As we are nearing the end of the Survivor off-season, it is the perfect time to get ready for the upcoming season. With the CBS bios due to be released in the coming weeks, we are going to soon have more information about the season 35 participants.

Right now, thanks to Inside Survivor, we know the names and faces of these Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers players but not much else. Before more official information comes in and clouds my judgement, let’s do a cast assessment and find out how good I am at first impressions.

I have divided the players by gender so today we will look into the men of season 35 and we will reserve the women for tomorrow.

Alan Ball, 32, Professional Athlete

Tribe: Heroes

CBS is no stranger to stunt casting but Alan is not one of them. Sure, he played professionally in the NFL for multiple teams from 2007 to 2015 but never as a stand-out player. He played as a cornerback and/or free safety for the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. In his nine seasons, he grabbed six interceptions but never scored a defensive touchdown.

Because he was a cornerback, Alan is not burly and relied on speed and athleticism. This could serve him well in Survivor where some challenges can be very demanding physically. There is no doubt that Alan is going to be a stand-out in the challenges, unless some weird Crystal Cox magic is happening, and he should be set to at least ride into the merge as a useful member of his tribe.

Social media insights:

Alan seems to have no social media whatsoever. This is probably a good sign that he is not really going on the show for attention or future shilling opportunities.

Expectations:

I like Alan a lot. Is he going to be strategically inclined or have a lot of past knowledge about the show? Probably not. He will be a necessity for his tribe to stay competitive in challenges, probably has the ability to work hard because of his life as a pro-athlete and seems like he has a good head on his shoulders.

Reading up on his life, Alan also seems very inclined to develop himself outside of his sport and that includes volunteering for various organisations and interning for big companies. Knowing that he isn’t just about his muscles, I have a good vibe on Alan to kick off the show.

The beauty in being a relative unknown as an NFL player is that Alan will be free to tell his tribe whatever he wants about his past. Even players like Gary Hogeboom had name recognition simply from being a starting quarterback. Cornerbacks don’t get the same kind of reverence, especially one like Alan who simply plays his role and doesn’t make any all-star teams or earn any awards.

Ben Driebergen, 34, Ex-Marine

Tribe: Heroes

This is your southern cowboy, self-claimed redneck of the season. His ex-military training means he is probably not going to be struggling living in tough conditions and should be fit for the camp life of Survivor.

Social media insights:

It’s interesting to note that Ben only created his twitter on May 28, likely coming off his stint on Survivor and realizing he was going to have some attention coming his way.

His twitter is littered with southern clichés. He has a video of him chugging a Coors Light and signing off with a “’Merica”. There are so many pictures of guns or Ben with guns. He likes to use the hashtag redneckit.

Whether he got into the show after filming his season or not, in the short time Ben has had twitter, he has dropped some Survivor talk. He retweeted CBS’ “Most Shocking Game Changers Moments” article, Martin Holmes’ tweet about the season 35 premiere being only an hour long, and CBS’ tweet about when season 35 will be starting. Ben has also shouted-out Keith Nale in a fishing tweet so we know he at least is aware of some past players which can’t hurt.

Another thing to note is that Ben has also tweeted at Cody Nickson, a current player on Big Brother 19 and another former marine. If Ben is also watching Big Brother, he may be someone who is into these kind of shows and that would be unexpected. If Ben understands how Survivor works and is also suited for the conditions, he could be a sleeper pick.

Expectations:

I figure that when his CBS bio comes out, the majority might be down on Ben. He definitely seems like the kind of guy who might take a little too much room on a tribe. If he is aware of that and actively tries to tone himself down, I can see him lasting a good while. I am quietly optimistic about Ben’s upside but will reserve going any further than that until I see what he tells CBS.

Cole Medders, 24, Wilderness Field Instructor

Tribe: Healers

This dude’s job could not be more perfect for Survivor. He works with boys and girls struggling with addiction by spending large amount of time in a remote desert, teaching them how to survive in the wild. Seriously? If he’s spending 60+ days in a Utah desert, 39 days on some tropical island should be a breeze for Cole.

It also happens that Cole is absolutely jacked and a very good looking guy. This guy is a shoe-in to be the Facebook cat ladies’ favorite player simply from his smile and abs.

Social media insights:

In fact, the creepy comments on his social media have already begun. His Instagram is littered with pictures of him hiking shirtless or posing and all of them have comments that essentially boil down to “fuck me daddy”. Survivor fans on the internet are incredibly weird. Cole is already set-up to be the young Ken McNickle.

Cole hasn’t tweeted since 2014 and his old tweets are usually about hanging out with friends, going on dates, God, or college life. Seems like things typical 19–22 year olds tweet about when they don’t have very many followers. I went back through 2012 and Cole doesn’t tweet about Survivor at all so this basically makes him a shoe-in as a recruit but that isn’t all that surprising. He has nothing particularly interesting on his twitter but more importantly, nothing flagrantly offensive so good job Cole!

Expectations:

He is part of the Healers crew, likely for his work with youth and addiction. Just looking at him, you can tell the Healers are going to need him for the challenges. I don’t see him as having a particularly good eye for the game and I don’t think he is going to be one to figure it out on an audible.

I mostly see Cole as an ideal early juror who gets in good with an attractive woman and tries to ride it out that way. He’s a bit too young to have the maturity I am expecting from another likely recruit like Alan and I think that will be what costs him down the road in the game. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to go on an immunity run if the challenges happen to fall his way.

