Survivor SA: Island of Secrets episode 9 power rankings

With an early thirteen person merge on its way, we take a look at how each Survivor SA castaway stands heading into the second phase of the game.

After three tribe swaps, the twists in Survivor SA: Island of Secrets aren’t finished yet. As the promo for this week’s episode indicated, the merge is on its way with thirteen castaways remaining. Merging at 13 is easily a SA Survivor record, getting us ready for a lot of drama with that many players going at each other’s throats. Here’s how the thirteen castaways matchup heading into Thursday’s episode.

13) Danté De Villiers

He tried hard to get the numbers to blindside Geoffrey, but Danté can’t seem to get anyone but Meryl on his side. Without being part of a strong alliance, Danté’s aggressive gameplay puts him in a dangerous position at the merge.

12) Steffi Brink

Last week’s episode proved the trend we started to see develop. Steffi isn’t tight with the Amigos, or I should say, they don’t want to be tight with her. Strategizing too much and too fast has painted a target on her back that she might not be able to wipe off.

11) Meryl Szolkeiwicz

Meryl is now entering the merge without her idol sitting in her pocket. As bad as that sounds, that might actually help Meryl. She’s got plenty of work to do, but now that everyone knows her idol is gone, she’ll be less of a threat and more of a possible ally.

10) Cobus Hugo

It’s good to see that Cobus is making a strong effort to savor his longevity by establishing a pact with his tribe. That said, it was clear that not everyone bought into it and I still don’t recognize any concrete alliances Cobus has with players individually.

9) Laetitia Le Roux

It was fun to watch Laetitia go all out in that physical Reward Challenge. It looks like she’s finding her niche within her tribe’s alliance, and now that she made the merge, she won’t be the main target moving forward.

8) Nicole Capper

She still has an idol, but this past Tribal Council surprised me. The fact that she allowed one of her closest allies in the game to get axed makes me question how much control she has. She let Geoffrey make the decision and didn’t do anything to stop it even though she had the power to do so.

7) Mmaba Molefe

Similar to Nicole, Mmaba has placed plenty of trust in Geoffrey. She’s currently going farther and father under the radar, but she’s going to have to be willing to do more than follow Geoffrey’s lead to play a deserving game to win it all.

6) Seipei Mashugane

Seiepei is still treading that line between an early merge boot and making a deep, strong run. The merge will help us see how strong her social bonds actually are, and how successful she will be at putting the target on the more physical threats.

5) Geoffrey Cooke-Tonneson

It’s no question that Geoffrey executed a perfect blindside on Nathan. The real question Was that really necessary? He’s now in jeopardy of losing the opportunity to work with Rob and his crew at the merge. Plus, he put a huge target on his back by showing he can effectively control the game.

4) Durão Mariano

Every episode that goes by, Durão continues to make smart strategic and social moves. His decision to not play his limited time idol unnecessarily and use it as a fake down the road is brilliant!

Let’s not forget that Durão knew that the merge was coming in the next couple of days. Instead of sharing that news, he kept it to himself, allowing Geoffrey to target Nathan because he was “slowing down the tribe” even though the team game was just about over.

3) Jacques Burger

It’s hard to tell precisely where Jacques stands in his current tribe, but he put himself in a great position heading into the merge. He has built friendships and social bonds with several people since Day 1, leaving his options open. Factor in a Hidden Immunity Idol and an Extra Vote advantage that he can use next episode and Jacques has the power to influence significantly how the early merge plays out.

2) Rob Bentele

It does hurt Rob that his closest ally in Nathan is out of the game, but at the same time, having the two together at merge would have only enlarged his target. In addition to Seipei and Nicole, Rob has been developing alliances of his own, especially with Mike, that will help him to stay in the majority as the merge comes. How he reacts to Nathan’s blindside will be key to his success.

1) Mike Ventor

He hasn’t played a flashy game so far, but that’s exactly how Mike wants to play. Rob and Geoffrey have already put themselves in harm’s way by showing off their ability to dramatically control a vote.

Mike, on the other hand, has been merely building relationships with other players to prove his loyalty to them. But don’t let that laid back strategy fool you. Thanks to his solid pre-merge game, Mike has the ability and the capacity to make a big move when the time is right.