Survivor Ghost Island: Should Laurel Johnson return?

Laurel Johnson helped keep one of the strongest alliances together deep into Survivor Ghost Island. Should she get another chance to win?

The worst part about being a Survivor superfan, as a player, is that you think you know the game better than anyone else. The desire to prove your worth, make some big moves and outwit, outplay, and outlast the competition means making rash moves at times. Laurel Johnson proved to Jacob Derwin that you can be a superfan and get far in the game (even if you don’t end up winning).

Seeing how she first got close to Donathan (and he was one of the first players targeted), a tribe swap birthed an opportunity for Laurel to make new friends. As Chris Noble attempted to bring the Malolo minority on Naviti 2.0 into his fold, Laurel worked Domenick and Donathan worked Wendell into becoming a secret partnership, holding through to the merge and holding dormant for a long time.

The overlap of the anti-Malolo votes and random pop-ups of dissension like Desiree helped the Final Four stay together and become a majority at the Final Eight, thus giving them an opportunity to take out the “Naviti Strong” core. However, for the eliminations leading up to it, Laurel struggled with the fact that if she stays with Dom and Wendell, she will eventually lose the game.

Despite that, she stayed true to her losing game to the point of frustration of Donathan, who completely flipped after the Final Eight and tried to take out Dom and Wendell. Her allegiance to the two granted her safety through to the end (she also won an ill-fated Immunity Challenge), and was taken by Domenick to the Final Tribal Council.

Next: Vote here for whether Laurel Johnson should return

Unfortunately, nobody on the Survivor Ghost Island jury liked her gameplay, arguing that she served to help Domenick or Wendell win. She even had to make the decision between the two, as the jury split the vote and she became the first 11th juror on a panel. Vote here in our straw poll if you would like to see her try and actually win in a future season.