And with that, we’re down to the final episode of Season 41! This season has been an appreciated gift after over a year of pandemic-induced hiatus. As Erika aptly puts in the Next Time On Survivor trailer, “The game’s gonna get very intense. There’s gonna be a lot of scrambling, broken promises, it’s gonna be a wild finish.”
There are five players left in the game—Deshawn, Ricard, Erika, Heather, and Xander. I think it’s going to be an episode of “get Ricard out,” as we’ve heard multiple times from the players themselves that he’s the biggest threat to win. He’ll likely need to win the final 5 immunity challenge and the final 4 immunity or fire-making challenge to get to the end. While I don’t think it’s impossible, I feel like it’s highly unlikely, especially with advantages in the air and the other four players actively trying to get him out.
The first advantage still in play is Xander’s immunity idol which has been common knowledge since the pre-merge—the last time he can play it is at the final 5 Tribal. From the NTOS trailer, we also see another advantage introduced at the final 5. We see lots of running, searching, and Ricard says, “Don’t let him get it; that’s all I care about.”
My guess is that Ricard is referring to Deshawn as Ricard seems to be working with Xander—right before the rushing scene, we see both of them sitting by the beach, Xander with a shocked expression as Ricard nods.
In the Game Within the Game puzzle for this episode, it is revealed that the “exact same riddle from next week’s finale” reads: “The treasure hangs where the trees love to dance.” This corroborates as we see the players running along the beach, likely parsing the riddle’s location as some windy area with trees and sea breeze. We don’t know what the advantage/twist is, but my guess is that it’s an advantage for one of the upcoming immunity challenges.
I’ve been going back and forth with my placing order predictions for the finale. But I realised I always fall back on three predictions. First, Deshawn and Erika will be working together even though the latter declared, “I hate Deshawn” in the NTOS trailer. Similar to what I wrote last week, I believe the alliance of Xander, Erika, and Deshawn will stick out to the end.
My second prediction is that Ricard will not get to the Final Tribal. Even though I want him to win, I think he’ll fall just short. And thirdly, I predict that Xander will reach Final Tribal but not win. It’s almost certain he’s getting to the final 4 with his immunity idol, and I think the other players will take him to the end as he’s not regarded as a threat.
With that, my final predictions for this season are as follow: I think Heather is voted out in fifth place—due to her invisibility the whole season, I can’t see her reaching the final 3, though I think the final 4 challenge winner would take her as a goat to sit next to. This, therefore, means that she’s eliminated at final 5.
For final 4, I think Ricard loses the fire-making challenge and gets eliminated, unfortunately, just shy of Final Tribal and probably him winning the million dollars. With Erika, Deshawn, and Xander in the final 3, I think Erika will win as the jury doesn’t seem to regard Xander very highly. And the likes of Liana and Shan, former allies of Deshawn, may feel bitter about his blindside of Shan and vote against him too.
For the last time this year, leave a comment below with your predictions for the finale!
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I agree with your final 3, however, I think it will be closer between DeShawn and Erika. I think Erika has the votes of Tiffany, Evvie, and Ricard. I think DeShawn could pull in the votes of Nasser, Heather, and Danny. Which means that Shan and Liana are the tie breakers. Do they side with a woman and vote for Erika or do they side with the last African-American standing?
Xander is my Pick !
Personally I would like to see the 3 men at the end. All 3 had a hard time at one time or another and are still there. I’ll be happy if any of those 3 win.
I don’t think there’s a world where Erika doesn’t get Heather’s jury vote.
1. DeShawn 2. Erika 3. Xander 4. Ricard 5. Heather
Your crazy Xander has evie and tiffs votes the African American people are all voting for each other no matter what Ricard will vote for Xander
Typical survivor.the person who outwits,outlasts and outplays doesn’t win cause they are not voting as they should cause they got voted out!!!!
I think Erika or Xander.. if Ricard doesn’t keep winning the immunity idol
You underestimate Ricards ability to win challenges. I’m pulling for Xander, but it will be Ricard still standing at the end.
None of what you predicted was right, Dang.
Is this sarcasm?