Survivor: One World – Ranking the Final 10 Survivors (or, You’re Safe… Trust Me!)

In the clip “It Wasn't My Day,” Chelsea complained, “It's the puzzle that gets you every time,” and, “That’s what stinks about those challenges. It's not all athletic ability.” It’s clear that Chelsea doesn’t know the game well, as puzzles are integral to modern Survivor challenges. Might her lack of game experience become an anchor that Kim may have to cut loose?

Chelsea’s aggravation with Tarzan may have hit a new high when he brought up her boob job. But to her credit, she reacted correctly – there are bigger threats in the game than that big boob, Tarzan.

When Kim talked with her girls to decide which path to take, Sabrina was there, and Kat… but not Chelsea? Bad sign. I’m sure they had a separate conversation later, but this was portrayed as “the moment of decision,” so I think noting the attendees is important.

I wonder if I have her rated too high. Or, can Chelsea be dragged to the end as a strategy-challenged goat? Nonetheless, it will be a while before that will come to a head, and Chelsea is sure to survive the next few votes.

4: Kat (was 6th)

I noticed Kat’s team chose her to precede Chelsea in the reward challenge. Is Kat now considered the more physical of the two?

Strategically, Kat is doing nothing while Kim and others do the heavy lifting and get their hands dirty, yet Kat still rises up and up these rankings. Kat sits in an envious position.

If Chelsea keeps making mistakes, could Kat end up sitting in front of the jury instead of on it? And if she’s sitting with someone unpopular like Alicia or Tarzan, and Kim takes the heat for eliminating all her buddies, perhaps Kat could actually win? Holy Natalie 3.0! Scary thought… forget you read it….

5: Alicia (was 10th)

Readers, note: There is a big, big gap between the top four and the others.

Alicia jumps up because of gender, but just to the middle of the pack. Neither she nor Christina voted with the majority – were they possibly directed to do so, in case Mike produced an idol? More probably, they were lied to about whom the true voting target was. Was either of them clever enough to realize their places in the pecking order were just reaffirmed? Were they clever enough to do anything meaningful about it? At any rate, it might be the first time these two have agreed on anything all season!

It remains to be seen if she or Christina will eventually go first, although the other is sure to immediately follow.

6: Christina (was 8th)

Christina may still be terrible at most challenges, especially those involving physical strength, but no one can fault her effort levels. She zipped down that slide, getting sand in places I cannot mention in a family website, only to pop up (admittedly, not as niftily as Leif), free the crate, then hustled back to the mat to mount the puzzle and direct her tribe to the win. In clip “Through the Roof,” Leif confirmed, “Christina really helped pull it out for us.”

As to the immunity challenge – it seemed to me that the non-winners were right on the cusp, so I can’t criticize her here, either. But trying hard isn’t winning, and she’s going to have to win herself an immunity or two at some point that’s no terribly far away.

There still seemed to be a near-universal consensus that Christina is “annoying,” as per the voting discussion among the reward non-winners. Personally, unlike Alicia or the late and unlamented Colton, I don’t think we have seen much of Christina being abnormally annoying. But the thought is renewed with almost every episode, so I’m not sure how Christina can break through, because it seems no one wants her in their alliance.

7: Leif (was 11th)

Leif has moved up a couple of slots, but don’t get too encouraged. His position in the game was still hopeless.

Leif’s whole game can be summarized by the end of the reward challenge. Celebrating his first reward that tasted better than a tarp and screaming “Bar-B-Q” repeatedly was an act that got him cussed out by Chelsea. While I disagree with Chelsea doing that and coming across as a bitter loser, she is central in the prime alliance, and Leif had already made enough enemies to insure his chances of winning were nil.

8: Troyzan (was 2nd)

Troyzan, Troyzan, Troyzan! Bro, trust me, I understand why you believe everything that comes out of the mouth of the fetching Kim, but seriously, in all that Survivor you’ve allegedly watched over the last decade-plus, did you miss the thirty-four episodes wherein enchanting young femmes twisted normally-sane horndogs about their pinkie fingers? Whoops – I guess the new total is – ka-ching – thirty-five episodes!

When the others were on reward, those left at camp discussed the next vote. Troy and Jay both put forward the name of the generally disfavored Christina, only to learn later that even lesser lights like Alicia and Kat were closer to the true pulse of the action.

The women seemed to like Troy – why not, he was putty in their hands – so, he might be allowed the “honor” of being the last man standing. Or, maybe he can make clever use of his truly hidden idol (a rarity in recent seasons) to prolong his stay in the game?

It’s equally possible that after Jay, Troyzan will be identified as the biggest threat left and dispatched accordingly (that’s what I’d do.) Now, Kim has seen the previous seasons, and I bet she has taken careful notice of the lessons of Vanuatu’s Chris. I doubt that Troy will be allowed to reprise that scenario.

9: “Tarzan” (was 9th)

To clear something up… Tarzan did have a chance of winning reward; he got to pick the side he thought would win, and he would have joined them on reward had they been successful. But, he guessed wrong. Probst said that footage was cut from the show because of time constraints. Gosh, I’m glad we got to see all eleven idiots walk to the voting booth and fumble about without an audible word spoken or a single vote being revealed to us (I timed the whole parade at 62 seconds); that was (sarcasm alert) so much more important.

You know who Tarzan reminds me of? Annoying Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Both have opinions on every topic, both assume they are always right, and both have no patience when others don’t immediately agree with them.