Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the premiere of Ghost Island as much as I did! It was a high-octane two hours willed with many (questionable) moments of strategy, funny moments, sad moments, uplifting moments… we got the whole enchilada here, didn’t we? I think it set a great tone for the rest of the season! I’ve gotta give major props to the art department this season as well. Ghost Island, as well as Tribal Council, is absolutely awesome.

So, this is my first week of Power Rankings for Ghost Island, and if you’ve been here before, you know the drill. Each week after an episode airs, I rank each remaining castaway based on how much ‘power’ (and yes, this is totally 100% subjective!) they have against the other members of their tribe. Starting next week, I’ll note what position they were in the previous week. For this week, since I didn’t do pre-game Power Rankings (to be honest, I thought it was unfair to rank the Castaways based on pre-game press and speculation), this won’t be the case. At the end of the season, there’s no prize or anything — you all just get to see how wrong I was 😛

SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN EPISODE 1, “Can You Reverse the Curse”, DON’T SCROLL DOWN PAST THE MALOLO AND NAVITI BUFFS!!! GO WATCH THE EPISODE, THEN COME BACK AND ENJOY! 🙂

1. BRENDAN

Brendan took the leadership of Malolo in stride and played it fantastically. He commandeered a core group of people, was a major force in the votes, and performed very well in the challenges. His strategy was great as well, knowing that Jacob was lying about his Idol because he didn’t have the paperwork. Those skills will continue to come in handy with the Swap. I think if he gets stuck on a tribe with Chris, though… I wonder if they will butt heads? I would think as well that this would also be a good time to start playing back a little and not draw too much attention to yourself… leaders have a tendency to go home early in Survivor. I really hope that fate doesn’t befall Brendan!

2. STEPHANIE

And the award to the biggest surprise goes to Stephanie! She played amazingly this week, from closing the gap in the second Immunity Challenge to getting Jacob to divulge all of his secrets. She is now the only person on Malolo to know about the Legacy Advantage and Morgan’s possession of it, which brings the big question — will she use that knowledge and work with Morgan? OR, will she repeat the same move Sarah and Sierra did in Game Changers — buddy up to Morgan and vote her out and hope she gets the Legacy Advantage for herself? Time will tell! Strategy aside, Stephanie is a massive challenge help right now, and that’s what her new tribe will need. She’s not going too crazy too fast, which was my big worry. I can’t wait to see how Stephanie does going forward! (Also, I grew up near Chicago so I’ve gotta root for the locals!)

3. MICHAEL

Michael KILLED IT in the Reward Challenge. Holy moly. It was pretty crazy to watch him and Sebastian go at it once their initial adrenaline rush wore off. I had read that after the challenge, medical actually got called in to take a look at Michael. He’s pretty high up on the rankings despite receiving a few votes because when a Swap hits, challenge strength becomes huge. Michael will be a great boon to whichever tribe he ends up on!

4. LAUREL

Laurel really surprised me in a good way. I thought she was going to overplay (much like Jacob did), but she was level-headed and a strong competitor. She did really well in the first Reward Challenge and would have won, most likely, had Chris not pulled out Desiree’s pieces. I think that she’s in a great position given the Swap — liked by her tribemates on Malolo and a good challenge asset. I think Laurel can do really well now!

5. LIBBY

Libby had a pretty quiet premiere, but we saw that she gave it her all in the challenges and had some astute observations at Tribal. I’m very curious to see how the Swap affects her. She’s been in the main core group at Malolo, so now that things are going to shake up, she might be in trouble. However, I think she’ll be fine!

6. JAMES

I’m really curious to find out what went wrong in the second Immunity Challenge for James. Nerves? The goggles? I don’t want to be harsh, but I’m pretty surprised that it seemed (note, everything is edited. I don’t know what really happened) like James gave up. However, taking ownership for his mistakes was a fantastic move. I think James still has a lot of room for improvement, and the Swap could be just what he needs, especially if he sticks with Laurel and Donathan. Come on, James! I’m rooting for you!!!!

7. JENNA

We didn’t see too much from Jenna this week, but she was in the loop for both of the votes, which is a good sign. I think she’s very middle-of-the-pack right now, which is a really good place to be at the moment. I’m excited to see what she does next with the Swap coming up!

8. DONATHAN

PHEW. I am SO happy Donathan dodged two bullets this week. I knew he’d probably have some early-game struggles on Malolo, being one of the weaker guys, but now that Jacob is gone he has some work to do. ESPECIALLY with a swap, this could benefit Donathan or totally screw him over. He has to work fast and get a solid group and pull out that good ol’ charm. Aside from that, I was more or less impressed by his performance in the second Immunity Challenge. I think had he gone for it to help James out earlier, Malolo could have come back (or at least it wouldn’t have been such a blowout). That said, it takes so much courage to face your fears and I’m so stoked to see what Donathan conquers during the rest of his time in Fiji!

