Survivor season 41: Way too early contestant power rankings for Survivor 41

Survivor season 41 is just around the corner. CBS has confirmed the season is slated to launch this fall after more than a year without a new episode due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And, with a new season on the horizon, rumors are starting to fly about the players that will supposedly be on our screens very soon.

The great team at Inside Survivor has a great track record when it comes to the cast, location, and theme spoilers. So, while their list isn’t completely confirmed until CBS announces it themselves, we can begin to speculate about the cast they’ve put forward. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to check out their spoiler page.

It’s also important to note that we only currently “know” the players by their name, picture, occupation, and initial tribe division. You might assume that means it’s way too early to power rank these Survivors, but, as you can see from the title, that’s exactly what we’re doing. Will these rankings stick when we know more about them? Undoubtedly, but let’s have some fun with it.

Survivor season 41 contestant power rankings

18) Naseer Muttalif – Nothing against Naseer but he has the vibe of someone who might come as bossy in the first days of the game. When tribes are looking for a reason to vote someone out, that could be a killing blow. Maybe it’s our bias against salespeople, but Naseer is our pick for first boot.

17) Brad Reese – Brad just seems like he’s in a bad spot on his tribe. The rancher for Wyoming is on a tribe with two young students, a flight attendant, and a pastor/comedian. He might prove us wrong when we see him in action, but it’s hard to pick him as a winner with this tribe.

16) Heather Aldret – This artist from the same tribe as Naseer happens to be the oldest player on the cast. That’s not necessarily a bad thing given that this cast has the most 40+ contestants since David vs. Goliath; however, she’s 14 years older than anyone else on her tribe. That’s not a deal-breaker, but it does give everyone an easy excuse if things aren’t going well in challenges.

15) Eric Abraham – We promise, we have nothing against older people playing Survivor. We love Rudy! However, when you don’t know anything about them, these are the things you have to go on. Eric looks like a nice guy and is probably very smart given his occupation as a cybersecurity professional. That said, it’s not to not see him as the potential weak link in the phase of the game that’s most focused on physical performance.

14) Sara Wilson – Sara is in an interesting spot on the UA tribe. She’s not the youngest of the bunch, that’s Jarius (who we’ll get to in a bit), but she’s certainly on the younger side. It seems possible that Ricard, Shantel, and Genie teaming up and deciding to cut Sara and keep Jarius for challenge strength at this stage of the game. Of course, by this point, the tribes will likely have swapped, meaning she could get new life.

13) Evvie Jagoda – Evvie actually seems well set up depending on how things go for the early parts of the game. The issue is that when the tribe swap, Evvie might be a target due to perceived intelligence. We, of course, don’t know one way or the other, but it’s hard to hide if everyone knows you’re a Ph.D. student.

12) Genie Robin-Chen – Nothing against Genie, but her picture gives the vibe that she’s loud and outspoken. That first impression could be totally wrong, but if it’s true, a swapped tribe might decide to get rid of her if she’s not in the majority alliance.

11) David Voce – We’re likely getting close to the merge, which means players will start to look at physical threats for elimination. The next four players certainly have that look about them and David is a relatively young doctor. People might want to get him out if he’s a threat to pick up votes at the end. He has to pay for those school loans somehow.

10) Danny McCray – Like David, Danny seems like a physical threat. After all, he’s a retired NFL player. That should help him get through the tribal phase of the game, but his time is likely numbered when it becomes an individual game.

8 & 9) Xander Hastings and Jarius Robinson- Without knowing much about them, these two seem like they should be grouped together. Both are young men who look physically fit but aren’t yoked. We’ve seen players like Tyson Apostol and Ozzy Lusth excel with a similar body type, so other players might look to get them out when they have a chance.

7) Erika Casupanan – Erika looks bright, bubbly, and loud. After a few weeks on the island, it’s easy to see that start to wear on people. If she’s not in a solid alliance, she could be in trouble when the bigger physical threats are gone.

6) Liana Wallace – Liana got to this spot on the list largely because she’s harder to get a read on than some of the other contestants from just a picture and a job description. That said, with almost zero to go on, we just can’t see putting her any higher. Maybe that changes when we get a bio.

5) Shantel Smith – Shantel has a job combo we’ve never said with “pastor/comedian.” To us, that means she knows how to talk and entertain. That’s a potent combo on the island. She’s likely going to be one of the major narrators for the season. She could definitely make a run for the top, we just like the chances of a few other players more.

4) Deshawn Radden – Deshawn looks to be on the larger side compared to most of the other guys on this season. That could make him a perceived liability in the early days of the game. However, if he can get past that, he should be in a good spot. He’s not a huge physical threat when the game turns individual. You know he knows how to hustle since he’s holding down two jobs. And the guy just looks like he’s fun to be around. He’s not our winner pick, but he’s dang close.

3) Sydney Segal – Importantly, Sydney is right in that sweet spot for age groups. At 26, she’s likely able to easily make relationships with both the young students in the game and the older professionals. She’s also a law student, which probably means she’s whip-smart and will be able to pick up the game quickly even if she’s never seen it before.

2) Ricard Foye – Ricard looks like someone who knows how Survivor works. If he’s not a super fan, we’ll be very surprised. Plus, as a flight attendant you know he’s used to dealing with people at their worst. That’s an incredible skill to have on Survivor. If it weren’t for one thing we’ll talk about in a second, he’d be our winner pick.

1) Tiffany Seely – Tiffany works as a teacher. There are six players on this season who list their occupation as students. Granted, we don’t know what age Tiffany teaches, but her skills working with youth could come in handy here. We’re dreaming of a “classroom” alliance that helps Tiffany run her way to the end. The icing on the cake is that Tiffany looks like a physically fit woman even though she’s nearing her 50th birthday. Given that so many individual challenges are based around balance and holding up your body weight, she could be a powerhouse.

Of course, these predictions will more than likely change as we learn more about the Survivors. After all, we know basically nothing about these people, but we just couldn’t help ourselves after the long lay-off from new Survivor content.