Conquering China: Who Will Win Survivor: China?

The successful television series Survivor has added to its legacy by bringing us the fifteenth installment with Survivor:China. We've been introduced to the two tribes, Zhan Hu and Fei Long. Unfortunately, the tribes seem very unbalanced at this point in the show - Zhan Hu has already had to vote three members off the show and as I write this article, the fifth episode is about to air.

As of the fifth episode of Survivor:China, the following players are still in the game:
Aaron - Fei Long
Amanda - Fei Long
Courtney - Fei Long
Denise - Fei Long
Erik - Zhan Hu
Frosti - Zhan Hu
Jaime - Zhan Hu
James - Fei Long
Jean-Robert - Fei Long
Peih-Gee - Zhan Hu
Sherea - Zhan Hu
Todd - Fei Long

Zhan Hu has only five players left and both Peih-Gee and Sherea have gotten a vote each in the tribal councils held so far. Fei Long has seven players left and Jean-Robert has gotten two votes so far in the single tribal council held for Fei Long. Now, anybody that has already gotten a vote can easily be voted off quickly whenever their tribe goes back to a tribal council but we have some other considerations with this season.

I cannot believe that Courtney has lasted this long into the season already. If you watched the immunity challenge during episode three, it would have been completely clear to anybody that Courtney was the sole reason that Fei Long lost the challenge. They've always sat out Courtney whenever possible and I don't think that she brings any value to the Fei Long tribe whatsoever. It took her nearly the entire challenge to just whack away at some bamboo and then she couldn't even break a rope with a sword. She actually had to chip away and then carve away the rope's threads with the sword to finally cut it. Meanwhile, the entire Zhan Hu tribe had already cut down all their ropes and were working on the puzzle when Courtney finally got through the first barrier. The very first barrier. I haven't seen a worse performance from a contestant in any of the seasons of Survivor that I've seen.

My vitriol for Courtney aside, Fei Long is simply a mammoth team. Of course though, they've got two dead weights in their tribe that almost certainly have to go. One of them is obviously Courtney. The other is Jean-Robert. I think just about everybody hates Jean-Robert and it isn't even because he's French! We just have this distaste for a "poker professional" trying to work his lame psychological tricks to win Survivor.

From the cast and from the first four episodes I will predict the final four of Survivor:China and the winner as well. But first, the deliberations for who's got to go for the next few weeks, working our way up to the final four contestants:

Courtney - She's got to go as soon as possible. How is it even possible to be that weak and still function?
Jean-Robert - Who even likes him? He's going to be voted off soon unless he does something dramatic but I cannot stomach him going very far into the game.
Denise - Weak female. And she's got a mullet. Bonus points: female mullet. The rarest sight on television! But she'll go soon.
Erik - Musician and doesn't offer very much, so he'll be voted off soon.
Sherea - I shudder every time I see Sherea on-screen. Plus her confrontation with Dave left a sour taste in everybody's mouth.
Amanda - She's just so inconspicuous, which will carry her far but not far enough.
Peih-Gee - I can see her getting into the final four but she's already got a strike against her. This is enough to derail anyone's momentum.
Todd - The most painful cut, but he's so weak compared to the final four. However, he did get ammo against James courtesy of Jean-Robert. But is that enough? I don't think so.

Thus, my predicted final four will be:
Aaron - Narrowly beating out Todd for the final slot, but he'll be the first to be knocked out in the finals.
Frosti - Probably the best athlete from Zhan Hu, he should do well and last to the final four, but I just can't see him winning it all.
Jaime - It'll come down to a showdown between the two 'Jame's.
James - This guy is a beast. If he can just keep plowing through immunity challenges, he'll survive until the end. But will the others unite against him?

It's for this reason that I'm going to select Jaime as my prediction to win Survivor: China. Think way back to the second season, when Tina defeated Colby in the finals as a shocker. We can parallel James with Colby and have Jaime be the underdog that pulls off the upset.

And now, it's time for us to kick back and watch what actually happens in Survivor: China!