Survivor season 42 episode 6 power rankings

Week 6 of Survivor Season 42 is in the books. Unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a wild one as we revisited the controversial hourglass twist and saw the tribes merge into one. While not as hated as Season 41’s version of this twist, it certainly had a major impact on the game.

On top of that, the merge flipped a few people from positions of power, leading to a bit of shuffling in our power rankings. That said, last week we kind of predicted this would happen and tentatively shuffled people around already. So, while our rankings have changed, it might not be as drastic as you might first assume Let’s give them a look.

Out) Lydia Meredith (Last: 8) – Lydia didn’t really do much wrong this week. You could argue that she didn’t properly make everyone feel safe, but her boot seemed more an outcome of players scrambling once they discovered they were no longer safe after Rocksroy Bailey smashed the hourglass and took away immunity from Lydia’s alliance. Much like Sydney Sweeney from last season, Lydia’s exit felt much more like the final option than a real plan.

11) Tori Meehan (Last: 10) – Tori had to have the first individual immunity idol of the season to stay safe this week. It seems like just about everyone wants her out at this point and her gameplay isn’t helping matters. Every time we see her, she continues to spiral her game in new and intriguing ways. For her case, we hope she quiets her game down a bit and gives herself some room to breathe.

10) Chanelle Howell (Last: 11) –  Like Tori, Chanelle doesn’t seem to have many allies left. That could certainly change, especially with the target firmly on Tori going forward. Chanelle is in a tough spot socially, but there are bigger threats out there, which could buy her a week or two to flip things around.

9) Rocksroy Bailey (Last: 12) – Rocksroy is out of our bottom spot for the first time this entire season (not counting the player who left the game the previous week). That’s big news for Rocks, but it’s more a case of other players’ games tanking than him doing anything too impressive. We still see Rocksroy as a Final Three goat at best and can’t see a path for him to win this game.

8) Jonathan Young (Last: 7) – Jonathan needed his strong alliance to stick together. They mostly did but lost one of their numbers in Lydia. Now, the “Goliath” has to rally the troops against players like Tori, Chanelle, and Maryanne Oketch or risk being voted out for being the biggest physical threat on the island. Fortunately, he has players like Hai Giang and Mike Turner firmly on his side.

7) Maryanne Oketch (Last: 6) – Maryanne isn’t in the best spot right now, but she does have an idol. That’s real power, and if she can bring together some of the outsiders, she could make a move. We’d love to see her bridge the gap between players like Tori and Romeo Escobar to get out some of the more physically-imposing targets.

6) Lindsay Dolashewich (Last: 9) – We’ve pushed Lindsay up several spots because it doesn’t seem like anyone is really targeting her right now. She has several allies but is protected by all of the physical threats around her. That’s a great spot to be if you’re playing an under-the-radar social game, which we think she is.

5) Mike Turner (Last: 6) – Just like Maryanne, idols are dangerous and Mike has one. Plus, he has strong allies in Jonathan and Hai Giang. If those three stick together and can keep their big alliance together for a few weeks, Mike’s going to become incredibly dangerous.

4) Romeo Escobar (Last: 2) – Honestly, Romeo pushing for Lydia has us a bit worried for his future. Obviously, it was the move he had to make given the situation, but to push so hard in the face of players like Hai could cause long-term damage. We’re dropping him slightly until we see the fallout, but Romeo definitely has quite a bit of game left in him.

3) Omar Zaheer (Last: 4) – Omar is quietly playing one of the better social and strategic games of the season. He’s almost always in the majority and seems tight with just about everybody. Remember, he’s the person Maryanne trusted to tell him about her idol. He might have more information about the current state of the game than anyone else in the game. That’s a good place to be.

2) Drea Wheeler (Last: 3) – A few weeks ago, we had Drea drop like a rock to the bottom of our rankings because she felt like she was overplaying. That early game risk has now paid off because she has cultivated several advantages and quite a few allies. She is playing great the last few weeks and we love her upwards trajectory.

1) Hai Giang (Last: 1) – Hai stays on top for another week. He’s only been out of our top three once this entire season and it’s hard to see anyone with a more convincing “winner’s edit” at this point in the season. That doesn’t mean things can’t change, but Hai is dominating this game at this point. His gameplay is fluid and intelligent, and once Jonathan is voted out (which has to be coming at some point), he’s one of the bigger physical threats out there. That’s a great recipe to get to the end and win.

Watch new episodes of Survivor on Wednesday nights only on CBS.