In preparation for Survivor 35: Heroes vs. Healers, vs. Hustlers, I decided to do some pre-show first impression blogs for the upcoming cast. There are obvious cast and tribe division spoilers (but no boot/elimination spoilers). Basically, judge them based on first impressions, already leaked Survivor videos of them (pre-show interviews, season 34 finale promo) or whatever criteria you wish.
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Ryan Ulrich aka the Turtle Neck Guy.
Yawa (Hustler) Tribe
24 · LANCASTER, PA · BELLHOP
He is a self-proclaimed Survivor superfan and thinks he is going to win with his philosophy of being "average enough" and is proud of being the first Survivor to wear a turtle neck... for some reason. He listens to a lot of Survivor podcasts and thinks Survivor is more than just "big moves", so basically the anti-Zeke. He was heavily featured in the s35 promo, which bodes well for him, but then again, so was Mari.
"I'm not great physically, but I'm not a schmuck physically," he says. "I'm going to be OK strategically and I'm going to be pretty good socially. The people who win this game I always feel are just the most average that season — with exceptions, like if you have [Season 10 winner] Tom Westman or a Kim [Spradlin, who won Season 24] just run the gamut from the start." (THR interview)