Survivor season 43 week 6 power rankings: Who could go home next?

Survivor season 43 is officially an individual game as the tribes have now merged into one.

This moment in every Survivor season is always the one with volatility because so much has to change about the game’s dynamics. Season 43 is no different.

Let’s look at where things stand after that topsy-turvy week.

Who could go home next on Survivor season 43?

Out) Elie Scott (Last: 10) – The Elie downfall has been coming for weeks. She overplayed her hand a bit when she got power early and wasn’t able to claw it back. Personally, I think the downfall of her game was when Vesi helped Baka at an immunity challenge sending Coco to tribal council. Had she been able to go to another tribal, she might’ve solidified her power ahead of the merge. Instead, the wounds she opened with Gabler just festered and that ended up biting her.

12) Mike Gabler (Last: 6) – As far as the show has shown us, Gabler’s idol is null and void after last week. He was in a decent spot because of that protection but wasn’t able to do much with it. At this point, no one really trusts him, making it tough to put him any higher on the list.

11) Ryan Medrano (Last: 13) – Ryan dropped like a rock as they went into the merge because he’s been such a dominant physical threat. People are going to start looking at him. The only thing in Ryan’s favor is he’s a bad strategic player, which might lower his threat level enough to last a few more weeks, but I can’t see a winning game for Ryan.

10) Jeanine Zheng (Last: 7) – Sure, Jeanine has an idol in her pocket, but everyone knows about it at this point. That makes it much less powerful and she just lost her best ally. Her best move is to bunker down and don’t make waves for a vote or two before she starts to make more moves.

9) Dwight Moore (Last: 12) – Dwight doesn’t seem to be playing poorly, but his visibility is at an all-time low. That likely means he isn’t winning the game, though he could still make an impact.

8) Owen Knight (Last: 3) – I shot Owen into the top three last week because I assumed he’d be able to play the middle well in the merge. He sort of did that, but he also voted with Elie. Does that mean he was out of the plan or is he trying to curry Elie’s jury vote? While it’s probably the latter, I’ve definitely cooled a bit on Owen’s chances for now.

7) Noelle Lambert (Last: 11) – Noelle is always in a weird spot because she does have an advantage (though a vote steal isn’t that powerful at this stage), but hasn’t been shown leading many moves. There’s also the potential hang-up that people won’t want to take her to the end because she’s going to have a great story. For now, I think she’s firmly in the middle.

6) James Jones (Last: 8) – James continues to not really do anything on screen outside of being likable and forming bonds. That’s not always a winning game in the Big Moves era of Survivor, but it does mean he’s stuck around and could have the ammo to make some noise. Plus, with Survivor 41 changing things up, we’ve seen some divergent winners, giving James even more of a chance.

5) Cassidy Clark (Last: 9) – Speaking of divergent winners, I’ve been beating the drum all season that Cassidy has Erika upside. She might not be playing a flashy game, but she’s constantly included in episodes via confessionals. That tells me she has a big part to play and her strategic game is definitely starting to wake up.

4) Sami Layadi (Last: 4) – I’m still not sure I can see Sami winning a season of Survivor, but it’s hard to find fault with his game thus far. He is losing allies quickly now, which could be a problem. That said, he’s proven to have a great social game and should be a challenge threat moving forward.

3) Jesse Lopez (Last: 5) – Jesse was my pick to win it all at the start of the season and he’s continually showing off the relationship-building that makes him such a threat. He’ll need to make a few moves to give himself a resume, but his path is ever-widening.

2) Cody Assenmacher (Last: 2) – Like Sami, it’s hard to see Cody winning. However, his game thus far has been great outside of making Karla (and potentially all of Baka) annoyed when he came over to steal from them. That said, he’s got a ton of charisma and is just enough of an immunity challenge threat to be a major factor in the end game. Plus, you can’t forget about that idol he’s keeping in his back pocket.

1) Karla Cruz Godoy (Last: 1) – Sorry if I’m repeating myself, but Karla is in the driver’s seat. Not only is she firmly in the majority of this merge tribe because she’s so tight with Coco, but she also has the only idol that no one else knows about. That gives her so much power at this stage of the game. Honestly, she could take a backseat for a week or two to let other players drop off and still probably be fine. Of course, I don’t expect her to do that. She seems like someone who will want to drive strategy until she wins or is voted out. If I were betting on which one is happening, it’d be the former.