Survivor 41 Power Rankings After Episode 5

The Survivor 41 castaways continued their fight to become the sole Survivor this week, and since we had a pretty identical showing to last week, the power rankings won’t shift a lot this week.

Now keep in mind, these rankings are only based on this last episode and what has come before it. I can’t predict the future, so I know some of these players will drop significantly when there’s a swap or merge, or whatever is happening next week that has “never happened before.”

So let’s get to it.

1. Shan. She continues to play a savage game, and has clearly ruled her tribe from Day 1. This week she convinced Genie (along with Ricard) to not open the idol! And then she opened it herself, and it was activated during the immunity challenge. So now she has an active idol heading into next week. My disclaimer above about these rankings being based solely on this week was mostly about Shan. I know once there’s a swap or merge, she’s going to only have Ricard, and they’re both going to look like major targets, having survived their whole tribe decimation. But for Week 5, she rules the rankings.

2. Evvie. I think Evvie will soon be in a better position than Shan, but right now, is edged out to second. Evvie has the strongest relationships, and has Xander wrapped up. I think Evvie has their game aligned perfectly. What is a really fun thought is Shan and Evvie teaming up at merge…

3. Sydney. We didn’t see much from Sydney last week, so I’m just going to quote what I said last week as the reason why she holds onto the No. 3 spot.

As soon as Erika let us know she was targeting Sydney, I was all, oh no, she’s going to drop in my power rankings. But then I saw just how much she has the men on her tribe wrapped. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t want to feel the wrath of upsetting her, or if she has some kind of secret power, but in the end it was Erika who became the target, not Sydney. So much so that some of the men on the Luvu Tribe tried to throw the challenge to get her out.

4. Liana. I’m giving Liana a boost this week, because of the whole going through Xander’s bag thing and reading all about his idol. And then she went off with Shan and picked up that Knowledge is Power advantage. This is all starting to sound like very modern Big Brother and I’m semi-nauseated. Anyway, that power allows her to take an idol or advantage from someone if she correctly guesses who has one. They have to tell the truth if she asks them.

5. Tiffany. I’m keeping Tiffany in fifth place this week, just for simply how she played Xander (and for those facial expressions she made for the cameras).

6. Deshawn. This week Deshawn gets a bit of a boots as well. How well he is tied to Sydney is great for him, and now he and the guys on his tribe have solidified their alliance after fearing the women are going to run this season (psst, they already are!)

7. Naseer. He moves up for the same reason Deshawn moves up. But Naseer also has that now-activate idol. So he has some definite power this week. And I almost moved him higher than Deshawn simply for refusing to throw the competition this week (and last week unknowingly). Actually, let me just go ahead and say he and Deshawn are tied.

8. Danny. And because I kind of want to rank Ricard lower, I’m going to go ahead and fit Danny into this spot since he has this thing with the other two guys now.

9. Ricard. I think Ricard thinks he’s all-powerful, and sure he was in his tribe, but that tribe is done. And something is afoot this coming week, so he’s going to look like a major threat along with Shan. But here’s the thing, Shan is a much better manipulator than he is, and she has that idol. So if they are a targeted duo, he’s the one who’s toast.

10. Xander. I think Xander is in trouble really soon, but he does have that activated idol now. But the way he badly lied to Tiffany, and Liana has that advantage steal power, he could very soon be without a power.

11. Erika. I think Erika will still be in some danger simply because Sydney knows she was coming after her. So I’m going to leave her here at the bottom along with Heather.

13. Heather. We didn’t see much from Heather this week, so all I have to go on was that really bad competition display from last week. So she is going to hold up the bottom again this week and possibly until I see a reason to boost her up.

Booted: Genie. After the way she ran to Shan and Ricard after finding the idol and then let them convince her not to even open it, I would have placed her at 13th had she not been voted out. Heather would have definitely gotten a reprieve thanks to Genie’s bad gameplay.

How would you rank the Survivor 41 players after week 5?