Welcome back to another season of Screaming at the Screen – the column in which I share my thoughts and observations on the fly as I’m watching each episode of Survivor. Like most of you, I’m obsessed with Survivor and have watched (and rewatched) every episode since season one in Borneo. I’ve even been known to transcribe episodes word-for-word to make sure I get my information correct when I tell the players why they’re doing something the wrong way ... even though I’ve never played the game myself.

First off, I want to give a delayed congratulations to Survivor 43 cast member Ryan Medrano who won two Silver medals at last month’s Paralympics in Paris. Ryan medaled in the Men’s 100 meter and 400 meter sprints. Good job Ryan! That almost makes up for your jury vote for Gabler.

I had fun doing a cast preview for 46, more fun than I thought I’d have. So I’m giving it another shot this season. Will I be as right as I was when I said Liz’s confessionals would be hilarious, or will I be as wrong as I was when I said Tiffany would be the first booted if her tribe lost early challenges?

Instead of “Survivor 47,” they should have called this season “PBR.” No, not “Professional Bull Riders,” or “Pabst Blue Ribbon,” I mean “Podcasters, Broadcasters, and Reporters.” This cast is chock-full of media-savvy players who are used to speaking to a camera. Did Casting know these people would all be playing with the knowledge they could be invited back for 50? There’s a strong chance that was a huge factor. This group was chosen because they can give spicy confessionals for sure.

The majority of this season’s cast got to watch half of Survivor 46. Several of them mentioned seeing 3 players in a row (I’m guessing Hunter, Tiffany and Venus) getting blindsided while holding an Idol. This probably means they’ll be eager to use their Idols and/or Advantages as soon as they find them. They don’t want to join that dubious list. We’ve seen 10 New Era players blindsided while holding an Idol, and two more (Matt B. and Kane from 44) booted while holding a phony Idol he believed was real. This season’s cast seems hyper-aware of this. None of them want to be embarrassed like their predecessors.

So let’s take a look at this season’s players tribe-by-tribe.

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Lavo tribe (red)

Aysha Welch – Her name is pronounced like the continent Asia. Coincidentally it’s the same pronunciation but different spelling as my favorite album from Steely Dan, “Aja.” She’s a part of the Robhasawebsite family of podcasters covering Reality TV. To me, this could be an advantage since she had access to some inside info on Survivor. Also, if any of this season’s players recognize her, she could get the celebrity treatment, which usually buys some safety from those who want to follow the more knowledgeable (and possibly producer-assisted) player. But it could also be a disadvantage if any of her fellow castaways know who she is and realize she can outwit them. She’s also an I.T. Professional. My wife is in I.T., so I know Aysha should be particularly good at problem solving. This also could be good or bad because she could come up with great strategic ideas, that will obviously help her. But if others realize how smart she is, that could easily spell her doom.

She’s not an outdoors enthusiast, so she probably won’t be advertising her skill at making fire. Aysha says she relates to Natalie Anderson and Cirie, whom I consider to be excellent Survivor role models. If she’s half as good a manipulator as those two, she’ll turn in a very strong game. I consider Cirie a Top 10 all-time Survivor player, and until Jesse and Dee showed up, Natalie Anderson was my #9. However, Aysha said she couldn’t wait to go on a Journey so she could dominate a Survivor trivia challenge. That goes against one of my basic Survivor rules – “Don’t get on the boat.” Stay at camp, find an Idol (or at least be there to know who else has found one), solidify your relationships, and figure out how to put a target on the person who DID get on the boat. Aysha says she thinks a couple of other players may have already recognized her. This could put her ability to lie to others to an early test. If she passes, she’ll be playing with more confidence than the others.

To me, Aysha came off with the enthusiasm of Maryanne from Survivor 42, but without the annoying parts. The only other negatives I see is that she might not know when NOT to talk. One of Dee’s greatest strengths was knowing when to keep her mouth shut. Aysha seems like a ”speak first, think later” type. If that’s true, she could easily talk herself into trouble. But if Aysha is short like Maryanne, Kenzie, Dee and Erika (see: “How to win New Era Survivor), I might make her my winner pick (if I made predictions, that is).

