Survivor: David vs. Goliath merge power rankings: Valley of Elah

12. Alec Merlino

There are two small groups of players that are highlights of every merge in Survivor; the long-term players/potential winners, plus the merge boots. Alec Merlino has been one of the least represented players in David vs. Goliath, especially when he’s not needlessly blindsiding his own team in the chance to make some big movez.

It seems like that’s his one trick up the sleeve, and he’s already been shown in the “Next Time On Survivor” and the promo to try and cross over to the Davids. He’s also seen a lot hanging out with the Davids in the merge episode press photos, being open about his willingness to flip his vote and shift the power from the Goliaths to the Davids.

Considering his lackadaisical approach to his social game and going full-in on his antics, he’s putting a huge target on his back. It could either work out in his favor and the Goliaths take him in so he can be their South Pacific-era Cochran swing vote (only to be the first voted out post-Pagonging), or the Davids and Goliaths come together to vote him out due to his erraticism.

Either way, it’s his antics that have helped make the pre-merge so great, so maybe he can be the spark to get the post-merge phase sparking.