Survivor: Cagayan - Power Rankings
Week 4
By Jim Van Nest, Survivor Analyst
March 17, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Once again, we'll start with who is at the top of the list and work our way down to who should be booted this week:
1) LJ (Beauty) - We have a shakeup at the top of the heap this week as LJ moves up a spot and becomes this week's player to beat. Even though the Brawn tribe hasn't gone to Tribal yet, there is a lot of discourse within the tribe. Over at beauty, Morgan is the obvious person out and the rest of the tribe is more concerned over where eggs come from than stabbing each other in the back. The Beautiful Four alliance of LJ, Jeremiah, Alexis and Jefra has the look of an alliance that could run the table...even with Morgan trying to toss a net of suspicion over Jeremiah. At the top of this alliance is LJ, so he earns the coveted #1 spot on this week's rankings.
2) Woo (Brawn) - Hang Dai, Woo. Hang Dai. That's right, Woo has supplanted Sarah as my top rated Brawn member. He was brought into the fold on the whole "throw the challenge" idea by Sarah, which means he's trusted by Sarah and Tony. He's BFFs with Cliff and Lindsay, so he's good there. And Trish is kind of on the outside looking in. That puts Woo in the cat bird's seat of the Brawn tribe. I would think when the tribes split, Woo will either be a highly coveted recruit for another alliance, or he's likely to go under the radar as Tony, Sarah and Uncle Cliff seem to have bigger targets on their back. I feel quite confident he's safe this week and by the time this episode is done, he could be a major member in a power alliance. Hang dai, indeed!
3) Jefra (Beauty) - This is going to seem like a weird placement for Jefra, but she really has the look and feel of someone who will be carried to the end because she's a vote and she has done nothing to separate herself from the pack. She can easily be LJ's right hand. Again, the switch could change some things, but I'm pretty high on the Beautiful Four alliance and I think Jefra has the makings of a nice safe ally to the end for LJ.
4) Cliff (Brawn) - I know some folks want Cliff out. They tried to throw a challenge to do it, but their chance is gone and Cliff is too likable to find himself on the chopping block anytime soon. If the LJ-led alliance falters or gets split up, I could see the Woo-Cliff alliance swooping in and taking over the top spot next week. So much depends on the tribe shake up this week, but I feel very confident that Cliff ain't going anywhere this week.
5) Alexis (Beauty) - Sticking with my thought that there is a main power alliance and a secondary alliance waiting to take over, Alexis moves up to the #5 spot on the list. She's in tight with LJ and Jefra and she has no question marks about her (yet, anyway) like Jeremiah. She's trying way too hard to play the flirt card and I don't think that works in Survivor anymore, so I don't know what the long term holds for her. But, being in the power alliance is enough for me to bump her up to #5 on my list for this week.
6) Lindsay (Brawn) - Lindsay also gets a bump this week as the likely #3 member of the Woo-Cliff bromance. She seems to be pretty badass in challenges and gets along with everyone, including Cops R Us. So, should everything go wrong for Cliff, Lindsay is the one that could potentially come out unscathed on the other side. So for this week, Lindsay moves up to #6 in the rankings.
7) Spencer (Brains) - this may come as a shocking ranking for one of the Brains, but I think it's very justified. In secret scenes, many of the players feel sorry for the Brains tribe and their ineptitude. After last week's challenge, I think Spencer may have turned some heads. Despite being on the worst tribe in the history of Survivor, he almost kept the Brains out of Tribal by himself. He was stellar in that challenge and I think the others may have seen someone who could be a solid ally and who might be a man without a home after this switch.
8) Sarah (Brawn) - The biggest drop of the week goes to Sarah. She was my #1 rated player, but watching her buy Tony's nonsense hook line and sinker forced me to rethink my opinion of her. You can't hear a story from one person and use that story to decide to throw a challenge as revenge for a perceived slight (real or imaginary). I thought Sarah had a lot of potential, and maybe she does, but to move back up the rankings, she's going to have to show me something now, because she did not have a good week last week. The only reason she's this high is because the Brains wouldn't allow her to throw that challenge.
9) Jeremiah (Beauty) - I'll go ahead and put Jeremiah here. He's still part of the power alliance in the game right now, though after the switch, he could easily find himself on the outs. He's the least game-savvy of his group as he completely botched the game prior to the Brice vote. Trying to half-ass play both sides has him in a bit of hot water with his alliance and once tribes switch, he could be one of the folks most negatively impacted by that switch.
10) Tasha (Brains) - Tasha stays in pretty much the same place this week as I'm not totally sure what to do with the Brains. Plus, I'm not sure what kind of game she has. She got rid of Garrett to keep the rice dumper as part of some sort of strategic alliance play, only to flip on that idea and eliminate J'Tia to keep Spencer. THAT was the right move. Voting out Garrett was not. So, while she seems to be in charge of the Brains threesome, I can't decide if that's a good thing for her or them.
11) Morgan (Beauty) - Not sure what to do with Morgan. She's the next to go from the Beauty tribe, but the Beauty tribe will be no more. Her new tribemates will dictate her longevity in this game. So far, I've been impressed with her game play. Her lone mistake was hitching her wagon to Brice. I think she has some potential here, but the shakeup will decide her fate. She could be pulled into a new alliance, or seen as an easy vote at the next tribal.
12) Trish (Brawn) - We still haven't seen much of Trish, but I think she's kind of on the outs of her own tribe and it doesn't seem like she fits in well with a group. I think she'll be one of the outsiders on whatever new tribe she ends up on. I don't think she's next to go, but I also don't think it's because of anything she has done or will do. I just think others will jump ahead of her on the "to be booted" list and she may last a couple votes because of it.
13a) Tony (Brawn) - Not that I'm confident he'll play it right, but I think the only thing that will save Tony from the next vote is his hidden idol (if his new tribe loses, of course). Tony is playing too fast and too hard. When you create a nice, solid alliance and your method of christening said alliance is by lying to your alliance-mate...you're not in this game for the long haul. No matter how the chips fall here, I see no way Tony or Kass make the merge.
13b) Kass (Brains) – I’m not sure how to rank the last two, so I'm basically ranking them as tied. I'm listing Kass as 13b only because of Tony's idol. Kass has proven that she's not much use in camp or in challenges. She balances that out by not being a lot of fun to hang out with or talk to. Any new tribe is going to look through its ranks and see Kass as the easiest first boot of their newly formed tribe. They can dump her and lose nothing from their tribe except some potential fireworks that no tribe needs.
This will probably be the hardest week to rank the players due to the tribal switch coming up. I mean, in theory, we could see a tribe with all three Brains, two Beauty and two Brawn and all of a sudden, the Brains have the numbers. That's the fun of the tribe swap for the viewers. It's not a lot of fun for the guy who has to predict things. For better or for worse, these are the Week Four rankings. Love 'em? Hate 'em? Just want to tell me how bad I suck at this? Follow me and hit me up at: @vannestjc on Twitter! Until next time, take care!