So apparently, this season no pregame interviews from Dalton Ross or Gordon Holmes (I got confirmation from them this morning). That won’t help my season preview as I usually base most of it from their interviews, because let’s face it, CBS pregame interviews don’t show anything, or at least anything interesting in terms of what character and/or what player each contestant is going to be. However, this is all I have this season, so let’s give it a try (but don’t except one post per contestant).
So here are my first impressions of the men aka Manono:
- Bill Posley: A stand-up comedian who’s also a veteran. He could be an interesting character and good at challenges. With a good social game he could make it far, but does he have an strategy in him? Good question.
- Colton Cumbie: I already dislike him. He seems completely full of shit, and every single sentence he utters in the CBS pregame interview is an endless list of clichés and common places. He may be strategic, but how is his social game be? With a bad beginning, he could easily be an early boot, else he could become a jury member, or I even possibly be see him as a final three goat.
- Greg Smith: Talking about goats, the only three words that come to mind about him right now are three names: Coach, Jimmy T. and Phillip Sheppard. Whose path is he going to follow? Or am I completely wrong about him?
- Jay Byars: I get a Fabio vibe from him, but more strategic and less likable. Is he aware of what he got himself into with Survivor? Or is he a possible male Purple Kelly?
- Jonas Otsuji: So far, he’s my favorite of the men. He seems to be the most “normal” of all of the men. Not an attention whore, not an Alpha male wannabe, just a normal dude. That could help him navigate under the radar, or that could hurt him and his tribe could gang up on him if it loses challenges because of him or something like that.
- Leif Manson: I don’t really have anything to say about him. I don’t know why. Maybe because I don’t want to think that his size has an influence on my first impression, or simply because he doesn’t really say anything worthy to be noted in his interview. I don’t think his size will be a big problem for him, except if some idiots target him simply because they’re afraid he’ll get a sympathy vote (how many winners have we seen winning thanks to the sympathy vote?), but I’m not sure what he has to offer in terms of strategy nor in terms of character.
- Matt Quinlan: I hate it when people are “here for the challenge”, it usually means that they’re happy with making the jury and that annoys me. I think every single contestant of Survivor should be in it because they want to win, and no other reason. However, that being said, he may have a strategic side, more than a lot of his tribesmates.
- Michael Jefferson: He reminds me of three people, Erik Cardona from Samoa, Marcus Lehman from Gabon and Brendan Synnot from Tocantins. That is the alpha male type, leader of his tribe, who thinks he has every laid out until the end, and then he gets voted out just before or after the merge.
- Troy “Troyzan” Robertson: An interesting character? Full of shit? A good player? Not sure. He seems a bit too pretentious and too overconfident. He may have a bad surprise. He is some sort of wildcard right now, I could as easily be the first boot or the winner.
(yeah, I know, some people have been decapitated by the thumbnail cropping… oh well…)
That’s it for the men. They didn’t really give me a good impression as a whole. There maybe a couple of interesting people, but right now, most of them seem a bit too alike (young, muscular, with suspicious reasons to be on the show – 15 minutes of fame, self-challenge, etc.)
We’ll see what the women have to offer in a few days.
Meanwhile, what do you think about them? What are your first impressions? Hit the comments to tell us.