Hi, everyone! Welcome back to my blog and to my Power Rankings after the second episode of Survivor: Winners at War! I’ve gotta say, this episode continued to deliver on the phenomenal gameplay and character moments that we got in the premiere. It wasn’t perfect, as editing issues made it pretty tough to rank some people this week, but the bottom line is that when Survivor delivers great moments and is a whole lot of fun to watch, I’m usually pretty satisfied!

For those new and returning, here’s how my Power Rankings work. Each week I’ll rank the Castaways by tribe based on a few (admittedly-somewhat-arbitrary) factors: How likely I think they are to go home in the next episode, how much ‘power’ they have in the game (whether that’s physical, social, strategic, or a combo of all 3), how they performed in the previous episode, and what — if anything — seems to be in store for them in the next episode based on previews and the like. I’m going to try a new format with this, so everyone’s ordered from first to last from top to bottom. There’s not a points system and no big prize at the end for me — this is just for fun! Finally, I’m not spoiled in any way, and I intend to keep it that way. So, PLEASE don’t send me spoilers. That’s not cool.

And now, with out any further delay, it’s time to uncork that champagne bottle and get these Power Rankings started!

SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN EPISODE 2, “It’s Like a Survivor Economy”, DON’T SCROLL DOWN PAST THE TRIBAL IMMUNITY IDOL!!! GO WATCH THE EPISODE, THEN COME BACK AND ENJOY!

Adam totally rebounded from his shaky start last episode (although he couldn’t find the hole for his torch at Tribal… lol), being a driving force in the big events on Sele. Not only was his alliance with Denise tight enough that she would share that she found the Idol with him, but he also convinced her to not give half of it to Parv and instead keep the circle of knowledge between himself, Denise, and Ben. He was also a major part of the conversation with Jeremy and Michele on whether or not to target Parvati/Rob over Danni — and though Danni blowing up her own game and making her an easy vote was too good to pass up at this stage in the game, I can’t help thinking that Adam missed a major opportunity to weaken Rob even more than the Danni vote did. As it stands right now, I can’t see Adam being targeted any time soon — he has great relationships with pretty much everyone on Sele right now, and while the Old-Schoolers seem to self-destruct, if Adam can solidify a contingent with Denise, Ben, Jeremy, and Michele, it puts Rob and Parv in a BIG hole. As much as I love Rob and Parv, I’m all in on the New-Schoolers, and I stand by thinking Adam will go deep at this point barring him getting swap-screwed. He’s doing exactly what he should be doing — using his Survivor nerdiness as a mask to really make things happen from behind the scenes. I love it, and that’s why he’s #1 this week.

Denise didn’t have the best episode for my number 2 spot on Sele this week, but I think that she’s actually in a pretty great position. Did she take any heat for the puzzle disaster? Nope. Did her Idol get exposed at Tribal? Nope. Does she technically have the majority, not to mention an IDOL? Yep! I loved how she started getting closer to Ben and using that social game to get Ben to show her how to find an Idol and… voila! think that despite her really bad (sorry Denise, I love you, but like Adam said… my god that’s a terrible idea!) idea to give the Idol Half to Parv, she’s made a great move by sticking with Adam. He knows these winners like the back of his hand, and if she can use Adam to get her further in the game, then she should. She also has a bit of an Idol-advantage over the other Idol-holders Kim and Sandra, because she shared her half with someone with mutual, proven trust (I’ll talk about why I think Kim sharing it with Sophie was a risky idea later), and her Idol doesn’t expire. Finally, Denise was also the recipient of Danni’s Fire Token, so that can only help her in the long run at this point. With the New-Schoolers seemingly taking control of Sele at this point, I think Denise with an Idol in hand should be alright for the moment.

Jeremy had a great rebound this week. He’s still not really holding on to a whole lot of socio-strategic power right now, but he does have the Safety Without Power Advantage that he bought from Natalie who found it on EoE (quick aside — Natalie now has 2 Fire Tokens despite getting voted out. Nice work, Nat!). Now, I must say that as a big College Survivor fan, having played on one myself.. Probst needs to give some credit to Ohio State’s Survivor Time and Change who had this kind of advantage — the Invisibility Advantage — before CBS did! Ok, that out of the way… it’s a great situational advantage to have. If you know you’re screwed and there’s no way out of it… playing this and saving yourself for another day, potentially letting an alliance have to pick off one of its own before they were ready… that can be destructive. It’s valid until the final 10, so Jeremy has a lot of time to use it if need be. Though Jeremy was in the hot seat for a little bit when the Old-Schoolers were determining whether it’d be him or Ben getting the boot, the timely Danni Destruction as I’ll call it helped a lot, catapulting him into a newly-formed New-School majority. Floating around the idea of taking out Rob or Parv with Michele was awesome, but I think saving them for later helps Jeremy a lot more than, say, Denise. It’s a classic meat-shield strategy, and now that Jeremy is getting something going, hopefully we see some more classic Jeremy.

Michele not having a confessional sucks. It really sucks. I hate that. Everyone should get a confessional, but especially Michele because I bet she’s got great insight at this point. Ok, that out of the way, laying low for right now both in terms of the edit and in terms of the game is great. With nobody targeting her, she’s free to do what she did so well in Kaoh Rong — lay back, assess, build relationships with her allies, and keep people who are easy targets around. We’ve seen winners have quiet starts before, so I’m in no way counting anyone out because of a low confessional count or not a lot of airtime. I mean, on a tribe with so many big threats and chaotic alliance events like we saw in this episode, I think that Michele is in such a good spot because she’s able to not draw any negative attention. Especially since it seems like Rob and Parv are on the outs, this could be Michele’s time to really seal the deal and take out a big threat to her game. I’m ready for her to shine.

Ethan had a pretty ok episode. His reputation for being a pretty straight-shooter helped him out massively this week when he was able to joke around with Rob, telling him point-blank that he sucked in the challenge. He’s on nobody’s bad side right now, has great connections with Old- and New-school players, and is pulling his weight in the challenges despite Sele’s two losses to Dakal’s one. Though he’s struggling a bit with the deceptive part of Survivor, we saw him get coached by Parv on how to lie to Danni in a hilarious secret scene that makes me think that he might struggle more as the game goes on at this point, but he should be really fun to watch. He’s the third man on the bottom right now as it seems, but I think that that’s a perfect spot for Ethan to realize that he has to jump ship and solidify things with Ben and Adam more.

Ben still has a big target on his back for being shifty, but he is also making really good social inroads with players like Adam, Denise, Michele, and Ethan. He’s going to have to earn their trust more (and his statement at Tribal about paranoia and then immediately contradicting himself don’t really help), but I think he can do it. He also showed some great strategic mind-power when he made a great point when talking with Denise after the Idol find that Adam can help them maneuver the game. The problem is, Ben’s going to have to dig himself out of the holes he’s already found himself in. He’s so ‘relaxed’ that he’s shifty, and he’s made it clear that he’s good at finding Idols, and that’s not a great message to send to potential allies. I do think Ben can rebound once Rob and Parv are out — he just needs to lay low a tiny bit right now.

I think that Parvati desperately needs a swap or a Sele win to survive. We saw the seeds planted of her possible demise in this episode — Parv was called one of the best players that has ever played this game by Adam, and she very well could have gone home if the New-Schoolers didn’t take advantage of Danni being an easy boot. Heck, she was the decoy boot for Danni. I wish we’d see if Parv was making more connections with the New-Schoolers, because from the edit it still looks very divided. The entire reason Danni got sketched out by Parv was because she hadn’t talked to her in a while, making her think that the latter was going to target the former. That feels like a pretty bad move for such a legendary player, so I’m interested to see if Parvati can figure out a way to stay this week. Of course, I’d love to see Sele win this time… but if not, I’m not so sure the Black Widow will survive.

