We’re not too far into Survivor Ghost Island edgic to demand players get personal content. However, after episode 3, it will become increasingly crucial.
Welcome, one and all, to our second installment of our Survivor Ghost Island edgic! Last week, we talked about our snap judgments on who’s in the running to win, who’s up in the air, who has an outside chance and who is already drawing dead for chances to win.
While we’re going to focus more on this swap and how each player came along in terms of the ongoing storylines in the Survivor Ghost Island edgic, we will keep tabs on how our judgments of players have evolved as their stories (or lack thereof) are told on the screen.
With that out of the way, here is my Survivor Ghost Island edgic chart after episode 3:
Winner Contenders
Kellyn Bechtold (MOR3): While I think “who can win” is a question best reserved for the merge onward, I believe that any perceived negativity surrounding Kellyn’s words or actions are fairly contrived for current story purposes. When she’s talking about how bad Malolo’s camp is (only in a confessional), the tonal editing suggests she’s correct. When she says Naviti will stay strong, the original Malolos don’t harbor bad feelings. She’s seen cozying up to Stephanie at dawn. She’s
So far, Kellyn has presented personal content, had input on tribe dynamics and is inserted into the conversation when she doesn’t need to be while opening new “treasure boxes of love.” That’s enough to suggest seeds of “pay attention to her” are planted for the long haul.
Michael Yerger (MOR3): We got to see a lot of Michael this episode, mostly regurgitating his idol find, James Clement’s issues with having two idols and how he’s going to try to reverse the curse. Why I have Michael as my second contender right now is because of how reserved he is at this time. Brendan is his friend, but a bigger target. We get to see how much this idol find means to Michael, but it’s a secret kept between him and his biggest alliance partner. His storyline seems destined for later in the game.
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Stephanie Johnson (CP4): Right now, Stephanie is a bit of a gamebot. She’s certainly shown creating alliances and branching over to the other side, but most of her confessionals talk about her in the game. She’s a single mother in real life, so the longer Survivor doesn’t tap into that personal side of things, the harder it becomes to argue for her winner edgic case.
Domenick Abbate (CPN4): It seems like Domenick doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. His plan to take out Angela failed, he couldn’t make Malolos on Naviti do what he wants and now he’s shown his hand. However, with an idol in his pocket and a Legacy Advantage coming his way, he seems to be getting those contemporary “can’t keep him down” possible winner vibes left in him.
Building a Case
James Lim (CP4): James is an interesting case. We get to see a fair bit about his Korean upbringing and making up for past mistakes (playing into the Survivor Ghost Island theme), but for all of his efforts to see through Domenick’s plan and organize the OG Malolos’ vote against Naviti’s Morgan, Libby gets the “credit” in the edit. James has vaulted to near the top in players to watch.
Wendell Holland (MOR3): At the merge, Wendell asking if Dom was also Naviti was highlighted when it didn’t need to. It showed how much Wendell wanted to align with him when the previous edit didn’t give a chance to, although his episode 3 plans to get out Angela, take control of Naviti and win influence with the tribe has resulted in being wrong, wrong, wrong. He’s not the target, but if Dom plays an idol, he could be voted out in a split vote scenario.
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Chris Noble (CPM4): Although Chris certainly got a ton of positive-toned personal content in his trip to Ghost Island, that was balanced out by how much Dom and other members in Naviti strong (minus Angela) couldn’t stand him. Angela even didn’t like getting talked down to, and she’s his best ally! Ghost Island will allow anyone to visit the chance to get personal content, so that must be accounted for when determining his winner chances.
Brendan Shapiro (MOR3): Right now, Brendan is the Malolo dad, positioned to either take action with Michael as a leader or offer up his perspective at camp. Bradley is edited as his target on Malolo, and he was very much involved in Michael’s idol find. Still, we know very little about Brendan right now.
Outside Looking In
Jenna Bowman (MOR2): Once again, Jenna is positioned in Survivor Ghost Island as a player that ties herself to Stephanie’s destiny. She and Steph know they’re in trouble after talking with Kellyn, and knows that only an idol can flip the power in the tribe. However, that power lies with Michael and Brendan now, making Jenna someone we keep seeing on TV for reasons yet unknown.
Libby Vincek (CP4): After two hours of barely any Survivor Ghost Island content, Libby rises as the face of episode 3 edgic. She found a partner in Morgan, whose familiarity in faith made them a force to be reckoned with. That is, until she voted her out of the game! Libby is willing to make those big moves, but since it was James’ plan and Libby is the “blonde” not to be trusted, one can argue she got the short end of the stick.
Donathan Hurley (UTR2): I almost forgot that Donathan was even on Naviti! He was the original Malolo player seen the least in any strategy talk this episode. It’s a necessary cooldown after an over-the-top premiere, but I’d like to see Donathan make a play on his own before I can say he’s a gamer or if he’s floundering.
Sebastian Noel (UTR2): Despite the idea that old Naviti on Malolo were complaining, Sebastian was shown as a “happy, smiley, giggly piece of (banana-flavored) Laffy Taffy.” This makes it easier to suggest that Sebastian won’t get caught up as an old Naviti target, especially when he’s feeding his camp in a food-deprived season.
Just Can’t See It/Out Of The Game
Angela Perkins (CP4): After two hours of invisibility, she was targeted by her OG Naviti tribemates and was saved by the grace of transferred Malolos taking out one of her numbers. She was deceived, she’s talked down to by her strongest partner in the game and she is not able to adapt to a dynamic game.
Betsided
Laurel Johnson (UTR1): She has just one confessional in three episodes. We know she could be close to Donathan, but he’s yet to do anything with her in terms of gameplay. I don’t know who Laurel is as a person, let alone as a player.
Morgan Ricke (CP4): The fact that Morgan was voted out shows the strength of the current editing team’s ability to surprise. It seemed like either Stephanie or Morgan would out her power and lead to Morgan’s downfall, but instead, she was just cursed to have the item. She seemed like she could have been a fun character, but fate showed otherwise.
Bradley Kleihege (UTRN2): Don’t look now, but Bradley has been assigned the rare under-the-radar negative edit this episode! Despite being called upon to describe Naviti’s strength, the rest of the episode he was either complaining about how bad the Malolo beach was (in an obnoxious way) or talking about how old Naviti will vote out old Malolo one by one as if he were twirling a mustache. Despite no confessionals so far, the audience has been manufactured to dislike him. Not great!
Desiree Afuye (INV): She was highlighted visually as one of the Negative Navitis, but she didn’t say or do much else this episode. Morgan said in an exit interview she just hangs out with Chelsea all day.
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Chelsea Townsend (INV): That explains where Chelsea went! I had thought she was part of the challenge Dream Team, testing out challenges or standing in for confessionals to serve as a framing device. She might as well be wearing an invisibility cloak at this point. (In all honesty, I’d be heartbroken in her position. I feel for her.)