Survivor: Ghost Island

Survivor: Ghost Island Power Rankings—Week 4 with Jeff Pitman

Matt Liguori ranks the players each week with a new guest in RHAP’s Survivor Power Rankings. This week Matt is joined by True Dork Times’ Jeff Pitman!

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Survivor: Ghost Island Week 4 Power Rankings

Bear with me here, I’m still distraught over losing Stephanie. The definition of a neat lady, I would love to see Steph get a second shot someday.

I enjoyed this episode and I feel like that’s an unpopular opinion. I love seeing raw emotions pulled out from people on Survivor. Michael breaking down over possibly having the game ripped out from underneath him… Stephanie and how badly she wanted to succeed for her kids, especially after being a fan of the show for years… Donathan and Chris sharing personal stories when in real life, these two would never come across one another. It was by no means the most thrilling episode, given how predictable that vote was, but I can’t say enough how much I enjoy getting deeper into the players’ stories and emotions. It doesn’t always have to be idols and strategy!

My guest this week is longtime Survivor recapper, from True Dork Times, Jeff Pitman! Jeff and his team of bloggers do some great work over at TDT, so I encourage anyone who can’t get enough Survivor content in their week to go check out everything they’ve got going on over there. Follow Jeff (@truedorktimes) and I (@mattliguori) on Twitter, tweet us to let us know what you think and/or leave a comment below!

sgibar

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Matt

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Jeff

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1. Laurel
minus

Laurel gets another week in the top spot. We didn’t spend any time going over strategy on the Naviti tribe, but it feels safe to assume nothing changed from last week. Nothing like a swap to ruin somebody’s great position, but I think Laurel will be fine.

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1. Donathan

He’s the heart of the season. As audience members, we are meant to identify most closely with his struggles and concerns. If Donathan were booted this early there would be rioting in the streets. Luckily, he seems perfectly safe.

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2. Donathan
minus

Very touching to see Donathan open up about life back home. We saw Laurel and Chris seem empathetic towards him, which tells me people truly care about him (even though Chris has game motivation behind their talk). I hope Donathan swaps well, but I think either way he’ll get himself to the merge.

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2. Laurel

She’s contributed in challenges, but seems friendly and approachable, all of which should help her post-swap. She’s been shown building close ties to Donathan and Domenick, which may lead to a conflict with Chris eventually, but her story seems like it’s just getting started, so she should be safe for a while.

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3. Kellyn
minus

Kellyn and Bradley have done a great job keeping their troops together just like she repeatedly reminded us she’d like to do. So far, I have no reason to doubt Kellyn’s Survivor abilities. We’ll have to see if her swap luck is better than her rock drawing luck.

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3. Wendell

He’s been quiet in the edit the last couple of episodes, but he’s still a challenge asset and generally seems to get along with everyone. Can’t imagine anyone wanting him out just yet (except maybe Angela).

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4. Sea Bass
minus

Sea Bass should be fine until the merge hits. Nobody sees him as a strategic threat and while typically you’d say he’s a physical threat… you saw Chris completely destroy him in the reward challenge, right? If I’m out there, I’m not worried about Sebastian as a threat to my game.

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4. Sea Bass

Instead of being an honorary Christy brother, Sea Bass is well on his way to becoming a new variation on Keith Nale: coasting from vote to vote, avoiding becoming one giant dread, and happily talking about candy and dead weasels. Bring on the tuk-tuks!

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5. Jenna
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Very big blow for Jenna’s game losing her #1 ally. The writing was on the walls, leaving her and Michael  no other option but to write down Stephanie’s name. A swap couldn’t have come at a better time for those two. Unfortunately for Stephanie, she was easily replaceable… given Jenna’s new connection with the always complimentary Sebastian.

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5. Domenick

For sheer entertainment purposes, I kind of hope he’ll get stuck on a tribe with Chris again, and they STILL keep winning, so that neither can do anything about it. But if not, Dom has an idol to keep him safe. No immediate worries, especially since, now that Stephanie’s gone, nobody will even guess that he has the Legacy Advantage.

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6. Wendell
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Quiet week for Wendell and Domenick. I’m starting to lose touch with Wendell as a player, so I hope to see more from him soon. However, I’m satisfied with what I’ve seen in prior weeks enough to have confidence in Wendell heading into another swap.

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6. Libby

Who is she? So far her only story has been her three-day friendship with Morgan, and her dislike of Chris’s domineering demeanor. She seemed like a potentially significant player way back in Episode 3, so there must be something coming eventually. Libby leaving here wouldn’t fit that.

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7. Domenick
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Going into a swap with an idol in your pocket is a pretty ideal scenario. I’ve said I can’t imagine Chris vs. Dom is going to be an entire season-long story arc, but it’s still going. The way I see it, either they swap onto separate tribes and both make the merge, or they swap together and only one makes it out alive.