Well, I was right that Rob wouldn’t get voted out in Episode 2… even though I kinda wish he did. This was a big episode for him, as he grappled with Amber’s vote-out and subsequent bequeathing of her Fire Token to him. Initially thinking it was Sandra who gave it to him makes a little bit of sense if you’re Rob and has no idea that Sandra is actually mad at you! I also appreciated that he easily saw through the point of Fire Tokens — there’s absolutely no reason to use them on comfort items. It’s like the Survivor Auction. Nobody cares about that any more. Idols and Advantages are the real currency in this game, and Rob knows it. Rob has so much experience and it showed this episode when despite an absolutely terrible puzzle performance, he received zero votes at Tribal and was able to ride Danni blowing up her game to protect himself and Parvati. Without any really easy votes (even though you could argue that Ben is expendable, I think he’s more useful to the New-Schoolers right now) left, Rob is going to need to be crafty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns on Parv next episode or if Parv turns on him. If Sele loses, it’s one of them going, and I mean… Rob is BOSTON ROB. If they didn’t vote him out last week, it’s a pretty good time to do it now.

Though Dakal was less-visible across the board due to their Immunity win (reason number 1 why I think Survivor needs longer episodes with more even editing), Sophie came out with the top spot this week, mainly for being the person that Kim told about her half of the Idol. Surely, news of this will spread to Yul via Sophie, giving the Nerd alliance a bit more knowledge. Sophie was right to comment that Kim is still a massive threat, so if Sophie uses Kim and the Idol to serve her needs, that would make a lot of sense and cement Sophie’s place at the top.

Yul sticks around at the top of Dakal because he’s still in control from the shadows. Sure, he’s just grabbing breadfruit with a big stick and keeping his alliance tight. We unfortunately didn’t get to see a whole lot more than that, but given that the Next Time on Survivor segment shows Yul seemingly betraying Tyson by telling Sandra that the former threw out the latter’s name, it could mean that Yul maybe steps out into the limelight a tad — or, my guess is that this makes Sandra and Tyson enter the spotlight so that Yul can keep heat off of his crew. Smart, just like I’d expect from Yul!

Wendell continued to lay low and not make any waves, but with the alliances on Dakal becoming more fragmented and fluid, I’m interested to see where he’ll eventually stand. With people like Tony, Sandra, Kim, and Tyson finding themselves in hotter water, it’s a good thing to blend in with the crowd right now. As long as Wendell sticks with Yul’s crew until he needs to strike, I think he should be pretty good to go.

Sandra had a big moment in this episode when she and Sophie beasted the puzzle in the Immunity Challenge — that hopefully gives her something to give as a reason to keep her around when she no longer has her awesome safety net in her Idol that lasts two more Tribal Councils until it expires. Now that she knows that Tyson threw her name out (thanks to the Next Time on Survivor segment), she can use her Idol so the Gritty Group can usurp a bit of power. Of course, an alliance of three (which is really an alliance of two plus Sandra considering Cops R Us 2.0) isn’t the greatest spot for Sandra to be in. I think that while she’s in a great spot right now, she’ll be in trouble quickly if the tribes swap soon — just like in Game Changers. It’ll be interesting to see how Sandra maneuvers the next few episodes, especially if she ends up playing her Idol — that will increase her threat level even more!

Tony… omg. Man, that ladder scene was freaking HILARIOUS. I think that by making himself a lot more endearing and kind of taking the game a bit slower, it helps him out. Especially since he has a good alliance with Sandra and Sarah and then has rekindled Cops R Us 2.0 (can I call it Cops R Stealth R Us since they want to keep it on the down-low this time?) and especially on a tribe with a lot of big targets, trying to diminish your threat level right now is a great idea. I’m worried that Tony might injure himself in the process… but if he can finally make that Spy Treehouse I’d die a happy Survivor fan.

