‘Survivor: Kaoh Rong’ spotlight: Does Debbie Wanner have the eye of the tiger?

We are closing our “Survivor: Kaoh Rong” spotlight series today with Debbie Wanner, and in many ways she is the perfect person to compose this grand send-off around … if for no other reason than that she’s very memorable. She’s got a cool job, a lot of life experience, and her swimsuit can be described as “a tiger’s face” (check out the video below). It’s completely over-the-top, but we do appreciate someone trying to break from the mold when you consider how so many promotional photos over the years have all just felt the same.

While Debbie is someone who seems like she will be a lot of fun to watch on the season, does that necessarily make her a good player? This is something that we’ll do our part to investigate.

Age – 49

Location – Reading, Pennsylvania.

Tribe – Chan Loh a.k.a. the Brains.

Occupation – Chemist, which for some reason reminds us automatically of rocket scientist John Fincher, which in turn automatically reminds us of Jeff Probst calling him a “poser” in a cast assessment before the “Samoa” season. We understand that this train of logic is a little off!

Past “Survivor” comparison – We kind of love that Debbie compares herself to Coach and that’s it, since she seems ready and willing to be a big character on the show. We’d say that there are some things about her that also remind us of Sue Hawk and Denise Stapley. There is one thing that all of these people have in common: They went very far.

Things to know – She’s got a military background, apparently wants to teach everyone how to juggle, and claims that her entire life has really given her the experience necessary to be good at this game. Also, she claims that she can be charming like Hannibal Lecter in her bio, only to say later that it “doesn’t mean I won’t scramble your brains.”

Advantages – You have to be incredibly smart to be a chemist, but what’s great about Debbie here, as well, is that she seems like she’s in very good shape physically and should hold her own well in many of the challenges. She’s not going to be someone who holds the tribe back, and since we don’t know how equipped all of the members of the Brains tribe are when it comes to handling the conditions, she could be an asset and someone people can work with.

Disadvantages – Does Debbie have killer instinct for the game? That’s what we are mostly concerned about here, since she strikes us almost as the type who will make some good alliances, but not necessarily cut them when the chips are down. Also, she’ll have to pick and choose her moments to be this big character with the juggling and the storytelling. It’s easy to imagine situations where the other people in the tribe don’t want to hear them or think that she’s putting on a show for the cameras.

Prediction – Debbie’s tough to call, since we can envision her going almost either way. There are scenarios where she goes home very early just because she doesn’t fit in with the rest of the tribe. However, we can also envision others where she sticks around for a while because she’s useful and is probably going to be a good ally to people. We don’t really see her winning in almost any scenario, but we do think that she could last a while and bring a lot of fun to this season.

What’s your take on Debbie? Let us know now in the poll below, and click here to get some of our other “Survivor” spotlights from this season! Also, sign up over here to secure some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2S7TiBVwik