Survivor season 43 week 1 power rankings: Who could go home next?

Survivor season 43’s first episode is in the books.

The two-hour episode was jam-packed with character development and interesting strategy. We now have a much better idea of how these players will play and where their early loyalties lie.

With that in mind, it’s time to take an updated look at my power rankings for Survivor season 43.

Survivor season 43 power rankings

Out) Morriah Young (Last: 3) – As you can see, I was really high on Morriah going into the season. This is mainly because the players didn’t see Maryanne’s winning game in Survivor 42, which I thought would give someone like Morriah a chance to go far. Unfortunately, it seems like her physical weaknesses made her a target, which isn’t too surprising. I really thought if she made it past that first vote, she’d be dangerous but it just didn’t happen.

17) Mike Gabler (Last: 17) – Should Gabler be this low with an idol in his pocket? Probably not, but he’s already proven to be entirely out of his depth strategically. The positive spin to that is that other players might use his strategic ineptness to help their game and keep him around as an easy vote. That said, Gabler probably has the lowest win chance left this season.

16) Jeanine Zheng (Last: 16) – Jeanine wasn’t too bad in the first episode. Yes, she struggled in the immunity challenge and wasn’t shown working with anyone outside of Elie Scott (and Morriah, who is now gone). However, I’m putting her low because she is physically weaker than the rest of her tribe. If they continue to value strength, she could be in a tough spot now that Morriah is out.

15) Geo Bustamante (Last: 10) – I’m dropping Geo slightly because we didn’t really see much from him strategically after he was shown to be a somewhat weak performer in early challenges. He did have a nice segment talking with Karla, but it’s impossible to say if that’s going to be an alliance that sticks. For now, he seems like the odd man out.

14) Justine Brennan (Last: 11) – I don’t hate Justine’s spot right now, it’s just that we didn’t see much from her besides talking to Noelle. That’s a duo that could do some damage, but for now, seems a little on the outs over on Vesi. Obviously, we didn’t get much from that tribe in terms of how it breaks down, but if those two can’t grab a third and fourth, they might be in trouble.

13) Noelle Lambert (Last: 5) – You can pretty much copy and paste everything I just said about Justine for this entry. Noelle ranks slightly higher for me because she’s more of a physical threat, which is always a plus in the early game.

12) Dwight Moore (Last: 2) – Dwight didn’t have a great week (what with losing his vote and all). However, he is one of the more physical members of his tribe. In fact, the Vesi tribe (while having several people ranking low) seems to be the most physical of all the tribes. That could mean they skip most of the tribal councils until the merge, which would be huge for Dwight. If they do go to tribal, it’ll be interesting to see how his lack of a vote factors in.

11) Nneka Ejere (Last: 8) – Nneka is the fourth Vesi in a row and there’s definitely a world where she’s the next to go. That said, she seems so likable, that it’s easy to see her slipping through a vote or two before coming alive later in the game. I still don’t see much winner potential, but I think she lasts a bit longer.

10) Cassidy Clark (Last: 12) – You can certainly see a path for Cassidy after last week. She could easily jump into a women’s alliance if she wants (which would be bad news for Geo). However, whatever she does, she likely isn’t going to be targeted unless she makes a strategic overplay. There are several other players on the tribe that are weaker than Cassidy, making her an asset moving forward.

9) Karla Cruz Godoy (Last: 18) – I was worried Karla would be seen as a physical liability early and that would tank her game. Thankfully, she hasn’t shown that to be the case thus far and has been able to wield an impressive social game. Over on Coco, she seems to be driving the strategy, though there’s still a world where she’s dumped if she performs poorly in a challenge.

8) James Jones (Last: 7) – Like Karla, James had a great social week. He’s in solid with the girls and I didn’t see a reason why Ryan or Geo wouldn’t want to work with him. Also, like Karla, he seems to be playing the middle very well and should have at least a few more weeks of safety.

7) Cody Assenmacher (Last: 9) – As predicted, Cody is the kind of physical player who’s going to be around until the merge. He also showed off some social chops in the first episode, which could help him as we get deeper into the game. I still don’t think he has a real chance to win, but he’ll be around for the foreseeable future.

6) Owen Knight (Last: 4) – Owen got a scare this week, which was a little surprising. A lot of that probably comes down to Gabler having an idol, but it is still a bit worrisome. He still has all the tools to go far; however, it’s never good to get votes, especially this early.

5) Lindsay Carmine (Last: 6) – Lindsay was one of my dark horse candidates this season because she obviously knows the game and is an athletic 42 year old. I’m a bit worried about how hard she’s going out the gate. If she can tone that down slightly, she should be in a good spot.

4) Sami Layadi (Last: 13) – I was surprised by how well Sami played in the first episode. He was smart to only step in when he had to and mostly did a good job of keeping his cool when Gabler was struggling in the challenge. It’s still really tough to see him winning this season, but he’s slowly opening a path.

3) Ryan Medrano (Last: 15) – Ryan doesn’t appear to have a strategic bone in his body, but there’s just no way he’s getting voted out until the merge. He is single-handedly winning challenges for Coco at this point and they would be out of their minds to vote him out.

2) Elie Scott (Last: 14) – Elie probably had the best first episode in terms of moving up the rankings. She drove the strategy on Baka and seems in a great place moving forward. It could come back to bite her eventually if she tries to stay in that driver’s seat, but her game is really impressive after a week.

1) Jesse Lopez (Last: 1) – I’m leaving Jesse in the top spot because he didn’t give me a reason to drop him. Sure, his game wasn’t as impressive as Elie’s, but he stayed even-keel throughout, gave us good confessionals, and performed well in challenges. You don’t want to see a winner really come alive this early, so having a quieter episode where he’s still involved is about the best you could ask for.

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