Survivor Winners at War: Five sleeper picks who could win it all

3) Ethan Zohn

Just like Amber, Ethan hasn’t played Survivor in 15 years and hasn’t won in even longer. He played in old school Survivor before idols, during a time when original tribal lines held a lot more purpose. Compared to other big names on his tribe including Boston Rob, Parvati and Jeremy, he can easily slip under the radar.

The one aspect of Ethan’s game that will help him the most is his good-heartedness. In Survivor: Africa, it was Ethan’s kind and patient attitude that made him an untouchable piece in the majority alliance. His ability to keep his composure while Big Tom and Lex were roaming around creating drama gave Ethan two ideal shields that took the brunt of the hate away from the jury.

In the end, Ethan played an honorable game that earned the respect of the jury. The strategy behind Survivor has changed immensely since then, and so has Ethan as a person. The more time that has gone by has proven that Ethan’s kind and honorable personality from Africa was not a facade.

Since season three, Ethan has devoted a ton of time and energy to giving back, and one of those efforts includes co-founding Grassroots soccer. Over the years they have helped over 2.5 million adolescents use the power of soccer and teamwork to help at-risk youths live healthy and productive lives.

All of this may sound irrelevant to the game, but it actually plays a big role in portraying Ethan’s character to the rest of the cast. He’s someone that can be trusted in this season, and I expect him to be a hot commodity in the early going instead of being targeted. Ethan gives off a very approachable vibe that will help him both before the merge and after it. The question is if Ethan can make those clutch big moves when it counts to put himself in a position to win the game.