5. Denise Stapley
There’s no doubt in my mind that Denise is an underrated player. She may not shine in the edit, but the fact that she has been able to keep tabs on everyone in the tribe, stay in the majority, and not be targeted after displaying the strongest resume in the pre-merge phase says a lot. She’s even won two individual immunities this season, even if they were instances where both a male and female had the chance to win.
The one thing that convinces me she will not be winning Survivor: Winners at War is her complete lack of visibility. When it comes to confessionals, the only players with fewer overall are Danni and Wendell; players who were initially voted out third and at the merge. We finally saw her pitch a strategy of working with Nick and Michele to form a controlling group alongside Kim, but that was immediately dashed.
To her benefit, Denise doesn’t seem to be a player that a majority would target, especially with the threats still left in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if she makes it all the way to the finale, if not the Final Tribal Council. Can she win the game? Based on what we’ve seen, she doesn’t have that much power.