Hey everyone! My name is Tillie Reilly, and I’m thrilled to be taking over the “Next Time On Survivor” feature from Jacob Derwin (I wonder what that guy’s been up to?), where each week I’ll be discussing what we see in next week’s previews and making predictions about what may happen. But I should tell you that in three out of the last four seasons, my Top 3/draft team also included the first boot, so don’t rely too heavily on my predictions.
To kick things off, the pre-season is officially over, and we are finally back with a new season! This means no more off-season memes or ‘She voted out her mom’ jokes on Reddit! This premiere was jam-packed and offered us a Super Idol, a strip search, and had people dying to get into Ryan’s pants. It also foreshadowed events which may happen throughout the next 39 days.
So what’s coming up on Next Time On Survivor’? Time to dig deep and find out.
Part 1: I smell a showmance brewing
Unless you’re Rob and Amber or Billy and Candice, I feel like there is a rule that applies to every Survivor player – don’t get involved in a showmance. In the first episode, you could get a sense that JP and Ashley were getting a little close, even without Alan calling them out on it. In pregame, JP described himself as a romantic and Ashley said he reminded her of one of her ex-boyfriends, so it was only a matter of time before they gave off vibes and had people suspicious. In their case… it only took a few hours.
In the second episode’s preview, they discuss exactly that – a possible showmance. But it isn’t just between JP and Ashley; now it’s between Cole and Jessica, two of the most likable people on the cast. If you’re like me and you live to watch great strategic players, you probably want to reach through your TV screen and strangle anyone who even considers getting involved in a relationship on Survivor. But honestly, in Jessica’s defense, I’d have a hard time not looking at Cole all day either. Back on topic, 95% of showmances end in one of the two going home to avoid having a pair in the game. That’s exactly what I predict will happen soon whether it is between Ashley and JP or Cole and Jessica.
Part 2: Island of chaos
Last week we were introduced to Alan Ball who is an NFL player. His career involves him being cool, calm and collected in intense situations, and within hours of landing on the beach, he is immediately skeptical of his surroundings. He claimed that he wasn’t crazy at all, but come on Alan, what would you call someone who makes a grown man strip down and flash everyone to prove that the only idol in his pants was the one blurred out on television? A crazy man!
After that hilarious stunt, I thought Alan was going to provide all of the paranoia and crazy for the season, but then in next week’s preview, we see that there’s another crazy person on the Hustlers beach – Patrick Bolton. From what we can see, Patrick is playing with a crab and starts to yell and fling it in the air. (He seems to have an obsession with crabs if you saw his pre-season cast video). We then see Ali doubting whether or not she wants to continue working with someone who is that crazy. The preview doesn’t reveal too much about the situation. Patrick just seems to be having some fun and joking around but Ali isn’t down to work with someone like that, and he possibly annoys her.
It looks like Ryan is also beginning to get concerned. In the 30 second commercial preview, Ryan expresses that he is scared and uncertain. If he’s really that scared, I guess that the Hustlers go to tribal council this upcoming week and the tribe turns into a giant mess of uncertainty. Maybe this has to do with the fact Ali doesn’t really want to work with Patrick anymore, possibly throws off previous plans, and so now they now have to scramble.
Part 3: New power couple
In the previews we also see a third couple forming – and no they aren’t a possible romantic couple like Ashley and JP or Cole and Jessica. Chrissy and Ben seem to be forming a power couple to try and go far together in this game. We didn’t see much strategizing from Chrissy during the premiere, but we did see her vomit! So it’s exciting to see her change things up for her game. It’s pretty clear that she doesn’t want to continue the trend of allowing the ‘moms’ to be voted out like Katrina was previously.
If this actually works out, this would be a shift of the dynamics on the Heroes tribe if they end up going to tribal a second week in a row. You would have JP/Ashley and Ben/Chrissy, leaving the cool, calm, and collected Alan Ball to possibly be the deciding vote if the two couples don’t work together.
Part 4: Joe-ny
Tony, uh… I mean Joe, goes idol hunting! Tony 2.0 is officially unleashed. In the preview, Joe found a clue to an idol and is looking for it but has a follower, Cole. It looks as if Cole is sneaking behind Joe into the jungle and then you see Cole take off running. My guess is that Cole sneakily found the idol before Joe and booked-it so he wouldn’t get caught. Joe’s a paranoid, can’t-trust-anybody kind of guy. If Cole found the idol and Joe saw, Joe would make Cole his target.
This low-key makes me happy Cole gets involved in the search for the idol because I’ve grown to love Jessica and Cole and I wish I had picked one of them for my draft team.
My Predictions
Who will go to tribal?
I don’t think the Healers are going to tribal anytime soon. So between the Hustlers and Heroes, the Hustlers as a whole look like a nonadaptive mess compared to the physical specimens of the Heroes tribe, so I’m going to guess the red tribe goes to tribal. Also, why would Ryan really be scared if he was already safe?
Who’s on the chopping block?
On the Healers – Joe. He is an outspoken guy who doesn’t trust a soul. If anyone is going to suspect Cole and Jessica are a ‘thing,’ it will be him, but I don’t believe he could get the majority to side with him if he wants to take one of them out because Cole and Jessica are so likable. The tribe may not trust him after he goes idol hunting either.
