Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers spotlight: Meet firefighter J.P. Hilsabeck

J.P. Hilsabeck is the sort of Survivor contestant that you look at and say “well, obviously you’re going to do really well.” He’s young, he’s athletic, he’s driven, and he’s going to be a good member of an alliance. He understands why he’s there, and also what he contributes to a tribe. We’re not going to go so far as to say he’s guaranteed to make the merge, but it’s hard to understand why some people wouldn’t want to bring him that far.

Below, you can see more of our assessment of him as a player in the latest CarterMatt castaway spotlight!

Age – 28.

Location – Los Angeles. That’s an interesting challenge given that most Survivor firefighters tend to come from other places.

Bio – He’s a guy who has a humble opinion of his job, despite him being on the Heroes tribe. He doesn’t think he is special, and he just wants to do his best to help other people. Loyalty and moral character matters to him a ton, as he makes note of it a good three or four times in his CBS disorder. His sister is also battling a blood disorder back home, and he wants to use the money to help people like her. He also loves his dog, really so much that he mentions him both in the video and in his CBS bio. He’s almost the Survivor version of Ben Zorn from Bachelor in Paradise.

Past Survivor comparison – J.P. compares himself to Jay, but we don’t really see a similar sort of sense of humor here. We feel like he’s a little more of the classic Hunter Ellis sort of alpha male mixed with maybe a Mike Chisel or a young Andrew Savage. He’s a strong, confident dude, and he seems convinced that he’s going to win the game and win it his way a.k.a. the right way.

Strengths – He’s self-aware, athletic, and he’ll do his part to help win challenges. He’s also someone who can probably exist for a while in the game just because you know what to expect from him. This isn’t a guy who isn’t going to make any enormous blindsides; he’ll be loyal to whoever strikes up an alliance with him, and he’ll do what he can to help his group get far in the game. People will want to work with it.

Weaknesses – People may be a little less likely to want to work with him around the final eight. Who’s going to willingly take a strong firefighter with sound moral character to the end of the game … at least after it’s already happened with Jeremy Collins? The guy’s an obvious threat, and we don’t get the sense that he has the strategic know-how in order to get himself out of a bind.

Pre-show prediction – J.P. is probably the Joe Anglim of the season, the guy who does a ton to help other people but struggles to get himself past a certain point when it’s too obvious he is going to win. America will probably really love the guy (especially casual viewers who don’t love all of the ruthless gameplay); this just isn’t the sort of thing that wins someone Survivor in 2017.

How well do you think that J.P. Hilsabeck is going to do on Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers? Let us know in the comments below!

Also, click here to see some of our other CarterMatt spotlights on this season. (Photo: CBS.)