Contenders for the win: Players with edits who resemble those of past winners, or logcially make sense as winner candidates.
4th Eden: I've been up and down on him throughout, he had a great first episode, a terrible second episode and then has been up and down since then. The first episode made it clear he was going to be a relevant and important character this season, and he has also outlined his specific position and alliances. The only major fault is how he has been depicted as being susceptible to extreme paranoia which could impact his decicsion making. I don't write him off compeltly for that as we had the same type of thing with Kristie in season 1 who was shown to be paranoid. I could see Eden going to the end, but very likely to lose due to being known as paranoid or being seen as Mark and/or Caroline's goat. I have a strong sense he will be there at the end game, I don't see him winning but it's not an impossibility. The fact that his and Mark's relationship has been specificaly highlighted with their "invisible hand" alliance makes me think there is more to Eden than just being aligned with the middle aged mafia. If he so does end up deciding to switch up on Caroline along with Mark, then his stock will definitly rise in my eyes.
3rd Feras: By episode 12 of BvB and HvV, George had receieved well over 60 confessionals. Just as Feras has. And Feras continuously likens himself to that of King George. What do I take from this? That Feras is THE character of the season, but not the winner. The winner is very rarely this overexposed (aside from the very special case of David in All Stars) which is why I do not think Feras will win. I think the editors want us to ROOT for him to win. But theres no way someone like him is actually the winner. But of course, stranger things have happened. I do feel as if his edit is a lot cleaner than a lot of the others, he has more gaps filled in and less holes in his narrative. We fully understand who his allies are, why he has such an issue with Kirby and why he chooses to make the decisions that he does. But, I just don't see him as the winner. I initially thoought the Kirby vs Feras rivarly would cultimate at the merge with him being voted out, but I don't see it like that anymore. I think he wll eventually take out Kirby and win the war, but I don't see him going any further than 4th place. He could be the fallan angel (last person eliminated) of the season, but he is way too overexposed to be the winner. And due to his story within the game, I don't see him losing a jury vote. So logicially, I do no think he makes it to the end, but I can see him being one of the last boots, and also I can see him being on the top of production's "to bring back for an All Stars Season" list.
2nd Mark: He started off very strong. It looked as if he was running circles around this cast of mostly incapable players. He had all of his alliances explained; the middle aged mafia, the invisible hand and his friendship with the Vs. That screamed to me that he would be an important player in the game with longevity. But then he gets to the rebels tribe WITH HIS ENTIRE ALLIANCE and decides to play emotionally and seeks revange for Viola against Caroline. Only for his plan to fail due to the mistake of Rianna. He then found himself on the bottom and got very lucky there was a twist in episode 11 and that his tribe won immunity last episode. With Rianna having an idol he was very much the next to go should they have lost. But, they didn't. And how he is entering merge with players he is aligned with like Valeria who has an army ready to include him. The revenge on Caroline story will very much come to fruition I am sure of it, there is far too much foreshadowing that has occured for it to not. I can definitly see Valeria informing Mark of what happened, and Kirby will assist them in ousting Caroline. Should that happen then Mark will be in a pretty great spot as he has other allies in Eden as well. And not to mention there are so many other players who appear as bigger targets than he does. I can see him being there at the very end, but I am not sure if he will win. He could go to the end and win for sure, but he could also lose a jury vote. Or the more likely option, he gets close to the end but is taken out as a big player and threat to win.
1st Valeria: She has pretty much been my winner pick ever since episode 1. There was a brief bit where I placed Mark above her, but she seems to fit the criteria more than he does. She like Eden, Mark and Feras got a very good showing in episode 1. We understood how she felt about Viola and Mark which later resulted in being a pseudo alliance. We know how she felt about Caroline and Kitty, we get constant reminders of her presence on the show. And, we have all of this forshadowing of her seeking revenge for Viola. She got a very good swap episode where she was the one to narrate most of the occurences between the three titans who were on the minority. She has been the one to voice out Feras' and Kelli's flaws at tribal council and has been the one to explain why Kirby was more trustworhty ally over Feras. JLP is also always asking her questions at tribal and on the challenge mats. In the preview for next time on Survivor, JLP literally says "and who will be, Sole Survivor" with a shot of her for a good 5 seconds being edited together. I just feel the pieces are all there for the puzzle to make sense. I do think she is likely to win and I can see how. Her allys Kirby and Mark are way bigger shields than her, everyone else has all of these one on one narratives going on and she is also likely to do well with challenges in the late stage of the game. It just makese sense to me to believe she is the winner. But that is mainly because her edit is the least flawed of everyone's. She ticks the boxes that people like Hayley, Pia and Liz did in their edits, where they were introduced early on, went quiet for a bit and then came to be bigger characters during the middle of the game. If Valeria's edit continues the way it does, then I will be more sure it's her. But at this stage it is a two horse race between her and Mark.