Survivor David vs. Goliath power rankings: Episode 12 brings out knives

7. Gabby Pascuzzi

The previous episode showcased Gabby’s emotions not to a camera or to Christian, but to the David group at large. I could talk at length about the social dynamics of Survivor and how women can cry and be “emotional” while men can cry and they’re having a moment, but the editors have clearly been telegraphing this as Gabby having a pattern.

Her and Christian’s move to take out Carl is ultimately a move that’s great for her and dangerous for Christian. He opted to go with her over Nick, setting Christian up to look sketchy. Now those two are primed for a big blowup, and normally it would put a player like Gabby in a place to slide away from the blowback.

However, for Gabby’s long-term game, because she’s been tagged by others as an “emotional” player, I fear she will be viewed in the same way as Hannah Shapiro was; not getting credit for the moves she made and designated as not a great player because of how others perceive her. Most importantly; both Nick and Christian have idols. With Nick knowing this, he could throw a vote her way to avoid two idols blocking out all votes.