Survivor Ghost Island cast assessment: Jacob Derwin ‘can do the thing’
He’s got experience blogging about Survivor, now Jacob Derwin will arrive on Survivor Ghost Island aiming to do better than some of his past subjects.
As a Canadian, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will likely never, ever play the Jeff Probst version of Survivor. However, I am glad to see other bloggers and fans connected to the online community make their way onto the show and compete for a million dollars, which is exactly what Jacob Derwin from Inside Survivor has done for Survivor Ghost Island.
The 22-year-old Jewish music teacher from Merrick, NY seems to be playing into the eccentric, inwardly self-aware kind of Survivor superfan, although he doesn’t seem to be beating himself up too much as you would see in a John Cochran or Ryan Ulrich. Instead, he compares himself mostly to Stephen Fishbach and a bit of David Wright in his CBS bio, playing up his neuroses for comedy.
From what’s clearly evident in his introduction video, Jacob Derwin is out to play Survivor Ghost Island to show the bullies of his past what kind of person he’s grown up to be. He talks about learning how to socialize and practicing it enough to a point where he finds making people comfortable a strong suit for his game.
While he seems to be a fun player that I’d love to root for, there are a few red flags that do remind me of a millennial version of David Wright (I’m sure he’d be not too distraught with the placement with 1/20 odds considering). First off, he talks about being an indoors person, to the point of spending many hours playing video and tabletop games. Sure, he can supposedly make fire, but being approachable is one side of a coin in which you need to engage others.
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Another comes from parts of his bio, including talking about being told he’s “too loud” by others due to his inspiration of Robin Williams. We just saw a player last season get booted early for being too much of a nuisance around camp, and if Jacob’s accidentally annoying people by being “always on” in his approach to being affable, who knows if that could sink his game early.
With those red flags out of the way, I do think that Survivor Ghost Island is a perfect season of the show for him to play. The historically-backed twists and games of chance that are present in the physical Ghost Island aspect of the season enters a knowledge database right in his wheelhouse, as he can roll through the back catalog of players and how the twists affected them before making calculated decisions.
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Furthermore, in a season filled with a bunch of physically ripped women and men, Jacob Derwin has a strategic mind and a strong-enough physicality that doesn’t make him as huge a target going in. He attests that he’s no weakling, either, meaning his mind will be running a thousand miles a minute about how to target those challenge threats and find his way into a strong alliance off the bat.
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Based on his interests and being part of the Survivor blogging community, I have to throw my hat in to support Jacob Derwin in the quest for a million dollars. He’s got a story that can sell a jury on his quest for a million, but not one that would have him voted out too early if they knew about it. Backing his win and thinking he will win are two separate stories.