Genevieve Mushaluk – My first thought about Genevieve is she’s got a perfect last name for somebody who lives in the great white north. She’s a Canadian, and they’ve been turning in pretty strong performances in recent seasons, including two winners in Erika and Maryanne. Hopefully she’ll emulate them instead of fellow Canadiens Venus, Kaleb, Kane, and Drea, who all shot themselves in the foot in one way or another. Genevieve is a lawyer but describes herself as a terrible liar. That’s a bad combination. We saw lawyers Julie and Katurah successfully fool their tribemates about their professions, and both of them did very well in Survivor 45. But we also saw Jake come clean about being a lawyer. He reached the finals, but had no chance to win in part because he didn’t know how to cover his tracks. Genevieve doesn’t come off as articulate as most lawyers, so I suppose that could help her.

She describes herself as mood-driven, which probably isn’t a good trait. She says she’s like Chrissy (HHH) and Lindsay Carmine (Survivor 42). That’s probably not a good thing, because Chrissy rubbed a lot of her jurors the wrong way and stayed in the game mostly because of Immunity wins. Lindsay let her paranoia and fear take over, and lost trust from her alliance. But who knows? Maybe Genevieve has more self-awareness than I’m picking up on.

Genevieve says one of her strengths is being empathetic. That went a long way for Kenzie last season, especially with Ben, but wasn’t enough to stop him from putting her in the fire challenge. It feels like Genevieve will need a certain quality to do well at Survivor, but I’m not sure what that quality is yet. She got bad pregame vibes from “A man with long curly hair.” She wants to find a Beware Advantage (which I think is bad) but isn’t sure if she’ll open it (which I think is good). Hmmm ... Genevieve doesn’t strike me as a very decisive Survivor player. She knows she’s lousy at making fire, but didn’t mention a plan for making sure she doesn’t end up there at final 4. Again, that’s a problem.

Genevieve just didn’t strike me as having particularly strong instincts for the game. I don’t see her inspiring people to fight to keep her in the game like some Survivor naturals like Dee or Kim. If she’s got a challenge beast like Jonathan from Survivor 42 on her tribe, she’ll avoid early Tribal Councils and could make a deep run. But if her tribe loses early, I could see her tribemates saying “She’s a nice person, but why do we need her?”

Kishan Patel – Kishan is an E.R. doctor. The last E.R. doctor I can recall on Survivor was Dr. Peter Baggenstos (Kaoh Rong), who was more than a little full of himself. He got that season’s first confessional, and said “Being an ER doctor, it’s gonna be difficult to not show how smart I am – to express humility. But I can’t deal with ignorant people because they think they know what they’re talking about.” He began the majority of his confessionals with “As an E.R. doctor ...” Peter angered four of his five Brains tribemates, which cost him his partner, Liz. Then after a swap, he pissed off three of his new tribemates. Peter got booted when Aubry wrote Julia’s name, crossed it out, then wrote Peter’s. So, if Kishan knows what’s good for him, he’ll do the exact opposite of everything Dr. Peter did.

Based on his pre-game interview, Dr. Kishan won’t have to worry about that. He comes off as very humble, and in fact, very tentative about playing the game. He comes from a low-income family and doesn’t seem entitled like Dr. Peter at all. He’s not a superfan. He started watching Survivor during the 2020 pandemic and binge-watched several seasons. Kishan said “You don’t need to be in control all the time.” That phrase alone is enough to make him a candidate for my favorite player. He’ll keep his head down like several New Era winners have done. He said he relates to Carson from 44, which I thought was pretty good because Carson was one fire away from winning the game. But then he cited Parvati too. She was almost as entitled as Dr. Peter. Methinks Kishan is a little confused about his strategic approach.

Kishan hit one of my pet peeves in that he tends to make all of his statements sound like questions because he raises his tone of voice at the end of each sentence – you know, like Alyson Hannigan’s character in the movie “American Pie” when she’d say “I remember this one time at Band Camp?” I think Kishan will be more of a deer in headlights kind of player. He just doesn’t exude confidence. He’ll probably be viewed as someone who can be discarded easily at any time like Moriah or Jess from 46.

Rome Cooney – Like Kishan, Rome is a recent Survivor fan – he’s only been watching Survivor for a year. He’s an Esports video game commentator, so he’s probably good at thinking quickly on his feet. But who knows if he can come up with a good lie on short notice? He speaks very fast, which reminded me a lot of Kaleb from 45. Kaleb got himself into trouble because he came off as an aggressive car salesman. Rome should be wary of that.

