One of the biggest decisions of the early game comes minutes into Survivor Ghost Island, where tribes pick leaders and leaders pick a challenge puzzle-solver.
Earlier in Survivor Ghost Island preseason coverage, we learned that at the marooning tribes will have to instantly pick a leader to lead them during the first challenge of the season. One Malolo and Naviti have leaders selected, they will choose one athletic person to go through an obstacle course, then tag in their choice of a puzzle solver. Winning tribe gets a shelter kit, losing tribe has their starting fishing gear removed, either leader has a limited time to decide to give the other team the win during the puzzle in order to keep their fishing gear.
We noted it’s a complex twist that could have potential long-term effects in the game, and now we know who two-thirds of the people involved in this early reward challenge. In a video posted at Entertainment Weekly, Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst explains the twist while the EW press filming provides a glimpse of the players running through the challenge in action.
Warning: Skip to after the embedded video if you want to remain spoiler-free.
From the shots we can see, it appears as though Naviti chose Chris Noble to be their leader, with Desiree Afuye working on their puzzle. Over at Malolo, Brendan Shapiro is chosen as their tribe leader, with Laurel Johnson serving as their puzzle-solver. It appears to be a slide puzzle from the difficult angle showing off the players, with Brendan looking over at Desiree (possibly gauging whether or not to cut the tribe’s losses).
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Considering the choices made by both tribes, it seems like a few players are definitely thrown into the spotlight right away, which may help or hurt their long-term chances. In a game like Survivor, you want to be as invisible as possible until you’re ready to strike.
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Perhaps these tribe leaders can use this opportunity to create the alliances they need to thrive. Either way, they’re on our radar screens now, as well as the other 18 players in Survivor Ghost Island!