‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ castaway spotlight: Marissa Peterson

We are starting to close in on the end of our “Survivor: Blood vs. Water” castaway spotlight series, and today, we’re talking about someone who is definitely one of the wild cards coming into the season: Marissa Peterson. Given that her uncle Gervase has not been a part of this season in forever, he’s not going to be a target; therefore, she may not be either.

But does Marissa have the killer instinct that she needs to do pretty well in the game? This is what we’re a little bit more unsure about leading to Wednesday’s premiere. While we cannot imagine her being the first person voted off of her tribe, we do wonder just if she is going to find the right alliance to succeed early on in the game.

Basic details – Marissa Peterson, 21 years old from Chapel Hill, North Carolina; here with uncle Gervase

Occupation – Student

Strengths – For Marissa, the biggest one could just be that she is probably not going to be perceived as being as tight with her uncle as some other contestants are with their loved ones, mostly because an uncle – niece relationship is a little different than husband – wife. They may be more willing to vote each other out if it helps one of them get further. Outside of that Marissa seems to be athletic enough, and is a hard worker judging from the claim that she put herself through college.

Weaknesses – The biggest one just comes from the idea that she may not fully know what she is getting herself into. She is just so young that there is a certain chance that she is naive, and ends up believing the wrong people and is taken out because of it. While we’d hate to see it happen to her, this is “Survivor.” Her comparing herself to Parvati Shallow is another reason we’re worried, mostly because people who do that are a little too high on themselves entering the game. (It’s always a pet peeve of ours, given that at least two women every year come on and claim that they are the next Parvati.)

Prediction – Marissa is someone who we see lasting a few episodes, and then getting herself sent home just for being on the wrong side of an alliance. We think that she will do well around camp and in challenges, but in modern “Survivor,” there are so many alliances made early that she may suffer due to some preconceived notion that she may not work hard because she is so young. The irony here is that if this was season 1 when Gervase first played, we’d beg her to go very far.

As always, we want to hear your thoughts on Marissa below! Meanwhile, click here if you want to read some other “Survivor” castaway spotlights from us.

Photo: CBS