Jeff Probst Weighs In On The Contestants

Just thought while everyone is getting excited for the new season of Survivor (You guys are getting excited, right?) that I would share this video of Jeff's thoughts on the Castaways. It was taped after the first day of filming but I will admit, last season he was pretty accurate. I don't always agree with him, but he has had a front row seat to this thing for 23 seasons. So I don't take his word lightly.

Of course, he also thought Naonka was mature last season in his initial assessments. So there is that.

Based on Jeff's assessments, I may have pegged John wrong. Jeff seems to think he is a good candidate to win.  The promos have also been hyping John heavily, so looks like I might eat my words on him.

Whitney got a good assessment from Jeff. Who knows? Maybe she will break the "celebrity curse" on the show. On paper she seems like someone who could do well on Survivor, so maybe I am just being superstitious.

He felt Rick will see that he needs to adapt to the young people, not them to him. Which is a mistake a LOT of older players have made. So I may have him pegged completely wrong.

I spoke highly of Sophie and Stacey but Jeff disagrees. I am already sensing I am going to be a fan of Sophie, so that is disappointing. Hopefully he is wrong. He did seem to echo my thoughts that Semhar would not last long, and that Mark would go far. Given Probst track record I am sure he is right on at least one of those last two. Hopefully both, since I am poised to be wrong a lot of Jeff is on the money.

His thoughts on Brandon... well... I would break a promise I made when I assessed Brandon. So I pass on commenting on what Jeff thought about him.

Jeff agreed with me on Jim Rice, I am guessing win or lose he will be a contestant we will all be talking about for a while.

He said Edna is a control freak, which based on her interview is not surprising. He kind of just danced around her and Elyse.

He basically said Elyse could do great or she could do bad. And she may or may not adapt to island life. Way to take a stand Jeff.

He said Makayla could be a female Boston Rob. But I kind of sensed he meant, she had a Boston attitude and was athletic. Which were not the only two traits of Boston Rob. Although a girl who is like Boston Rob but cute is probably his dream woman. Don't know if he is still dating Julie, but if so she better watch Jeff closely around her. Don't fall for his charm Makayla, he would probably call you "Rob" in the heat of passion.

He seemed to like Christine and thought she would bring a lot of entertainment. He hopes she would last till the end, but have no idea what he thought his odds of that happening were. He was kind of non-commital on Dawn too.

Considering Jeff's love for "big strong men" I was surprised to hear Jeff doesn't have high hopes for Albert of Keith. He seems to feel Albert won't be able to fit in, and Keith will go far but not make the final 4 beacause of a lack of killer instinct. Although he said he would like it if Keith won, which isn't surprising since Jeff always wants the big, athletic guy to win.

Ozzy and Coach were not mentioned, so he has no prediction on them. But we know he loves them both, so there you go.

So there you have it, my initial reactions were about 50/50 in line with Jeff's. We will see if either of us are right when Survivor begins next Wednesday. I'll see you all there.