‘Survivor 42’ final 5 spotlight: Jonathan Young beasted challenges, but does the jury need more?
Last week’s shocking elimination of Omar Zaheer on “Survivor 42” will reverberate through the tribe and have major implications on the rest of the game as we look ahead to Wednesday’s season finale. Jonathan Young, Maryanne Oketch, Lindsay Dolashewich, Romeo Escobar and Mike Turner each stand a one in five chance of taking home this season’s $1 million cash prize, but to get there they’ll have to maneuver through two more immunity challenges and tribal councils and hope that the jury respects their game enough to be deserving of the win.
Below, read our “Survivor 42” Final 5 spotlight for Jonathan and tune in Wednesday, May 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT to find out if he outlasted the others to earn the title of “sole Survivor.” Also, be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite castaways on CBS’s reality TV show, who annoys you the most and who you think will ultimately join the “Survivor” winners list and take home the $1 million grand prize.
SEE ‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost
We’ve heard Jonathan talk about how hard the season has been on him because of the stark change in diet for someone of his stature and about how well he’s managed to keep that struggle from the others in order to minimize how big of a physical threat he is. That is all well and good, and, in fact, shows that he’s played a mental game as well as a physical one, but at the end of the day the perception the jury has of his game not his own perception, will determine his fate.
Since the merge Jonathan has been eyed as having the potential to go on an immunity challenge win, securing his safety all the way to the end without ever having to be vulnerable to the vote. While that hasn’t happened, the players have also opted against getting them out when they can. That they see him as a threat to their path to the end due to immunity challenges, but not a big enough threat to not want to sit next to provides a glimpse into how some of them may be thinking as jurors. What that means is, if you’re not a target to be voted out late in the game then the chances are that people don’t think you’re a threat to get more jury votes than them.
At this point in the game, even if others like Mike and Maryanne believe they can beat him in front of the jury, Jonathan is in a precarious position of potentially being forced out of the game by near-default. If Lindsay beats him at the next challenge, Mike and Maryanne will both play their immunity idols for themselves, leaving only Jonathan and Romeo as the options to vote out. In that scenario, is relatively unlikeable Romeo the smart one to take out over the chance of the jury actually admiring Jonathan’s play? No. In that scenario, Jonathan goes home.
As such, it’s almost as if Jonathan’s life in the game does depend on beating Lindsay at the next challenge and then winning the one after that in order to choose who he brings with him to the end. And yes, even then, Jonathan’s entire narrative returns to having won as a physical competitor compared to someone like Mike and/or Maryanne who have more compelling arguments in their social and advantage-playing strategies.
So what does Jonathan need to win the game? A convincing argument that he did more than just win challenges. Do you agree or disagree? Sound off in the comments below.
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