On the Heroes – JP or Alan. JP is still being suspected of having the idol. But Alan is paranoid and people are beginning not to want to work with him anymore.
On the Hustlers – possibly Ali. I feel like with Patrick being the guy he is, Devon, Ryan, and Lauren will like him. So if Ali decides to leave him and flip, they may just turn on her instead.
Who will find an idol/advantage?
The commercial shows Joe finding a clue, but I really want to believe that Cole finds the actual idol before Joe does.
Remember what I said in the beginning about not relying too hard on my predictions because I’m usually wrong? With my luck, the Healers will go to tribal, Cole will be voted out, and Alan will find an idol.
Alrighty guys, thanks for reading Next Time On Survivor. That’s all for this week but if you have other predictions or just want to talk Survivor, feel free comment below and tweet me @tilliereilly.
OTHER SURVIVOR CONTENT
Redmond’s Premiere Recap at Yahoo TV
Exit Interview with Katrina at ET Canada
Episode 1 Edgic
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I have faith in your predictions this time. Cause you have Cole not going anywhere and he is my winner pick.
I Think the people going home if each tribe lose are
Heroes: Alan or Chrissy. Chrissy is still the weak link on that tribe. But Alan is a loose cannon
Hustlers: I think Lauren. I don’t know why but I don’t think she lasts. Either her or Ali
Healers: Joe or Mike. Mike I think is the weak link. But Joe is to hectic. And not in the Tony way
Yeah I really like Cole. I felt like Ben wanted to grow apart from the JP/Ashley/Allen ‘alliance’ because it’s obvious that wont be a final 4 duo. If I was in Ben’s shoe, I would find someone who I could see myself with going to the end with- someone who isnt going crazy or untrustworthy from day 1- which is Chrissy. She was on the bottom and would work with anyone at this point. So I saw her being probably the safest one there besides Ben.
I agree with Lauren, she doesnt really fit in much but I thought we would at least get a tease of her in a preview if she was possibly going home.
Considering that Ali knew Patrick in college it’s hard for me to believe that she didn’t already know his goofy personality. (In fact, didn’t she describe him as such in one of her pre-game interviews?) For this reason, I’m questioning whether the preview is trying to misdirect the viewer. It cuts from Patrick to Ali’s confessional, but are we so sure she is speaking about him? (Could she be speaking about another person on their tribe – like Ryan? Ali uses the pronoun “he” so it could be any one of the three males on her tribe.) And even if she is talking about Patrick, why would she try to break away from him if she sees that he is bonding with their tribe mates (as you suggest)? Patrick being crazy might mean you don’t want to work with him on a long term basis, but in the short term – on a six-person tribe – why cut ties with someone whom you know pre-game and who you know is unlikely to vote against you (and based on his pre-game interviews, I don’t see Patrick turning on his allies – at least not this early in the game)? I still think that Simone or Lauren are the most likely candidates to get eliminated if the Hustlers go to tribal, and possibly also Ryan if he ends up doing something to blow-up his game.
Yeah i didn’t think about the fact that Ali knew Patrick before Survivor until after this had posted. But I don’t think that would’ve changed my judgement on believing that Ali was talking about Patrick in the commercial. If I was playing with someone from college, I think I would try to get them out so they don’t tell people about me. Even if we worked together to get to the end- only one of us would win the $1million, so I would be like Ali and gun for Patrick.
Despite Simone’s personality from pre-game interviews, she had been laying low from what we’ve been seeing so I didn’t think she would go home this week. We’ve basically seen nothing from her.
I think Ryan is in one of the best spots in the game in my opinion- and Im not just saying that because he is on my draft team lol. I dont see him going any time soon but then again, my predictions weren’t all that accurate so who knows- he could go home next week
Nice job, Tillie! I agree with some of the more obvious ones: Ben/Chrissy + Alan = ABC Alliance! Ben said last episode that the vote depended on where he and Alan swung. So those 2 are together, in spite of the crazy. I think Alan will likely side with Chrissy and Ben because he doesn’t trust JP and Ashley as a duo. They’ll hold on to Alan and try to reign him in, until he gets to be a liability, haha.
Here’s one place I think you might be wrong: the preview making it THAT obvious regarding the Idol seems unlikely. I think it’s a bit of a misdirect. Joe finds clue, Cole chases after him, neither find it. Let’s reflect back on Episode 1. They’ve already setup the storyline of Mike finding the HII for his son. The edit wants us to lowkey root for Mike. I think all signs point to Dr. Mike finding the Idol while the other 2 guys flop hard. 😛
Re: the red tribe, I can’t see Ali going yet. She isn’t the Mari type, who had little strategic content. Ali is already being shown as an intuitive player. It’s more likely Lauren goes as I suspect Patrick is gonna be kept for comedic relief for a bit longer, whereas Lauren has no true allies.
While writing this, I had originally put that Mike would probably find the Idol this episode but then it wouldnt make sense to focus so much on Joe and Cole looking for the idol. I think Mike will still find something throughout this game though
Yeah, I guess I was thinking too edgically re: misdirects there, haha. But this makes sense for the episode 4 title. The storyline will follow Joe vs. Cole, snaking, blindsiding, etc. But agreed. Mike’s time will probably come at some point.
Next to go for each potential tribe loss:
Heroes – Ashley
Healers – Joe (w/ idol) lol / they won’t lose
Hustlers – Lauren