Survivor: Heroes, Healers and Hustlers - Season Preview 1
Part 1 - The Heroes
By Jim Van Nest
September 25, 2017
Chrissy Hofbeck (46 - Actuary) - I really like Chrissy. From everything I've read and heard about and from her, she has a great head for this game and she's ridiculously smart. She is, however, the older woman in the game. The "mom" if you will. She wants to avoid that label at all costs. She'd rather be seen as Denise Stapley than Dawn Meehan. Moms don't like to you. It's that simple. To get branded with that label sets you up to really upset people when you have to cut them loose. Chrissy is an all or nothing player for me. She'll either be the first one out of her tribe or in the final 3. I can't decide which one. She has a very good mind for business and has degrees from the likes of Penn and MIT. Book smarts-wise, she's on par with Spencer Bledsoe. Of course, those book smarts are great to get to the end of the game and they do nothing to help win the game. In order to combat both of these things, from what I understand, she's been very touchy-feely with the guys in the cast, despite that being a serious no-no during the pre-game. Walking by Cole and putting her hand on his shoulder. Actually grabbing Patrick's butt in the elevator. Either way, she seems to be trying to set herself up more as a Mrs. Robinson than Mrs. Brady. For the sake of my predictions, I'll say that she makes a run in this game and is definitely around post-merge.
John "JP" Hilsabeck (28 - Firefighter) - To prepare for this preview and this season, I've spent a lot of time listening to podcasts and reading articles about the players. Most of this is coming from the aforementioned Josh Wigler at THR - as he was the only press on location prior to the start of this season. And everything I've heard or read on JP tells me absolutely nothing about how he'll do in this game. He is a firefighter. He has a real tight group of friends and he has a rescue dog named Thor. I've managed to get that much info about him. But ultimately, he gives virtually nothing in his interviews. I have no idea how he plans to play. When asked about him, even the other players can't get a handle on him. They say he shows no emotion, no personality whatsoever as they wait for the game to begin. He will truly enter this game with a blank slate. He's a very fit guy, looks very strong. I'm sure he'll be an asset in challenges and with Alan and Ben - these 3 could help power through any strength related challenges and keep them out of Tribal for the early part of the game. If he doesn't learn to show some personality, though, JP could be a pre-merge boot. Especially in a tribe swap situation. I could see another group cutting him loose to stop a Heroes sweep through the game. I think best case scenario for JP is the merge boot, but I'd bet he doesn't make it that far.
Katrina Radke (46 - Olympic Swimmer) - Our final Hero is Olympic swimmer (1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea), Katrina. At 46 years old, Katrina is the same age as Chrissy, but I don't see her having much of a mom vibe. She has a crazy Debbie vibe. Her interviews are all over the place. She's loud, she's excited and I think she's going to annoy the ever loving shit out of everyone she comes in contact with out there. I think the Heroes will be safe for a couple Tribals, but if they were to somehow lose the first challenge, Katrina is my pick for the first boot of the season. She's definitely my pick to be the first one off this tribe. I don't see a lot of upside to her through the articles, podcasts and interviews. You can handle annoying at first, if they're a major asset to the tribe. I'm not sure what, if anything, Katrina is going to bring to this table. I think she'll find herself on the outs right away with no means of getting back "in". So, Katrina, if you're reading this - I'm sorry to pick you to have this run on the show, but - looking on the bright side, many of my first one out predictions have made it to the Final Tribal Council...so you have that going for you.
My overall feel of this tribe is that the guys are going to Bro-down and the women are not really going to get along. I think Chrissy and Ashley will be trying to get in with the guys, while Katrina is pretty much an island out there. Ultimately, I see Chrissy proving herself more to the guys and the 3 guys along with Chrissy will be representing the Heroes in the merged tribe. Of those 4, I really think Alan has the most upside, with Chrissy and Ben as possible dark horses to make long, long runs into this game.
And there you have it kids, the Heroes tribe! Thanks so much for checking in with me for this Survivor Preview - be sure to check back tomorrow as it'll be time to talk about the Healers! ‘Til then, take care!
Like the column? Hate the column? Just want to shoot me your opinion? Hit me up on the Twitter: @vannestjc
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