Survivor: One World Roundtable Predictions Update, Episode 8 – Blown Away!

Every season, the RNO scribes play Nostradamus and predict how the season will go. Our mission, should we decide to accept it: Predict the pre-jury boots, finalists, and ultimately, the winner.

By now most of you know that a day before the latest episode aired, North Texas got a reminder of exactly why we used to have a soccer team called the “Dallas Tornado,” as about a dozen of the twisters reportedly touched down here. While there was little if any loss of life thanks to technology that now warns us well in advance, there was obviously a lot of property damage.

Like a tornado, the game of Survivor is often unpredictable and can change course in the blink of an eye. Accordingly, some writers saw their pre-season predictions relatively unscathed by Mike’s ouster in the most recent episode, while others saw their seasons suffer irreparable damage. But unlike a lot of people in Dallas, Mike didn’t realize he was not in a safe place, game-wise, and had no idea he was right in the path of the storm we call Tribal Council.

While Mike saw his chances of winning the game completely destroyed, the writers suffered varying degrees of damage to their predictions: Some were completely unscathed, while a couple of poor unfortunate souls saw their seasons seriously damaged, if not wrecked altogether.

Hardest hit by this would have to be me, since Mike was my projected winner. I blame it all on the events of a few weeks ago, when RNO editor David Bloomberg lost his second finalist and winner in Bill. He stated at the time the only way for him to win the season was for everyone else to do as poorly as he did. Lo and behold, since that proclamation, five of us have watched our winners get booted. Ironically, this week, David’s predictions also suffered major damage, as he lost his last remaining finalist with Mike’s leaving. David, how do you feel about this development?

Not a surprise. I knew Mike was doomed and was already figuring to lose him. As I said, it doesn't matter anyway – my goal is not to rise to the top, but to drag everybody else down to the bottom with me.

As with last week, it should be noted that we all picked eight people to miss the merge, but since only six did, anyone who picked Mike or Jonas for an early exit still gets credit for a win in that regard. Only those who picked either player as a finalist get charged with a loss. But if there’s a tie at the end, the tiebreaker will come down to having either or both of those two in the jury.

As far as the standings go, despite losing his last remaining finalist, David stays out of the cellar due to having a better win-loss record than Chris. With the exit of Mike, I drop to a tie for fifth with Sarah. Unlike Mike, I sort of saw this coming, as the men were now in the minority and Mike was probably the strongest of those left. Still, it means yet another season goes by where I have failed to predict the winner. I’ve come close a few times, such as with Ozzy last time around, but my winner always seems to come up a bit short. I can still win the season among the writers, but my only hope is to have Christina make the finals, and that probably ain’t happening.

While Sarah and I have identical records, our weeks were anything but: I lost my winner, but she correctly forecast a jury spot for Mike. Sarah, how do you feel about this?

I'm just glad to get one right for a change. Better yet, my husband suggested at the start of Tribal Council that it might be Christina to go. I, secure in the knowledge that nobody had picked Christina to win, told him it would be Mike. One marital point to me!

Incidentally, just looking ahead to next season, is there an altar around here somewhere on which we can place offerings to appease David?