He binge-watched every season of Survivor in the span of 4 months, including seeing some entire seasons in one day. I have to wonder how much of that information he retained. Rome raved about Ozzy’s performance in Cook Islands, and can’t wait to tackle the challenges, but he also understands that Ozzy lost because Yul’s social game was far superior. Who knows if he’ll be able to identify how to adjust. Rome tore an achilles tendon in October and was back on his feet by January. I’ve torn both of mine, and that’s an amazingly fast recovery time. It was 6 months for me before I could walk comfortably. Rome should be wary of tearing the other one by coming back too quickly. He was undoubtedly favoring his good leg during rehab, and that weakened his good tendon. I won’t be surprised if he comes up lame during a challenge.

He’s aware his weakness could be his overconfidence, but also says that won’t stop him from winning the game. Good luck with that Rome. He says he’s got a couple of moves ready that we’ve never seen before on Survivor. That tells me Rome might be playing to the cameras as opposed to playing to win. He’s looking to make a big impression on the audience but doesn’t seem to realize those same things tend to make a negative impression on those who can vote him out. Yeah, I think Rome will be playing to the cameras a lot. Look for particularly spicy confessionals from him.

Rome says Yul only won because he had the Overpowered Idol. That tells me Rome has no clue about how important the social game is. He’s correct to say his biggest problem is overconfidence. I like seeing players like Rome get their comeuppance. He’s destined to be blindsided while holding an Idol. He’s got “Playing too hard too fast” written all over his face. That is, if he isn’t medevaced when his other achilles tendon snaps. Rome also mentioned how “The guy with the long curly hair” never smiled or made eye contact. I don’t even know this person’s name yet, but his prospects don’t look good.

Sol Yi – Sol is a Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy sales representative. He works with people who have Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. When he explained his occupation, I got the feeling he was having trouble “dumbing it down,” so to speak. He might have the same problem relating to these Survivor superfans, not only because he’s older than most of this season’s cast, but he also didn’t start watching Survivor until the pandemic. That being said, he doesn’t come off as condescending or insulting at all. He’s very likable. He’s truly amazed and happy just to be in Fiji, much like Austin was in 45. Sol says his profession forces him to be good at forming one-to-one personal connections. That will definitely come in handy in Survivor.

He says he relates well to Gabler and Kaleb, which made me shudder. While they both had their likable qualities, I don’t consider either of them to be particularly strong Survivor players. Gabler had a ton of lucky breaks, and Kaleb was TOO likable, which spelled his doom. Sol says that growing up as the only Korean kid in his Oklahoma town taught him how to make friends with humor. He didn’t come off as particularly funny to me, but that could actually end up buying him some safety. I think Sol has a good chance of sticking around a while because Genevieve and Kishan seem much more likely to be booted early.

Teeny Chirichillo – To call Teeny a Survivor superfan would be a huge understatement. She has played simulated Survivor seasons and brags about listening to every Survivor podcast in existence. I’ll assume she’s a regular reader of Screaming at the Screen, so thank you in advance, Teeny. Just the same, she’s such a huge fan, it makes me wonder if she’ll be able to tone down her enthusiasm while playing the game. If she advertises her Survivor obsession, others may think she’ll be able to outsmart them. Players tend to want to remove those they see as better informed than they are.

Teeny hopes to be strategically underestimated like Mike White was in David vs Goliath, but she also referred to him (facetiously) as a Survivor winner. While Mike played well enough to win, he didn’t quite pull it out. Then she referred to her favorite non-winner as Tai. She worried that she might come off too likable like Elaine Stott in season 39, but to me she came off as a fairly dry “just there” personality. Teeny recognized Aysha from RHAP, so depending on how Aysha reacts to being recognized, that could be good or bad for Teeny. I couldn’t tell how tall or short Teeny is from her pregame videos, but if she is a short woman, that puts her in a great position to win a New Era season.

Gata Tribe (yellow)

Andy Rueda – Andy is also a Survivor superfan who has been involved with the RHAP community, which tells you he should be pretty well-versed in Survivor history and has listened to more than his fair share of Survivor interviews and podcasts. He was a finalist for Survivor 45 so that tells me he’s got a lot of determination and focus. He’s very much into computer technology too. To me, there are two types of Survivor superfans: Type A: The one who is mindful enough to sandbag their game knowledge and abilities, and Type B: The one who can’t control their excitement when the game starts, and promptly crashes and burns. Examples of Type A would include Lauren Beck (39), Jesse Lopez (43), and Soda Thompson (46) Examples of Type B would include Brandon Donlon (45), Jacob Derwin (Ghost Island) and Elie Scott (43). Unfortunately, my gut impression on Andy is that he’s more of a type B. He was just bursting at the seams during the interview I watched. He says he wants to play more like Omar from 43. I think he’ll have trouble keeping his head down enough to play like Omar. Andy also recognized Aysha Welch and is excited about meeting her. I don’t know why, but Andy strikes me as the type who won’t know how to adjust if he’s caught on the wrong side of a swap or a split squad challenge and is forced to face a 5-person Tribal Council.

