To make this list, players must survive at least four tribal councils and finish with a voting percentage of at least 100%. Voting percentage is their total vote points based upon this scale divided by votes cast.
| 15 | Ethan Zohn Season: All-Star, Position: 11th, Vote Points: 5, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Jenna L, Rudy?!, Richard, Jerri!, Jerri. Yes, we are talking about Ethan's All-Star performance, not his Africa game. Actually, I was pleased to see Ethan make this list as the only mistake in his Africa game (though it was a big one) was helping to boot Kelly Goldsmith, but he really was left with little choice after Lex convinced the rest of his alliance that was the way to go. Anyway, on to his All-star game. When Ethan hit the beach, he was told flat out that his tribe was going to begin by voting out the winners; two tribal councils later, he was still there. His tribe was then dissolved and he was the first pick by Mogo Mogo with the expressed purpose of voting him out at the first opportunity; two tribal councils later, he was still there but just as it looked like he was getting back into this game as an alliance mate with Colby and Lex, Lex showed he had other plans (rather foolish plans at that) and Ethan was shown the door. Looking at his votes, his weakest was on Rudy when he could have used the opportunity to try and get him, Rudy and Rupert to turn the tables on Jenna and Jerri. His best was his timing on turning on Jerri when it looked for a while like he had worked his way into an alliance with Colby and Lex. Likely the most popular winner ever, Ethan is often under-rated as a player. Ethan has a head and personality for this game. Always looking for opportunities while at the same time inspiring loyalty from those around him. He was most definitely the deserved winner in Africa. |
| 14 | Rob Mariano Season: Marquesas, Position: 10th, Vote Points: 5, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Peter?!, Patricia!, Hunter, Gabriel, John This time, not his All-Star game but his one in Marquesas. The Maraamu tribe that he began in was really a tough one to operate from. Likely the better initial call for him and Sarah would have been to team up with Sean, Vecepia and Peter and take out Patricia or Hunter himself. The problem with allying with Hunter was, although he had a nice support group in Gina and Patricia, he wasn't understanding anyone else's need to be in an alliance, as he showed when he went after Sarah, Rob's second, on the very next immunity council. Rob did the right thing then and abandoned Hunter in favour of Sean and Vee. Even solidifying the leadership structure in the tribe by removing Hunter in their third council was still the right way to go, despite how the editing in the episode made it out to be a mistake. It was when there was a player swap that Rob, along with Sean and Vecepia really showed us something that no other players in those same positions have yet done. In every other season (we are at eight and running as I write this) the players that found themselves in the minority spent their time schmoozing up to the dominant duo trying to get them to dump their already solidified allies and pick up them. The only time it has worked was in All-Star and there were other forces involved there that wouldn't be a factor in any other season - see Rob's second entry on this list to read what I'm talking about. Suffice to say, sucking up is not the way to go and this trio did not. They turned on the dominant players (John and Tammy) at each opportunity, continually stirring the pot, trying to get them to make a mistake or urge the other players to attempt a coup. They almost hit pay dirt on their first try when John turned on Gabriel and our minority trio shot for the tie vote only to find that Gabriel was going to bow out without a fight. Although John's weakness was eventually found, Rob became the first casualty after the merge and wasn't around to see it. This doesn't take away from his great play before that and players in this game should take note of it. Although he was probably too arrogant this first time round, he showed us how a player in the minority power should play. |
| 13 | Jerri Manthey Season: All-Star, Position: 10th, Vote Points: 6, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Tina, Rudy, Richard, Colby, Ethan, Amber A player whose weakness has more to do with the dynamics of her relationships in the tribe than with her gameplay, Jerri is a player that is both under-rated and over-vilified. In Australia, her biggest mistake was underestimating her opponents within the Ogakor tribe. In another season, in another tribe, she could easily have emerged the winner. In All-star she once again showed her ability to rub people the wrong way as well as her ability to play the game well. Teaming up immediately with Jenna, this duo lead Saboga in the early going but that leadership poisoned the sense of team and caused the tribe to lose most of it's challenges. When the tribe was dissolved, however, she showed her ability to land on her feet and begin anew. In fact, it looked very much like she had worked her way into an alliance with Lex, Kathy and Shii Ann in Mogo Mogo and stood a good chance of making the merge. Having her in the merge would have been interesting as she had several players that she could explore options with, including ex-tribemates Jenna and Rupert, now over at Chapera. But it wasn't to be. Lex's scattered logic - see the worst games section - saw Jerri get Kelly Goldsmithed just before the merge and she was gone. Over all, Jerri played one of the strongest games of the All-Star season and represented the last chance at giving Rob and Amber a run for their money. Perhaps she can be too abrasive and aggressive, but I would take that over coat-tail riding marshmallows any day. |
| 12 | Clay Jordan Season: Thailand, Position: 2nd, Vote Points: 8, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: John, Tanya, Ghandia, Ken, Jake!?, Jake, Ted, Helen Yes I know, all this guy did was ride in Brian's shadow but I really can't say that this wasn't the right way for him to play that game. His only interesting vote was when he voted Jake when Penny went in some lame and completely illogical ploy at convincing Penny that Clay was on her side. The amazing thing was it worked, and he almost won. All of the Sook Jai players (Erin, Ken, Penny and Jake) would have voted his way in the final tribal council except that Clay got into some moronic argument with Jake and Jake was holding it against him. If there had been stronger players in the middle-game in Thailand, the vote would likely not have been so close. Then again, if there were stronger players in Thailand, Clay likely would never have made the final two in the first place. I've always seen Clay as Brian's Achilles Heal, one that the other players failed to recognize, but I'll save that conversation for when I get to Brian. |
