CBS "Survivor 42" contestants Tori Meehan, Hai Giang, and Romeo Escobar.
With the premiere of “Survivor 42” on the horizon, fans and commentators are anxiously awaiting the chance to see whether their predictions on the season’s cast will pay off.
Recently, EW released a video in which each member of the season’s cast was asked, pre-game, to predict something about the season, and some castaways had some pretty bold responses.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tori Predicts First Female (Her) Will Win 5 Individual Immunities
One of the most prevalent predictions among the cast had to do with the success of female competitors. Note that this season was filmed back-to-back with “Survivor 41,” and as a result the contestants are unaware that a female won the previous season and broke the six-season streak of male winners.
Chanelle Howell, a 29-year-old from New York, for instance, predicted that a woman will do “really well” this season. “I think this season is poised for a woman to do really well,” she said. “Hopefully it’s me.”
Marya Sherron, a 47-year-old stay-at-home mom from Indiana, predicted that a woman will become a “serious provider” at camp, similar to the fishing/hunting skills of Ozzy Lusth or Rupert Boneham. “I think this season we are going to see our first dominant female provider,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a woman out there fishing and doing what Ozzy and Rupert and some of the other great fisherman have.”
Tori Meehan, on the other hand, made a concrete prediction about breaking a “Survivor” record that has held for 41 seasons: a woman winning 5 individual immunity challenges. Over 41 seasons, six males have tied the record for winning the most number of individual immunity challenges on a single season, at five, ranging in time from Colby Donaldson on season 2, “The Australian Outback,” to Brad Culpepper on season 34, “Game Changers.” Across all that time, however, no female has achieved that goal. Four women have won four individual immunities, but not five. Tori predicts that someone – hopefully herself – will break that record this season:
We’re about to have the first woman to ever win five individual immunity challenges in one season. It’s going to happen. Men have done it! Therefore it’s going to happen someday, a woman’s gonna do it, so why not me? Why can’t that be me? … So that’s a bold prediction that I really hope comes true. We’ll see.
One Fan Wants to Pull Off a Rare Strategic Feat
YouTubeTony Vlachos plots with Jeremy Collins to enact the risky “plurality vote” in episode 11 of “Survivor: Winners at War” (2020).
Others similarly had lofty aspirations when it came to their own games. On a season filled with superfans, 37-year-old Romeo Escobar predicted that he will “shock everybody that underestimates me” by being the Sole Survivor.
Hai Giang, a 29-year-old data scientist, wants to pull off the lofty “plurality vote” in the event he is in the minority, whereby he would use the majority’s “split vote” strategy against them, eliminating one of them by (presumably) flipping one of them to his side. “Probably if I find myself on the wrong side of the numbers, I want to execute the rarely seen plurality vote, meaning that the person who goes home doesn’t go home by the majority of the votes,” he explained.
This occurred most recently in episode 11 of season 40, “Winners at War,” in what was called one of the best moves of Tony Vlachos‘ winning game. In the episode, Tony recruited Michele Fitzgerald and Jeremy Collins, who were in the minority, as well as his ally Nick Wilson, to blindside Sophie Clarke, as he perceived Sophie to be too close to his top ally, Sarah Lacina. The plan worked, as the majority alliance split their votes between Michele and Jeremy (assuming Tony was on board), and Sophie was blindsided with an idol in her pocket, in a 4-3-2 vote.
If Hai indeed pulls off such a feat, it will definitely go down in the “Survivor” history books.
Many more bold predictions about the season were made – some completely off base, some more on track – such as that “everybody’s going to get along,” that perhaps there simply won’t even be tribes at all, or that the season will be “unprecedented in absolutely every single way.” To check out the rest, watch EW’s full video here or above.
“Survivor” airs Wednesdays 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS. The two-hour season 42 premiere will air on March 9.