Season 41 of Survivor has been putting contestants through the wringer like never before. Crazy twists are happening. The timeline was shortened to just 26 days. And the cast has next to nothing to eat, with way fewer reward competitions to boot. Things are soon to come to an end, though, with only six players left in the game. Amidst the show airing the final episodes, one of the remaining frontrunners, Deshawn Radden, unveiled a drastic change to his look. According to him, it's the result of too much island sand and apparently not enough soap in the world.
As you can see above, Survivor contestants get a little rough around the edges after spending weeks without a shower, a toothbrush, or basic grooming tools. Deshawn Radden is no different. But the Survivor 41 castmate is looking brand new in his latest Instagram post. After filming the show, he apparently shaved his head bald because “an understated consequence” of living on one of Fiji’s islands long-term is that sand becomes “stuck to your scalp.” And now I'm just itchy thinking about it. See the new look here:
Sure, us fans are used to seeing major physical evolutions to players from Day 1 compared to the end, yet I still almost couldn't recognize Deshawn Radden with this bald cut. It's definitely not too shabby but, judging from his caption, the transformation might have just been temporary after getting home. But if Radden somehow shows up to Survivor 41's finale night with the same style, well, you heard it here first.
Truth be told, though, it will take a lot of maneuvering and effort for Deshawn Radden to make it into one of the final two or final three seats on finale night. The tables have turned on him lately, and the former underdogs are now the majority. Radden and his last remaining alliance member, Danny McCray, are the easiest targets for the next elimination. If he’s good at Russian roulette, which he has been so far, Xander Hastings will be safe with his hidden immunity idol and have a cake walk to becoming Sole Survivor. But if Radden can somehow convince the others to pull off a Hastings elimination, then we have a different situation entirely.
But technically, if Deshawn Radden hadn’t double-crossed Shan Smith a few weeks ago, then he and their all-Black alliance could have more easily made it to the end like Big Brother 23's “Cookout” alliance. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Post-Survivor 41, Smith herself has since commented that she doesn’t begrudge Radden the complex scenario they were both faced with. However, she did have a thing or two to say about the double standards that female players have to endure.
Nevertheless, there is a distinct chance for a Deshawn Radden win on Survivor 41. And that chance is him winning as many upcoming challenges as he can. To find out what happens, tune in at 8 p.m. EST on CBS!