| 11 | Paschel English Season: Marquesas, Position: 4th, Vote Points: 9, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Sarah, Gina, Rob, John!, Zoe!, Tammy?, Robert, Sean, Kathy Oh, people are going to argue with me on this one, but if we subtract one purple rock from this game, Paschel would have likely been our winner. I never did like his moralizing in this game. It especially struck me as hypocritical to criticize players like Sean Rector for trying to play alliances when he had the tightest voting partnership of the whole game with Neleh. Either way, I can't deny the fact that he was the leader going into the final four. If there were another player besides Vecepia, a player that didn't fail to recognize the advantage of forcing the tie at four (a proper strategy that hadn't been used up til then, nor since); if Paschel had not been so unfortunate to have picked the purple stone, or if the old votes against rule was still in play (Paschel had not a vote on him), then he would have been our leading candidate to win. Yeah, but if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas, right? The only mistake I can attest to Paschel, is in letting both Sean and Vecepia get so deep into the game. He likely should have removed one of the pair (Sean certainly) earlier, probably back when Tammy went out. Still, Paschel and Neleh represent the only players to pull a coup on the dominant group and successfully eradicate them. If that was such an easy accomplishment, it would have been done many time by now, so we need to give him credit for that. |
| 10 | Brian Heidik Season: Thailand, Position: 1st, Vote Points: 9, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: John, Tanya, Ghandia, Ken, Penny, Jake, Ted, Helen, Jan It can be argued that Brian is the strongest player ever because of how successfully he pulled the wool over people's eyes. I myself don't contend with this position and feel that Brian's easy road to victory had more to do with the weakness of his opposition than with anything particularly brilliant that he did. Once John was gone, any potential challengers to the Chuay Gahn throne evaporated and with Sook Jai's self destruction, Brian was able to sleep walk his way to the win. Don't get me wrong, Brian played a great game (he wouldn't be on this list if he didn't) but I don't put him up there with previous winners like Richard, Tina, Vecepia or even Ethan. There's just nothing particularly brilliant that he did and the combination of his multiple final two promises and his dedication to Clay, should have bitten him right in the ass. For the life of me I will never understand why the other members of Chuay Gahn (Ted, Helen and Jan) allowed Brian to keep Clay. Even if they believed Brian in his commitment to them, wouldn't it be natural for the three of them to vote out Clay once it was down to five to ensure Brian met this commitment? Clay should have been Brian's Achilles Heal. What was truly remarkable was that Brian almost lost the final vote to Clay anyway. If earlier in the game Clay hadn't gotten into a silly and pointless argument with Jake, Clay would have been the winner. Brian almost lost to a complete floater who did nothing strategically, athletically or socially to deserve the win. Brian almost smarmed himself right out of the victory. If he had played this more straight up, not been so weaselly, he probably would have won with a more comfortable margin. Ironically, I think it is players like Brian and Amazon's Rob Cesternino (who you won't find on this list) that have really inspired the kind of hyper-aggressive early play that has resulted in the disintegration of so many tribes these past few seasons. This is ironic because team building was something that this King of Deception understood very well, which is a big part of the reason why Chuay Gahn did triumph over the much more physically strong Sook Jai. Of late, too many players have felt they could lie and charm their way through the game, assuming that every game was populated with the same kind of pigeons that Brian was able to fleece. Everyone since Brian has discovered that this style of play has only put themselves, and more often than not their entire tribe, right out of the game. |
| 9 | Rob Mariano Season: All-Star, Position: 2nd, Vote Points: 9, Vote Percentage: 113% Voting Line: Rob C, Lex, Kathy, Alicia!, Shii Ann, Tom, Rupert, Jenna It's Boston Rob again, the only player to make the list twice. The common consensus is that Rob should have been our winner from All-Star instead of Amber and I have to say I agree. It was clear to see that it was Rob that was calling the shots and Amber that was riding in his wake. It is also clear to see that Rob played a classic game, concentrating on building a cohesive tribe in the early going (while the other tribes were tearing into each other by removing threats), formulating a final four alliance that supported him, and riding that alliance right to the end. This is no different than how the vast majority of players have played including certain uber-hypocrite jury members. At the same time, I can't say I'm disappointed in the Amber win especially when it happened in conjunction with Rob's and Amber's engagement. They played as a pair and won as a pair and showed the jury that it didn't much matter how they voted. I hope the taste of crow is still lingering. Never the less, whenever someone who should have won doesn't, you are forced to ask yourself where could he have gone differently. An alliance with Lex and company was out of the question so I'm not even going to go there. Where Rob's play did drift away from convention was in his alliance with Rupert and Jenna from the Saboga tribe over his loyalties to his own tribe, in particular Tom. The more standard play would have been to have Tom as the third but with these players all knowing each other before hand, All-Star was far from a standard game. With information that there was a strong suspicion on Rob's part of a pre-game pact struck between Lex and Tom (something that is far lower in the murk of game ethics than anything Lex and Kathy accused Rob of) one can understand his desire to pick up alliance mates that don't have strings attached. Rob toned down his Robfather schtick from Marquesas and showed himself to be a strong leader and, beyond a doubt, the best player to make the merge from the All-Star crowd. |
| 8 | Neleh Dennis Season: Marquesas, Position: 2nd, Vote Points: 10, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Sarah, