Survivor 51 first look photos and predictions!

Less than a week untilSurvivor 51lands on our TV screens (are you excited? I'm excited!!), but we're already getting some major hints as to how the first season of the open era kicks off. While there have been a few trailers and video sneak peeks released already, we finally have some photos of our 21 castaways landing on the marooning beach together.

And though the phrase is "a picture says a thousand words," I've got a lot more words to use to talk through what we're now seeing for the first time. From early duos to possible tribe dynamics, we have a fewnew predictionswe're making before the game officially begins on Wednesday, September 23 at 8 p.m. ET.

The first thing that jumped out to me in these new photos is the fact that the marooning ship is still around after the castaways are marooned long enough to establish introductions and begin working on camp. Below, we see Angelica "Jelly" Loblack and Aaliyah Puglia talking on the beach—possibly about some castaways they aren't sure about based on Aaliyah's expression—but the marooning ship is still behind them.

And with the two women wandering, we also get a look at seven of the men, below, having what appears to be a logistical discussion around their raft. While you can see in the back—and in other images below—there's bunches of bamboo that they secured off the boat, it seems they may be discussing taking one of the rafts apart.

There are two rafts off of the marooning ship, as you can see below, so it definitely feels like a discussion the tribe "leader" would want to initiate in order to build a big enough shelter for all 21 castaways—since it appears they're all going to be living together at least for a minute. Above, it looks like Carter Krull and Brady Booker and debating the best strategy for shelter building, possibly contentiously based on body language. And you can notice Rob Antonson, Devin Way, and Ori Jean-Charles being dilligent worker ants who don't want to step into the leadership role, opting to listen instead of interject. But Mike Pinksy and Eric Macksound are in the back laughing over something which makes them come off like they have no doubt they're going to get things done and aren't worried about the drama in the slightest.

But introductions seem to go well between everyone, smiling and laughing as people share anecdotes about themselves or their anticipation forSurvivor. Below it seems Cristian Chavez, Kristin Flickinger, and Sharonda Cox are all open to something Rob is saying. I do see Rob being a necessary player in the early game as he seems like someone who has their head on straight and can get things done while also bringing levity to such a heavy environment.

But as the work begins, we start to see players pairing off to carry supplies from their marooning spot to their camp set-up location. Below, Mike and Linnea Capobianco appear to be having a positive conversation as they walk together to bring the building bamboo to a new spot. Both of these players have demonstrated strong leadership qualities in their pre-game interviews as well as a clear dominance in the early trailers of the game. I predict these two will form a Day 1 alliance, though they will be separated oncetribes come into playas we know Linnea will be rocking a purple buff and Mike a yellow one. But they seem strong enough to make it to the merge where a reunion could lead to a steamroll to get them to the end—though, as always, they can't both sit at Final Tribal and I think Linnea might be blindsided before the Final Four.

Another intersting duo, photographed below, is Patt Cannaday and Jenna Doore, carrying firewood across the beach. Patt has barely appeared in the promotional materials so far while the show has been adamant about highlighting how important being onSurvivoris to Jenna—she put a clause in her wedding photography contracts that if she gets picked forSurvivor, she doesn't have to work the event. The show has also been very secretive about which tribe Patt ends up on, which makes me wonder if she's the first player out of the game when the tribes are divided. Luckily, Jenna seems to be a very social player and I don't foresee her having any issues joining alliances and keeping loyalty.

But there are quite a lot of photos of the men going off with other men, like the one below. Usually at the beginning of a newSurvivorseason, the male players all immediately pair off with a woman to be their Day 1 (and their shield they can throw under the bus if need be). So the fact that we're seeing multiple photos with the guys going off together, makes me wonder if we might get a little bit of a battle of the sexes vibe a laSurvivor: One World.This alone has me feeling like we're going to get an all-female Final Three, if the boys are working so hard to stay together.

Overall, I think it will be very interesting to see how the social dynamic evolves over the season as the marooning feels very men vs. women, yet we know that the two tribes will not be gender-exclusive. Of course we're in the era of "Permanent Uncertainty" and all my previously honed inSurvivorprediction skills might be completely invalid now. Who knows? We'll have to wait untilSurvivor 51premieres on Wednesday, September 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+!

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