Ed. note: Damnbueno's first installment of this preview included the players who debuted from Borneo through Kaoh Rong, all of them already multi-appearance veterans of the show. This time, let's look at those who have only played once before, starting with the first post-Game Changers season, S35: Heroes v Healers v Hustlers, up to the start of the new era.

There may not be any player whose perception of their game is so much different from how those she played with saw it. Even Angelina knew some of her competitors didn’t like her. Chrissy was a self-described superfan, who’d applied 16 times. But when she finally got her chance, she ignored some of the most basic strategies. First, when placed on a 6-person tribe, she showed zero interest in connecting with three of its members (Katrina, Ashley and J.P.), and didn’t approach the other two until after she’d survived the first Tribal Council. After that first IC loss, when Alan asked her who she wanted gone, she fingered Ashley, easily the strongest woman on the tribe. She got bailed out when she anonymously received an Overpowered Idol (from Ryan) but never needed to use it, as Katrina was more of an outsider than Chrissy was. After that vote, she approached Ben and Alan about partnerships, but still ignored Ashley and J.P. She ended up being swapped to a tribe with Ryan, and his Idol gesture produced the most loyal partnership of the game.

But Chrissy’s questionable decisions kept surfacing. She opted to ignore Roark for days, and fooled Ali into thinking she was a valued partner (two more strong females). After her failure caused an IC loss, Chrissy got scared and made a transparent and insincere pitch to Roark, which prompted Roark’s confessional. “We’re headed to Tribal and today is the first time Chrissy ever feels the need to talk game with me. In my head I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I want Chrissy to go home.” Chrissy survived that vote, then helped Ryan remove Ali, who had harsh things to say about Chrissy after the game ended. At the merge feast, Chrissy went straight to Ben, and blatantly talked strategy, even after he warned her others were watching and listening. Chrissy insisted they weren’t being noticed. After convincingly sandbagging the first Immunity Challenge, Chrissy arrogantly displayed her math skills by swiftly answering Probst’s baited math questions. Chrissy couldn’t resist showing her intelligence (perhaps manipulated by Joe Mena who often doubted her), and it prompted Dr. Mike to ask others to vote her out. Chrissy got 5 votes at the first post-merge Tribal Council but stayed because a majority wanted to break up power couple Jessica and Cole. Later at a Reward, Chrissy and Ryan separately found an Idol clue, and weren’t sure if Cole, Devon or J.P. had also seen it. Just the same she, loudly whispered to Ryan about it…while laying right next to Cole. He called them on it on the spot and eventually got into a wrestling match with Chrissy while digging for that Idol in camp.

Chrissy was a control freak. On the next Reward, Chrissy privately complained, saying “Of course I’d much rather have this Reward with just my alliance, but I’m glad I’m here and can control the conversation.” She didn’t see the obvious value in getting info from her opposition or even fooling them into thinking she was open to working with Joe, Cole, or Dr. Mike. Chrissy also saw fit to inject herself when others fought – first with Ben and Joe at Tribal Council (“Just stop talking (Joe), none of us want to listen to you anymore.”), and later with Ashley and Joe in camp. She couldn’t resist taking a shot at Joe when he was blindsided, sarcastically saying (“That was an incredibly tight alliance”), never realizing she was sealing a reason for Joe not to vote for her in the end.

Chrissy’s arrogance and obsessive need for control blinded her to Lauren breaking up their 7-person alliance. After telling Ryan “My intuition tells me we’re gonna do it (make it to the 7 intact), she found out the hard way she was wrong when Lauren’s group booted Chrissy’s pocket vote J.P. Her read was terrible, and her reaction was worse when she demanded “Can someone please explain what happened?” She repeated the mistake she made with Roark by making an equally insulting and transparent pitch to Lauren, who said “I expected Chrissy to try and talk to me ... She’s very annoying. I’ll listen to you all day long, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna change my mind. If you wanted to work with me, you would have talked to me several weeks ago. Not today.” Once again, Chrissy got scared and realized much too late that she needed to work with women to improve her chances. Still, she went after the strongest woman (Ashley) next. But when she was fooled again, and realized Ben was working against her, she reacted badly, yelling at Ben in front of everyone and calling him “a jerk,” permanently burning that bridge.

