Hi, everyone! Welcome back to my blog and to my Power Rankings after the eighth episode of Survivor: Winners at War! The Merge brought a lot of chaos to the game, and a hard-fought re-entry challenge as well as a brutal Immunity Challenge set the tone for what will surely be a battle to the finish.

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, let’s get on to the Power Rankings!

SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN EPISODE 8, “This is Where the Battle Begins”, DON’T SCROLL DOWN PAST THE INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY NECKLACE!!! GO WATCH THE EPISODE, THEN COME BACK AND ENJOY!

Sophie has had a pretty consistent grip on the game thus far, and the edit really gave her the credit for the Wendell boot. Sophie is playing an absolutely phenomenal social and strategic game, but at this point I also wonder that if Ben’s new alliance of ‘big threats’ comes after the more under-the-radar players, will Sophie be a prime target precisely because of how she’s playing? Possibly, but I think there is a perception of bigger fish to fry right now. I mean, she wasn’t even mentioned by Tony as a lower-profile player. Straddling the middle might help right now, but it might also hurt if people start to wise up to her game. She also has her Idol, which is an awesome safety net, especially in a potentially-chaotic Merge situation. Sophie definitely struggled with the elements this episode, but she’s not struggling with the strategic elements of the game. She also rightfully pegged Jeremy as the real brains behind the Big Threats alliance (Sorry Ben!), but having Ben on the inside of that might be really good for her. Ultimately, Sophie continues to be a front-runner. I’m truthfully rooting against her because I don’t really want it to feel like she’s already won the game… but it feels like it. I’m still a Sophie fan, and I love how she’s playing, though.

Sarah is continuing her more subtle game this time around, and I really like it. She said it best that the amount of twisting connections on this tribe is like a bowl of spaghetti — and I think that will play into what I’m assuming will be a far more chaotic alliance situation going forward. She correctly noted that EVERYONE is a big threat, and she will be able to use that to get further. The Wendell vote was pretty easy, and if the preview for Episode 9 has anything to add, a vote for Nick or Adam might be as well, but Sarah was brought up by Nick as a target, so that could easily put her in the spotlight if she’s not voted out. Her Vote Steal, then, will surely come in handy — plus, she knows about Sohpie’s Idol.. so perhaps she can use that knowledge against Sophie when she wants to wrest control of the game for herself if she finds herself in a bind.

Kim had a quieter episode, but that’s really good because when the Merge hits, staying out the limelight is usually a good thing. Tyson re-entering the game could be a really big thing for Kim, as the two were likely allies on old Dakal had Yul not brought up the Poker Alliance. She also has relationships with the new Dakal group that could be very beneficial for when this tribe inevitably gets bonkers and alliances become more fluid. I don’t think Kim is really seen as a major threat just yet, and that will help her in the immediate future, and if anything goes crazy, she’s still got her Idol.

Michele was practically invisible this episode aside from her absolutely BRUTALfall off of the pole in the Immunity Challenge. I feel for ya, girl! Thankfully, she ended up alright, but the fact of the matter was that Michele was on the wrong side of the vote once again (she’s 3-for-3), and it was the Wendell vote to boot. We were served up so much content on her and Wendell that for her to not end up voting Wendell out felt so… disjointed. This season has been awesome so far, but editing issues as usual plague an otherwise amazing storyline. In terms of why Michele, then, is ranked at #4? I think she’s got a bit more social capital than we’re seeing — not to mention that at this point in the game, she’s really not a threat to anyone. This is the stage where the ‘Lions’, as Tony put it, likely put too much heat on them, leaving the ‘Hyenas’ to use them as a stepping stone. It stands to reason that Michele can do that, especially with her having the most Fire Tokens of anyone in the game, once more with four to her name. Looking at the menu of Fire Token purchases, the only thing I see her benefiting from is buying a Reward Steal for three tokens — we saw that Tyson’s purchase of peanut butter might have been a big factor in his re-entry, so that could be quite important. If people on the Edge can continue to find advantages to sell to players, Michele will also have a nice repository of Tokens to use to accrue those advantages. Her not having a confessional this episode really makes me annoyed because I’m sure she would have had some really good insight on the dynamics this episode, but I really think she’s in a far better position than we might think despite her being on the wrong side of the vote. Sophie had a quote at Tribal saying it’s ok to not always be in the loop — and so I’m hoping that might be an interesting portent of things to come on Michele’s end!

Ben is one of the only players this season with a perfect voting record — go figure! He’s also taking control once more with the Merge, forming an alliance of himself, Tony, Tyson, and Jeremy — the ‘Big Threats’. However, they are outnumbered and although I wouldn’t be surprised to see them bring in Sarah, Sophie, and Kim… I could easily see them being targeted. Ben has played a really great social game at this point, and I think he’s definitely not the biggest of the big targets, so I don’t see him being targeted in the near future. With Tyson having just returned to the game, Jeremy fresh off an Immunity Win and being a big social player, and Tony’s reputation preceding him, Ben could very well be in it for the long haul.

Tyson returns to the game from the Edge of Extinction — one of my preferred outcomes, I must say! Thankfully, he wasn’t given an immediate return ticket to the Edge. I think Tyson will be able to, as he said, find cracks, establish some roots, and build a home. As the only player in the game right now to have played Survivor before Season 20, he is the only Old-School player, but he won in a New-School season, so I wouldn’t count Tyson out yet. He still has connections with Kim, Sarah, and Nick that I could see coming into play, and his joining of the ‘Big Threat’ alliance might actually serve to protect him a little more than I’d initially assume. We saw the first Edge returnee in Season 38 (Rick Devens — happy belated birthday to him, by the way!) make it all the way to Day 38, so if that’s a portent for anything, perhaps Tyson will indeed make it far.

