Survivor Season 42’s cast is finally official. Of course, we’ve already gone through the spoiled cast a few weeks ago to give our first impressions on the cast, but now we finally know more about these players than an age and job title.
With all of the information at our fingertips, we can finally put together some pre-season power rankings. These will, most likely, prove very wrong, but it’s a fun exercise that helps us learn more about the cast as we endure the long wait until Survivor Season 42 finally drops onto our televisions on March 9.
Survivor 42 preseason power rankings
18) Rocksroy Bailey – Rocksroy has an admirable reason for playing — wanting to win money for his family. However, the rest of his bio doesn’t jump off the page as a top-tier Survivor player. We won’t be upset if he proves us wrong though!
17) Lydia Meredith – Lydia’s bio doesn’t read to us as someone who thinks they can win. She claims she’ll “dominate socially,” but doesn’t provide any evidence for why besides claiming to be “likable” and “funny.” Look, being a good time can get you far on the island, but we’d like to see a little more about how someone plans to play in their bio before we hitch our wagon to them.
16) Jackson Fox – Nothing against Jackson, but his bio didn’t really give us anything to make us believe he’s here to play. There’s not much in his bio at all, actually. Hopefully, he can prove us wrong, but we’re not currently confident in Jackson’s chances.
15) Marya Sherron – Marya is one of the few players on this season that’s talking about mainly being a social player in her bio. We tend to believe that she has the ability to read people as teachers do tend to have that sixth sense for when someone is doing something wrong. That said, she might be viewed as a physical liability early, making us place her a bit lower out of the gate.
14) Swati Goel – Swati is another case of a bio that’s hard to read into. As the youngest player on the season, she might not be viewed as a serious contender for winning, which could hurt her. She’s obviously accomplished at a young age, but how much will that matter on the beach? Consider this one a “wait and see.”
13) Mike Turner – Anyone coming in saying they want to play like Boston Rob has some tough shoes to fill. Thankfully, Mike seems to be realistic about the chances of that happening. That said, he does seem fairly physical and should be an early asset. From there, it’s just a matter of how the numbers fall.
12) Jonathan Young – The only person on this show (to our knowledge) that has previous reality TV experience! Jonathan is likely to have an easy transition to island life and probably makes a decent run in the game. However, his threat is obvious given the other players on this cast and we struggle to see him winning this thing.
11) Jenny Kim – Jenny is an interesting case because she seems like she’s going to rely more heavily on her social game than most other players on this cast. However, she also has some physical skills that could help her if she makes merge. While not as obvious of a physical threat as others, she is a former Pilates instructor. That likely means she has good body control and is relatively strong for her size. She’s not going to dominate like Jonathan, but she might fair well in endurance comps.
10) Lindsay Dolashewich – Lindsay seems like she has the tools to win, but anyone who talks about how “loud” their personality is often turns out to be a stinker in terms of winning. If she can tone that down a bit, she definitely could make a deep run.
9) Chanelle Howell – Chanelle doesn’t move much from our initial rankings. We like that she knows how to talk to people given her work as a recruiter and her obvious skill in her field given her relatively young age. She also claims to know Survivor very well. She’s definitely one to keep an eye on early.
8) Omar Zaheer – Omar is another tough one to place. On one hand, he seems like he knows how the game works and could have serious strategic chops. On the other, he’s afraid of condiments. But seriously, his bio is kind of all over the place. There’s a good player here, we just aren’t sure if he’ll be able to put it all together.
7) Maryanne Oketch – Maryanne has jumped our rankings a bit because of how well she dives into Davie Rickenbacker’s game in her bio. That shows us that she’s really thought about both the game and her place in it. We’ll always back someone who’s self-aware in the bio, as that usually means they have their head on straight enough to play well.
6) Drea Wheeler – Drea has fallen slightly for us because her bio doesn’t give off the vibe of someone who knows the game well. We could, of course, be very wrong on that front, but we won’t know until the show starts. What can’t be denied is her physical tools. She’s going to be a threat and someone that will likely stick around until at least the merge.
5) Romeo Escobar – Romeo’s jumping up our rankings a bit because we like that he mentions being competitive several times. Combine that with his background as a pageant coach and it’s easy to see him moving from alliance to alliance with a great social game. He also has a good body type for post-merge immunity challenges, which should be helpful on this cast.
4) Zach Wurtenberger – Zach’s debate background has us intrigued. It seems safe to say that he will excel at Tribal Council. Outside of that, we’re not as sure. That said, he seems to have a good idea of what it takes to win and could be just enough of a threat physically to make some waves. Plus, he delivered pizza, which means he knows how to deal with just about everyone.
3) Hai Giang – This ranking has us feeling a little uneasy. On paper, Hai is an incredible Survivor player. He has the physical and mental tools to be great, but his bio comes off a bit arrogant. That doesn’t mean he is that way in real life, but Hai definitely seems a little high on his own abilities than some of the other players. On the other hand, he has all the tools to win, so we have to rank him highly.
2) Daniel Strunk – We really like Daniel. He’s obviously whip-smart and seems to know the game. We do wonder if he might come off as too “weird” for other players given some of the oddities in his bio. That said, he’s already honest with himself on his skills and chances, which is often a good sign.
1) Tori Meehan – Tori remains at the top of our list because her job as a therapist gives her a leg up on the competition. It’s one of those jobs that are just a perfect complement for a good social game in Survivor. She also seems pretty athletic. Not enough to stand out, but enough to make some noise when needed. Our only concern is that she might be too perfect and we’re letting the fact that she shares this writer’s birth state cloud our judgment.
Survivor Season 42 preseason power rankings
Source: Pinoy White Knights
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