Anika Dhar – Anika is a Manager of Finance. The first thought that came to mind is Chrissy Hofbeck from HHH, who was some kind of numbers analyst with insanely white teeth. Similar to other cast members this season, Anika started watching Survivor during the pandemic, starting with Cagayan. Her family home was destroyed in a California fire, and she says that has prepared her to be cut off from everyday comforts. She cited Parvati and Sandra as her Survivor role models, but added she wanted to play like Sarah in Game Changers. Anika said “A lot of people trusted her, so I think they’re gonna trust me.” I’m not sure how she made that connection, but Sarah greatly benefitted from Brad Culpepper’s mistakes to get her win. Then Anika turned around and said she wanted to play an Idol like Kelley Wentworth and negate a ton of votes with it. She didn’t seem to realize that meant a lot of votes were coming her way in the first place. Wentworth made a great adjustment from that and was one Immunity win from the finals. I didn’t pick up on anything that told me Anika will have similar instincts. While observing the other players, Anika made statements like “He looks smart because he was writing in a journal,” and “He looks like he’s got nice eyes.” Those kinds of reads could become monumental failures. She could be jumping to conclusions that prove to be completely wrong once these people actually speak.

I don’t have a solid read on Anika one way or another. I can see her hanging around as a non-threat deep into the merge like Maryanne and Erika, but I can also see her going all in on a bad read and having it blow up in her face at an early Tribal Council like Lydia (42) or Jem (46).

Jon Lovett – Jon is a star in the Podcast community, as he’s the host of “Pod Save America.” He’s also a screenwriter and comedian. He also worked in the Barack Obama administration and created a series of his own Podcasts. That being said, I had no idea who he was until I started this column. I have no preconceived notions about him beyond that. With his political background, I’m guessing Jon will instinctually be a diplomatic player. He’s not gonna get into fights, and he should be good at identifying why other players will dislike each other. If he’s as smart as he appears to be, he’ll figure out how to manipulate the volatile personalities into doing his bidding.

Jon speaks very deliberately, which tells me he thinks about what he’s gonna say before he says it. I doubt he’ll put his foot in his mouth. He’s also not gonna be the one to blurt out “Elie searched my bag” without having a long-range plan behind it. Jon came off to me as fairly subtle, a quality I think is very valuable in a Survivor player (see my subtlety columns). But will he be able to claim his moves down the stretch when he needs to? Jon strikes me as the type who could play a good game but lose in the end because nobody believes he made the moves he’s taking credit for making.

Rachel LaMont - Like Andy, Rachel was an alternate for Survivor 46, just missing the chance to be another player blindsided while holding an Idol. She’s a User Interface Designer. I don’t know what that is either, but it sounds like the kind of occupation other Survivor players won’t ask too many questions about. I suppose that’s a good thing. She won’t have to worry about covering a lie about her background. Rachel says she relates most to Kellyn (Ghost Island) and Omar (42). I thought both of them played pretty good games and were generally very self-aware players. Rachel says “I’m definitely not volunteering for a Journey.” To that, I said “Atta girl! I’m with you 100%.” I say “Get on a boat, lose your vote.” It’s hard for me to get a vibe on how Rachel will do. She doesn’t seem to be the type who’ll put her foot in her mouth, but she also doesn’t strike me as someone who’ll know how to save herself if she falls on the wrong side of a swap. Rachel won’t be the deer in the headlights, but she won’t know which way to run either.

Sam Phalen – Sam is an NFL beat reporter who covers the Tennessee Titans ... and he sounds like a sportscaster. Listening to him speak, I thought I was hearing Joe Buck pumping me up during the pregame show. I was thinking Troy Aikman was gonna chime in with some historical Survivor info. Sam has ALPHA MALE written all over his face, and tattooed all over his body. Who knows if he’ll try to take charge, but if he does, being the youngest cast member at 24, he may fall on his face. He cited Michele as the winner he relates to the most. Sorry dude, but I just don’t see it. But as a non-winner, he chose Devon Pinto. Devon played an excellent game, and if not for the surprise fire challenge twist that took him out, he’d have easily beaten Ben, Ryan or Chrissy had he made it to the finals.