After winning the Loved Ones Reward, Chrissy chose to take Ashley as her third guest and made yet another condescending and insulting pitch. This prompted Ashley to say “Chrissy came up to me saying if I go to the end with the people I’m with, I won’t win. I could think she might be right, but I’m also thinking ‘Who is this information coming from?’ The person that knows she’s going home next. Of course she’s gonna say anything she can to get another number on her side.” Chrissy got bailed out when Ben overheard Lauren plotting against him and booted her instead of Chrissy at Final 7. Chrissy’s “brilliant” plan for overcoming Lauren’s two-vote Advantage and her Idol was to ask Lauren to forfeit it to Probst.

Chrissy went on to win four Immunity Challenges (including the last three), all of which she came back from behind to solve puzzles at the end. Chrissy repeatedly failed at the one move that could have given her a chance to win – removing Ben. At Final 5, she spent two days making sure everyone would vote for Ben, then inexplicably insisted Ashley leave after winning Immunity for herself. Despite carrying a convincing-looking but worthless Idol around the entire game, Chrissy didn’t think of using it to fool Ben until the Final 5, and she needed Dr. Mike to point out the idea to her. Her attempt to fool Ben was as laughable as her earlier pitches to Roark, Lauren, and Ashley. She STILL didn’t learn from her mistake and made an even more laughable “Let’s be friends again” pitch to Ben at Final 4. Ben said, “I’m not stupid. Chrissy’s trying to finagle her way in if I win Immunity, and it ain’t gonna work at all. I’ll give it to the lady, props to her. At least she’s trying ... I don’t want her in the game no longer. I’m gonna play my Idol and blindside her. That woman’s gone, period. She gone!”

Chrissy saved herself with her fourth IC win and thought that would be enough to win the million. But just like she was all game, she was wrong. At FTC, she actually told her jury, “If you vote me as the winner, you all can feel proud of me as the winner of your season.” She had no idea how others perceived her, and as a result, was powerless to change that perception. All seven women who shared a camp with Chrissy had negative things to say about her either during the game, after the game, or both. Even Ashley, who voted for her in the finals said of Chrissy “We never talked game.” Chrissy’s game can be summed up in her own quote from day 29 – “Being here stripped down to nothing is way harder than I thought it would be because in the real world, I’m always in control of everything. It’s hard for me to not be in control of my own fate.” She couldn’t adjust properly. When she had control, she became annoying and dismissive. When she didn’t have control, she got scared, angry and would lash out. And she was always condescending and insulting. All of it cost her jury votes.

Many fans believe Chrissy was robbed of a win by the surprise Final 4 fire making contest, which prevented everyone a final chance to vote Ben out. I don’t buy it because if Ben leaves, that means Devon is in the finals. Devon was by far the best-liked between Chrissy and Ryan amongst the jurors, and I doubt Ben would vote for Chrissy either. I think Devon is a lock to get votes from Ashley, Lauren, Joe, Cole and Desi, all of whom really disliked Chrissy. J.P. voted for Ben over Chrissy. Devon was also close to Dr. Mike. Ryan’s only vote came from Devon. I think Devon is close to a unanimous winner against Chrissy and Ryan. I see Devon in the same light as Jesse in 43 – by far the best player, and the most able to convincingly own his game at Final Tribal Council.

Outlook: I doubt Chrissy will make any adjustments to her game, but I’ll be more than happy to admit it if she proves me wrong. She had far too many blind spots to even recognize she needed to make adjustments in the first place. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know that problem exists. The glaring adjustment she needs to make is to play nicer with the women. But Chrissy figures to make a deep run because aside from Angelina, she’s the least threatening player in this cast. But I won’t be surprised if this cast’s smarter women remove her early simply because she’s not willing to work with them. Chrissy is not above throwing a challenge (or at least sandbagging). During one Immunity Challenge Chrissy looked very solid. But when her desired targets (Joe and Cole) fell out, she glanced over, made sure Cole was gone, smiled, said “Oops” then dropped out herself to a 4th place finish. She was smiling as she walked to the bench too. This cast is loaded with strong challenge performers, so it seems less likely Chrissy will be able to repeat her performances.