Sarah reuniting with Tony… I saw that coming, and it seems like they really will work together. I think that it actually helps Sarah while hurting Tony, because Sarah’s not the one who blindsided Tony in Cagayan. It’ll make Tony want to be more loyal to Sarah, whereas Sarah can still get her revenge if she so chooses. It’s going to be tough to keep it a secret, but in the spirit of optimism, I think that they can.

Nick was too quiet this episode for my liking — I loved watching him in DvG so I hope we get to see more of him! I think he’s probably on the bottom of the core four of Yul/Sophie/Wendell/Himself, but there’s really nothing wrong with that at the moment. He might not have a lot of power right now, but he’s not by any means in terrible danger so long as Sarah/Tony are working together, Sandra is still in the game, and Kim/Tyson are still here. It gives him a lot of room to wait it out and maneuver around an especially dynamic Dakal.

So, first off, Kim found an Idol! YAY! But wait, half of it has to be shared and unused for the next day for it to gain power! I also found it really hilarious that Tony and Nick almost saw her find it, and Kim managed to hide it well enough. Good on her! Kim gave her half to Sophie, which I thought was a pretty risky move. Omisciently, we know that Sophie has a lot of control right now, which makes Kim’s Idol virtually useless because she might get duped into feeling comfortable. HOWEVER, not giving it to Tyson was actually smart, because if Sele lost and Tyson got voted out, the Idol wouldn’t have any power. So, I get giving it to Sophie, and hey — the best thing that can happen is that it solidifies the thing Kim and Yul have going to induct Kim into the core alliance.

I’m still very scared for Tyson right now, especially because the Next Time on Survivor for Episode 3 showed Yul telling Sandra that Tyson wanted to vote her out. If Dakal goes to Tribal, it might make sense to blindside Kim given that Sophie knows she has an Idol, but Tyson very well could be the target if Sandra and the Gritty Group side with the Nerd alliance. If Tyson does go out, I’m going to really miss his humor. The confessional he gave about Tony’s ladder… hilarious. We’ve seen Tyson get out of tough spots before, though… so maybe he’ll survive if Dakal loses.

And now, to give my thoughts on the third winner voted out and sent to the Edge of Extinction:

Oof. Danni had a pretty bad episode, didn’t she? First off, I’m gutted to lose her so early — I was really looking forward to her playing! Not only did she succumb to the paranoia that came about when Parv didn’t talk to her for a bit, she also made some pretty big errors in letting slip to Ben that there was an Old-School Alliance (while Ethan was there!) and going to Rob with an offer to vote out Parv. Though I’ll admit that realizing that she was fourth in the four-person alliance makes sense, she went to the wrong people to do something about it, and that sealed her fate. I’m hoping that she can still have an impact on the game from the Edge of Extinction, and hopefully help the New-Schoolers take out Rob and Parvati. Giving her Fire Token to Denise is certainly a good start at that! I’m so glad we got to see Danni return in the first place, especially since she’s the first returnee from Guatemala besides Steph who came back in Heroes vs Villains and was already a returnee in Guatemala. So, the EoE’s silver lining is that at least she’s still got a shot and we can still see her journey continue.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode, but I still think that the EoE and all of the advantages took up a bit of screen time that we could have used to see more of Dakal and more importantly to the episode, more of the quieter Sele players like Michele and Jeremy.

And that does it for my Power Rankings for Episode 2! Let me know in the comments or on Twitter what you think! Do you agree with my rankings? Do you think I’m crazy wrong? Do you just want to talk Survivor? I want to hear from you!

Catch Episode 3 of Survivor: Winners at War, entitled “Out For Blood” on Wednesday, February 26th at 7 PM Central, 8 PM Eastern!

Thanks so much for reading, and if you want to stay updated on the goings-on of the blog, ask me questions, or find out more about me personally, follow me on Twitter!

-Austin