[Tyler Frederickson]

So it's already late AF and I haven't read any of the chats, but I've been collecting some initial thoughts on the players based off of the brilliantly-prepared Cast Bios and the first two confessionals and even though nobody asked for it, there is only a small window of opportunity to post one's first impressions. Plus I'll be in Vegas all weekend celebrating my gay marriage anniversary (12th year married, 22nd year together. Like 2 lifetimes reincarnated with the same mate in gay years) so it's now or never, right? 

Starting with the Ancha tribe, which was just vibing for me as a whole from the get-go. If I'm basing a tribe's success on a vibe in this moment, Ancha is it for me. Although there are some amazing players on both tribes, my first impressions honed in on the Ancha tribe right away. This is the tribe with the vibe. Below are my notes on the players so far. Some of which I foolishly try to make predictions...

ABRAHAM

• Canadian wiener dog dude
• ORGs helped him find toxic relationship
• Likes Mega Man
• I like this guy. I think his experience with ORGs will make him a solid player & I expect him to make the merge. He seems flexible and adaptable. 
• Stoner alliance with Evvie and Xander <— Love this
• Bringing in Shan and Deshawn for majority

DANNY 

• Guy from Kenya - Like Wendell in Aegean Sea, his time zone difference could be no issue at all. Depends on him.
• Curious to see if Among Us translates
• His 3 favorite Survivors are all from Season 1?
• I mean, my instincts tell me that he’s not going to last long in this game. He has no ORG experience and could be perceived as inactive if he is not communicating. That said, I would love to be proven wrong because he seems like a very rad person and I look forward to seeing what he brings.
• He’s the last to arrive at camp and people have his name in their mouth already.
• Currently bummed. Want to see Danny play!

DESHAWN 

• Canada’s biggest loser - lost 100 lbs through lifestyle changes! Impressive!
• 37 - and plans to lie about his age if he’s the oldest
• Apparently is well traveled and very aware of what he needs to do to get what he wants. — SUPER intrigued to see if he is as good in practice as he sounds on paper. He seems like someone who is going to go deep into the game, even though he’s never played anything like it. Then again, he could be viewed as a manipulative player and be targeted early. Right now, my gut says he’s going to do well. *Raises RuPaul glasses*
• As I read his confessionals he kind reminds me of myself…I mean, I do vibe with him for sure.
• He steps up to be the leader of Ancha.
• Big fan of Abraham & Sara
• I still like Deshawn. He seems like a player. I think he’s going to do well in this game...

 EVVIE 

• Lots of ORG experience
• Ohhhh this is gangstagurry - yay! I loved this interview and I thought parts of the intro sounded familiar... This person has a lot of charisma even just via chat. I think people are really going to like this person and want to keep them around for awhile. I have a good feeling about Evvie and hope they stick around for awhile. I am predicting final 5 for the hell of it.
• Calls out Deshawn in confessional as someone likely to make emotional messy moves - Ha!
• Yeah, I just love this person’s personality. Hardcore rooting for Evvie.
• Currently likes Shan best but also has Sara, Heather & Danny as the bottom 3

HEATHER 

• BB fan with Masters in English. Good communication is everything
• Ditzy yet insightful
• She has a great BB strategy - we’ll see if it pays off for Stranded. Although being a little sister to the alpha males isn’t a bad Stranded strategy either. Kinda like a Hali or Shirin from my perspective. It definitely worked for Shirin. Others will be targeted before her most likely. She knows not to come off threatening early on. I like everything about Heather right now and can easily see her in the merge. Probably better…
• Confesses her strategy is to be a bit of a snake. Not sure if she is aware yet of how low-ranked she is among her tribemates...I really like her though so I hope she can find her way out of the (currently perceived) bottom... 
• She (correctly imo) points out that the people she needs to get close to are Evvie, Abraham and Xander. Keeping an eye on Sara.
• I like how strategic Heather is and I want her to do well.

 SARA 

• Played by a male
• Hates BB which is perfect that he’s on tribe with Heather
• Could Sara flame out early? Why am I getting this vibe?
• Idk, they sound good on paper… but also sound young. I’m not sure why I’m feeling so iffy about this player…
• Reading the interview he seems like a likable guy. He likes to say fuck. 
• Watch this guy be fabulous. Not everyone can win though so I might as well trust my gut and predict a low placement for Sara… I have no good reason why.
• Okay 1 day into the game it seems I’m not the only one who is getting this sort of vibe from Sara. And she’s not in the greatest position in the tribe yet. 
• First player to be meh on their confessionals so far (besides Danny)

SHAN 

• 37 female! - I like her already
• Veteran ORGer who doesn’t watch Survivor? Hmmm
• 2 yer old daughter - they can be a handful I hear
• How would you like to be portrayed on the real show if you had the option?
• The underdog you don’t really notice much at first until halfway through the game when you’re suddenly like “wait where did THIS bitch come from??”
• YES. QUEEN. I Stan.
• I think she’ll probably do really well. Another merge player for sure as long as she keeps up communication and, you know, is as likable as she claims to be. But, yeah I would try to align with her, personally. 
• Funny that she dislikes Xander the most! Loves Abraham, Evvie, & Heather

 XANDER 

• 29 gay boy in cannabis — hooray! You’re my favorite so far. (next to Evvie)
• Parvati, Amanda, Corinne. Ok Queen.
• Double Libra. Love it.
• Big personality. Loud. Here for it. — giving me a Ricard (Aegean) vibe
• I mean yes, this person is bound to be a lot of fun to watch. He could go either way for me. I think he could do well, and I hope he does. I think he could also totally flop, which I hope he doesn’t. 
• Seems to be making good connections and generally liked by the tribe (except for Shan)

So many good characters on Ancha. I would want to be on this tribe.

As for Kallpa -- lots of great players on this tribe too. I just vibed harder initially with Ancha, Blame the universe. *shrug*

AARON 

• 34 - A designer for drag queens, WHAT?
• Tyson-Todd-Courtney <— here for this person
• Gay in a family of republicans in southern Louisiana. Yikes.
• I mean I’m sold on his bio and I’m rooting for him for sure. I do like his chances. That said, I don’t get a strong feeling about him as a player. I want him to go far. Not sure if he’ll make the merge. 
• Volunteers to be his tribe leader
• Feels good about Frosti and Denise.
• I take it all back. Aaron is going to do fine in this game.

DENISE 

• 19!
• 100 Tengaged games. 
• Fudge Nuggets (a dog)
• Studying psychology
• Doesn’t like loud people? I wonder if she’ll ever meet Xander?
• Plans to lie about age - potentially as old as 30 (!!!) 
• This person could be an epic troll and I pray to god they are not voted out too soon. I strongly feel this will be a fun player to watch if they can get into a majority. He vibes like someone a majority might turn on over time though, so we’ll see how he does. I love his strategy of lying about his age if he can pull it off. He comes off young to me, but maybe that’s because I know his real age.
• Denise is who I got as my winner pick. Admittedly not my first choice, but now that I have her I'm kinda psyched. I’ll be watching her a bit more carefully for sure.
• Feels good about Aaron and Frosti I’m excited about the possibility of these three becoming a threesome.

ERIK 

• 29 - Australia! 
• LRG VILLAIN
• Adam Klein-Owen-Nick Brown — possibly the oddest combination I’ve heard to date
• Will clash with strong willed women and get along with people who are interested in him. I love this guy. Wait does he have a real issue with women? 
• 4 out of 10 personality. He’s cracking me up.
• Socialist commune what?  
• Okay so he sounds adaptable. Wow, I’m torn on this guy. The comedic villain angle is great. The likable doofus possibility also great. Will he clash with women? Will people spot his deviousness? For some reason I think he’ll get at least mid-game. But, we’ll see…
• Already some concern with the time zones here, but I’ve seen other Australians pull it off. I have faith in this guy…

 FROSTI 

• 29 - Loveita’s research assistant!
• This person stood out to me for obvious reasons. I’m sure we all want to know if researching Stranded helps you play in any way. Of course he mostly just knows Final TC speeches so I’m not sure what advantage, if any, he has. I think it will be fascinating to see how he responds to the challenge and if he gets as big a kick out of playing.
• Wow, he is planning a wedding AND playing Stranded AND he has a baby? Will he have time for the baby???
• No knowledge of Survivor contestants at all and is sarcastic and blunt. I don’t want to predict a flop for your boy, but I truly wonder how long he can last in a game like this. I’m totally fascinated to watch though. I hope he finds a groove and gets the full experience! Making it to FTC would be obviously incredible. 
• His stated strategy (make 3 strong connections for end game options) is sound. Maybe he knows more than he says?
• His ideal ally is a bully. He seems aggressive tbh.   
• I just hope Frosti lasts awhile. He is fascinating to watch. 

 JAIME 

• 26 female
• Dialysis tech - 1 year old daughter - middle school sweetheart with hubs
• Doesn’t like pets?
• Oh I vaguely remember the interview with the girl who cared about gun laws. She was great!
• Jaime seems like a good avatar for this girl. She comes off very sweet, but not necessarily an obvious threat. There’s no reason for me to feel too strongly about her as a player yet. She could go either way.
• "I hate the outdoors unless im tanning with a glass of sangria in my hand". - Ok maybe I do like Jaime.
• ADD/ADHD - game gives her an outlet to chat. Ok interesting. 
• Jaime is a total wildcard for me. 

 JEAN-ROBERT 

• 22 - Tengaged. 
• Played Survivor at Ohio State?
• Traveling Europe
• Parents’ divorce taught him politics
• Loves blindsides - now I understand why he was cast - to be a villain. 
• His friends nicknamed him “the main character”
• Ok so he claims he is going to be a firecracker player that is not to be missed. Glad he is repped by Jean-Robert in that case. I’m not totally sure I am convinced he is going to be that kind of a firecracker, but I can see why we’re giving him that shot. What do I know? Bring it JR! 
• He is in Greece at the moment. Wild. Jealous.

LESLIE 

• 24 - female - teacher
• Survivor fan who researched the game. Good vibes already…
• Erika-Kim-Michele all female winners
• Special ed teacher, religious
• She will do well. I really can’t say why I think she’ll do better than Jaime, but that’s my prediction.
• Ok so Leslie has been doing serious research on back seasons of Stranded. Props!
• Post-counting! As a way to gauge activity...niiice. Is she the only one paying attention to this? 
• Heartfelt confessional about struggles with being religious and being judged.
• Strongly feels Aaron will overplay before merge. Likes Denise. LOVES Jaime. Finds Sherea Impossible to talk to (Ugh).
• Ok really liking Leslie. She gives me the best vibes on this tribe.

 Sherea 

• 39 female - Yay! Oldest player!
• Never watched Survivor but heard about ORGs on the radio?!?
• Comes off as rude bitch
• Unpredictable dynamic indeed! I mean, I get the high possibility that Sherea could flop quite early. I live for the unpredictable player though so fuck that shit. Who knows? 
• Sherea may have had the best confessional of the bunch with her snarky 1-liner answers. 
• She is such an excellent contrast of a player. Like anti-social and gruff. Guarded. Sarcastic. I can’t imagine why exactly she is here, but I’m here for her. She is different for sure and totally unpredictable. 
• Survivor is a numbers game and you never know how it will play out, so I don’t want to rule Sherea out of the mix. But I suspect she could very well be the first to go on this tribe.

So yeah, lots of interesting players. Some stand out more as interesting characters than potential winners. But honestly, winners of Survivor are so highly unpredictable, all you can do is guess. The people I got the best winner vibes from:

• Deshawn
• Evvie - I just really liked this person’s energy. Not sure if they’ll win but I want them to.
• Heather
• Shan
• Xander - I personally like and am rooting for this person, but Im not sure they will win….
• Aaron - I feel similarly to Xander. Rooting for him, not sure he’’ll win….
• Tbh - the rest of the China people, while all intriguing do not give me winner vibes. 

So Top 3 winner picks = Deshawn, Heather, Shan
Top 3 faves = Evvie, Xander, Aaron
This is all based on gut, first impressions. Can’t wait to see how it plays out!