Each week during this season of Survivor, I’ll be ranking the castaways in terms of best chance to win the game. Last week, Alan was voted off after being ranked No. 13 of the 15 remaining players.
Week 5 Power Rankings:
1. Ryan (Last week: 3): A great stroke of fortune to end up on the same tribe as Chrissy after gifting her the super idol in Week 1. Very few people will look at him as a threat at this point, and that should help him make the merge.
2. Chrissy (Last week: 4): She’s in a great position again, going right from one ally (Ben) to another (Ryan). And she’s got the instant bond with Ryan thanks to the super idol gift. I like her chances more and more, because she has a great social game.
3. Ali (Last week: 2): She’s on a remade tribe with two Heroes (Chrissy and JP), two Hustlers (herself and Ryan) and Roark in the middle. But I feel like JP would be the first target there, so I think she may be OK.
4. Ben (Last week: 1): He didn’t do anything wrong to get moved down after I had him at the top of the rankings all season, but he’s in an unfavorable position on his new tribe (which has three Healers, only one Hero and one Hustler, which is Lauren). So he needs to survive that first cut, which could be tricky.
5. Mike (Last week: 5): I’m going to keep Mike in the top five for now, if for no other reason than he has a clear majority on his new tribe (the one with three Healers). So he’s likely not going home in the next couple weeks.
6. Devon (Last week: 6): He got screwed by the vote steal last week (“That is not a secret advantage!”) and I wonder where this leaves him. Hopefully he can scramble to join up with Ashley and keep fighting that way.
7. Lauren (Last week: 8): She showed some social smarts by telling Mike the information about Jessica’s advantage that Cole had stupidly relayed to her. If she keeps that up, she could make the merge — although she’s in a terrible position with the numbers on her new tribe. She and Ben need to form an alliance and see if they can pull Mike in.
8. Ashley (Last week: 7): She had everything set up well and looked like she’d be OK playing with Alan out of necessity, and then the secret advantage craziness ruined her side’s plans. I’m not sure where this leaves her and Devon.
9. Joe (Last week: 14): Just when you think Joe is a poor man’s Tony, he somehow scrambles and pulls off a crazy move. Is it possible he could keep this up? I don’t know, but it’s interesting to watch.
10. Roark (Last week: 9): The tribe Roark ended up on puts her as the swing vote for whenever the first tribal council happens. She should be safe for now if she navigates that correctly.
11. Jessica (Last week: 11): She misplayed the secret advantage (should have used it to take away Alan or Ashley’s vote, not Devon), but it still ended up working out anyway. Still, I don’t think she is a serious threat to win.
12. Desi (Last week: 12): She’s sort of along for the ride right now with Joe, which probably isn’t a very comfortable place to be.
13. JP (Last week: 10): It’s clear by listening to other players that JP has no respect as a competitor. Aside from working around camp, he’s not playing the game at all. So he won’t be winning the million dollars.
14. Cole (Last week: 15): This guy has such a big mouth. No one can trust him, not even Jessica. That’s not how you win Survivor.
Eliminated:
Week 1: Katrina (ranked No. 6 of 18 remaining players)
Week 2: Simone (ranked No. 17 of 17 remaining players)
Week 3: Patrick (ranked No. 16 of 16 remaining players)
Week 4: Alan (ranked No. 13 of 15 remaining players)