Hey guys, it’s time for this week’s Next Time on Survivor. Before I jump into looking at the previews for Episode 8, I wanted to check out the outcome of the predictions I made for the previous episode.
Previously on Survivor…
I think it’s pretty obvious that Cole is the biggest physical threat in this game. Last week, it was unclear whether Ben was sticking Yawa strong or going back with Chrissy and voting against the Healers. Overall I’m pretty stoked he decided to stick with Chrissy even though Jessica was a favorite. The last episode just made it even more clear that Cole is the most oblivious person to play this game when he had a clue in his hand and didn’t realize it. What could have been if only he found it before going to tribal!
Regarding my predictions, I wasn’t too far off last week:
Predicted Alliance #1: Ryan, Devon, Lauren, Chrissy, Ben, Ashley, JP
Predicted Alliance #2: Cole, Jessica, Joe, Desi,
I thought Mike was going to be in the middle to flip, which I was wrong about. I also named the “she” mentioned by Mike regarding “She is a huge threat” as being either Chrissy or Jessica, and they happened to both be the hot names going into tribal council last week. JP was irrelevant, and I should have left him that way instead of suspecting him being considered a huge threat.
Playing with the Devil
Episode 8’s title was originally ‘Knights of the Round Table’ according to the Futon Critic, but was changed to ‘Playing With the Devil’. Do you think this was just a mistake? What can you make out of ‘Knights of the Round Table’ if this was going to be the episode title permanently?
Aside from that, looking at the ‘Next Time’ preview, Chrissy manages to surpass first base with Cole. If you pause the preview at the scene where Cole is running full charge towards the tribe flag, you can see that someone (Chrissy) is already there. I think Chrissy managed to find the clue and had already begun digging for the advantage when Cole saw her and ran to get it before her. We know it’s an advantage and not an idol because of the episode description which reads…
“One player finds a secret advantage with a special twist, and concentration is key in the individual immunity challenge, on Survivor.”
The real question is… is the advantage even under the tribe flag?
Russian Roulette
In the 20-second preview, it starts out with a confessional from Ben saying: “Survivor is a game of Russian Roulette; hopefully the hammer doesn’t go down on me.” I think this refers to Ben jumping in and fighting with Cole to grab that advantage first and he got the short end of the stick. If you pause the preview at 0:13, we see three people all digging: Cole, Joe, and mystery man #3 which I suspect is Mike because you can see a yellow shirt. We don’t see Ben in the background, so he could possibly be hidden behind Mike and Cole, and we just don’t see him.
We see JP hanging in the background. I’m surprised he wasn’t trying to help Ben out and do something like pick up Mike like he did with Ryan back in that earlier reward challenge in order to get him out of the way.
After last week, the Healers are clearly on the bottom, and Joe doesn’t have an idol. Nobody else knows about Mike’s idol unless Jessica told someone and it wasn’t aired. So as far as the Hustlers and Heroes are concerned, Joe and Cole are free game for the upcoming tribal. I think after this episode, Ben will draw some fine lines after fighting for the advantage and getting heated with Joe in the preview which could possibly put him up as a target for the remaining Healers if they manage to grab that advantage.
Predictions
Coming into this week, I believe a Healer will go home again unless Mike finally opens up his eyes to realize he should use his idol before the remaining Hustlers and Heroes pick them off one by one.
Who will win immunity?
There wasn’t a preview of the challenge uploaded to Youtube at the time of writing nor any press photos (that could change after this is posted) but when reading the episode description, it says that ‘concentration is key’ for this immunity challenge. That leaves the door open to players who aren’t as physical as Cole and JP are. Overall after watching last week’s immunity, I think the biggest contenders to win will be Ashley, Cole, Chrissy, Desi, and Devon.
Who’s on the chopping block?
I think Joe and Cole are definitely sitting in the hot seats again this week and will continue to be in trouble until they get the numbers. As for who the Healers may target – Ben looks to be getting into an argument with Joe in the preview. Chrissy is still a huge threat, and they could continue to go after her. So as for my predicted targets this week, I think it will still be Cole or Joe and then either Ben or Chrissy. I don’t see Chrissy being voted out and becoming the first juror. I suspect another Healer is going.
Will an advantage or idol be found?
According to the episode description, an advantage is found, but we don’t know who by. I think the clue was found by Chrissy before being caught looking for it. It will end up being found by either Cole, Joe, Ben, or Mike (if that is the third mystery man seen in the preview).
Will an idol be played?
I don’t think Mike will use his idol to save Cole or Joe if it comes down to it. Pre-merge Mike wasn’t a total fan of Joe, and he named Cole as being a huge threat. I don’t suspect an idol being played this episode.
Winner Prediction After Episode 7
When starting my winner prediction after Episode 2, I didn’t think I would actually stick with the same name each week this entire season. I figured I would jump around between Chrissy, Ryan, and Ben. Between these three, Ryan gives me Spencer vibes for some reason. He makes me believe he will get to the end but not have the votes because he was up against someone better like Chrissy or went out fourth while everyone in the jury was cheering for him. Then he will change his Twitter bio to “greatest loser in Survivor history.”
