‘Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance’ spotlight: Will Woo Hwang get the votes this time?
Let’s start this “Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance” spotlight with some truth: We’ve been somewhat of a Woo Hwang defender in terms of him making the cast this season. We know that there are some out there who wanted to see more hardcore strategists make the cast, but we feel like the best seasons are those that have a balance of character types.
What Woo brings to the show is fun. He’s a lighthearted, energetic character with notable quotes (“ninja stealth mode”), an ability to win challenges, and also someone you probably want as a part of your tribe. He made it all the way to the end in his first season, and while we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, let’s just say that we could see it happening all over again this time around.
History lesson – 2nd place, “Survivor: Cagayan.” He actually started the game working closely with Cliff Robinson and Lindsey, but eventually gravitated to being a part of Tony’s alliance (#TeamTV anyone?) and to us really had two defining moments. First, we had him stealing Spencer’s immunity idol clue out of his pants (which was the origin of “ninja stealth mode”), which didn’t really do much to change Spencer getting the idol but was still really fun to watch; then, you had his decision to take Tony to the end over Kass. It’s hard to really know who would’ve won between him and Kass despite whatever people may say now, but he certainly would’ve received more than just one vote to win. He says he doesn’t regret the choice, but we do wonder if it still eats at him. (He can at least look at it this way: Had he won that season, he wouldn’t be able to take part this time around.)
What worked last time – Woo did a good job of making sure he was someone always valued to either a tribe or an alliance. He was a hard worker, a strong challenge performer, and he was at least for the most part pretty loyal. Sure, there are little moments that you could say show a deeper sneakiness, but the fact that he took someone to the end in Tony that he knew he’d have a harder time beating than Kass proves that in the end he’s someone who really values sticking to his allies more so than just about anything else. This is a good attribute to bring into a season full of cutthroat players.
What needs to change – Woo needs to play roughly the same game pre-merge, but he needs to find that killer instinct within himself to want to make big moves after the merge. He needs to be fearless, and not afraid to go the final tribal council saying that he back-stabbed and hurt people on his way to getting there. He needs to separate what is ultimately a game from how he views himself in the real world; it is hard to win “Survivor” without duplicity or compromising integrity.
Potential obstacles – For Woo, his biggest obstacle is mostly himself. We don’t see anyone targeting him early because he’s not someone known for stabbing people in the back, and he’s a good ally to have around. We don’t think anyone will be too worried about him and Spencer Bledsoe being on the same tribe since they weren’t that close in “Cagayan,” and they are really going to need him to compete against Joe and Jeremy on the other side. His biggest challenge is just getting out of his own head and realizing that he can still be an honorable hero in life while being a little duplicitous in the game.
Prediction – We’ve already stated who we think is winning this season (you can check that out here), but we have Woo once again going to the end. He will do a little bit of a better job with the strategic game this time around, but we see his improvement somewhere on the spectrum of Amanda Kimmel between her first and second final tribal council.
How well do you think Woo is going to fare this season? Vote in the attached poll, and head over here to get some of our other “Survivor” spotlights and other preview coverage! Also, sign up here to get some more TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)
