South Portland resident Bob Crowley has survived on “Survivor: Gabon – Earth’s Last Eden” through the first four episodes, but to last longer, he will need to start playing the political game.

“I think he needs to start making alliances. If he sits back and does nothing for too long, he will be voted off,” said Sally Hatch, a colleague at Gorham High School, where Crowley teaches English.

Crowley, 57, is among 14 remaining contestants on this fall’s new season of the hit CBS reality show, “Survivor,” which airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. He is the oldest to compete in the series, filmed in the jungle of Gabon, a country on the western coast of Africa.

A Portland native, Crowley has lived the last 25 years in South Portland, where he and his wife, Peggy, have raised their sons David, 27, and John, 25, and their daughter Page, 20.

From the beginning of the “Survivor” episodes, Crowley shined. He initially was captain of his team, named Kota, built his team’s hut, caught fish and played pivotal roles in his team’s immunity challenge wins. In one challenge, his team chose him to untie knots while on top of a rolling ball. He succeeded, untied keys hanging from three posts. The keys eventually unlocked a gate, completing Kota’s challenge as it outraced the other team.

His performance earned him a nomination as Survivor of the Week.

His dominance diminished in the next episode, however, as his team took a step back by losing its first immunity challenge. The challenge forced the teams to send five members individually down a water slide into a river. There, they swam intermittent lengths to grab a package that contained a number, swam back to shore and raced the numbers to the top of a 100-foot hill. A team member stood waiting to solve a math problem by placing the six numbers in a mathematical combination that would open the lock to a box. The first team to open the box won.

Crowley was the puzzle-solver for his team. While Kota mates gave him a few minutes’ head start to put the numbers in the correct combination order, he couldn’t capitalize. At one point, viewers could hear a team member shouting for him “to pull the damn lever, Bob.”

Going into episode 5 Thursday, Crowley continues to shine as his team’s survival guru by providing food and lighting fires to keep the team warm, but he has yet to join a formidable voting alliance with his Kota teammates. These alliances usually ensure players don’t vote one another off the show.

Not building an alliance right now could benefit Crowley as other contestants who don’t have his survival skills are being voted off, said Jason Tanguay, Gorham High School colleague.

“I think he’s being pretty smart,” Tanguay said. “He’s able to sit on the outskirts and still stay friendly with everybody as others get eliminated.”

In last week’s episode four, Crowley’s team ranked him third out of seven teammates to determine importance to the group. Later in the episode, players ranked Crowley second to last before the two teams switched some members. Crowley remained with Kota.

“I think his team ranked him so high initially because he can do anything around the camp,” Hatch said. “I think he got picked near last later because he hasn’t been as vital in the immunity challenges.”

Hatch said she believes Crowley is safe for a few more episodes.

“I think he’s got a few more weeks left,” Hatch said. “He does need to start building alliances or else he will get lost in the shuffle.”

Bob Crowley, a Gorham High School physics teacher and South Portland resident, traverses a river in Gabon, Africa, during the premiere episode of Surviv: Gabon, Earth’s Last Eden, on Thursday night. The show airs on CBS.Bob Crowley has survived the first four episodes of season 17 of “Survivor: Gabon Bob Crowley, a physics teacher at Gorham High School is on the winner of the CBS reality show “Survivor.” South Portland resident and Gorham High School physics teacher Bob Crowley, standing on the yellow No. 3 post, is still in the game on “Survivor: Gabon If his tribe is smart they will keep him around for a while.He has put himself back in the position to remain for a while.He appears to be the glue that keeps the camp together.