After 22 years of being on air, Survivor has reached season 42. With 18 castaways and three tribes, it is bound to be an exciting season. The cast consists of Chanelle Howell, Daniel Strunk, Drea Wheeler, Hai Giang, Jackson Fox, Jenny Kim, Jonothan Young, Lindsay Dolashewich, Lydia Meredith, Marya Sherron, Maryanne Oketch, Mike Turner, Omar Zaheer, Rocksroy Bailey, Romeo Escobar, Swaiti Goel, Tori Meehan, and Zach Wurtenberger. 

The Blue Ika consists of Rocksroy, Tori, Romeo, Swati, Zach, and Drea. The orange Taku Tribe consists of Jonathan, Maryanne, Omar, Lindsay, Jackson, and Marya. And finally, the green Vati tribe consists of Chanelle, Daniel, Jenny, Hai, Lydia, and Mike. 

As of writing this article, only three episodes have aired of this new season, with four contestants already leaving the island. In the first episode alone, Jackson Fox was pulled for medical reasons. Fox was loved by his tribemates, who completely accepted him after he told them that he was transgender. I personally enjoyed Fox’s kind and caring personality and was very impressed with his strength to come out as transgender to his tribemates on live TV. Unfortunately, Fox failed to disclose that he had been taking lithium up until the day before filming. Production feared that the withdrawals would negatively impact his health, so they pulled him from the game. Fox was very understanding and took the news well. He told his tribemates he would be leaving the game, which devastated them. I was very sad to see Fox leave so soon and I hope he is doing well.

Later in the premiere, Zach Wurtenberger of the Ika tribe was voted out in seventeenth place after failing to complete the puzzle in the team’s immunity challenge. During the second episode, the teams battled it out in a challenge where they were blindfolded, only having one person who could see to give them directions to certain bags containing puzzle pieces. The Taku tribe ended up losing. Marya Sherron was swiftly voted out of the game after her team lost the immunity challenge due to her having a lack of bonds on the tribe.

 Finally, in the third and most recent episode, the Vati Tribe lost their first challenge and was sent to Tribal  Council. The targets were set to be Jenny Kim and Lydia Meredith. However, Kim had allies in Mike Turner, Daniel Strunk, and Chanelle Howell. So she should be safe, correct? Well with two twists of the season now in place, Turner is not permitted to vote due to the punishment of an advantage he took and Chanelle lost her vote in an attempt to gain an extra vote. Hai Giang, Meredith’s ally, stuck with her during the vote. When the votes came back, Strunk and Kim voted for Meredith and Giang and Meridith voted for Kim, causing a tie. Upon doing a revote, the vote tied once more. Jeff Probst stated the team must come to a unanimous decision on who to vote out between Kim and Meredith. Strunk, scared by the possibility of drawing rocks and potentially going home, switched his vote to Kim, thus eliminating her from the game. However, in doing so, Strunk lost his allies with Turner and Howell.

In any new season of Survivor, viewers have winner picks. These are contestants that show the ability and motivation to outwit, outplay, and outlast the other players and be crowned Sole Survivor. I am no exception, having three winners’ picks of my own. Sadly, one of my winner picks was Jenny Kim, who was eliminated from the game due to her tribe’s lack of gameplay knowledge. Kim displayed the strategic mind that is required to win Survivor. She was one of the most calm contestants to ever play the game and was well liked by her tribe and other castaways. However, I still have two more winner picks left within the game. One of which being Hai Giang. Giang shows the mental intelligence and competition prowess in order to keep himself in the game. He is able to get along well with his tribe, win competitions, and was even able to convince Daniel Strunk to keep Lydia Meredith, his closest ally, over Jenny Kim, who was Strunk’s own ally. If he is capable of that high of a degree in manipulation he is sure to make it far. 

I now move onto my final winner pick, who I am the most confident will win – Tori Meehan. Meehan is a psychologist and she has shown she can use that to her advantage. During the first tribal council of the season, she and Zach Wurtenberger were the two targets up for elimination. Meehan was able to shift the target from her onto Wurtenberger and insure that she was safe that night. Her social and strategic game is strong and I can see her being able to manipulate others into doing what she wants in order to further her game. 

Overall, I am looking forward to this new season of Survivor. Tune in at CBS at 8 PM E.T every Wednesday and see who becomes Sole Survivor.