was with the women. On Day 7, Vince was summoned to the Island of the Idols. Upon arrival, he responded to Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine's greeting because of how much inspiration they have been to him from watching the show. He accepted the mentors' challenge which required him to sneak into the opposing Vokai tribe's camp at night and return with a lit torch by lighting it on their fire. Because Vokai did not have a fire during this challenge, Vince had to improvise by putting coal from the fire pit into his water bottle. Rob and Sandra deemed this sufficient proof and awarded him a special Hidden Immunity Idol that was valid for the next two Tribal Councils Vince attended.
What Vince didn't know was that Lairo conspired to split the vote between Vince and Karishma Patel while Vince was at the Island of the Idols. Following the Day 8 Immunity Challenge loss, Vince was confident his alliance would target Tom, who he believed to be the weakest of the other men. The women's alliance briefly considered it before thinking that it made more sense to vote out Vince or Karishma. Vince's attempts to get Karishma to talk game with him were frustrating as she did not provide a suggestion on who to target, but Vince stayed confident as he believed that Karishma would be the target should the plan against Tom fail. Vince's allies considered keeping Vince because of his loyalty, but ultimately decided he posed too much of a threat with the possibility that he got an idol from the Island of the Idols. This resulted in Vince being blindsided 5-3-1 with his idol unused.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lairo | Tower of Equality | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost |
| 2 | Rung O Star | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 3 | Beam Me Up | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | |
| Voted Out, Day 8 | |||||
Post-Survivor[]
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Trivia[]
- Vince is the youngest man of the original Lairo tribe.
- Vince is the third LGBT Asian-American man to compete on Survivor, following Brad Virata and Tai Trang. They would be followed by Hai Giang and Andy Rueda.
- As mentioned in "I Vote You Out and That's It", Vince is the first castaway of Hmong descent.
References[]
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