Tony really focused on the duality between the High-Profile and Lower-Profile players this episode, specifically calling out Adam, Michele, Nick, and Wendell as members of the latter category. I think that being so vocal about this dynamic the entire season might get Tony in trouble, but the other thing is that Tony might be the biggest threat out of any of the people supposedly in his camp — Tyson, Jeremy, and Ben — and I bet all three of them would vote him out over any of the others. Somehow, Tony hasn’t had his name written down yet, but I think he’s not out of the woods yet.

Jeremy might need to use his advantage sooner than I expected — even though he voted out Wendell, one of the reasons the target sifted on to him was to weaken Jeremy. He has the ‘Big Threat’ alliance of himself, Tyson, Tony, and Ben, as well as an alliance presumably with Michele (and Nick?), and one with the old Dakal group of Tony, Kim, and Denise, and so he is well-connected, but he’s also built up some heat for being a great social and physical player thus far. I LOVED the dynamic between him and Wendell and I’m sad it was cut short, but Jeremy honestly had a lot of good reads this episode — he correctly pointed out that Sophie and Denise were playing really well, and that he wanted to get closer to Wendell, so Nick (his ‘number one’ which I honestly have a hard time believing), had to go. With Wendell gone now, will Jeremy still target Nick? At this point, I think he could be more of a beneficial number. We saw Jeremy really try to shift the vote from Wendell to Adam, to no avail, so that might actually put more of a target on his back. Not only that, but winning Immunity as well as a Fire Token could draw some heat as well. Perhaps Jeremy will be able to cobble all of his alliances together and drive the game forward a bit — I hope he can bring Michele back into the fold! Finally I want to commend Jeremy, though, on being one of the few players to make the Merge three times, alongside Sarah and Tyson — the other three-plus-timers — this season, as well.

Denise got that hard-won Immunity win and a Fire Token along with it, but I fear that it only adds to her growing resume as noted by Sophie — by telling everyone what happened with Sandra, it really put her almost on a pedestal above everyone else — the Queenslayer, she’s called — and if she hadn’t won Immunity, she might have drawn some heat. I think her social connections might buffer her for a little bit, but I don’t really know how much longer Denise will stay alive — of course, I want her to, but I think that right now standing out in such a large crowd can be dangerous. Wendell said in a confessional that he wanted to vote out people like her who were playing a Winner’s game, and so I can see her being in trouble soon.

Adam was the backup vote this week and was at one point seeming like the consensus boot. Though he has a solid network of allies in Sophie, Sarah, Ben, and Denise, those relationships are really tenuous at best. I think he was so lucky to not get voted out this week, but it will actually help him going forward. Like we saw with Karishma last season, sometimes when you’re the ‘easy vote’ over and over again, you can cockroach your way through a bit. With Nick seeming like he’s going to stoke the fire, Adam might be able to slink back into the shadows once more and be a valuable number in a game that seems like it will get more chaotic as every episode passes. Finally I want to commend Adam on a phenomenal voting confessional. Telling Wendell “It’s either you or me tonight, I know that, but do you?” was SO AMAZING.

Nick did NOT have a good episode, and it looks like things might only be getting worse. Though it seemed he and Wendell were possibly going to work with Tyson to vote out Denise, that dream was dashed by her winning Immunity. Adding to that, he was highlighted by Tony, Jeremy, and Ben not only as a scavenging Hyena, but as a poor social player who’s crept in on more than one conversation at camp (cue the montage!). Though he brought up voting Adam to Wendell, Jeremy, and Michele, it wasn’t to be. I think Nick is pretty squarely on the bottom of Koru, and the preview for Episode 9 only makes me more worried — he’s coming after Sarah, but Sarah knows and wants Nick out! With few allies and lifelines, this could be Nick’s demise.

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

Aww man. I’m sad to see Wendell go, but after a string of pretty negative episodes, I figured his time would be up sooner or later. I think that we really didn’t get a good resolution to Wendell’s storyline with Michele, so perhaps there will be something on the Edge that he gets and gives to her? Not sure. But, he did give one Token to her and one to Nick, so I’m curious to see what effect, if any, that will have. I don’t really think there was a lot more Wendell could have done. Obviously, he got too close to Jeremy, and pretty much everyone saw that and was threatened by it. Despite his negative edit thus far, I really enjoyed watching him, and as one of my favorite winners it’s heartbreaking to see his torch snuffed. I hope he can get back in the game, and I’m excited to see what he brings to the Edge (maybe he can spruce up their shelter?).

Overall, this episode really confused me more than I’d like. Initially Nick was the target, then it shifted to Wendell, but so many good points were brought up against Adam that I was sure it was going to be him and not Wendell. I think Adam would have been a far better choice to vote out just considering so many people trusted Wen and would have used him as a number whereas Adam was not viewed well and was untrustworthy. The editing was pretty meh as well, as the Edge of Extinction re-entry challenge took up a lot of valuable time, leaving players like Kim, Sarah, and ESPECIALLY Michele who egregiously had no confessionals on the cutting room floor. In my mind this was the weakest episode of the season, but I’m still very optimistic that this season will be overall amazing. I’m still rooting for Michele, obviously, but I’d love to see Sophie, Jeremy or Ben pull out the win as well. Finally, I have to really commend the art department on the Immunity Necklace and Koru Buff designs, and I can’t wait until my Buff comes in and I can feel like a Winner at War when I wear it!

And that does it for my Power Rankings for Episode 8! 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 9 of Survivor: Winners at War, entitled “War is Not Pretty” on Wednesday, April 8th at 7 PM Central, 8 PM Eastern! War is definitely not pretty, especially when it concerns people you’re so inspired by! I think that the game is only going to get crazier and crazier from here, and I can only hope that my faves weather the coming storm and make it to the end!

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