“Shan [Smith] and Ricard [Foye] have done it,” exclaims Gold Derby’s Matt Noble after “Survivor’s” pair of Ua strategists made it to end of their tribe. He joins Marcus James Dixon and Kevin Jacobson in our weekly Gold Derby “Survivor 41” slugfest. Kevin adds, “These two are very high caliber players for having survived.” Watch the lively discussion on Season 41, Episode 5, titled “The Strategist or the Loyalist,” in our video recap above.
Last week’s episode saw the Ua tribe lose their third straight immunity challenge. At tribal council, longtime allies Shan and Ricard voted Genie Chen out of the game. The pair are the only two remaining members of Ua. Despite a numbers disadvantage the Gold Derby crew think they are in a really good place to win. Kevin says, “Already they had to play so much survivor.” Marcus wonders, “If the game was totally different and Ua had not gone to tribal yet we would not know what great players Shan and Ricahrd are. They would just be background people.”
SEE Everything to know about ‘Survivor 41’
To get to this point, both have exhibited cutthroat gameplay. Shan has backstabbed people who trusted her with advantages. And, in the most recent episode, the duo deceived Genie by taking and activating her immunity idol. Perhaps the best news heading into a merge is they will be able to frame the Ua narrative however they like. Matt notes, “They have killed all the witnesses! No one knows who Shan has lied to or who’s running the show.”
It’s the first time since “Survivor: Philippines” in 2012 that an original tribe has been whittled down to two before the merge. That season the two remaining Matzing members made it to the final episode with Malcolm Freberg finishing fourth and Denise Stapley taking out the title of Sole Survivor. Kevin reflects, “We saw Malcolm and Denise make it all the way to the end probably because they had to play a lot of ‘Survivor’ early on.”
SEE ‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost
Kevin and Matt both think Shan is on the best position to win this season. However, Marcus admits, “She is my personal favorite but I am picking Ricard to win it.” In our Gold Derby predictions center, Shan has maintained her position as the winner frontrunner with 31/10 odds. Ricard is sitting in fourth at 13/2 odds.
SEE exclusive predictions: Who will win ‘Survivor’?
Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs on CBS. You’ll compete to win eternal bragging rights and a spot on our “Survivor” leaderboard. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
