Survivor Island of the Idols cast assessment: Chelsea Walker, a true super fan

After applying for nearly six straight years, Chelsea Walker finally is on Survivor and is ready to put her superfan status to the test.

Going through this cast of 20 new players, there’s been a mix of some who have applied several times before, and some who only needed one audition to get the call. Chelsea Walker may only be 26 years old, but she likely has the record for the most times applied to Survivor out of this group of people. In fact, her first audition tape is on YouTube with over 100,000 views.

Chelsea is currently living in Los Angeles working as a Digital Content Creator. That title doesn’t do her role justice, as she has the sick job of working for IMDb, which involves creating videos for the site and getting involved with special film and TV events. She mentioned in her interview with Mike Bloom at Parade that a lot of her work has to deal with live events, which has required her to be adaptable and think of fast, creative solutions.

Those are great skills to have in Survivor, especially when dealing with surprising twists and live Tribal Councils. In addition to her social game, Chelsea is undoubtedly a superfan. According to her CBS bio, she’s been watching Survivor since she was just eight years old! She understands the game well, and on paper, she looks to have that perfect balance between being patient with her decisions and being eager to make a big move.

It’s interesting to note that Chelsea boldly claimed in her interview that she would be more than willing to give up Final Four Immunity to prove herself by making fire. She’s confident in her fire-making skills and her physicallity in challenges. It’s important to remember that Island of the Idols was filmed as Edge of Extinction was airing, so this group of newbies had no clue of what Chris Underwood did to win it all. With that in mind, you can see how Chelsea knows what’s needed to win Survivor, and she isn’t afraid to take those million-dollar risks.

The concern I have with Chelsea is her sheer excitement for this show. Is she going to be able to contain her fandom and strategic ability well enough to avoid being an early target? If Chelsea can take it slow and focus on building a strong social circle, she’ll be a real threat to sneakily take control of the game.