‘Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance’ rankings: Are Kelley Wentworth, Shirin Oskooi running Ta Keo?

While we like many of the people over on the Bayon tribe on “Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance” very much, for the time being things are infinitely more entertaining on Ta Keo. They’ve got the clearest division right now of old school vs. new school, but there’s also a few people in the middle here that could theoretically float between both sides and make a variety of different plays. We’re not sure getting out Vytas Baskauskas first is a great move if your goal is to actually win challenges, but if the right people stick together and get further into the game, they are setting themselves up in a place to be very dangerous players.

Just as we said in ranking the Bayon players yesterday, we’re basing these weekly rankings on a variety of different criteria: Strategy, alliances, social game, challenge ability, threat level, usefulness around camp, edit, and other things that flutter in here and there. We know that there is so much more going on than what we see, but we have to take what is presented on the TV show as most important.

9. Terry Deitz – With Vytas picked off, is Terry the closest thing among the old-school players to a sitting duck? He is a solid challenge contributor (at least he was in the first season), but as we’re seeing we don’t think that is the only criteria that is being used for decisions right now.

8. Woo Hwang – It would be really strange to see Woo taken out so soon, but he’s on the wrong side of the numbers and, as mentioned, these players must be assuming that a tribe swap will save them if they keep losing challenges. The main reason we have him higher than Terry is because he probably is a little easier to keep around and control.

7. Abi-Maria Gomes – On the surface, Abi seems in good shape working with Kelly, Shirin, and Spencer. However, will that really last? If she continues to grate on some of the people out there (as we saw in the preview), it’s possible she will just be sent home because of that.

6. Peih-Gee Law – On the flip side, Peih-Gee at the moment seems to be the RC to Abi’s … well, Abi. If the new-school players want to keep her happy and she wants out Peih-Gee, they could eliminate her and still probably be okay so long as they still have Varner.

5. Kelly Wiglesworth – She’s one of the old-school players and therefore on the outside, but we don’t get the sense that anyone is that threatened by Kelly at the moment. Our only advice for her would be to take a step back in some of the challenges, since you don’t want to be an obvious target.

4. Jeff Varner – There’s a danger for Jeff if he continues to move back and forth between alliances, but we saw Tony do it really well in “Cagayan” or Rob do it in “The Amazon.” It can work very well! The thing that helps Jeff is that if he and Peih-Gee work as a twosome, they could be extremely valuable to both alliances in the game … at least for now.

3. Shirin Oskooi – Shirin had a great premiere, being able to basically name and take out her primary target in Vytas without much resistance. She’s also got a great alliance and some flexibility to maneuver in the game. The only concern we have is that based on what we’ve heard from Vytas, she seemed to be the main person pushing for his exit. Therefore, if the old-school players can find a way to get the numbers again, they main choose to go after her before anyone else.

2. Spencer Bledsoe – Spencer’s never really known what it is like to be at the top of an alliance, but right now he’s looking good. Old-school players value challenge ability, so if they do ever float some numbers over to their side, they probably won’t target him because of that. We also like what he said in the premiere about having multiple conversations with multiple people.

1. Kelley Wentworth – We cannot even begin to describe how amazing an episode Kelley had last week. Since Shirin, as mentioned, seems mostly responsible for Vytas, Kelley’s not getting the brunt of that attention. However, she is actively in that alliance, and she also has that hidden immunity idol she found at the challenge. There’s a lot of game left to be played, but she’s in an excellent position.

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