When past players and the wealthy get targeted early, we ask one question; how would Jeff Kent have fared in Survivor Philippines if people knew his MLB past?
Most of the time a famous athlete or person of considerable fame from outside of Survivor joins the cast of a Survivor season, there will inevitably some questions surrounding whether or not they deserve to win the million dollar prize. “(S)he doesn’t need the money; let’s just vote them out once the time is right.” That’s why Jeff Kent made it never revealed that he was one of the greatest offensive second basemen in MLB history when he played in Survivor Philippines.
It’s not like nobody knew who he was. Exactly one person on that cast had recognized Jeff Kent prior to the first episode: Sarah Dawson. Despite being on the same tribe for the first 13 days of the season (before her inevitable demise), she kept his secret safe. She wanted to make sure, if he won, he would win on fair terms, not because of a target as a millionaire.
However, had she revealed Jeff Kent was one of the best MLB players of all time, what would happen for the rest of Survivor Philippines?
For the first 12 days of this season, ultimately, it wouldn’t matter exactly between those days when Jeff Kent would have his career known. As many will recall, the blue Matsing tribe was absolutely dreadful, losing all of their four combined immunity and reward challenges before Denise Stapley and Malcolm Freberg were absorbed by opposing tribes.
After Dana Lambert had quit the game due to medical concerns, Sarah Dawson was on the chopping block. With few allies left in the game and the red Kalabaw tribe facing tribal council, Sarah could have revealed that Jeff Kent was a Major League Baseball player.
At the time, that would have opened many players’ eyes to just how strategic and conniving Jeff really was, despite his outwardly charming personality. That probably would have caused Jonathan to re-assess his targets, focused it on Jeff, brought Katie, Dawson, and probably Denise to vote for Jeff Kent, eliminating him from the competition. We also may not have seen her iconic kiss on Jeff Probst’s cheek.
That sends most of the rest of the Survivor Philippines game into a free-for-all. The next challenge, the infamous stalemate where both teams push a huge ball in the mud, would likely not have seen a trade to break the stalemate. Without the confidence in numbers backed by Jeff Kent, the variability of not finding fish with a weaker alliance nipping at his heels would mean Tandang would have kept their diminished rice pile heading into the merge.
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With Jeff Kent out and Dawson in, the required balance for the next immunity challenge (slinging balls towards tribe mates with nets, first to five) would have changed the gender dynamics and matchups. A 5-4 yellow Tandang tribe win may have been reversed, sending their tribe to tribal council and Malcolm Freberg may have had to use his hidden immunity idol.
Just revealing his hidden immunity idol led to Jeff Kent’s demise, but even if Malcolm held onto his idol and wasn’t targeted pre-merge, the tribal lines would be split differently. With RC or someone else from that trio with the hidden immunity idol getting voted out before the merge, the balance of power may not have shifted, an idol could have been played; so many options can switch the season around.
The only player guaranteed not to win that season would be Abi-Maria Gomes, making it interesting to see how Kalabaw could possibly convince her and Pete/RC (whoever would have made it) over to their alliance and flip the balance of power. From there, Malcolm will likely have been targeted first, followed by Michael and the others.
Denise Stapley may have made it to the final tribal council, but without Lisa Whelchel and an equally weaker player sitting beside her, she may not have won.
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While it’s hard to find a logical path that dictates Jeff Kent goes further in Survivor Philippines than he did if Dawson reveals his MLB past, it would certainly create an interesting end game with a higher probability of a strong player winning the game.