Read on below and marvel at how I follow last week’s on-target predictions with something far dumber this week.

Staff Predictions

Andy (non-robot version)

The original Kamas SHOULD’VE left themselves unnecessarily vulnerable in their rush to scratch that Joe itch. Hey, I get it, when you have a chance to not knock Joe Anglim out of Survivor, you gotta do it. But… they also completely blew up any chance of reconciliation among the former Manus. So that’s cool. But it makes predicting a turnaround a little difficult… EXCEPT that the former Manus have all the idols (unless there’s one at the new merge beach… which there might be). So I say the former Kamas start the feel themselves after their big victory, and split votes between Kelley and Lauren (David and Rick join the Kamas for this split). BUT, Kelley and Lauren each play their idols and the vote bounces back to… shit I don’t know. Revenge might suggest Julie, but she’s no more responsible for Kelley and Lauren’s failure than is Victoria and… the other one who talks now but says nothing of interest. It may seem like Julie was the more important one, but that’s just because of confessionals. Instead, I say Ron is the one who REALLY plays up how excited he is to have won last vote and how much control he has and they take him out. Out of annoyance as much as strategy.

Brad

Ok, so I have to account for the possibility that someone is medevaced from the challenge along with the possibility that doesn’t happen. Going with the latter first, I think that everyone outside the Kama 6 could coalesce and use their idols to flip the script. But they won’t because they’re too fragmented and no one will tip their hand that they’re holding idols. Not to mention that Aurora, despite being on the bottom of Kama, is now closer to the alliance of six than to the Lesus and would still be on the bottom of that new alliance. It will take complete trust to get everyone together _just to force a tie_, and the more complex plan of plurality voting off of a Kama 6 vote split it a lot to ask. So we’re probably going to have to pick from the Lesu tribe here.

Now to consider *if* someone is medevaced. Going through the previews, I notice two things: (1) Jeff runs over to whoever fell; (2) there are two distinct female voices saying “oh my god” (I should also note that I’m also predicting that the Victoria clip in the NTOS is a red herring tho I’m not saying she goes home). Looking at how people drew spots for the challenge, I’ll say that Wardrobe is certainly a Lesu who could be voted off and also is in position far away from Jeff that could get a big reaction from Aurora and Lauren.

Emma

The non-Kama six may be a hot mess, but they have three idols on their side so seems like there are decent odds that one will be played and get out the plurality alliance. Ron seems to be the leader, so we’ll say him. Plus he’s on the older side, so if there is a medevac (which I personally doubt) he has a shot of going there too.

John

Do you all remember when we weren’t seeing any of the Lesser Joes earlier this season, but in the 40 seconds we saw of them they kept reminding us that they wanted to vote out the returning players? What if- now stay with me here, because this is complicated- the thing they said they were going to do is exactly what they plan to do? There are two returning players left: David and Wentworth. One of those players has an idol. David does not, so David goes home this week. And then, when the Lesser Joes come for Kelley next week, I want all of you who demanded that we get more of Ron, Julia, Julie, Gavin, and Victoria early on to tell me that you still wish we had seen more of them to flesh out their strategic games.

On a side note, if Julie comes through on my podcast prediction and demands that Rick target David this week to prove his loyalty, she becomes my favorite player of this season.

Mark

With three idols on the minority’s alliance, something has to blow. Remember how Kelley became famous in Cambodia? I think it’s time for her protege to pull the same move. Everyone suspects Kelley to have an idol, so the Kama 6 come after Lauren, she whips hers out, and the cartoon villain of the group, Ron, gets voted out with 3 votes to Wentworth’s 2. (From Dave-ens, of course, as insurance. In fact, I’m going to guess David votes for Kelley from now until one of them exits the game.)

Matt

Now that Ron has achieved everything that he and Stephen Fishbach have ever dreamed of, voting out Joe, his story is complete. (Editor’s note: How. Dare.) Which means he will go home (to EoE) and join Joe on that sweet island in the … sea? Wherever it is that is where he is going. Bye Ron.

	Robot Andy	Brad	Emma	John	Mark	Matt	Readers
2nd Boot	Wendy	Keith	Wendy	Wendy	Keith	Wendy	Wendy
3rd Boot	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy
4th Boot	Wendy	Aubry	Kelley	Aurora	Wendy	Aurora	Wendy
5th or 6th Boot	Wendy	Aubry	Wendy	Aubry	Wendy	Wendy	Wendy
7th Boot	Wendy	Julia	Dan	Joe	Dan	Dan	Dan
EoE returnee	Wendy	Chris	Rick	Rick	Chris	Rick	Rick
8th boot	Ron	Wardrobe	Ron	David	Ron	Ron
Score