'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' castaway spotlight: Tom Westman

Will Tom stay dominant this time?

CBS

"Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" won't premiere on CBS until February 11, but as with every season you can expect a profile of each contestant here leading up to the 20th edition of the popular reality competition.

Today, the focus is on Tom Westman.

Name: Tom Westman

Age: 45

Occupation: Former firefighter

Location: New York, NY

Past season: "Survivor: Palau"

Tribe: Heroes

Claim to fame: Tom is easily one of the most dominant contestants to ever play "Survivor." He won numerous challenges, controlled the social game, and nearly managed a clean sweep from the jury at the end. Sure, he was helped by Ian falling on his own sword at the final three -- but he probably would have won regardless. Tom may not have been the most exciting winner, but he constantly had himself in a safe position in a pre-immunity idol game. He helped to completely decimate Ulong, keeping most of tribe safe until after the merge.

Is he an All-Star? It's time we saw Tom again. Westman declined an invitation to "Fans vs. Favorites" in fear that he would ruin the great reputation he got from winning "Palau." However, he ultimately decided that a reputation doesn't really mean that much since nothing can take away from what he's already done in the past. There's only been a few other "Survivor" winners who have dominated every facet of the game; out of all of them, Yul is now the only one to have only made one appearance.

Analysis: Tom is an alpha male if there ever was one: he's strong, smart, and a capable leader. In addition, he's also a true hero. These traits found him the target of much admiration on "Palau," but they won't help here. He's got to prove that he can form tight enough alliances to keep him around in stick situations; I'm also slightly worried that his physical shape isn't what it once was now that he's no longer a fireman.

Prediction: I think Tom will have a target on his back right from the get-go. People will want to see one of the winners out of the game, and he's going to need to navigate a few landmines. That said, I also think that Tom will do whatever it takes to stay alive. For that reason alone, we're probably looking at an early member of the jury here. He's a valuable guy to have around, but he's too big of a threat to go far in the game.

Of course, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below and stay tuned for more "Survivor" news. (To check out what Jeff Probst said about a potential alternate for this season, click here.)

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