Marriages. Old alliances. Past blindsides. How might these relationships affect Survivor: Winners at War?
Survivor: Winners at War couldn’t have had a better cast, as far as interpersonal relationships are concerned. One advantage to an all-star season is that its players often know one another from inside and outside the game. This opens the door for more bitter blindsides and encourages next-level game moves. In our first all-winners season, this will be truer than ever before. Here are the most significant relationships that will impact Winners at War:
Amber and Boston Rob are married (duh)
Amber and Boston Rob played together in Survivor: All-Stars. Famously, Boston Rob proposed to Amber at the finale, and Amber won the season. This one’s a little obvious: Boston Rob and Amber are huge threats for Winners at War. They will start on separate tribes in season 40, but that won’t stop their tribe-mates from cutting their reunion short before the merge. You can probably take that to the bank. As Sarah wrote in her Dalton Ross pre-season vote: “Between and Rob you have 6 seasons under your belt. Too big of threat. Sorry.”
Boston Rob and Sandra are idols on the island
Just last season, Rob and Sandra lived on Island of the Idols together for 36 days and coached players in a variety of Survivor lessons. These are easily the most iconic players in the game’s history, and the rest of the cast knows that. However, they may not work together this time. In an interview with Rob Cesternino, Sandra admitted she was surprised to see not only Rob in season 40, but Amber as well. And Boston Rob’s pre-season vote? Sandra. These two may have worked together before, but we shouldn’t expect it this time (which is more interesting anyway).
Tony and Sarah were Cops “R” Us
In Survivor: Cagayan, Sarah and Tony discovered they had one big thing in common: they are both cops. We saw them work together that season, and we’ve seen each of them use real-world experience as police officers to read their tribe-mates in both Cagayan and Game Changers. However, Tony was complicit in Sarah’s riveting merge blindside in Cagayan. It would be safe to say this could go either way: Cops “R” Us could revive itself long enough to push both players deeper into the game, or it could stay dead in the water with neither player trusting the other.
The Villains return
Parvati, Boston Rob, Sandra, and Tyson were all on the Villains tribe in Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. Sandra and Tyson will start Winners at War together on Dakal; Parvati and Rob will start the season on Sele. The Villains camaraderie may have been alive and well during season 20, but we can expect that to have evaporated by now. After all, these players have a villainous reputation for a reason: they won’t hesitate to cut anyone off to improve their chances at winning Survivor. In other words, not being loyal to one another is their style. We shouldn’t count on these players’ villainy to unite them; in fact, we’d be better off counting on the opposite.
Natalie and Jeremy were allies in San Juan Del Sur
In season 29, Jeremy and Natalie worked together before Jeremy’s elimination. Natalie did not play with Jeremy in his winning season (meaning neither has ever voted the other out). So, it’s safe to say there’s no bad blood between these players. They will reunite on the Sele tribe in Winners at War, and will definitely not be the biggest power duo on the island. This bodes well for a sequel to their partnership in San Juan Del Sur. If Natalie’s on board with Jeremy’s meat-shield strategy, we could see these two go far this season.
There are outsiders with few relationships at all
In the Winners at War cast, there are some winners we never expected to see again. There are also winners who played their first game so recently that they haven’t had much time to connect with Survivor alumni. At first glance, the following players stick out for being noticeably disconnected from other Survivor players: Nick, Wendell, Ben, Denise, Sophie, Yul, Danni, and Ethan. There is infinite potential for players to form new alliances, and this is made possible by free agents like these players.