My whole summer has circulated around predicting what might happen when our players hit the ground running inSurvivor 51. But now, the tables are turning and the newest castaways are the ones sharing their own predictions for their season.
Now, I can already assure you that a handful of these predictions won’t come true.Butthere are definitely some that I’m on board with and am hopeful we get to see. See what our players predict (below) and then let’s talk through them all and see if our thoughts align.
Auction
Alexis Levine, Ori Jean-Charles, and Sharonda Cox all agree that an auction will be back in play. And I hate to disagree with them—because I love theSurvivorauction—but I don’t foresee this happening. I understand why they think it will: we only just got auctions back in season 45 and then it returned for season 47, but we didn’t see it in 48 or 49. This would mean it’s likely to circle back, but what these players don’t know is thatSurvivor 50did an auction with a twist so big—theMrBeast Super Beware Advantage—I expect production will take a few seasons to establish something equally as exciting for viewers.
Tribes
Kristin Fickinger predicts that they will have three tribes of seven, which we already know isn’t the case. There will betwo starting tribes, leaving someone on the outs—somehow. However, I don’t know if there will be two tribes the entire time and could definitely see a tribe swap leading to three tribes of six when we get to the Final 18 players. While Angelica “Jelly” Loblack believes there will be two to three tribe swaps this season, I think that because they went to two, they clearly want to try something different and more old school with the player's social dynamic growth, so I don’t expect that many tribe swaps.
Gameplay
Sharonda Cox predicts that there’s going to be a lot of twists just like the fans voted for inSurvivor 50, but I don’t think the twists are going to be as evident as they were last season. I do expect—and Jelly agrees with me—that Exile Island will come into play in a new way at the top of the game, but I think it’s going to be combined with a Journey and almost give off a solo Redemption Island vibe. As far as the other twists go, I think they’ll be more secretive where players stumble upon them—like the Beware Advantage—but not where hostJeff Probstannounces to the whole crew that it’s now Blood Moon time.
And Lewis Kelly went all out with the gameplay predictions, which makes me wonder if these are less predictions and more just his plans to play the game. He anticipates some exciting blindsides, some sneaky camp happenings, and that he’s going to trick someone with an idol or advantage. Obviously it’sSurvivorand there’s going to be blindsides…that’s inevitable. And I do think we might be getting somefake idol playthis season, so maybe Lewis knows what he’s talking about…
Challenges
There are so many challenges we haven’t seen in a long time that now have potential to re-enter the game. And while we don’t know exactly what to expect, Brady Booker is hoping they get “Wrist Assured”—the challenge Jeff competed in last season. And Sharonda claims she’s going to win at least one immunity challenge, which, as a doctor, I could definitely see happening for her—especially the puzzles.
Winner
The biggest question of all, of course, is who will take home the $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor? Well, Ori, Jelly, and Kristin all predict they’ll be the ones to outwit, outplay, and outlast the competition, but I hope that every contestant actually feels that way. If they don’t, why are they here?
But of course, we’re going to have to wait a few more months before we have an official answer to that question. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to theSurvivor 51premiere next week on Wednesday, September 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+ to see if any of our other predictions come true in the first episode.
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