‘Survivor: Ghost Island’ Episode Five Betting Odds

–This is the 36th season for CBS’s reality show.

–’Survivor’ was one of the early pioneers of the reality TV genre.

–’Survivor: Ghost Island’ Episode 5 airs March 21 at 8:00 PM Eastern.

It’s never a good sign for a reality show contestant when I can’t remember who they are. I didn’t get a chance to watch Episode Four of ‘Survivor: Ghost Island’ until after the fact but when an associate told me that Brendan Shapiro had been eliminated I really couldn’t remember who he was. Given that I follow the show pretty closely for oddsmaking purposes this in retrospect explains why he got the heave ho.

Maybe the ‘Survivor’ cast is too large? Probably. Season 1 had 16 contestants and the current season has 20. Most of the recent seasons had either 18 or 20 but were I running things in the ‘Survivor’ braintrust I’d insist on a smaller group of contestants. In my view, it’s simple–if you have too many contestants it makes it that much harder for the home viewers to ‘get to know them’. If they don’t have a good familiarity with the contestants they’re not emotionally invested in them. And if they’re not emotionally invested in the contestants and their fate they won’t tune in to see what happens to them. Maybe the producers have their reasons but I don’t think it’s a good idea.

On a tangential note, the show is better when they go easy on the gimmicks. It goes back to the previous paragraph–if the show has too many gimmicks it overshadows the cast and their relationships. See the above about ’emotional investment’ of the viewers. I wasn’t the only one that noticed that the producers were trying to cram too much into this episode–here’s Dalton Ross at Entertainment Weekly. He’s one of the ‘Survivor’ columnists I read every week and he says….:

I’m not trying to bash the editors at all. I get the issue: There was a hell of a lot to cram in here with two challenges, Chris returning from Ghost Island, and Kellyn going to Ghost Island. Those all needed coverage. But the result of that glaring omission was spoiling a challenge, and thereby greatly lessening the impact for those who noticed — which, granted, may have only been me.

Also, props to Ross for the Alyssa Milano/’Teen Steam’ callback in his ‘Survivor’ recap.

YOU CAN’T ROLL WITH THE NICKNAME ‘SEABASS’ IN 2018

Sebastian Noel is doing a gimmick where he calls himself ‘Sea Bass’. This shouldn’t be happening. A little background here–for quite a few years I covered boxing and MMA extensively. The upside? I got to go to a lot of fights. The downside? No matter if it was a huge Floyd Mayweather fight at the MGM Grand or a couple of young local fighters in a more nondescript venue some moron in the crowd would invariably yell ‘Kick his ass, Sea Bass’!!’. It was more prevalent at MMA events though it stands out more at a boxing event. There’s so many ‘annoying drunk douchebag yelling stuff that he thinks is clever’ types at MMA cards that the ‘Kick his ass Sea Bass’ is almost quaint by comparison to many of their jeers and catcalls. For example, at one of the UFC events I attended the drunk douchebag in front of me kept yelling references to B.J. Penn as ‘the rastamon’. BJ Penn is from Hawaii and as far as I can recall has been bald or close to it for most if not all of his career. That automatically disqualifies him from being a ‘rastamon’.

Here are the odds on ‘Survivor: Ghost Island’ Episode 5:

‘SURVIVOR: GHOST ISLAND’ SEASON 36 BETTING ODDS

TO WIN ‘SURVIVOR: GHOST ISLAND’

Wendell Holland: +300
Stephanie Johnson: +500
Michael Yerger: +500
Domenick Abbate: +900
Angela Perkins: +900
Kellyn Bechtold: +900
Libby Vincek: +1500
Jenna Bowman: +1700
Bradley Kleihege: +1700
Donathan Hurley: +2500
Chris Noble: +2500
Desiree Afuye: +2500
Chelsea Townsend: +5000
Sebastian Noel: +5000
James Lin: +5000
Laurel Johnson: +5000

‘SURVIVOR: GHOST ISLAND’ EPISODE 5 BETTING ODDS

WHO WILL BE ELIMINATED IN EPISODE 5?

Chris Noble: +350
Donathan Hurley: +500
Domenick Abbate: +750
James Lin: +750
Wendell Holland: +1000
Chelsea Townsend: +1000
Desiree Afuye: +1500
Sebastian Noel: +1500
Bradley Kleihege: +1800
Stephanie Johnson: +1800
Laurel Johnson: +2000
Michael Yerger: +2000
Jenna Bowman: +2750
Angela Perkins: +2750
Kellyn Bechtold: +5000
Libby Vincek: +5000
No One Eliminated in Episode 5: +7500

WHO WILL WIN IMMUNITY IN EPISODE 5?

Malolo Tribe: -150
Naviti Tribe: +130
No One Wins Immunity in Episode 5: +5000

WHO WILL WIN REWARD IN EPISODE 5?

Malolo Tribe: -170
Naviti Tribe: +150
No One Wins Immunity in Episode 5: +5000

WILL A HIDDEN IDOL BE PLAYED IN EPISODE 5?

Yes: +250
No: -500

WILL ANYONE QUIT/BE REMOVED FROM ISLAND DUE TO INJURY IN EPISODE 5?

Yes: +1250
No: -2500

WILL A CONTESTANT BE ‘PIXELATED’ DUE TO NUDITY IN EPISODE 5?

Yes: +210
No: -250

GENDER IDENTITY OF NEXT CONTESTANT TO BE ‘PIXELATED’ DUE TO NUDITY DURING SEASON 36?

Female: -250
Male: +210

NEXT CONTESTANT TO BE ‘PIXELATED’ DUE TO NUDITY?

Chelsea Townsend: +350
Jenna Bowman: +500
Kellyn Bechtold: +500
Stephanie Johnson: +500
Libby Vincek: +750
Sebastian Noel: +1000
Angela Perkins: +1500
Domenick Abbate: +2500
Chris Noble: +2500
Michael Yerger: +2500
James Lin: +2500
Bradley Kleihege: +5000
Wendell Holland: +5000
Laurel Johnson: +5000
Donathan Hurley: +5000
Desiree Afuye: +5000
No One Pixelated Due To Nudity in Season 36: +10000

In the previous three propositions pixelation must be due to accidental or intentional nudity and not due to obscene gestures or any other reason. The ‘Fantasy Survivor’ game results at Global TV will be used for grading purposes.

EPISODE 5 KEY DEMO (18-49) RATINGS

Over 1.70: -150
Under 1.70: +130

EPISODE 5 KEY DEMO (18-49) SHARE

Over 6.5: -150
Under 6.5: +130

EPISODE 5 TOTAL VIEWERS

Over 8 million: -150
Under 8 million: +130

EPISODE 5 NIELSEN RANKING (3/19/18 through 3/25/18)

Over 9.5: -150
Under 9.5: +130

About the Author: Jim Murphy

For more than 25 years, Jim Murphy has written extensively on sports betting as well as handicapping theory and practice. Jim Murphy has been quoted in media from the Wall Street Journal to REASON Magazine. Murphy worked as a radio and podcasting host broadcasting to an international audience that depended on his expertise and advice. Murphy is an odds making consultant for sports and 'non-sport novelty bets' focused on the entertainment business, politics, technology, financial markets and more.