Christian took an analytical approach to playing Survivor with the knowledge that because of his impending work situation, he’d probably never play again. He was easily the most self-aware player in his season. Christian began the game with the justifiable fear he’d be ostracized because of who he is – a cerebral, nerdy type with an advanced vocabulary and deeper understanding of Survivor than most. Because of this fear, he put an emphasis on making his value to the tribe known. This led to his first mistake, which turned out to be his biggest mistake. On day one, the Goliaths labeled Christian as the “weakest,” only to watch him and Lyrsa destroy Goliaths John and Alison in a challenge to win a shelter building kit. The challenge had a slide puzzle at the end, and after the win, Christian told everyone “It wasn’t really a fair fight because in undergrad, like, I wrote slide puzzle algorithms, so I figured we could go that way.” From then on, Christian was labeled both the “smartest” player and the” puzzle guy,” which made him a huge target. He was never able to overcome this collar, but his attempts to stave off elimination were impressive.

Christian secured partners in Gabby, Nick, and Davie, then chipped in with the shelter building effort, which kept Carl and Pat happy with him. He got info from Nick and Gabby about a move to boot Jessica, a move that excluded Davie. But he avoided Davie’s anger by blaming the switch on Gabby. He made it to a swap on the wrong side of a 3-2 split, but managed to bond well with Goliaths Dan and John, saying in confessional “I’ll do whatever I can to contribute as much as I can, but at the same time, I have to stay at the top of my social game, so I’ve gotta go on a charm offensive, and that’s understating it. It's more of a charm nuclear warfare. Time to bring about the charmpocalypse.” His idea worked perfectly, as the guys loved him, and made him an official “Brochacho.” But it had a downside too, as Gabby continued to feel excluded.

Christian’s ability to build strong relationships paid off at the merge when he had no less than 8 players (Nick, Gabby, Alec, Alison, Mike, John, Dan and Kara) lobbying to keep him in the game against Angelina’s move to boot him. At final 12, the Goliaths recognized the “smart puzzle guy” could beat them all. In confessional, Mike said “Taking out Christian is taking out the heart and the brains of the Davids,” then he led a push to remove him. But Davie used an Idol to save Christian. Then at final 11, Carl and Nick used their Idol Nullifier and Vote Steal advantages to benefit Christian too. Christian also disclosed he’d found an Idol, yet another mistake. But these actions also made Christian stand out as by far the best-liked player and an easy winner should he reach the finals. This wasn’t lost on Mike. Christian’s stock rose even higher when he stood on a perch for 6 hours to outlast challenge beast Alec. The biggest threat now became the unbeatable finals threat ... and no puzzles had appeared in the Individual challenges yet.

After the Davids gained a 5-4 edge, Christian recognized his original tribe wasn’t united or loyal. So, he stuck to his pre-game plan of making sure one side didn’t get too powerful, and agreed to help Gabby blindside Carl, who’d become power-hungry and pushy. What Christian failed to anticipate was twofold – Nick’s temper, and Gabby’s betrayal. Christian anticipated Gabby would turn on him at Final 7, but she did it at F8, instead. He picked up on this at the Immunity Challenge when she openly tried to help Nick beat him, so he played his Idol to save himself, and Gabby left instead. But the bigger mistake was underestimating Nick’s anger. Nick exploded on Christian after returning to camp after Carl left. He lashed out at Christian regularly over the next few days. Christian had no options outside of winning Immunity or finding another Idol. Like most in the game, Christian made the mistake of trusting Mike White more than he should have. When Christian was voted out at Final 7, only Davie wanted to keep him around.

Many argue that blindsiding Carl was a horrible move for Christian, because it “surrendered” the Davids 5-4 advantage. But those fans overlook the fact that 1) After Carl left, the numbers were even, 2) Angelina had already abandoned Goliaths Kara and Alison, and 3) Alison and Kara were very willing to work with Christian and Gabby. If not for Nick’s tantrum, the Davids still could have easily eliminated a Goliath (likely Alison) next and maintained control. At Final 8, Mike said in confessional “People know he’s brilliant. He’s played a strong social game, even though it’s slightly annoying. If he makes it to the end, he’s gonna have a strong case to win the money.” But ultimately, Christian identifying himself as the “smart puzzle guy” on day one is why he lost. Despite his likability, nobody ever forgot how easily he could beat them at a puzzle, or for the million at the end. Christian needed to do a better job of downplaying his likability and intelligence after that first day. Who knows? It might have been enough to allay everyone’s fears of “losing to the smart puzzle guy.”

