I don't have contenders but I'd love to give my thoughts on the players and the season!

Eliminated players

Nicole: Nicole was one of the players I was the most excited for so I was so sad to see her go first. That being said, the whole spitting moment completely baffled me! Like huh?? Not sure if that helped lol

Annie: Ehhh, easily the worst player of the season bit otherwise just not that interesting. Kinda thought we'd get more "Trashy Annie" from her but we just got "Annie" ...

Jake: Another sad elimination, I felt like Jake had the right amount of chaos this season needs. That being said it sounded like he just let the snake bite him so it's hard to feel too bad.

Jeremiah: ROBBED in every sense of the word! By the fact they didn't cancel tribal and by the disaster tribe fetish the show seems to have. I found him pretty fun pre-season and I wish he went further...

Matt: Losing one of the only people on the cast with the gusto to make a move was really frustrating. Not sure why everybody hated him tbh, I thought he was pretty cool!

Jason: I really don't have anything special to say about him. He's a very stereotypical nerd and we've seen so much of those lately that he just came off as boring.

Shannon: Okay, I don't like how much she pushed using God to advance her through the game, but outside of that... pretty fun villain character for the show! And she did so much better than I thought she would, for I said pre-season that "I've never had so little faith in a Survivor player ever," so... eating my words there lol

Players still in the game (no particular order)

Sophi: I like her so far, she's pretty cool! Genuinely pulling for her to get that million, that McDonald's, and then some because wow she's had it rough so far. GET HER SOME FOOD! Edgicly speaking definitely one of the front runners.

Alex: He's okay. I don't know, I just have a hard time getting into him, but he's one of the better players so far. He took his idol being exposed to the OG Kele tribe against his will way better than it ever would though.

Kristina: I was honestly hoping we'd be getting more out of her. She seems like a fun character, and honestly, we probably would be getting more if they actually bothered with the OG Hina tribe!

Sophie: Loved her clap at Jeff for making their reward FRUIT! We need less compliance in the New Era!

Steven: Rootable but honestly just basic to me. Good narrator and I liked his golden retriever energy pre-season, but he's just okay in the game.

MC: Outside of her insanely wild and objectively wrong takes on Survivor, I have really enjoyed her on the show! The sandbag scene and her performance in most of the challenges have been badass!

Nate: As a 22 year old who is surrounded by younger siblings who use dumb slang and brainrot quotes a lot, I feel for Nate lol. One of my favorites so far, he's so cool and is playing really well, but I'm scared he's gonna go out early merge. Just a feeling, hopefully a wrong one.

Savannah: Queen! I'm loving how honest and kinda mean she is in confessional, we need more of that nowadays! Her storyline with Jawan is kinda old though. I can't wait to see her actual play the game, hopefully.

Jawan: I kinda brushed off Jawan until these last two episodes, now I actually kinda think he's adorablllle, albeit a little bit of a mess lol. I don't really mind the Uncle Jeff stuff, couldn't really care less.

Rizo: I'm totally over his catchphrase and just his whole shtick. Not even feeling a dislike towards him, just general disappointment and apathy. Not that dissimilar from the nerdy guys they keep casting.

Sage: LOVE LOVE LOVE! She's so funny without even trying between the silly out-of-pocket quotes to the being-the-back facial expressions... Her one-sided rivalry with Shannon has been the best thing this season so far and I'm so glad she acted on it last episode! We need more voting based on personal dislike on the show!

Overall thoughts on the season

This pre-merge outside of the Sage v Shannon stuff has been such a bore, even with my low expectations going into the season it's somehow worse then those. It hasn't been any different from the average New Era season and if anything, and I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but it highlights everything wrong with the New Era despite the format being shaken up a tiny bit now. I know Jeff said it gets better at the merge, but after hyping up 48 so much, I really don't trust him on that. For a season that's supposed to make us excited for 50, I'm only now worried about 50...

My Survivor 49 edgic for the pre-merge! (Spoiled on who's on 50 so no contenders)