Survivor Ghost Island is three episodes in, and we still haven’t heard a word from Chelsea Townsend. What can we learn from this little screen time thus far?
Survivor editing hasn’t been the best over the past decade or so, with several players getting outright ignored at times. The two-hour season premiere of Survivor Ghost Island saw several players virtually ignored throughout, with Chelsea, Bradley, Angela, and Libby all receiving zero confessionals and very little airtime.
Thankfully, two of the previous “invisible four” were featured significantly in the third episode of Survivor Ghost Island. Libby and Angela, both invisible in week one, were on our screens a lot this past week. Both made key decisions at tribal council and Libby, in particular, appeared to get a positive edit moving forward.
Chelsea Townsend, on the other hand, is a rare case. Normally by this point, we’ve seen players at least get the standard “So at the challenge today…” or explain what the current situation is for the tribe. Poor Chelsea hasn’t even gotten that.
Bradley was the other player who hadn’t received a confessional in the two-hour premiere, but we at least got to see some of him this past Wednesday. It wasn’t a positive edit, as Bradley was the prominent crybaby who was upset that his new camp wasn’t as nice as his old camp. Brendan had a confessional where he drilled Bradley for being such a whiner, which will likely come into play at some point.
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Between the four, Libby’s stock increased the most. While she and Angela both had four confessionals a piece, Libby came off as making a huge strategic move by turning on her new friend Morgan. She made it clear she didn’t want to, but she did it for the greater good.
While it was nice to finally get to know Angela and Libby a little more, we still know nothing about Chelsea, and the only thing we know about Bradley is that he’s a bit of a whiner.
The lack of Chelsea in the first three episodes made me wonder what type of player she’ll end up being this season. One of the worst edits I’ve ever witnessed with a contestant was Kelly Shin (or Purple Kelly, as many referred to her as) from Nicaragua. Purple Kelly didn’t have a confessional until the seventh episode of that season.
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Now, of course, she’d go on to quit just a few episodes later, so the thought process there is that the poor edit was a way of getting back at her. The argument with that, however, is that Na’Onka on that season quit the same day and had a massive edit.
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Chelsea could also be guilty of what I like to call the “all of a sudden” edit. This edit is when we’ve barely seen a contestant do or say much of anything and then all of a sudden, they’re plastered all over our screen. That’s usually when it becomes glaringly obvious that that particular contestant is in trouble and about to get booted from the game. Paloma from Gabon and Hope from Caramoan jump out in this instance.
Chelsea and Bradley have been on the tribe who has won immunity all three episodes, but both still should have received a basic confessional. Bradley was already complaining about something, so why not let him have the confessional rather than Brendan?
At this rate, it’s tough to really consider either of these castaways as legitimate winners of Survivor Ghost Island. However, something to consider; Natalie from Samoa also went the first three episodes without a confessional and still managed to win her respective season.
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Hopefully, we get something out of Chelsea Townsend at some point, but until then, we’ll just have to remember that she’s playing this game, too … even if she is invisible. Libby sure proved she’s there to play the game, so perhaps Chelsea will soon join the club.