Sam says being around pro athletes has prepared him to know when NOT to ask a question. Hopefully he won’t approach these Survivor players as if they’re pro athletes. That approach could easily blow up in his face. Sam strikes me as someone who won’t have any idea how the others perceive him a little like Q in 46. We all saw how that played out for Q. But Sam didn’t see the entire season and might not know how Q shot himself in the foot. Hopefully Sam won’t tell everyone he’s thinking of quitting either.

Sam also mentioned being put off by “the guy who wouldn’t smile” on the Ponderosa. Sam said he believes the best player always wins. I doubt he'll feel that way if he doesn’t win this season. I prefer to say “The Jury never gets it wrong” since they choose the winning criteria, but nobody is ever gonna convince me that Fabio, Natalie White, Michele, Bob, Amber or Jenna were the best players in their winning seasons. Alpha Male-style players were usually doomed to a 10th place finish, but in the New Era they’ve been doing a little better. I don’t see Sam pulling out a win in any scenario.

Sierra Wright – We’ve had a few players named Sierra, including Sierra Reed (Tocantins) and Sierra Dawn Thomas (Worlds Apart & Game Changers). But the best of them all spelled her name differently. That would be Ciera Eastin (Blood vs. Water, Cambodia, Game Changers). We’ll see if this season’s Sierra can raise the bar for her namesakes.

Like the traditionally-spelled Sierras, this season’s Sierra is a blonde. She’s a nurse, but originally aspired to be a news reporter. Sierra is a lifelong Survivor fan who lost touch with a few seasons while attending college but came back during the pandemic. The winner she admires is J.T. because he played with his heart. She also believes she’s a little gullible like J.T. If she’s right, that quality could help her last long in the game but won’t do much to help her win it. She also says she was inspired by the grit shown by Stephenie LaGrossa (Palau, Guatemala, Heroes vs. Villains). Hopefully she won’t emulate the poor jury management skills Stephenie showed in Guatemala.

Sierra struck me as someone who overestimates her ability to relate to people. If she’s as gullible as she says she is, she could end up playing like Jake in Survivor 45, who got fooled over and over. He made it to the finals but had no chance of winning.

Tuku Tribe (blue)

Caroline Vidmar – Caroline is a Strategy Consultant who just got her MBA. I suppose that will come in handy in Survivor. She tells people how to run their business for a living. Maybe this will help her identify what every player’s best moves are during the game. If she gathers that information and figures out how to use it to her advantage, that will definitely be a huge asset for her. But if she opens her mouth and tells others what she thinks they should be doing, it could blow up in her face. Most Survivor players want to believe they can manipulate you. If they think the opposite is happening, they tend to want you gone.

In her interview, Caroline spent a lot of time talking about her scholastic accomplishments. She said the phrase “I’m a badass” at least twice. To me, that’s a huge red flag. If she solves a puzzle, she’ll drive others crazy reminding them about it. Caroline cited Emily (45), and Tori (42) as the players she relates to. That’s also a bad sign as both of them talked their way into trouble in the first few days. Caroline said “Emily’s bluntness was refreshing ... I want to be blunt.” That bluntness got Emily into a hole she could never dig herself out of.

Caroline strikes me as the type who will annoy her tribemates and have no idea how or why she’s doing it – which means she’ll keep on doing it. I can easily see Caroline returning from a tribal challenge loss and blurting out “You really sucked at that challenge,” then forgetting she said it two minutes later. But nobody else will. Caroline mentioned a female player (Tiyana) who didn’t bother to read the Survival safety handbook the players were given. Caroline said “I want to align with her. She seems to know how to survive in the wild and doesn’t need the handbook.” To me, that read just screams “destined to fail.” Emily Flippen had a “moment of clarity” and made a great adjustment that helped her stick around a while. Caroline needs that moment right now. I see a couple of options for Caroline, ranging from first boot to zero vote finalist. But she’s not winning the game.

