In an episode where he didn’t even get to impart his final words, the Survivor season 35 Ponderosa experience for JP Hilsabeck went against type.
Usually, when a player is subject to a major Survivor blindside, the audience gets some sort of telegraphed passage that shows why exactly they were voted out. For JP Hilsabeck, he was just a number in the majority that we barely got to see any footage of, as he usually rambled on about what was happening, and things like that.
That’s what makes the Survivor Ponderosa experience exciting for viewers, as you get to see players in their most vulnerable state in order to see how they react to the situation and overcome adversity. For JP Hilsabeck, it meant saying more words in the span of just over eight minutes of footage than we saw during his entire run on Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, as for the most part, he was barely present for strategic meetings.
It’s clear that JP’s mind is running a thousand miles a minute, as even after becoming the reason why this season is about to become so dynamic, he’s still thinking about a big fish he caught for the tribe that blindsided him earlier. As soon as he hears that he’s lost 22 pounds, after getting to hang out with Desi and Cole and eat a ton of recovery food, he’s back on the rowing machine to earn it all back.
Desi is apt to note that JP Hilsabeck wasn’t really letting the process of decompression happen, as the firefighter was quick to distract himself with exercise in order to avoid coming to terms with the breach of trust he experienced. Thankfully, JP’s happy-go-lucky spirit permeates throughout his Survivor Ponderosa experience, as he saw the move as an early one over one that shouldn’t have ever happened.
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It’s clear that JP will never, ever make his way onto a season of Survivor ever again based on how his edit was portrayed. The fact that he lasted 10 episodes and barely got any personal content on the show is a testament to how much the edit serves the possible winners in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, as the man with few words left the game with nary a whimper.