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7. Chelsea

Chelsea’s had good strategic ideas during group discussions, but we really haven’t been given any insight into who she is as a character. There’s always a chance her story will take off post-merge the way Natalie Anderson’s did, but for now she seems neither in danger, nor particularly likely of long-term success.

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8. Bradley
minus

Bradley has proved that he can keep a group together through multiple votes. Bradley benefits from the same things the Spencers and Cochrans benefited from. They’re all threatening players strategically, but they don’t stand out physically and thus are able to sneak into the merge.

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8. Jenna

Jenna was the least-visible original Malolo during the post-swap purge. At some point in the future, someone will decide her showmance with Sebastian is problematic, and it’ll be Jenna who takes the fall. Nobody seemed particularly upset about it last episode, though, so she’s probably good for now.

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9. Desiree
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Desiree has been quiet but deadly so far. She’s been in on the shot-calling and apparently doing the dirty work by bag-searching. I have no reason to believe she’d be in trouble, but some of these under-edited players have to go home before the merge..

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9. Angela

She has no real allies apart from Chris, she stood around and watched the entire last IC without officially sitting out, and with a swap coming, she could easily find herself on a tribe with only people under 25. Still, we’ve barely seen or heard from her. She could go next, or she could coast all the way to the finals.

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10. Libby
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I’m pretty surprised by how big of a drop Libby has had in airtime after her big debut episode with Morgan’s vote-out. It feels like she was showing so much life as a player… and now, nothing. To be fair, her tribe has won twice since then; but for now, she’s pretty invisible and I have no clue where she stands.

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10. Desiree

After Bradley and Kellyn, Desiree was the most active participant in stonewalling the original Malolos. If she somehow finds herself on the wrong side of the numbers, and on a tribe with Jenna or Michael, the ghosts of Brendan and Stephanie could seek vengeance. She’s most likely safe for now, though.

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11. James
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Are Laurel and Donathan getting so close that James is getting pushed out of the picture? I can’t imagine that’s the case, but I have zero way to know. While he may or may not be the next to go, he’s certainly not one of the game’s power players.

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11. Kellyn

While she foretold the “epic” Pagonging of the original Malolos, she seems to be getting none of the blame. That’s all on Bradley. Still, there’s a chance the new swap could leave Kellyn and/or Bradley in the minority against a majority of original Malolos, who will likely be looking for payback. That’s a concern for both, but less so for Kellyn. She’ll probably be okay here, but since the “Survivor Gods” will have a hand in the next swap, maybe not?

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12. Michael
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The fact that Michael made it through this last Tribal Council after displaying his ability to think outside the box and make a power play should tell you that Michael has some strong social game. These players know Survivor enough to realize there’s likely another swap coming, and Michael would’ve been a great choice to vote out instead of Stephanie. But they kept him, and I give him the credit for that.

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12. Chris

He’s been getting a lot of strong, emotional content, but there has to be a payoff eventually to the Domenick-Chris feud, and a new post-swap tribe could be where that takes place. And when it does, it seems like it has to be Chris who comes up short. Chris proving himself to be overpowering in challenges when the merge is within sniffing distance also seems like really bad timing.

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13. Chris
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I can’t believe I’m not only bumping Chris off the bottom of the rankings after strongly believing that would never happen, but I’m bumping him up a couple spots. I have no idea where Chris’ story is heading. Like I said about Domenick, either these guys swap together and have a 50/50 shot at making the merge, or they swap separately and both make the merge without a doubt.

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13. James

After Michael, he’s the next-most obvious target if the original Navitis continue their “epic” march to total annihilation of original Malolos. And with a now 9-to-6 edge, odds are in their favor for having the numbers to do so after the upcoming swap. James finally has a few challenge wins under his belt, so if he can end up on a balanced tribe, he might be okay. But with the merge looming closer, he probably won’t be for long.

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14. Chelsea
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Like I said, I really feel like we need to get some of these purple-adjacent players out of here before we get to the merge. I loved getting a glimpse into Chelsea’s game last week, but here we are again.

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14. Bradley

The first swap gave him power, the second stands a chance of taking it away. If it’s a swap to three tribes, Bradley has a 2-in-3 chance at escaping Tribal Council, which is great news. Unless he’s surrounded by original Malolos, who might throw a challenge just to spite him.

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15. Angela
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This person can’t possibly still be on the show, right?

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15. Michael

He’s idolless, his key allies are gone, he just missed being the target last episode, and he’s a buff young guy from an outnumbered original tribe with the merge approaching. If original Navitis dominate his new tribe, he’s the obvious candidate for their first boot. But as with Bradley, there are decent odds he could end up on a tribe that avoids going to Tribal this week.

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sgibar

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