Debbie Wanner is back as a castaway for the second time in three seasons, but will the multi-careered wonder succeed in Survivor: Game Changers?
Te first time that Debbie Wanner played Survivor, she essentially played it half of the way through. Sure, she made it past 18 days—the actual midway point—in Kaoh Rong, but Wanner ultimately finished ninth out of the 18 castaways. Regardless of a mediocre finish the first time around, though, she’s coming back for season 34 as one of the 20 players that were in Fiji and the Mamanuca Islands for Survivor: Game Changers.
Unfortunately for Debbie, her so-called legacy from Survivor: Kaoh Rong (season 32) may in fact just be a punchline among fans. Her ever-changing occupation from chemist to waitress to countless other ridiculous ventures on her career path are the most memorable part of her game to many. Well, that and the fact that she was never afraid to speak her mind.
However, there was a lot more to Wanner’s game than just having held a number of odd jobs. Though many in the history of Survivor can say the same, it was truthfully just a single error that cost Debbie her game. What’s particularly curious about Debbie’s error, though, was her unwillingness to go back on her word.
As you’ll remember, Julia Sokolowski was playing both sides of the budding women’s alliance and the Brawn men’s alliance. Debbie was fooled by the double-agent nature of Julia’s game and refused to vote her out. That ultimately led to the rest of the women’s alliance turning on Wanner because of her reluctance and thus voting her out.
While a bad misread on her part, it is admirable and desirable for other players in Survivor: Game Changers that Wanner is loyal even to her own detriment. If someone enters an alliance with her, they can rest assured that they won’t be blindsided—at least assuming that Debbie plans to play the same way.
That’s the interesting factor with Debbie Wanner entering Game Changers, though. You can debate how much she changed the game outside of “number of title cards used in confessionals.” However, she may have still learned a lesson about being too naive. Consequently, she could also then be looking the change the way she plays in her second go-round. Then again, Debbie really is one of the wild cards of this group of 20 former players. Even after making it to the merge and jury, you still don’t know when she’s going to zig or zag as a fan.
Because of that nature, it’s truthfully hard to say who she could potentially align with on the Mamanuca Islands in season 34. Though loyal, her personality and demeanor was at least edited to come off a bit grating in Kaoh Rong. She’s in your face when she needs to be, but also when she doesn’t and that tends to rub people the wrong way. That’s also more so the case when you’re counting down the days that you’re surviving in a remote location.
Trying to project a bit while looking at her original Nuku tribe mates, though, it’s not hard to see her attempting to pursue an alliance with Ozzy. She attempted the same with another attractive male in season 32 and came on too strong in the process. Seeing something similar with the fourth-time player and challenge monster is thus foreseeable.
By the same token, though, these “game changers” could instead try to stick with castaways that they’ve played with before. If that’s the case, then perhaps her and Tai could start at least a miniature alliance. Again, that seems unlikely as they never really interacted much in Kaoh Rong, but that’s where there are connections for Debbie.
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All told, the unpredictability of Debbie Wanner in season 34 combined with what we’ve seen before lend itself to a similar performance to what she had in Kaoh Rong. Seeing her make it to the merge relatively under the radar only to make a fatal error in judgment and be blindsided again appears likely—or at least the likeliest possible outcome. Then again, maybe she was a magician in addition to her many other careers and has a trick we don’t know of up her sleeve.