Outlook: Christian’s chances are iffy at best. His regular appearances on RHAP have only reinforced his reputation as perhaps the smartest person ever to play Survivor. He should be used to being targeted though, as he played his entire game in that position, receiving a total of 18 votes against him. Christian should look for those who’ll need a strategist on their side. He should be wary of those who are smart enough to know he can outwit them. It figures that Cirie, Aubry, Emily, Tiffany and Dee won’t want to let Christian hang around long. Christian has played with Angelina and Mike White before, but of course, they both tried to vote him out multiple times. Christian is in the unenviable position of being the player who is “too smart to compete against.” Players with that reputation (Cirie, Yau-Man, Rob C., Stephen Fishbach) all got booted for those reasons. I fear Christian will be the next.

Angelina seemed to believe she was predestined to be declared the winner, and all the other players were honor-bound to make her rise to the top as comfortable for her as possible. Angelina is easily the least self-aware person ever to play Survivor. She never once had any idea how her words or actions were perceived by the other players, even after seeing the many insulting confessionals about her in the broadcast. She also thought she had a great sense of humor, and constantly giggled at her own jokes, never noticing that nobody else was laughing. This constant delusional state is why she repeated her mistakes over and over, and why she tops my Worst Players list in spite of making it to the finals. The way Angelina tried to sell her ideas was absolutely cringeworthy. It was as if she assumed everyone would believe it was a great idea simply because it came from her. She presumed everyone knew she was smart and were waiting for her to deliver the intelligence from the mountaintop. Prior to starting the game, Angelina said “In my day-to-day life, I use the power of persuasion. I use it if I’m pulled over by a Police Officer for going too fast, for getting discounts at restaurants, whatever it may be,” and “I always get whatever I want.” Because of her horrible approach, her ideas were dead on departure because Angelina’s read on how others felt about her was laughably wrong.

Angelina’s first master plan was to remove Jeremy instead of Natalie Cole, who’d annoyed everyone on the tribe. Angelina pushed hard to get this done despite the objections of several tribemates including Alec, Natalia and Mike White, who said “If it was up to me, it would be Natalie. She’s a demoralizer around camp, she’s terrible at the challenges. That’s never gonna change.” Angelina was oblivious to the objections. But when Jeremy shot himself in the foot and tried to forbid everyone from having private conversations, he annoyed the tribe more than Natalie and got himself voted out. Angelina believed she’d manipulated the vote through her powers of persuasion.

She took this false confidence into the swap and landed with a 3-2 Goliath majority with Mike and Natalie outnumbering Nick and Lyrsa. Angelina decided her #1 priority was to get Lyrsa’s jacket. Mike mocked her plan, and Nick of course refused, and told Lyrsa about it, ruining any chance Lyrsa would become Angelina’s strategic partner. So, when the guys decided to vote Natalie out, Angelina thought she could get Natalie’s jacket, saying “Lyrsa thinks I’m voting for Natalie, and Natalie thinks I’m voting for Lyrsa. I’m at this pivot point where I have to ask ‘Who can I trust? Who do I want at the merge? Can I get this Jacket?’” Lyrsa saw through Angelina’s plan too, saying “Angelina wrote my name because she wanted Natalie’s jacket. A jacket? That’s very petty and mean. It says a lot about Angelina’s character. For her, the jacket is more important than me. So, I don’t trust her.” Mike: “Just so she could get Natalie’s jacket? Last night just really showed how bat shit crazy she is.” Nick: “It was a perfect Tribal in my book. Natalie goes home, and Angelina looks like a fool in front of everybody. If Angelina will do that for a jacket, imagine what she’ll do for a million dollars?” Angelina’s goat status was sealed in Nick and Mike’s eyes, but still she was oblivious, and launched another plan to get Lyrsa’s jacket. That plan failed just as badly.

