I'm in for rankings.

Also... Son of a... Might have been nice to know Albert was lurking ITT before I gushed about him being hot (though I suspect he's quite aware that females find him attractive). Of course, I'm not sure I came off any more fawny than the rest of yous. Get a grip, people. We're going to scare him away. Sorry I called you toast, Albert. I always think the really physical guys are going to get targeted asap right after the merge....it's nothing personal.

I've decided to listen to RHAP before doing my rankings. And I think I'll swap Albert and Jim as not toast and toast. My initial read on Jim was that he was a blow hard toot your own horn phill hellmuth type that was going to give us all a bad name. Since Albert is another poker player I can throw my support behind, I'm going to stick with my read...and feel badly when Jim reads what I wrote about him.

I wish we got to watch the first episode before doing a ranking. I'd like to see the tribe divisions and the people interacting with each other before having to commit.

ok... pm them to me once you got them... always entertaining PR by you. I think the poll for next season should be Kos or Soncy for the Survivor Thread Master General title

I've done zero research whatsoever so I'll be sitting out of Power Rankings this season. Thanks for the invite though, cash.

I'll be tilted to no end if Coach goes out early. Ozzy I don't really care about, but I'd love to see if they throw him endless water challenges if he makes the merge, despite very few water challenges during their first two seasons in Samoa.

Obv rooting for the greatest nephew of all tiiiiiiime.

You Survivor posters in this forum are intense. Discussion here's gotta be at least as good or better than most Survivor-dedicated forums. A bit much for me, but props.

As a casual fan, I only watch about every other season. Maybe 2 out of 3, when they seem good. So I ask you people in the know - do you think that this will be a better than average season? From both a strategic/interesting perspective, and an entertainment perspective?

I like a balance of both. As an example, I thought that the recent All-Stars one was great, and that the Fabio/Sash/Brenda/Marty season sucked. Coach should of course provide some entertainment, but Ozzy isn't very interesting to me, and I don't know almost anything about the rest of the cast.

Any redemption island season is confirmed stupid and probably not entertaining from a strategic perspective, but we'll all be watching anyway. We love Coach for reasons other than strategic acumen.

Probably not awesome. The sense I got from the interviews is that there are a lot of truly nice/good people in this cast and not enough cutthroat. The two poker players and cochrane will probably drive the strategic aspects, but they might just be outnumbered and therefore outgunned. Coach will always make for awesome TV though.

i really like the cast and think its going to be a great season

also nice posts gary and soncy. ill try to do a rankings soon

I think the Blue tribe is heavily laden with oddball/misfit type players. I have a bad feeling for Coach's longevity, but he does have an old guy and three females who might not work and play well with others as a potential buffer zone.

1. John Cochran - Love this guy.
2. Mikayla “Miki” Wingle - She's a physical female who doesn't come off as completely brain dead on first impression.
3. Brandon Hantz - Seems very likable. Stature will keep him from being a physical threat.
4. Albert Destrade - I'm probably insane for ranking him this high because he is such an obvious physical threat, but he does seem to have a good base for the mental/social side of the game as well.
5. Dawn Meehan - She had a family meeting before going on the show to tell her kids that she was going to lie and they might not like it. For some reason, this appeals to me.
6. Whitney Duncan - She could excel in a Natalie White type of way.
7. Keith Tollefson - I give him a Fabio type chance. He could get deep because someone smarter than him is using him, then go on immunity run.
8. Jim Rice - I liked him in his Dalton Ross interview, but I fear FPS or that he might overplay and shoot himself in the foot.
9. Ozzy - Talked a good game in his pregame video, but I doubt he can live up to it.
10. Mark Anthony Caruso - I think he could do well, but I have him rated so low because old guys just generally don't fare that well in Survivor.
11. Elyse Umemoto - She reminds me of Brenda a little bit, but I don't think she is as competitive as Brenda.
12. Sophie Clarke - I'm torn on her. She seems smart and capable. I just think she will have a hard time relating to people.
13. Rick Nelson - Too nice. Too old.
14. Christine Shields Markoski - Too nice.
15. Edna Ma - Control freaks have no shot.
16. Stacey Powell - Seems very lacking in personality. I think she won't fit in well with others.
17. Coach -
18. Semhar Tadesse - Probst gave her a really poor review. Unless he made a pass at her and she shot him down, I have to go with his read. He seemed pretty disenchanted with her as a player.

I don't have my rankings done yet, but I 100% agree with Cesternino's assessment of Cochran. I get the feeling that he will be the best player, yet he'll ultimately get squeezed out at F4 when people wise up and realize he's a huge jury threat.

But I can't pinpoint who those other players will be there with him at the end. Could be Whitney or Elyse ala Natalie, but I'm not sure either of those two actually have staying power. Could be Mikala or Keith on a late immunity run. Dawn and Mark are my old picks. It's just hard to say this early. There are some blue people I have pretty big question marks on.

I justed pm'ed my power rankings. Can't wait for the results an the actual season to start!

I PM'ed my power ranking also.

I have done zero research so I am out on power rankings as well. Looking forward to another great season itt though.

