Survivor Winners at War merge episode 8 power rankings: Black and yellow

6. Denise Stapley

Denise is smack dab in the middle of our Survivor: Winners at War merge episode power rankings because she is right in the middle of the pack. Some might even congratulate or thank her for dethroning the queen at the merge, but once they pick up that story of her using Sandra’s own idol to take her out, the idea that she raises her threat level might become memetic.

She has a few loose connections at the merge, making her a candidate to scrape through now and likely be picked off later. We still don’t know the dynamics of the merge alliances, so we’ll need to see where she falls in line or sticks out on the opposite end. She’s proven she can fight through tribal, in both this season and her winning game.

5. Sarah Lacina

With a Vote Steal advantage in her pocket, Sarah will prove to be a valuable commodity and an ardent strategist at the merge. She has a close bond with Tony that seems to be mended from their time in Cagayan, and perhaps we won’t see him vote her out at the merge for a second time. He even helped her prepare to sneak into the Sele camp at night to steal her advantage!

Sarah has made bonds with almost everyone at Dakal as well as Yara, and she’s likely going to target a player like Adam, who had raised so much suspicion of her having an idol going into the merge. If that’s the case, she seems poised and positioned well enough to make a deep run.