An undaunted Angelina continued to believe she was a great manipulator/negotiator, so at the merge she repeated her mistake with my #14 biggest Bonehead move. After a majority of the Goliaths agreed to vote Elizabeth out (in Angelina’s presence), and Elizabeth finished 2nd in the Immunity Challenge, Angelina chose this moment to try to flip the vote to Christian. She explained her pitch to the tribe, saying “Given that my husband is serving in the Marine Corps., the way I’m angling the conversation is based off of Military tactics. And it gets them fired up.” But she didn’t notice the blank stares, and eyerolls others gave her. She made things worse by being rude during her pitch, holding up her palm to Alec’s face, then cutting off John and Alec, moving her palm to John’s face, and saying “Wait a minute, let me finish.” She was greeted with silence, but still thought her pitch worked. Afterwards, Dan said “One of the things that bugs me is she’s talkin’ all these Military terms. I’m sorry, you’re not in the Military, your husband is. That means you don’t know jack squat.” Then she snuck off with Elizabeth, warned her, and kissed her ass, saying “I’ve gotten nothing but amazingness from you. I thought I had a different vote locked in on someone. Then I come back and they’ve flipped again…You have such a big heart, and like, I just respect you enough as a person.” This gave Elizabeth time to plan a way to save herself, which she did at Tribal Council by exposing Angelina’s blatant Jury pandering. The best cover story Angelina could come up with was “I was having a human moment,” which was greeted by laughter, and eyerolls. Angelina doubled down on her lame excuse the next day by claiming it was a “moment of weakness,” which of course, nobody believed. Angelina’s goat status was set in stone, and she was buying more concrete.

Angelina STILL didn’t get it, and blamed her failure on male sexism, saying “Ultimately it was perceived that I was leading that vote was not digestible to these alpha men who have to feel in control ... I’d love to send him (Dan) packing with his Idol in his pocket. If he cried, I’d be happy.”

After falling on her face again, Angelina stayed loyal to the Goliaths and allowed herself to be the decoy vote when John was blindsided. Then later, she got mad at Alec, and Kara for voting for her, but inexplicably got most upset at Alison (who didn’t vote at all) because Alison was the one who told her she was a contingency plan. She pledged her loyalty to Christian (whom she’d just tried to vote out twice), and the Davids. She became a follower, desperate to stay in the game, and had no idea she was being accepted purely because of her goat status. She voted as Nick and/or Mike told her to for the next 6 votes but continued to make emotional decisions instead of strategic ones. She fooled herself into believing SHE was in control, saying at Final 6, “The power is in my hands, I’ve worked very hard to be in this position, and its finally time to get rid of Alison. There’s no niceties at this point. I feel a little bit like a Mob Boss right now. She’s wronged me before. I’m eager to get some revenge on Alison.”

Angelina also failed to learn her lesson about pandering, or fishing for compliments. She noticed the tribe’s rice supply was low, so she decided to negotiate with Probst for more. She missed the eye rolls when she suggested they surrender all the supplies they didn’t need or couldn’t use effectively (Fishing gear, and some but not all of their chairs, knives and pots) in exchange for more rice. They happily let her pitch Probst, who of course rejected her. He demanded one person sit out the Immunity Challenge, and when nobody volunteered, Angelina, who’d only come close to winning once, sat out. The other players initially appreciated getting extra food ... until Angelina constantly reminded them of it (at least five times in the broadcast), once again fishing for compliments. In confessional, Christian said “Angelina’s always got an angle. Always. That’s the one thing I know about her. Every time she opens her mouth, she has some kind of agenda with it.” Davie even called her out for it at FTC, saying “Well, I do have to point out that the whole point of a selfless act is to be selfless about it ... and not bring it up.”

When Nick won F4 Immunity and took the ultimate goat Angelina, she still didn’t understand her position and said in confessional “I’m a closer! I’m persuasive! And I have successfully persuaded Nick to take me to the end with him.”

Angelina and her game are best summarized by those who played the game with her: Mike: “Angelina’s Survivor strategy is from outer space. We don’t need the theatrics right now, we’re all fried. Its day 37, I don’t need to have some showcase for Angelina .... She’s like a cruel psychopath. She’s evil .... I guess this is why she wanted to play the game – to be a diabolical Villain. I don’t know ‘Villains vs Villains vs Angelina? Diary of a Mad Freakin’ Castaway?”

Nick: “I’m not gunnin’ for Angelina ‘cause if we go to the end together, ain’t nobody gonna vote to give Angelina a million dollars. I know how selfish and fake she is. So, she’s gonna follow me along.”

Christian: “Angelina is her own worst enemy .... Do you think we’re dumb enough to not see what you’re doing? The lack of subtlety turns off a jury. It was bad game play. Do I want to reward a player who is sabotaging themselves without realizing it? I don’t think so.”

Alison: “Angelina for the vast majority of the post-merge was on the bottom, and I said she was the goatiest goat that ever was. Her game play has been so disingenuous. It has been a farce from very early on and especially post-merge.”

In a post-game interview, Gabby added “The Davids could always tell who the Goliaths were voting for by things Angelina would say. This was a huge help in getting the Davids a numerical advantage. Post-game Angelina claimed her negative edit was because all the editors were white men who hated women and minorities.

Outlook: Angelina never once took responsibility for creating her own failure in the game or her bad image. She’s doomed to repeat her mistakes because she refuses to acknowledge she makes any. My best guess is Angelina made this cast because she’s so wonderfully delusional she’s here purely for comedy relief. But it’s possible she gained a degree of self-awareness and figured out she was the butt of the joke instead of the jokester. But it’s a lot more likely she has convinced herself she made the cut because she’s truly one of the 24 best players ever. With all the alpha males in this cast, she’s bound to provide more delusional entertainment. It would be a major shocker if she won, but not at all surprising if she got carried deep as a goat again.

Mike was there for the adventure, and he’d be the first one to tell you so. But while he was there, he played a game good enough to win most seasons. Mike entered as a wealthy celebrity actor/writer. But instead of sandbagging his celebrity status, Mike owned and advertised it as a means of buying safety. He convinced everyone he wasn’t serious about winning and was happy just to be included. Considering he was the most successful of all the Goliaths, he had the smallest ego and had no problem letting the alphas butt heads.

Mike got himself into trouble early on by Idol hunting while the others built a shelter. Everyone noticed and considered voting him out first. He was lucky Natalie Cole volunteered to find him, then inexplicably warned him. But Mike made an adjustment, laid low and told everyone he was there for the experience. Jeremy and Natalie provided cover by fighting with each other, taking focus off of Mike. At the swap, Mike formed his most important relationship, partnering with Nick, who called them the “Rock Stars.” Thanks to Natalie’s constantly annoying presence, Mike bonded closer to Nick and Angelina, united against Natalie. Mike and Nick also bonded in their dislike of Angelina and her plans to use them to help her get jackets from Natalie and Lyrsa. Mike realized he could influence Nick’s decisions after convincing Nick to remove Lyrsa instead of Angelina, which helped Mike maintain the appearance he was still loyal to the Goliaths at the merge.

Mike remained flexible at the merge, first reconnecting with Goliaths Alison and Alec, who helped him form a secret cross-tribal alliance with Christian, Nick and Gabby. That group of six helped remove Elizabeth. Then Mike identified the biggest threat and convinced the Goliaths to go after Christian. Even though that plan failed when Davie saved Christian with his Idol, Mike knew he had some influence. He went after Christian again, only to be foiled by Carl’s Idol Nullifier and Nick’s Vote Stealer, yet he maintained Christian’s trust. Mike sensed the tide shifting to the Davids so he helped unanimously boot Alec. But when Gabby decided to blindside Carl, Mike saw his chance and took over. After Carl was gone, Mike saw Nick’s temper tantrum, and took advantage, convincing the unsuspecting Nick to give the numbers advantage back to the Goliaths by removing Gabby, then Christian. Mike was even more confident after winning Immunity at 7. Nick never realized Mike was taking control. Mike said, “I guess I’m a really good actor, because when I say ‘Look, I’m really being honest with you, I’m really telling you the truth,’ they believe me. That’s a huge advantage. Everyone is looking to me to advise them on their next move.” Mike put a stranglehold on the voting when he convinced Angelina to help blindside Davie at Final 6. Nick never saw it coming, and threw another tantrum, but now it was too late. There were four Goliaths (who all listened to Mike), and Nick. Mike was set to go to the end with ultimate goat in Angelina, and the more passive Kara or Alison.

Mike’s game started to crack at Final 5 when he snapped at Alison, saying “To me it’s something great about ... leaving with a shred of dignity.” Alison, Gabby and Carl all seemed offended by Mike lashing out at Alison for serving him up as a target when she had no other options. Christian described Mike’s game the best in his “Jury Speaks” video, saying “When has someone come in and told everyone ‘I’m really rich, I don’t need the money,’ then found a way to take it home anyway? And while he did it, everyone wanted to work with him. It was a revolving door of people just going up to Mike and giving him information. He was the C.I.A. of our game. He knew everything that was going on. He was hiding in plain sight this whole time, and we didn’t vote him out.”

Mike probably entered FTC with a 60% chance of beating Nick, but his FTC performance killed those chances. The jury wanted to know if they were seeing the real Mike or a great acting performance. Mike was completely honest with them to a fault, telling them “And the truth is, there is a part of me that feels like I’ve been creating a character out here...What am I playing for? For me, it was never about the pot of gold, it’s about the rainbow,” and “It’s more about the struggle for me to feel like this was a worthy endeavor for me to win this game.” Mike couldn’t convince the jury he wanted the win, so they didn’t give it to him. Mike’s FTC revelation likely cost him votes from Gabby, John, and Dan. In the end, if Mike, the actor had acted like he really wanted the win, he might have gotten it.

Outlook: Mike has played with Christian and Angelina before. He took regular aim at Christian, which may or may not affect his ability to align with him this time around. But Mike took several insulting shots at Angelina, both to other players and in confessional. Will Angelina want to work with him? Since Mike has established he’ll put his castmates in The White Lotus, it’s doubtful anyone will target him early on. Mike can win the game if he can convince others he wants to.

TV News Reporter Rick Devens endeared himself to the audience with his “Action News Update” style confessionals. But as a Survivor player, he turned in a flashy but inconsistent effort. Along the way, he won 4 physical Immunity Challenges, including a Re-entry challenge to get back into the game at the merge. As the game began, he arrived with 13 other rookies, then was surprised to see 4 returning players – Kelley Wentworth, David Wright, Aubry Bracco and Joe Anglim – pull up in a separate boat. Most on Devens’ tribe were excited to have Kelley and David join them. The other tribe, not so much. Devens immediately told his tribe he was a TV news Anchor.

After his tribe lost the first Immunity Challenge, Devens found himself as a swing vote. He helped identify Keith, Reem and Wendy as a trio to Kelley, David, Wardog and Lauren. Then he found himself cornered by Reem into choosing who he wanted gone between Kelley and Lauren. He ultimately helped boot Reem first, but didn’t handle it smoothly as both Keith and Wendy were suspicious of him. Devens adjusted by becoming close partners with David. When Wendy tried to pressure him into aligning with her, Devens stuttered and stammered some more, but David had his back. Devens sat back as Chris took a spotlight role in a challenge his tribe eventually lost. Devens thought Keith was a goner until eventual winner Chris Underwood suggested blindsiding Wentworth. Chris eventually helped boot Keith but went after Kelley again at the next vote. Chris got blindsided instead. Wendy was set to go next, but a swap to 3 tribes put her on a different tribe. Suddenly it was David & Devens vs Kelley & Lauren with Wardog in the middle. They lost the next Immunity Challenge, and swing vote Wardog sided with Kelley and Lauren, sending Devens to Exile to wait for his chance to get back into the game. While on Exile, Devens solved a clue to the location of an Advantage and gave an Extra Vote to David. But he spent most of his time on Extinction getting sick of the others who’d been voted out.

But he made the most of his 2nd life when he won the re-entry challenge at the merge. He had Wardog, Aurora, Kelley, and Lauren all cheering for him at the challenge, but Kelley said in confessional he was the last one she wanted to return to the game. His renewed attitude was reflected in his confessional. He said, “Before Extinction Island, in a lot of ways, the game was getting the best of me. But if I can win my way back, what the hell is out here that’s gonna scare me? I can win these people over. I can win challenges. I’m a whole new man thanks to the Extinction Island.” Devens was gifted half an Idol and had to give the other half to someone. He picked David, who was the only one he trusted. He survived that merge vote when Joe was booted, but David got three votes against him from his original tribe. That’s when Devens hit his stride.

First, Devens and David sided with the Kama tribe and helped Ron and Eric remove two more of their own. Wardog pitched a Lesu reunion, and Devens committing my Bonehead move #44 by rudely shut him down, saying “I fucking don’t wanna get back with you guys at all. You guys stabbed me in the back over and over again. I don’t wanna work with Kelley at all, she’s tried to vote me out twice.” By not even trying to fool Wardog into thinking he’d cooperate, Devens guaranteed he’d stay on his own. Devens didn’t realize David was good with Wardog’s plan, and their partnership was in jeopardy. That hit home when Devens voted for Lauren, but David helped blindside Eric. But the pair stayed together and agreed to let David use their shared Idol. Devens played his Idol for David (who didn’t need it) and Julia left. Then David got voted out next and Devens was on his own, gathering 12 votes against him along the way.

After getting an Advantage from David on Exile, Devens won his first Immunity Challenge. He started raising his profile at Tribal Council with statements like his “Pilots and Passengers” analogy. He tried to unite himself with Ron and Wardog by pitching them as the three biggest threats. Others became aware Devens was a threat because he’d spent so much time on Exile with the future Jurors. Devens pulled out a second Immunity win and Wardog left. Devens was visibly shocked, as he voted for Aurora. He knew Ron lied to him. Devens wisely threw the Loved Ones Challenge, choosing to chat with his wife instead. Devens knew he was the biggest target left, so he openly searched for an Idol. He found a clue and found the Idol hidden above the shelter at night. Earlier, Ron gave Devens an Advantage Menu claiming it was an Idol, but didn’t say it had expired on day 9. Devens suspected it was a phony, so he played it. When Probst confirmed it had expired, he called Ron and Julie “Villains” for trying to fool him, then played his real Idol and Ron got blindsided. The Jury loved the move, even though Devens voted for Aurora. As Ron left, he said “Devens, you’re a great player. It was a lot of fun.” Devens was the clear frontrunner now. Then he found a third Idol and fooled everyone into thinking he was vulnerable by continuing to search and hide as they followed him. He won a 3rd Immunity Challenge and showed his Idol to everyone at Tribal Council, hinting he’d play it for Julie. His ploy worked. They voted Aurora out, and Devens held on to his Idol.

Devens’ game fell apart when Chris won the second re-entry challenge. Devens had no idea Chris had been given specific instructions by his jurors on what he had to do to get their votes. Devens believed Chris was an ally but was confused when Chris helped Julie win Immunity. He was more confused when Julie took Chris and Lauren on the accompanying Reward. He didn’t know Julie wanted to help boot Devens. Devens played his Idol but then was even more confused and embarrassed when Lauren played her Idol for Chris, booting Victoria. Devens bounced back by hiding two phony Idols he’d made earlier. Julie found one, then Lauren found the other. Then Devens found his 4th Idol, guaranteeing him a spot in the final 4. He returned the half Idol Chris had given him upon returning to the game, and they both had Idols. Then even though he didn’t need it, Devens won Immunity again, his 4th win. Devens smiled at the Jury as Julie and Lauren’s phony Idols were exposed, then smiled even bigger when he played his real one for Gavin, who he’d made a deal with. At Final 4, Chris won Immunity, and as per his jurors’ instructions, put himself in the fire challenge against Devens and won. Then Chris won the game. Devens had all kinds of rough parts to his social game, but his likability and BS meter endeared him to his Jury. If he was better at making fire, he was an easy winner.

Outlook: Devens has been away from the game long enough that some may have forgotten how crafty he can be. They might forget how good he is at challenges too. Devens may have an in to align with Aubry since they were never on the same tribe together and never targeted each other in EoE – there’s no bad blood here. They did spend several days on Exile together that weren’t in the final edit. If he can keep his temper under control, he’s got a good shot at winning. Oh, and if he finds one Idol, he’ll tie Russell Hantz for holding the most career Idols with 5.

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Editor's note: We're rolling this out in three parts, because 24 players is a lot! Check back here next week for Part 3. And in the meantime, don't forget to leave a comment below.