Survivor Game Changers Power Rankings Week 3 (New)

I have been watching this show since 2008, and it's been fun as I've watched every season except when they had pairs verse each other. Now that I have a blog I might as well post my opinion on how well they are doing. Since Malcolm just got voted off, everyone that is still playing the game will be in the standings, starting from the top.

(This will be my first power rankings after already 3 weeks into Survivor. I'll try to post one every week until the finale.)
I hope Zeke and Andrea will make it far in this game! They are my favorites this season.

I base the rankings on the odds of being eliminated next. The higher rank, the safer.

16. J.T. Thomas

It was J.T.’s decision to get up and talk to Brad that sparked everyone starting to scramble. What’s worse, though, is that his intended result of that was far from what actually transpired. His hope, presumably was to have Sandra voted out—which admittedly isn’t a bad hope for him. Instead, the one emerging ally he had on Nuku was voted out and everyone on his tribe now has even more distaste for him. J.T. is now the first name on the chopping block.

15. Hali Ford

I give Hali a lot of credit for her aggressive approach at tribal council. On the outside looking in at the Mana camp, Hali will be in a bad position at every tribal council they attend and will have to work hard to stay each and every time. She has already avoided elimination at two tribal councils, and that's great, but unless she solidifies a bond with someone I think her luck will run out.

14. Sandra Diaz-Twine

Though not J.T. and even with one of the players on Nuku seemingly on board with voting her out now gone (bye, Malcolm), the spot that Sandra Diaz-Twine is in right now is still not a favorable one by any stretch. She’s still playing a game that seems entirely to aggressive for her as a particular player and that will ultimately come back to blow up in her face. J.T. is pretty obviously going to be the next target for Nuku. However, with Malcolm gone there’s not another obvious option.

13. Debbie Wanner

Honestly, this is heavily influenced by the preview for episode 5 in which she starts blowing up on the entirety of the Mana tribe. It’s hard to separate what you see during a week’s episode from the brief tidbits that you get for the following week. So for her to seemingly be out of the power atop the Mana tribe and then having her challenging Brad in the next episode, a person so clearly calling the shots, Debbie seems to be putting herself in a position for an earlier exit.

12. Aubry Bracco

Aubry has been invisible in Game Changers. Her appearances in the premiere lead me to think that might be a bit of a drastic way of assessing her inactivity. That’s what she is to this point and, especially as a part of Nuku, she’s going to need to change that. What else do I write about her? (lol)

11. Michaela Bradshaw

Of the many things that were enjoyable and crazy about Tribal Council in episode 4, Michaela’s facial expressions were my favorite. While J.T. was burying his head in his hands after realizing how badly he played the situation, Michaela looked like everything was the worst news she’d ever heard. What’s working in her favor is that she doesn’t have much of a target on her back right now.

10. Tai Trang

Tai is one of the hardest to pinpoint in the standings. He was able to find the Hidden Immunity Idol prior to the epic Tribal Council, as someone from Mana was going home if no one finds an idol. But really, that’s just a reason as to why Tai isn’t lower on these rankings than ninth. Quite honestly, the game he’s playing right now gives him no real long-term future. While Tai isn’t in the greatest spot, he wasn’t in a place where it was 100% necessary for him to tell Mana minus Hali about finding the idol.

9. Jeff Varner

I think Jeff seems to me to be in the best potential spot among his crazy Nuku tribe. He seems well-liked with everyone and, though he’s followed Sandra to this point, also seems to be aware and independent enough to not get completely dragged down with her. Then again, it’s a bit hard to get a read on Nuku other than to say that they royally screwed up at Tribal.

8. Sarah Lacina

Sarah really wasn’t present much during episode 4 of Game Changers. That can be said of most of the Tavua tribe. However, not being on the lower-half of Mana or simply being on Nuku is enough to boost your power. Sarah is playing a fine game to this point. We’ll see if either aspect of that changes when Tavua starts coming more into the forefront.

7. Zeke Smith

Zeke is another player who didn’t receive much airtime when it came to episode 4 of Survivor Game Changers, simply because he was on the tribe that won Immunity. There’s not much you can do about that, but it also works in his favor. After all, when you look at what went down at Tribal Council, it worked out pretty horribly for the majority of the players on either Nuku or Mana. Zeke still has a seemingly decent alliance forming with Cirie, and he seems to be in a nice enough spot.

6. Andrea Boehlke

Simply by virtue of being on Tavua, Andrea is in the upper side of the standings. Unfortunately for her, she continues to be on the outsides of the game and not totally in the mix in any kind of major way, though sealing the Immunity Challenge win was admittedly a good look for her. Things are slightly more favorable for her, but she needs to make something happen to be considered in a substantially better position moving forward.

5. Cirie Fields

Cirie remains in a good spot as, somehow, it seems that she’s being underestimated as a strategic player within here own tribe. However, it seems that this fourth-time player has quality alliances on the tribe and no one is considering her as the threat that she is. Cirie has made friends once again and feels like a player lying low until the opportunity to strike presents itself.

4. Troyzan Robertson

This might be the most shocking of the rankings considering that Troyzan looked quite terrible in episode 4 of Survivor Game Changers. He lost the Tavua tribe the Reward Challenge with his horrible throwing, and then was selected to sit out the Immunity Challenge—which they won. That would put him on the chopping block and he’s likely going to get five votes against him if that’s the case. But he has the idol that no one knows about. That's why he is up here.

3. Ozzy Lusth

Somehow, episode 4 in terms of all of the action that included Tavua all made Ozzy look great. His fishing game remains on-point and it was pretty clear that his tribe-mates see the value in that, as Andrea and Troyzan awed in the stingray he caught. What’s more, he continued of still being able to lead his tribe when it comes to challenges. Though he’s had plenty of success in his three previous appearances, the reason Ozzy hasn’t gotten over the hump is simply because of his lack of value in the social game and his over-evaluation of his physical prowess and provider role.

2. Sierra Dawn-Thomas

This is big about the position that Sierra is in that Tai was willing to give her (“the pretty lady” as he called her; I laughed so much as I re-watched the Tribal Council) the idol at Tribal Council. She’s right there in the front of the car driving Mana forward right now. It was Sierra that was first offering up Malcolm as who they should target on Nuku. And we all know who ultimately went home. Toss that in with her Legacy Advantage she still has and she’s definitely in a great spot right now.

1. Brad Culpepper

This is a no-brainer at the top of the Survivor Game Changers Power Rankings. Brad is running the game and everyone knows it. Tai felt compelled to tell him about the idol, then looked to Brad to see who he should give the idol to. He’s controlling Mana without question, but even has power recognizable to other tribes.  That’s interesting because when the merge comes as he could be a target, but he’s bulletproof for now it would seem. He also brought his team from a come from behind second place victory in the reward challenge. That's why he's number one at the moment.



Now at the end here here is Malcolm's interview after being blindsided: