Day 36

The new cast of Survivor just went up! As I have previously established in blog posts, personality is incredibly hard to change. It is nearly impossible in fact. It takes so much hard work under normal conditions that under conditions such as the ones in Cambodia, it becomes even more difficult to hide who you truly are. That is why I have decided to give some comments on some of these new players to see if their personality quirks could maybe shape their placement in the game (it is after all a social game).
BRAWN

Alecia Holden

For a girl who claims to be MagYver levels of incredible, she sure does have the most boring job in the world. I mean, come on, real estate agent? If I could list the top 20 most generic reality TV jobs ever and that would have come in at number two right behind "pharmaceutical sales rep." She says she will be most like Kass. Uh huh honey. Sorry, but NOBODY can ever be the queen.

prediction: I want to say first boot but she is on brawn and they might not lose the first challenge. So I'll go with the easy "early pre-merge"

KYLE JASON

I am literally terrified of him. Is "Bounty Hunter" the scariest job description in this history of Survivor? Probably. That being said, I loved him iso much. He seemed shockingly intelligible and it is a well known fact that "one uppers" are the most annoying things on the planet so I know he is smart. If this truly is the second coming of Russel Hantz, I think we are in for a great season.

prediction: loosing finalist

BEAUTY

Nick Maiorano

Well well well. We have who might possibly be the most polarizing contestant (I have no grounds to state that, I just feel that is what will be the case.) Definitely the most narcissistic (oh wait he's not narcissistic because he's at least faking his interest while everyone else actually IS disinterested). And definitely the most obnoxious person on the cast to listen to. BUT I hold the faith with Mr. Nick. And that is because he is probably the biggest superfan on this season. Everyone else has supposedly seen every episode, but he's actually blogged about it. He legitimately knows the game inside and out. And anyone who refers to Courney Yates and Jonathan Penner in their bios, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt. The good thing about this guy is that he's either going to flame out spectacularly in the first few episodes or flame out later, desperately trying to pull the biggest move this game has ever seen.

p.s. anyone get a Max Dawson-ish vibe from him?

prediction: merge boot. 

CALEB REYNOLDS

 BYE BYE BYE *NSYNC plays softly in the background over my wails.* Of ALL the people to cast from BB16 WHY Beast Mode Cowboy? (That being said, take this CBS as my personal thank you note that I am not typing Frankie Grande on here). I wish it could have been Zach Rance. But whatever. It is what it is. I would love these superfans to vote Caleb out as a joke but I know that is not going to happen. Caleb played a blindly loyal game on Big Brother and is a known physical guy who should contribute in challenges. I think he will be dragged along by someone. The only reason I think he will be cut before the final tribal council is for one of two reasons: 1) he is too likable and nobody wants that at the end or 2) someone takes a shot at him as someone's right hand. 

prediction: I think he and Nick will be a tag team but Caleb is going to go further and be a late merge boot.

JULIA SOKOLOWSKI

First of all, I heavily relate to this girl so I'm going to be nice. She says she has seen every episode of Survivor and applied the moment she turned 18. I want her to do well simply because of that. I would love her to kick the "Natalie Tenerelli and Spencer Duhmn" legacy of young people doing horribly. However, as I have previously stated, perception is 9/10 of the law. And I just ultimately don't see anybody giving her credit for any move in the end, even if it is deserved, simply because of her age. As well, the first few days are so desperately tied to physical performance and social bonds that I am not sure Julia will be able to excel in either category due to her young age.

prediction: losing finalist

TAI TRANG

 I know people are already gung ho over him, but man I was not ready for him. I expected him to be annoying as all get out and the person I would simply have to put up with. LIKE JANE BRIGHT! The "fan favorite" that made me want to sit in a dark room and listen to a CD recording of nails on a chalkboard for hours. But he was strangely endearing in his video. As long as there are not too many moments with him, I think I can handle it.

prediction: pre-merge