‘Survivor: San Juan del Sur’ analysis: On Natalie’s future, concerns for Jeremy, and more
Now that “Survivor: San Juan del Sur” is back, we’re also pleased to introduce something that we’ve done in the past to accompany our official episode reviews: Analysis pieces. We’ll have one of these for most episodes, as we go deeper into some of the game’s best players, and those who are setting themselves up for failure.
Natalie’s future – With the exit of her “twinnie” Nadiya, you do have to wonder what will happen now with Natalie on the Hunahpu tribe. This is not going to be an easy question to answer, either. We have yet to get the impression that there are many awful players over there who will shoot themselves in the food … with maybe one exception.
If we were Natalie right now, the thing that we’d consider is planting some seeds over Drew being trouble. He’s already caused some friction with his know-it-all attitude, and if he disrupts team chemistry, it doesn’t matter how strong he is. Julie has in particular expressed frustration with him.
Jeremy’s tribe – For now, though, it does feel like the firefighter is in the position of power at Hunahpu, and is using that first duel to leverage his place in the game. Is this good news for now? Sure, but you never want to look like you are at sitting with the cool kids this early in the game. While Tony was a threat late in the game last season, he was able to avoid the early targets thanks to lurking in the shadows. Most winners of this game excel at hiding behind big personalities who think they are running the show. Tom Westman and Boston Rob are the exception rather than the rule.
Watch out, Josh – By the same token, we’re slightly concerned for our preseason pick to win in Josh. Everyone knows that he is well-liked and talks to everyone over on Coyopa, and that could lead to few trusting him with exclusive information. He seems in a good spot for now, but who is Josh’s final two? It’s a similar question we wondered last year with Kass. Josh is seemingly a better social player, but he needs to shore up some concrete allies quickly rather than just being a part of a five-man guys’ alliance.
Lucky for him, Dale is probably still going to be a target on Coyopa before him, especially if they lose another challenge. We also feel like Jaclyn and Baylor aren’t bringing enough to the table for us to be confident about them.
The Rocker watch – So far, this guy has not been offensive or angry to anyone … but it’s only been three days. It’s still likely he leaves pre-merge to us, but remember here that if people think they could beat him, it wouldn’t shock us if he makes it pretty far into the game.
The current darkhorse – We’re giving that to Kelley one episode in. She seemed to get into a good spot early on Hunahpu, and while she didn’t get a ton of screen time, nobody’s going to target her right away. She was our pick to be runner-up, and we feel very good about that one episode in.
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Photo: CBS