‘Australian Survivor’ finale power rankings: Mark Wales or Josh Millgate should sail to an easy win

Only two episodes and five players remain in the “Blood V Water” hunt to find the next “Australian Survivor.” This season we saw the American Queen Sandra Diaz-Twine journey to the Down Under with her daughter Nina Twine to compete as one of 12 pairs of loved ones in the “blood versus water” format of the reality TV franchise. With no pair left standing together in the game, the final two installments of the season (airing Sunday, April 3 and Monday, April 4) will determine whether Chrissy Zaremba, Josh Millgate, KJ Austin, Mark Wales or Shay Lajoie outplayed, outwitted and outlasted 23 others to become the latest “sole Survivor.”

Below, we lay out our “Australian Survivor” finale power rankings of the Top 5, assessing first how likely it is for each of them to make the Final 3 and second how much of the jury is poised to actually consider them worthy of the prize. Do you agree with our take on the closing stretch of the season? Sound off down in the comments section.

1. Mark Wales

Alongside his wife Sam Gash, Mark has absolutely dominated the post-merge field. While Sam was busy making and breaking deals in flashy fashion, Mark was keeping a lower profile and maintaining his strong relationships with other players. Once he got a hold of Sam’s idol (that she stole from Jesse Hansen), Mark looked unbeatable. Now he’s idol-less, but only needs to win two more immunity challenges in order to get to the end. I think he can do it, and when sitting in front of the jury is going to have the best story to tell about playing a well-rounded and formidable game.

Final prediction: Winner with 7 or 8 votes.

2. Josh Millgate

Like Mark, Josh can make a really good case for the win if he gets in front of the jury. His biggest regret is going to be not trusting Jordie Hansen‘s tea that Mark had two idols and finding a way to blindside him, but having won three of the last five immunity challenges has boosted his ego to a place of near-invincibility. Does he dare work with Mark and go head-to-head with him in front of the jury, or is it more likely that they go after each other in the next vote and one of them actually goes home? I say the latter, and unfortunately it looks like Chrissy and KJ may be more loyal to Mark in this instance than they will be to Josh.

Final prediction: Fifth place.

SEE How to watch ‘Australian Survivor: Blood V Water’

3. Chrissy Zaremba

Chrissy has been laying low ever since her brother-in-law Croc Crocker was taken out just shy of making the merge. Seen around camp as likable and the mom to everyone, Chrissy has not been on anyone’s radar as a threat to them and instead rallied up quite a bit of good will among the jurors. Her biggest asset is that both Mark and Josh will be using her as a vote to get themselves to the end and she’ll have the choice of who to go with. Her biggest downfall is that she didn’t take up the chance to get either or both of them out when members of her eventual jury approached her with those plans. In that regard, Chrissy is likely to make the final three, but pretty unlikely to position her social game as enough to deserve a win.

Final prediction: Second place with 2 or 3 votes.

4. Shay Lajoie

Shay was a huge threat to a lot of players for a majority of the early game and even through parts of the middle. Once the big alliance of pairs had the majority, Shay was less of a threat and more just a nuisance. They voted her out at the right time, but she won her way back. By that time she just couldn’t get the numbers to wrestle control and eventually the guys turned up the heat in immunity challenges to take her out of the equation. Now, she’s probably going to be seen as a huge threat in front of the jurors because she fought really hard for her place in the game. For that reason, she is the least likely of anyone to make the final three seats, though I suspect she’ll last a bit longer than one of the guys and become the final juror.

Final prediction: Fourth place.

5. KJ Austin

Bogged down early in the competition by her too-hard-too-quick sister Sophie Cachia, KJ has failed to make a big enough impression in her own right to earn the respect of the jury. Truth be told, this is looking like a jury that values strength and domination — they let Mark and Josh get to the final five, after all, and were largely dominated by a group of men that controlled the vote as a bros alliance for many weeks. Sitting against any one of the other players is likely for KJ, because they all may want to sit next to her in the end, but that will only strengthen the jury pool with even more players that value strength as a requisite for winning.

Final prediction: Third place with no juror votes.