Survivor season 35 cast: Devon Pinto’s a post-merge threat

Survivor season 35’s Devon Pinto comes into the game with attributes that make him seem like a classic post-merge threat, but that comes with pitfalls, too.

Devon Pinto basically embodies the idea of the Yawa tribe, the Hustlers. He’s a surf instructor (that would probably get him put on the No Collar tribe in Worlds Apart), but he mentions in his cast video that he’s spent time bartending. He also has the goal of starting up, in his own words, an “afterschool program for underprivileged kids.”

So don’t let the big smile fool you. This guy has some big strengths. In his cast bio, linked above, he says that he’s a threat to win immunity challenges. In his cast video, you can spot him doing yoga, and he’s also a surf instructor, meaning that yeah, his physicality is going to be apparent in challenges. That’ll help him stay around in the pre-merge, where tribal strength is always a huge concern.

Devon’s most dangerous time is going to be right before the merge. Savvy players of the game often get a feel of when the merge will happen, and if he’s as strong as he says he is, it’ll be obvious by then. Just ahead of the merge, before he can win any individual immunity challenges, would be the ideal time to get rid of him if you’re a strategist trying to even the odds.

However, he seems pretty likable, if a touch confident that everyone else is going to like him too. In his cast bio, he cites Malcolm as one of the players he’s most like, and though Malcolm hasn’t always gone far in the game, he did usually end up building some solid friendships on his three tries in the game. If Devon’s social game turns out to be strong, he might get early warning of any attempts to come after him and counteract them.

Additionally, if he does make it post-merge, he will have to be very careful to have a strong alliance. Just because he thinks he’s going to win every individual immunity does not make it so. He compares himself to Ozzy — and even Ozzy has been known to lose individual challenges. His ever being vulnerable at Tribal in the post-merge requires his social and strategic games to be on point, because people will gun for him if he’s that strong.

But with all those risks comes the possible reward of an easy path to the final three by just winning his way in. Just that might not get him the million dollars, but that’s when his story comes into play, as does his desire to start that program.

Next: Survivor: Ranking every season

It’s a powerful combination, so we’re thinking that Devon is one to watch in Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.