Gabe Ortis – Gabe is the “guy with the long curly hair who doesn’t smile” that most of the cast has been talking about. Needless to say, this is a waving red flag attached to a flashing neon sign that says “Nobody wants to align with you.” Like most of the cast, he’s got a media background as he hosted a radio talk show for a while, but he currently calls himself a bartender. Gabe has also seen every season, but watched most of them when they originally aired, taking a week to digest the info between episodes. He fell off for a while, then binge-watched some recent seasons as an adult. I think this means he’ll know the game a little better than most of the cast but might have trouble relating to those who binge watched 40+ seasons. Will Gabe be the one annoying people by telling them why the idea they just pitched failed X amount of times in the past? Gabe says he admires Jeremy’s winning effort in Cambodia because he made so many great adjustments from his rookie effort. But I’m wondering how this will translate to his own game, since he’s a rookie. He also said he wanted to emulate Russell Hantz. Need I say more?

He says one of his strengths is his ability to read people accurately. Who knows if he’s right, but I think his downfall will be his inability to read how others are reading him. He didn’t appear to have any idea how many castmates don’t like the fact that he wasn’t making eye contact or smiling at all. It doesn’t take much for people to invent a reason to want someone gone, especially at the start of the game or right after a swap. Gabe has already created a reason for this cast, and seems doomed to reinforce that reason.

Kyle Ostwald – Kyle is a contractor, which immediately makes me wonder if he’s gonna show up to play at all. Will his background mean he’ll be a natural at building a strong shelter like Wendell from Ghost Island? Will this mean his tribe won’t think he’s valuable after the shelter has been built? Who knows? Kyle grew up with almost nothing. His childhood home had no electricity. As an adult, Kyle and his wife traveled the country and lived in a van for a few years. So aside from being apart from his wife, Kyle should be fairly comfortable living out in the wild without traditional comforts.

Just the same, Kyle should be wary of sharing his backstory. How could you not want to give him money if he’s there at the end? Kyle comes off as very soft-spoken and a little reserved, so I don’t see him being confrontational or getting into fights. Kyle is very close to his family and was playing while his wife was expecting their second child. For this reason, he says he relates to Jeremy (Cambodia) and Jesse (43) who were playing for their families. Those are two good Survivor role models to follow.

The only worry I have about Kyle is since he’ll be surrounded by so many aggressive personalities, his game might get lost in the shuffle like Tyler in Worlds Apart. If you’re wondering who Tyler is, then you know what I mean. There were so many type A personalities that season (Mike, Shirin, Max, Rodney, Dan, Jenn), Tyler got lost in the competition for camera time. Most of the audience didn’t notice how well Tyler was playing. If Kyle makes it to the end, the Jury may be wondering what if anything he did to get himself there. Kyle is so eager to please others, he may be perceived as a passive follower. Kyle is the type who won’t be a priority to remove (unless he tells someone he’s got an Idol or Advantage of course), but he may also be perceived as expendable. Kyle says it’s smarter to be part of a group that’s doing something big than to be the individual making big moves. I think that’s the smartest statement anyone in this cast has made so far. We’ll see if his actions match his words.

Sue Smey – At 58 (59 by the end of the season), Sue is the oldest player in this season’s cast. I have no doubt the Casting Dept chose Sue with Carolyn (44) in mind. Sue comes off as a little quirky like Carolyn, but without the squealing and screaming. Sue owns a flight school. Sue is full of energy and doesn’t let obstacles kill her enthusiasm. She’s very proud of breaking into a traditionally male-dominated field. I don’t think she’ll have any problem getting along with younger players. Sue has proudly proclaimed she’s gonna become the oldest female Survivor winner, topping Denise who won Philippines at 41.

I see this as good and bad. On the good side, her grit and determination will initially be endearing. I doubt she’ll be perceived as a traditional “weaker older woman.” On the bad side, I don’t see Sue being able to dial it back as she gets deep into the game. She won’t be able to keep herself from standing out like Janet in Island of the Idols, or Julie in Survivor 45. Her Survivor role models are Tony and Cirie, both of whom I consider elite players. But I think those two have the ability to know when NOT to stand out. I don’t see Sue having that awareness.

Sue appears to be good at making sure her voice is heard. She’ll have something to say about every tribe decision. Since she’s got so much energy, this could backfire on Sue, and she could be perceived as annoying. Sue also cited Gabe’s inability to smile or make eye contact as a negative. Sue reminded me of Tiffany Seely from Survivor 41. She was fun ... in small doses. I’ve been wanting to see a “Survivor mom” prevail for some time now. Janet, Julie, and Maria all came close in recent seasons, but I don’t think Sue will join that list. She’s gonna play too loud to get to the end.

