Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers spotlight: Meet mathematician Chrissy Hofbeck

Mathematician Chrissy Hofbeck is one of the older women taking part in Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers — the fact that she is only 46 probably makes you want to see more women over 45 take part in the game. She’s someone coming into this with a lot of life experience, but also questions as to whether or not she’s going to be almost too driven and intent on proving herself within this game environment for her own good this season.

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

Age – 46.

Location – She is from Bernardsville in northern New Jersey, and how lives in nearby Lebanon Township. You can’t officially coin her one of the Survivors from New York City (who often have a special kinship), but she’s close.

Bio – Chrissy’s incredibly smart and driven beyond all measure. As an actuary (fancier word for mathematician), she spends most of her day trying to solve problems to help other people — that’s one of the reasons why she’s on the Heroes tribe. She is eager to go out here to play the game to prove something to herself, just as she often proves to people in her profession that women are capable and powerful in just about every field.

Past Survivor comparison – There are two different ways that she could go. Her upside is that she uses her analytical skills and becomes almost a Sophie Clarke, someone capable of running scenarios and figuring out the best position for herself. However, she does run the risk of being a Debbie-like character where she spends too much time talking about her life history.

Strengths – She’s got the foundation to be a very good player in the game, given that she understand probabilities and seems game to make whatever moves she needs to make. She has a zeal for wanting to be there and prove that she can do well in this experience. On the Heroes tribe, she’s not an obvious threat, and that could work to her advantage.

Weaknesses – If her tribe loses early, however, she could be the obvious target since she’s probably weaker in challenges than some of them. Also, Chrissy comes across as so intent on proving herself that she may enforce the point too much in the game and be someone who gets into conflict with other players. She needs to be able to dial things back a little bit.

Pre-show prediction – If Chrissy survives the start of the game, we think she’s an asset who can help with strategy and also will have no problem getting some blood on her hands. We do think that the game will be harder on her than she thinks, but she could make the final three. Her big challenge, though, is being able to make the moves and then forge the emotional connections to go along with it. The social game is what could do her in.

How well do you think that Chrissy Hofbeck 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.)