Stephen Fishbach is sure to be one of the more interesting players to watch in Survivor: Cambodia.

Stephen is one of 20 former players voted in by America to return to play Survivor for a second time. He is one of the more well known members of the cast, considering he has a weekly column writing about Survivor for People.com as well as a weekly video recap with Rob Cesternino on Rob Has a Podcast.

Heading into Cambodia, Stephen has a huge reputation for being a strategist, but let's take a look back at what got him that reputation in the first place.

'Survivor' Host Jeff Probst Reveals How 'Cambodia' Is Different From Other Returning Player Seasons

Stephen played in Survivor: Tocantins (season 18), the season that also introduced J.T. Thomas, Tyson Apostol and Benjamin 'Coach' Wade. With a cast full of colorful characters and alpha males, Stephen stood out as a nerdy guy very adept at playing the game.

He teamed up with J.T. early on in the game, and also got himself into the "Exile Alliance" with tribemate Taj Johnson-George and two players from the other tribe, Brendan Synnott and Sierra Reed. Stephen's tribe wound up losing a majority of the Immunity Challenges, so they were down in numbers heading into the merge.

Stephen, J.T. and Taj were the only remaining members of their tribe when their other tribemate Joe Dowdle was injured and had to leave the game.

However, the trio managed to weasel their way in as they systematically voted out almost every member of the opposing tribe. Through the merge, J.T. was perceived as the more personable guy compared to Stephen, who mostly stuck to strategy.

At Final 4, Stephen conspired with Taj to get out J.T. assuming he didn't win Immunity. Of course, J.T. wound up winning Immunity, so the plans changed. Stephen voiced his concern for Taj possibly taking J.T. to the end with her instead of him, so he convinced J.T. to turn on Taj with him. They wound up voting her out.

J.T. won the final Immunity Challenge and took Stephen to the end instead of the more easy to beat Erinn Lobdell.

At Final Tribal Council, Stephen told the jury about how much he had grown over the course of the season, but it wasn't enough to convince them to vote for him over J.T. Stephen did not get a single vote to win and J.T. collected $1 million.

Now, heading into Cambodia, Stephen is one of the more beloved members of the Survivor community and he has a reputation for being a nice guy. Many of the other players would probably want to align with him, though there are bound to be others who are threatened by his smarts.

Stephen will likely form the strongest bonds with players from recent seasons, considering his connection to Rob Has a Podcast and engagement on Twitter. Some of the older players like Kelly Wiglesworth and Kimmi Kappenberg aren't as active on social media or in the fan community as a whole, so those bonds might be harder to come by.

There will probably be many players who are intimidated by Stephen's smarts, and they may target him early. A similar fate could happen like when Rob Cesternino played in Survivor: All Stars, with his whole tribe targeting him for having a scheming reputation. He was voted out fourth.

Cambodia Prediction: Stephen can be a nervous guy in uncomfortable situations, so he may have trouble out of the gate, depending on who's on his tribe. If he is not with people he would normally align with, it could spell trouble. We think his status as a writer, podcaster and strategist will make him an early target in the game, resulting in an unfortunately early boot.

We predict: 17th place.

Previous Cast Assessments:

Kelly Wiglesworth (Borneo)
Kimmi Kappenberg (The Australian Outback)
Peih-Gee Law (China)
Monica Padilla (Samoa)
Abi-Maria Gomes (Philippines)
Ciera Eastin (Blood vs. Water)
Tasha Fox (Cagayan)
Kass McQuillen (Cagayan)
Kelley Wentworth (San Juan del Sur)
Shirin Oskooi (Worlds Apart)

Jeff Varner (The Australian Outback)
Andrew Savage (Pearl Islands)
Terry Deitz (Panama)

Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance premieres Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Tags
Survivor, Reality TV, CBS