Devon Pinto, 24, Brand Ambassador

Tribe: Hustlers

Anytime I see the words “Brand Ambassador” I assume that means someone is trying to shill things online. Devon does have a formal education and has gotten his license as a realtor. He strikes me as someone obsessed with making money. It makes sense that he is one of the members of the Hustlers tribe.

Social media insight:

This is the thing about Devon, I expected him to be trying to get on the show for airtime but his Instagram is private and I see no Twitter account for him. I could be completely wrong about my vibe from Devon because of this.

Expectations:

Currently, I am low on Devon simply because I don’t think he is going to go out there to try and win. I see him as someone who wants to be a big character and who is going to come off as a bit of a try-hard. Like a lot of these players, the CBS bios will give me better impressions but my first impression for Devon isn’t great.

Joe Mann, 35, Parole Officer

Tribe: Healers

First of all, what a name. This is like when Homer changed his name to Max Power and everybody thought he was the coolest. Secondly, let’s hope there are no former criminals on any of these tribes who might have it out for a parole officer.

Joe is older in relative to much of this cast. He seems fit enough and his job definitely demands that he be disciplined and tough. I can Joe taking a leadership role by choice and that sending him to an early exit when his tribe bristles against his leadership.

Social media insight:

His Instagram is private but look at that profile picture. That’s a dude ready to go out and dominate the game.

Expectations:

My gut says this dude is pre-jury.

John Paul Hilsabeck, 28, Firefighter

Tribe: Heroes

There are two distinct paths I think of when I think of firefighters on Survivor. On the one hand, you have Tom Westman, a badass who dominated his season with an iron fist. On the other, you have Jim Lynch who went home first after suffering an injury and being old. I don’t think JP fits into either category considering he is much younger than both. I would argue that he has more Tom than Jim in him though.

Social media insights:

Seems like a nice, basic dude. He loves hanging out with his boys. John seems pretty active whether he’s biking, running or snowboarding. Bonus points for having a really cute dog. There’s also a picture of him with a gigantic fish that he presumably caught while fishing so that would be a good asset to have on Survivor if he can be consistent.

Expectations:

Doesn’t jump out to me as particularly interesting or annoying. I see John as being a great second or third person in a majority alliance. The one who wins challenges and just does what the leader asks them to do.

Mike Zahalsky, 43, Urologist

Tribe: Healers

This dude is a doctor and not like a fake chiropractor type doctor, a legitimate and well-versed medical professional. He runs his own clinic out in Florida and does a lot of work to fix male infertility and seems to be a very well reputed MD. He has three children which means he is not all talk about fertility and has the resume to back it up.

It seems like the Healers tribe in general has older men because they have both Mike and Joe on their side. That might hurt them in challenges but it certainly secures Cole a pretty safe spot to the merge unless there is a tribe swap looming.

Social media insights:

This guy is definitely a nerd but in the fun way. He loves Game of Thrones and goes to Supercon which is a comic book and anime convention in Florida. Mike also has an odd obsession with Lulu Lemon for whatever reason. His kids are very cute and he seems to truly love both his family and his practice. He also has run at least one marathon in the past year so he’s not an out-of-shape 43 year old. Overall, Mike comes off as a very nice guy across his social media.

Expectations:

Mike might be too normal of a guy for Survivor. Especially because he is older. I don’t know if he’s the only guy on this cast with kids but he’s the only one that I have seen. It’s not that he’s going to be socially awkward like early David Wright but it’s going to be hard for this doctor guy to find a lot of common ground with 20 something year olds who don’t have established careers.

The one guy I can see him hitting it off with is Joe, the parole officer who is also not in his 20s. If Mike can make that bond and then connect with a few of the women, maybe he can manage to avoid being seen as the older guy and an easy first boot for his tribe.

Patrick Bolton, 24, Mover

Tribe: Hustler

Patrick’s bio on Inside Survivor is impressive. At 24 he is already overseeing a multi-city operation. Patrick seems like a bright kid and I don’t just mean his hair.

Social media insights:

His twitter is basically non-existent. He hasn’t actually tweeted anything of note since 2013 and only two real tweets. Not much help there.

Patrick’s Instagram is a lot more helpful in finding out who this guy is. He is self-deprecating about his hair which is already a good start. He seems to love hanging out with friends and has appreciation for his family. He also likes guns so that could be something to bridge a connection with Ben if there is a tribe swap or they both merge.

There is also a YouTube channel with his brother where they try to help people eat healthier. Their intro video features a child slanting his eyes to pretend they are Asian and Patrick’s brother referring to “Chinese” as a language. Maybe not the best look in the world. I watched a few of their recipe videos and they don’t look all that bad, seems like they know what they are talking about but his brother appears in way more videos than Patrick does.

Expectations:

My gut instinct was that Patrick was going far. His YouTube video maybe hurt that instinct just a little bit but I still think he has a shot to go all the way.

Ryan Ulrich, 24, Bellhop

Tribe: Hustlers

Ryan was the breakout star of the preview we saw at the end of Survivor: Game Changers. People are calling him the next Todd Herzog and bowing down to his supremacy. Some are pegging him as the next Colton which maybe isn’t as ideal. Either way, it’s a great sign for Ryan that less than a minute of footage was already enough for him to get his personality across.

Social media insight:

True Dork Times list him as having a twitter page but it has been deleted. I think this guy is the trademark “superfan” of the season and knew better than to just leave his social media lying around for everyone to see. If that is indeed why he deleted his Twitter, smart move Ryan, smart move.

Expectations:

I like Ryan from the one minute of airtime we got, I think he can make bonds and work his way into the end-game. Now watch him become the next “most hated player”.