‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ premiere: Six somewhat-bold predictions for season 30

It’s that time of year again, otherwise known as “Survivor” prediction time! This is one of our favorite times of the year, but we’re trying something a little bit different this year. While predictions are always arbitrary, trying to predict an entire boot order and come up with a narrative for it was even more arbitrary. At times, it bordered on going too far down the rabbit hole of creating a story that was in its own separate universe.

This year, we’re doing something a little bit different. We are once again predicting the winner, but we’ve come up with some other basic predictions about a season that Jeff Probst has already referred to as a great one (which has us both excited and nervous).

One quick reminder before we get into this: Take a look at some of our recent castaway spotlights now! This is a great way to see more detailed analysis on many of the players.

1. The first boot will be Nina Poersch. Maybe this is somewhat predictable in a way, given that she’s one of the older contestants, and she has a story to tell as a hearing advocate. Typically, the last thing you want to be in this game is an inspirational story, and we just don’t see the No Collar tribe connecting with her at all.

2. Joaquin Souberbielle will be the first shock boot of the season. The White Collar tribe has the potential to be a whole lot like the Brains in “Cagayan,” and we feel they will play with a few weeks ahead in mind more so than the next day or two.

3. Jenn Brown becomes one of the stars of the season. She’s one of the youngest contestants, but she seems like she has a good head on her shoulders, and will probably be extremely underestimated in the early going. We envision her making it really far, but missing the final three. She’ll get an invite for another season.

4. Other All-Star candidates will be Tyler Frederickson (our prediction for merge boot), Max Dawson (major strategic threat who goes right before the merge), Rodney Lavoie Jr. (who will finish in around seventh place), and Shirin Oskooi (who makes it to the final three, and proves to be a strong strategic player).

5. Despite being fun characters, both Will Sims II and Don Foley leave the game far too soon, and create even more interest in a season full of pre-jury players.

6. Vince Sly wins the season fives votes to four. He goes to the end with Shirin, who receives the four votes. So Kim is the designated no-vote getter. Vince is a huge character and made some moves, but controversy arises as to if Shirin loses because of her success outside of the game.

Maybe this is the most insane prediction we’ve ever given. All of our other recent winner picks (Josh Canfield, Tasha Fox, Aras Baskauskas, Brenda Lowe, Artis Silvester) have made the merge; the last time one didn’t was Mikayla in “Survivor: South Pacific.” Our last pick to actually win the game was Kim Spradlin in “Survivor: One World.” We’ll see how this goes, but if we are completely wrong, we will have no problem owning up to it.

What are some of your bold “Survivor” predictions? Share below! Also, click here to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)