Survivor: Pearl Islands – Advice for the Remaining Six

Six Survivors remain, which means a more careful look at the end-game. There isn't any real outstanding player left like there was some of the previous games (Rob from Amazon, Brian from Thailand, and Kathy from Marquesas), but it's now time to assess the various pluses and minuses of each remaining player and how they'd look to a jury. Each player left in the game should be doing the same thing – figuring out who they might look the best next to or how they can work to improve their standing among the remaining players. As a jurist, I'd rank them as follows:

1) Jon. On the top, and for a good reason. Perhaps a hidden key to winning the game is to have a big chink in your armor that can be sealed up at the psychological moment. He's consistently been annoying and shooting off his mouth (along with his whole Jonny Fairplay attitude), but he's engineered a life-changing experience. By using that to alter his personality, he's skyrocketed his value to a jury. Remember, he doesn't have to fool the audience – he only has to fool five people for a little more than a week to pull off a million dollar victory. Of course, if the scam gets leaked out, he's dead meat.

2) Burton. He's been a strong player and a great organizer. He's the brains behind the current power structure in the game and has engineered the removal of most of the players since the merge. His drawback is that he's an Outcast – voted out and thus, to many (including many jury members), unworthy of winning.

3) Sandra. She's been a smart, determined player, with only occasional lapses into irrationality (such as the last vote). She's had some emotional outbursts, but all of them were directed at Jon, so maybe there is some damage control there. Her #3 rank reflects the amount of scheming and plotting she's done relative to the others in the game.

4) Christa. I almost ranked her fifth (behind Darrah) until I realized that fish-gate can't possibly affect her jury chances unless she goes up against Sandra in the finals. Here's why: if Sandra gets jury duty, she can safely tell the truth and let Christa off the hook for the scandal. If Christa gets jury duty, the whole incident doesn't matter to her one iota (except maybe for casting a winner vote).

5) Darrah. I had to drop her down to this position because she's a Morgan, and the jury pool will only have two pure Morgans (Ryan O. and Tijuana) if she makes it that far. Lillian seems more likely to vote for a Drake than Darrah to win as well.

6) Lillian. Sorry, but she's just along for the ride. She's a nice enough person, but she's being carried by an alliance, and she's an Outcast as well. There is no way she can claim to have outplayed anybody else left in the game.

Of course, the jury may not see things as I do, but the players should be thinking along these lines and working to carry along a lower-ranked person in the game or do something to elevate their own position. Along with the personal recommendations, it's advice for the remaining six.

Jon (Independent / Outcast Ally). Your actions in the last episode earned you a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment. However, I dissented from that opinion, as the scam worked both on your short range problem (winning a challenge) and long term problem (repairing your image). Frankly, it wasn't much of a reward, but by pulling a sympathy card and repositioning yourself as a more humble person, you've bought yourself back a lot of the image you squandered with your earlier actions. You also pulled off the best trick of the game by getting Sandra and Christa to vote out Tijuana instead of Burton, despite two previous betrayals (each time involving Rupert). The biggest danger you face is that of exposure – if your scam becomes public before the jury has voted, you're either going to be sunk quickly or kept as jury bait. You need to prevent exposure and keep up the facade. This means no alcohol, as it can loosen your tongue, and absolutely no bidding on a letter from home if an auction challenge comes up (what if it's from your grandmother?). Also, carefully consider your next vote. You've made the same promises to the Outcasts as you have to the Drakes, so the only real safe vote is to target Darrah. You'll need to work both sides of your promise to try and get it done though; for various reasons Darrah is the one person the others shouldn't consider as the next target. If push comes to shove, sell out Burton, removing the challenge threat from the game and leaving Lillian out in the cold.