‘Survivor: Cagayan’ castaway spotlight: Is Jefra Bland yet another ‘pageant girl’?
Let us start off here by referencing the obvious: Beauty pageant contestants on “Survivor” are starting to get a little annoying, mostly because it is the same thing almost every time. You have a woman who has been through the circuit over the past couple of years, and they want to prove to everyone that there is so much more to a pageant girl than what you think. Just once, we’d love to see a contestant come on the show from this background, not really say anything about it, and actually win people over thanks to their skill in the game.
Now that we’ve gotten that off our chest (deep sigh of relief), let’s just get into talking about if Jefra Bland is going to be a good contestant, and not someone that has a stereotype that she even needs to break. We feel like we’ll get so much further with a discussion of that.
Name – Jefra Bland.
Age – 23.
Tribe -Solana (a.k.a the Beauty Tribe)
Location – Campbellsville, Kentucky (which is a city name that we would probably mispronounce at least three times were we to say it five times fast).
Occupation – Miss Kentucky Teen USA. Given that she is actually 23, isn’t it a little bit too late to consider that a job? We have no problem with pageants, but we wouldn’t list it as a job unless you were Miss Universe or something.
What she brings to the show – What is interesting about Jefra is that she should in theory be tailor-made to be an asset early on. She hunts, she fishes, and she practically lives outdoors. On a tribe where there may be some people who are used to just sitting around in a pool chair or going on modeling shoots, she could be a huge asset. She also says that she has no plans to flirt her way to the end, which is a very nice thing to hear in a sea of women who come on the show idolizing Parvati Shallow. Her strategy worked, but there are other ways for a young woman to play the game! She is probably going to be more along the lines of a Stephenie LaGrossa, who fights hard in the challenges and is an asset at camp.
What she will struggle in – There’s nothing that screams “danger” to us right off the bat, but when you get into the final eight or nine, there comes a point where you have big decisions to make to get yourself further in the game. Let’s imagine that Jefra has a chance to jump ship on her alliance and get with a group that can get her to the end. We don’t know if she has it in her to stab people in the back. There are people who correlate in-game actions to real-life, and the backlash that could come with making a big move might ring in her head during the game.
Past “Survivor” comparison – Chelsea Meissner. Jefra says it in her bio, we’re saying it now, and they may as well have just cast Chelsea again. Both are athletic, outdoorsy young women from the south. The only difference is that Jefra comes across as a little bit friendlier.
Prediction – Jefra’s going pretty far in this game. She’s too useful to get rid of early, and will probably be nice and non-threatening enough to get rid of right after the merge. We see a possible fifth-place finish in our “Survivor” crystal ball, mostly because she is the kind of person that could get to the end and win if paired against a Russell Hantz-like player who has ticked off the jury.
What do you think about Jefra as a player in this game? That’s what the poll below is for! Also, click here to see the other entries in our castaway spotlight series, or here if you want to get some weekly updates on all things TV sent straight to you via email.
Photo: CBS