Chrissy gives me fourth place vibes based on her huge edit. She’s playing a phenomenal social game so far. Then there’s Ben, he’s had a solid edit and hasn’t stuck out too much. He has had his ups and downs throughout the season. He’s likable and has been put in potential swing vote positions. Can he beat Chrissy? I don’t think so, but depending on who else he would be up against, I think he can bring home the win.
When picking teams for the draft assessment, Austin picked Ben, and I didn’t even know there was a Ben on this cast.
Who do you think will win? Drop your winner predictions into the comments below!
OTHER SURVIVOR CONTENT
Redmond’s Episode 7 Recap at Yahoo TV
Episode 8 Press Photos
Episode 7 Edgic
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I’m with you on Ben, Ryan, and Chrissy being the best contenders to win and I think that Chrissy will ultimately win once they see how likable Ben is compared to everyone else. Also, I liked “Knights of the Round Table” much better than this new title.
Didn’t they already use that title in
Heros vs Villains ?
It’s already used in Heroes vs Villains. Episode 5
I’ve got to go with Devon as the winner. Recently he’s been shown as more strategic than Ryan. And as a decent strategist. He’s also a threat to win immunity, though he doesn’t stick out as much as Cole or JP. Ben would be my second pick though.
Making a side note in the comment section: I didnt make any guesses on what this secret advantage could be because the previous two were both completely new and have never been done before (ryan’s advantage that saved Chrissy and Jessica’s advantage that made Devon unable to vote). Martin made the suggestion that the advantage could be one to nullify an idol but if they continue on this new advantage path, it could be a number of different ideas.
What if Chrissy hid the super idol she got from Ryan first episode under the flag and wanted everyone to see her “find it” so the others will think it’s real.
What if…. the ‘advantage’ that Chrissy and Cole are fighting for, is the EP1 idol.
Maybe, Chrissy planted / was trying to plant it there, Cole saw it, they both struggle for it but Cole ended up having it thinking it is an Immunity Idol.
Cole gets majority votes at Tribal, plays the idol, Probst burns the idol, gets voted out anyway looking like a clown…
That’d be pretty hilarious and I thought about that while writing this
It’s pretty clear in the preview Ben is digging under the flag too.
Yeah he was digging and I said that but at one point you see Cole, Joe, and I think Mike because the buff is on someone’s head with a yellow shirt and Ben’s buff was around his neck. I think Ben was just hiding behind those 3 guys in the camera angle but It shows Mike and Joe jumped in also
So far in the game and after the merge, out of this group, I’d say Devon has the best combination of social charm, strategic smarts and physical talents to win.
My top winner contenders are Cole, Ben and Ryan. I don’t see Chrissy winning she is aubry at best the one everyone thinks will win but doesn’t. But I don’t think she is even that. I think Cole will either win immunity or find the advantage and save himself. I’m hoping it is an advantage which can really change the game and gets Chrissy sent home. But that might just be wishful thinking. I think Desi will be the one to go home in the end. I think the original episode title is about an “alliance” made at the reward.
Ben is so likable, that unless he goes on a tribal winning run, he cant get to the end. I see him blindsided by his closest allies around 7th or 6th.
I would LOVE to have Chrissy win, but at this point….anyone but Cole.
I actually think Ben may be the too-obvious winner, a la David Wright. And Chrissy is the one who, if she (or by happenstance, lucks into this) gets Ben out in 4th, and sits F3 with, let’s say, Ryan and JP, she has a good chance to win.
For the record, they were my pre-season top 2. And they’re still my top 2, though I love several more as well. So I’m loving this season thus far. <3
My FTC pick out easily be Ben, Ryan, Chrissy. Ryan for the win, preferably.
Id love for a Ryan or Chrissy win. Ryan is on my draft team. I just think he is way too obvious and gets way too much airtime to be the winner.
Same. It’s kind of like when you are watching a movie and you can easily foretell that your favorite character is going to die, so you just try to enjoy all the time you have with them and pray that you are wrong. And I most certainly am praying that Ryan does stay, regardless of the edit saying otherwise. 🙁
I do also feel like Chrissy’s edit would allow her to win, but the way she is going about voting people off is very blatant and “in-your-face”, and I don’t think the jury usually likes to vote for those kinds of people. Unless you are like Tony in Cagayan, where he made it to the end by a dumb decision on Woo’s part, and Tony only won because the jury was completely frazzled at why Woo would be so stupid, because Tony obviously played the better game. But, his reputation from Cagayan stuck with him nonetheless, win or not, because he became second voted off in Game Changers. So therefore, I think Chrissy has a good chance of making it to final three, but she most likely will not win if she continues down this path.
[…] Hey guys, it’s time for this week’s Next Time on Survivor. Before I jump into looking at the previews for Episode 9, I wanted to check out the outcome of the predictions I made for the previous episode. […]