Power rankings:

1. John - A less arrogant version of Todd
2. Mikayla - Should be a lock to make the merge and is athletic and sociable enough to coast from there
3. Albert - I can see him filling the role of overconfident alpha male who gets blindsided early post-merge, but I have high hopes for him.
4. Jim - I expect him and Albert to both make the merge and for them to go after each other ASAP. Whoever survives that struggle would be in a good position.
5. Edna - I think people itt are underrating her a lot. Her tribe is full of crazies (Coach, Stacey, maybe Brandon) and antisocial people (Sophie, Christine, maybe Rick) so she should make it far. The fact that her tribe is dysfunctional puts her in a pretty poor position to win, but she's in a better spot than most imo
6. Keith - this season's Grant. He has a legitimate shot of going on a late immunity run and easily winning a jury vote.
7. Dawn - I expect her to go deep most of the time, but I question whether she can close
8. Mark - gay contestants have a good record on Survivor, and he seems like he can play the game while appearing non-threatening
9. Coach - he's only this high because I remember Stephen saying that Coach was an underrated jury threat in Tocantins. If he can survive initially he might be able to go UTR and last for a long time.
10. Elyse - anyone who compares herself to Parvati is automatically much worse than Parvati (who is still overrated to begin with)
11. Brandon - he may be nice now but given his age and his pedigree I doubt he can go 39 days without imploding
12. Ozzy - in his interviews he comes across as an even bigger douche than last time, if that's possible
13. Whitney - she just wants to impress her legions of (possibly imaginary) fans y'all
14. Sophie - is 50/50 to have Asperger's. She likes to talk about how smart she is, and probably won't have a chance to prove it.
15. Christine - meh
16. Rick - he'll be respected for his work ethic and his honesty, but I don't think he has the cutthroat mentality he'll need to make it to the finals
17. Semhar - racist ban
18. Stacey - as above

eh just too many people in cast to do them all

1 jim
2 john
3 mark
4 albert
5 dawn
6 mikayla
those are the main contenders to win imo

redemption island should play a big role in this season. i think it will be good tv this time. maybe better comps or they will know how to film it better.


coach will make a fool of himself
ozzy will act like a douche again

sophie is first out

Thanks for the input. I have some time this week, so I guess I'll give the opener a try. Look forward to reading all the discussion here!

There's an extremely clear-cut top three imo, but I cannot decide on the order they should be in for the power rankings. I think Cochran ultimately gets clipped at F4, so I don't have him #1, but I'll just put this out there: he will be one of the five greatest players to ever play the game.

1. Albert - Likable, smart, athletic, charming, etc. Lots of talent.
2. Jim - Likable, potentially devious, and seems like he can easily adapt to different social situations. I like him a lot.
3. Cochran - My favorite. Survivor talent oozes out of his pores. He might be nerdy, but he's super likable. He will be the next Fishbach...but they'll figure out he's the mastermind and boot him one spot before FTC (see: Cesternino, Fairplay, and Cirie).
4. Edna - If she can shut her yap and not be controlling, she's a big threat.
5. Keith - Socially strong, physical threat, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
6. Mark - I worry that he won't fit in, but if he does, I think he could surprise some people. He also benefits from the fact that I think this cast is extremely top-heavy and completely lacks depth.
7. Brandon - Meh. Too young and naive.
8. Mikayla - Seems destined to go out in like sixth place because she's athletic.
9. Whitney - Only here for the fame. I could see her winning a spite vote, but that's about it.
10. Rick - Fitting in will be an issue.
11. Dawn - I don't think she'll be as popular with the kids as she thinks. She also seems frail, and I could see her going out really early because of it.
12. Elyse - Seems very dumb.
13. Christine - Typical pawn.
14. Ozzy - He is not going to win the season after Boston Rob did it. Absolutely no shot.
15. Stacey - Whenever someone uses "black woman" as a way to describe their personality, I know they have no shot to win.
16. Coach -
17. Sophie - Social trainwreck in the making. I expect her to have some major freakout at tribal council early in the game.
18. Semhar - She'll be lucky to make it through the first two votes.

Why do people think a control freak can not be a control freak for 39 days? Survivor always brings out the true characteristics.

Gary: If you're talking about Edna, I think you underrate her chances. The 'control freak' stuff is most relevant early on when being annoying is enough to get you voted out, but she has buffers in the form of Sophie, Stacey, and Coach, all of whom might be likely to go before her. If she can reach the point where that isn't an issue then she seems intelligent enough to go deep.

Kos: What do you mean by 'top-heavy'?

When I heard that Edna is filthy rich (well, for Survivor standards) I changed my opinion a bit. When you don't need the money it becomes more of a game and less of a necessity to move up a spot or two.
When she said that she was a bad lier and that she was a control freak I dropped her very low but I think she has a lot of potential to do a 180 on my list.
Also there other potential weaker players that might get the boot before her in her tribe.

power rankings will be released around 2 PM Eastern... I have to finish mine and add plug a few late entries in.

He has a point. Even so, there is still the significant risk that Edna gets on people's nerves enough to not be able to win in the end. I tried to balance my picks with people who seem capable of moving themselves forward with people who could win if they got there. I have some floaty non-threatening types in my top 8 because the schemers need somebody to use. I suspect Keith and Whitney could fit that role.