1. SEBASTIAN

Sebastian is doing quite well for himself six days in. A massive force in challenges (did you SEE him scramble under those bars in the Reward Challenge?), a great provider, and staunch ally. However.. his ally is Chris, of all people. Normally I would say that this is bad news, but given that the tribes are swapping, there’s a chance he can bro down with someone like James or Brendan and distance himself from Chris. The big problem with Chris I think is that Domenick will get enough steam to target him eventually, and that I think eventually Chris will rub enough people the wrong way to warrant his ouster. For Sebastian’s sake, he’s gotta realize this. Also, I love the Sea Bass nickname — it’s perfect!

2. KELLYN

Kellyn the puzzle goddess really stepped it up in the premiere! I think that she’s going to be a huge asset to whichever tribe she ends up on, and that her puzzle skills will hopefully keep them from a date with Probst at Tribal Council. I think her best bet is to end up with someone like Stephanie or Laurel — strategically-savvy superfans. She just has to not overplay or overdo things on a social level, and she should be in a good spot.

3. DOMENICK

Ok, Domenick had a whirlwind premiere episode. I think he made a lot of mistakes (but I think he can recover), including being the only person to disagree with Chris’ decision at the Reward Challenge, trying to gun for him, and then lying to him about having an Idol, and then recanting on that and saying that he DOES have an Idol (except it’s a FAKE and that he has a REAL one!). Domenick is playing a mile a minute and I love it. I don’t think he really ‘fits’ the Tony archetype as much as Joe did last season, but I think at this point it’s close enough to the level of crazy plays. We’ll see how this works out. I think on a new tribe, though, Domenick could side with the Malolos over Navitis should the latter try to gun for him.

4. WENDELL

Wendell had a mostly quiet premiere, which bodes well — save his good stuff for later! We saw Wendell do really well in making good personal connections with his tribemates, and also was in the inner workings of strategic occurrences on Naviti. He also sealed the deal on Naviti’s second Immunity win. Right on! I think Wendell is in a fantastic spot right now — he just has to keep it up! Also, his furniture-design skills came in handy with making Naviti’s shelter, which looked really cool.

5. MORGAN

Morgan’s big moment this episode was getting the Legacy Advantage from Jacob. I’m very curious to see what the fallout will be from that. Given that Jacob is now voted out, if I was Morgan I’d be worried who he told. Like I said in Stephanie’s section above, I think that Morgan needs to be very wary about aligning with Stephanie, but that’s from an omniscient perspective. Morgan has no idea at this point… and it could cost her dearly. HOWEVER, she’s such a challenge force right now, especially in the water, that she could make a strong case for herself should the need arise.

6. DESIREE

Desiree getting chosen to do the puzzle by Chris wasn’t the best break for her, but I think that any reputation/impression that she would have lost was absorbed by Chris for bailing on her in the challenge and forfeiting. She also did really well and scored to extend Naviti’s lead in the second Immunity Challenge, as well as the winning point! I’m really excited to see where she goes from here — will she clash with anyone? Will she lay low and formulate some cool strategy? I have no idea and I can’t wait.

7. CHRIS

Chris had a very visible premiere, easily stepping into the leadership role and pretty much dominating the strategic talk on Naviti. While he has a friend in Sebastian, we didn’t see too much about what everyone else thinks of him at this stage in the game. While he seems to be a good physical asset (and has some strategic chops too, not buying Domenick’s bluff [double-bluff?]), I wonder if his ego and leadership will cause people to want to target him despite his strengths.

8. BRADLEY

No confessionals for Bradley this week. He performed well in the challenges… but that’s really all we saw of him. For that reason I have to put him pretty low. Sorry dude! First episodes are always rough, especially with a 20-person cast, and one Tribe dominates in challenges and doesn’t have to go to Tribal.

9. CHELSEA

Similar story for Chelsea. She did well in the challenges, contributing to Naviti’s dominance, but other than that we don’t know a lot about where her strategic loyalties lie. I expect that to change with the swap!

10. ANGELA

Even though Angela is the oldest Castaway this season, she was right up there with the rest of her tribe and performed very well in the challenges! The reason that she’s at the bottom over Bradley and Chelsea is that I’m worried about something she said in the preview for next episode. She has a strong bond with the Navitis, and if she gets swapped onto a majority-Malolo tribe… she could be targeted for that.

We lost two really interesting Castaways this week in Gonzalez and Jacob. Both had their share of issues, but I was really sad to see Jacob go. One draft pick down 😦 . However, their ousters will serve as a lesson to the remaining Castaways that is only reinforced on Ghost Island: “One Bad Decision Can Haunt You Forever”.

With that, I’ll see you guys next Sunday for my Power Rankings for Episode 2, “Only Time Will Tell”!

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

-Austin