Tiyana Hallums – Tiyanna is a native-born Hawaiian, who just might be the first Hawaiian on Survivor, and she’s bubbling over with enthusiasm about playing. Tiyanna said, “Survivor encompasses all of my personalities locked into my spirit.” The first thing I thought of when I heard that was Cydney Gillon from Kaoh Rong. In addition to playing an excellent game, Cydney gamed the Casting process by claiming any of her multiple personalities could come out depending on her mood. I was convinced Cydney was merely handing Casting what she thought they wanted to hear just to get on the show because once the game started, Cydney’s one and only personality played a game strong enough to win. She eventually finished 4th after losing a tiebreaker fire making contest to Aubry.

In contrast to Cydney, Tiyanna says the different aspects of Survivor (blindsides, the social game, being outside your comfort zone) are part of her personality. I’ve never heard of someone with a “blindsiding personality,” but I’ll let Tiyanna show me what she meant by that. Much like Venus last season, Tiyana can’t wait to represent her culture and hopes to show Native islanders are “more than just the aloha spirit.” She says her occupation as a Flight Attendant – specifically the cutthroat testing process – prepared her for Survivor because she’ll be used to the intense competition. The player she says she relates to the most was Parvati (yawn), but the non-winner she cited was Tiffany from last season “because she was so real.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard a player name someone from the previous season, especially since Tiyana left for filming before knowing how Survivor 46 played out. But if she watched every episode before leaving for Fiji, she saw Tiffany’s blindside.

Tiyana says her best and worst quality is her personality. She thinks she’ll earn trust quickly, but she may end up being too nice to cut people loose if/when she has to. That’s a concern to me, because very often that’s the difference between winning and losing. In Survivor 45, Dee was able to do it, and Austin wasn’t. Dee won and Austin finished 2nd. Based on how much she says she’s been training, I think Tiyanna will be one of the stronger female challenge performers. But if the trend continues, that will get her in trouble after the merge. Tiyanna might follow in Frannie, Julie and Maria’s footsteps and become the next post-merge female boot because of her challenge strength. She hopes to sell herself as a “there for the adventure” type. I think that’s a good plan if she also has a plan for making sure others know she’s involved strategically. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s something about Tiyanna that really made her stand out for me. I’m curious to see what kind of BS meter she’s got. If it’s a good one, I think she could easily make a deep run.

Terran “TK” Foster – TK is a Marketing Manager for the NFL Player’s Association. He’s the guy who puts guys like Patrick Mahomes in those State Farm commercials, so once again, we have a media-savvy player. TK also discovered Survivor during the pandemic, and binge-watched several past seasons. He was a football player for most of his life, until he was diagnosed with kidney failure and was hospitalized for more than two months. Three different doctors told him he may not live past the age of 15. That ended his aspirations to become a pro athlete, but he was determined to stay close to the sport. Obviously since he achieved his goal, it's safe to say TK won’t be quitting this season. TK admires Tony’s game, but also cited Kaleb from 45 as an inspiration. He said Kaleb’s failure was being too passive, which was surprising to me since Kaleb made himself a target after being too socially aggressive. That made me wonder how accurate TK’s reads are gonna be.

TK says he’s too competitive to sandbag during challenges, and I think that will be a problem, even though male challenge beasts have been making deeper runs in the New Era. He thinks his social game will help erase any target his physical game puts on his back. But again, if his social reads are off, he could easily create and/or enhance the reason people want him gone. TK says everybody has been giving him great vibes. Since most of the cast has gotten bad vibes from Gabe, that’s another reason to question TK’s observational skills. TK will rock the boat, and most boat rockers get voted out by the steady paddlers.

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I was pleased to hear so many of this season’s players saying they’ll keep their Idols/Advantages secret. I’d love to pat myself on the back and say players are finally listening to me, but it’s probably more likely they’re reacting to seeing so many of last season’s players get blindsided because the told others about their Idols.

This is a very articulate and quick-witted group of players. I’m really looking forward to seeing their confessionals. There will be competition for this season’s best in-game narrator, for sure. We might even see someone approach the Penner/Cochran/Cirie/Christian Mt. Rushmore elite level.

I’m looking forward to reading your observations on this season. I’ll also be watching with an eye on those who could be invited back for Survivor 50. Please share your thoughts on that as we go too. Let me know what you think in the comments.