Last week continued to show why this season is going to be one of the best and most unpredictable season’s we’ve had in a while. I think we can all agree that nobody expected Brendan and Stephanie to have their torches snuffed back to back before the merge. They both started off with decent edits that were fit for a player that went deep into the game, but at this point, I’m ready to start guessing someone like Chelsea makes it deep into the game instead.
When I was participating in the draft assessment pre-game, I made a list of 1-20 and numbered each contestant in order of who I thought would be a great player (#1) and who I thought would flop and be invisible (#20), and Stephanie was around number #15. As the season went along, she started to grow on me, and she became a player who I should’ve placed in the top #5 instead. She might’ve gone out early this season, but I have a strong feeling this isn’t the last time we will see Stephanie on Survivor.
Drop your buffs… again
The preview reveals there is another swap this week and for people like Michael and Jenna, this is possibly the only thing that can save them at this point. At the first swap of the season, there was speculation on whether there would be 2 or 3 tribes, but after analyzing the previews, you could see there would be only two. This week’s preview is only 11 seconds long, and CBS specifically doesn’t want anything to be revealed (which makes a change!). There are only seven press photos as well and no photos of any of the challenges. If CBS is trying this hard to hide the coverage of the swap, we should all assume we are going to 3 tribes with five players each.
This week’s episode will probably be the hardest one so far to try and predict because I think CBS may be starting to catch on that they include a little too much detail in their previews. “So what did you find?” you may be asking…
Looking at the preview, it’s mainly made up of previous episodes because you see people like Sebastian and Dom with a baby face and they have no facial hair. The most obvious thing that sticks out is Desiree complaining about the swap while wearing an orange buff. The last swap, producers edited Kellyn’s buff to make it look purple in the preview so nobody would notice she was actually on Malolo, but I don’t think this is the case for Des. If Des was complaining about the swap, that must mean it didn’t go in her favor, and she may be in the minority on Malolo. Overall, original Malolo all seem pretty close even though they are on two separate tribes, so I don’t see Des finding an open opportunity to align with original Malolo members. I think if Des manages to find herself on Malolo with one other Naviti member like Bradley, I guarantee she is safe for at least one tribal if they lose Immunity.
Two other members who I believe are wearing new buffs in both the ‘Next Time’ preview and the commercial preview are Chris and Michael. We see Chris with a clean Naviti buff that looks brand new and the same goes for Michael wearing a Malolo buff. This is all my assumption though.
Something that took some digging to figure out is that I believe Jenna and Sebastian may stick together for the swap. When they get to their mats for the swap, Jenna and Sebastian are standing next to each other, and they have their buffs on their head and neck. But in the ‘Next Time’ preview, we see them in the same outfits walking next to each other with their bags on their shoulders (returning from the swap?), and neither of them have their buffs on their neck and head like before. At this point in the game, Jenna made a great move to get close with Sebastian because he is her key to moving forward in the game, especially if she happens to be in the minority after the swap.
At the end of the preview, Jeff Probst announces “there’s a brand new start to Ghost Island.” Could this mean there is another twist aside from the swap? Looking at the words “brand new start,” I would die to see another outcast tribe of pre-mergers make a reappearance to fight for a new start and second chance in the game, but I don’t think we will get that lucky. What kind of twist do you think can be implemented on Ghost Island?
Predictions
Who is in trouble?
So many things can happen this week because we have no idea who is on what tribe and it’s hard to base anything off of edits because of what happened to Stephanie and Brendan, but I think this week I am going to stick with Bradley being in trouble. Seeing how Bradley’s game is going, I think we are being led to see his downfall soon because his edit isn’t showing a single good thing about his game or character.
Will someone find an idol or advantage on Ghost Island?
Last week I said Stephanie would definitely find one because Kellyn didn’t take hers the previous episode, but I was wrong. With that being said, I think this week someone will have the opportunity to play a game to get an idol or advantage. But things could change since Jeff announced there would be a new start on Ghost Island.
Will it be 2 or 3 tribes?
I think CBS is being too careful to hide the fact this week will be a swap into three tribes of 5.
Winner Predictions After Episode 5
I said James last week, but I’m having a change of thought and this week I will solidify my answer to Laurel. She placed herself in the best position out of everyone in the game, and I think she is definitely safe going into the swap and even more safe going into the merge if she makes it.
That’s all I have for this week! Did anyone here expect someone like Stephanie to go out this early in the game? Overall this season is definitely one for the books so far, and I’m excited to see how the swap plays out this week. Until ‘Next Time…’
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If they go to three tribes of 5 players, I don’t see them continuing the tradition of sending one player from the losing tribe to GI after the immunity challenge (and surely there won’t be a reward challenge along with an immunity challenge, especially if one tribe has to build a new shelter). Maybe someone from the winning tribe will go to GI? Maybe this is what Jeff means by a “brand new start” for GI? Unless the third tribe is going there? (It would make a lot more sense IMO if they did a 7-7-1 split, sending one person to GI, but I’m usually wrong about such things.)
All I know is that a shift to three tribes plus GI is going to make it even harder for the editors to fit everyone into a 42-minute episode. We should expect a # of players (is that you, Chelsea?) to return to their status as non-entities, except for the 2-3 who are the most likely to go home.
I definitely think there could be something with those eliminated contestants. The fact so many of them have been given decent edits while so many contestants still in the game have been ignored makes me suspicious. Plus people coming back and having to learn from their own mistakes would definitely fit into the theme this season.
I think cbs missed out on a great opportunity with the Outcast twist because it wouldve fit so well with this theme. Im not seeing how Ghost Island is really playing a part of the game at all.
I’m with you on the outcast twist really hoping for one.
I think it will be two tribes with one person going to Ghost island