My No. 13 pick was eliminated last week, so that wasn’t a surprise. But it was a surprise how it happened — at least to me — proving you never know when someone is going to get the boot.
Here’s how I see the players with the best chances to win Survivor: Game Changers headed into Week 3.
1. Brad (last week: 16). Bravo, Culpepper. From worst to first in two weeks. He seems like a completely different player and made a great move to manipulate Tai into voting off his closest ally.
2. Zeke (Last week: 2). He hasn’t really done anything yet to earn this spot, but I’m trying to maintain some consistency with my rankings (despite my Culpepper pick).
3. Troyzan (Last week: 4). Loving Troyzan this season and his idol snatch at the immunity challenge was an awesome moment. I know he doesn’t have the numbers right now, but this might buy him time until another swap.
4. Varner (Last week: 3). Still liking his position, and he needs to continue to let the bigger targets take each other out.
5. Hali (Last week: 10). Giving her some props here because I had her ranked 18th to start the season. She made a great argument at tribal and showed she really understands the game, though I recognize she currently is in a very bad spot on her tribe.
6. Cirie (Last week: 6). As much of a threat as she is, it seems like other people aren’t talking about her at the moment. That could buy her some time.
7. Andrea (Last week: 3). She got labeled as a liar by Troyzan (which was accurate), and that might hurt her. But she’s still in a decent position for now.
8. Sierra (Last week: 7). People aren’t going to come after her as long as there are more visible threats, so I’m starting to think she can make the merge.
9. Aubrey (Last week: 11). For as much talk about big players as there’s been — and she is one — people seem to be sort of looking at others before her.
10. Debbie (Last week: 15). She’s slowly moving up after starting the season 19th here. Yet another person who has changed their style early in this season.
11. Michaela (Last week: 14). She rebounded from a sloppy first episode, so maybe there’s still some hope.
12. Sarah (Last week: 9). It doesn’t seem like she’s on the radar for any reason, so I’m not sure that’s a good sign for a winner.
13. Malcolm (Last week: 5). With the loss of two meat shields right away, it’s time to start worrying about Malcolm. He simply won’t have cover for much longer, and they’ll be coming for him soon as a major threat.
14. Ozzy (Last week: 10). As soon as I heard him say he was going to have to take a leadership role on his new tribe, I knew he was in trouble.
15. J.T. (Last week: 12). Yeah, so great job with the whole stranding your tribe on the raft — that was a good little play — but now everyone knows he’s a schemer and is sneaky. Not exactly a long-term trust play.
16. Sandra (Last week: 18). She only moves up a spot because Tai played so bad. She’s a huge threat and won’t make the merge.
17. Tai (Last week: 17). Tai, Tai, Tai. Oh man. Brad totally talked him out of sticking with Caleb, showing once again how easily he can be manipulated. For as great of a human as he is, he’s not a great strategist on Survivor.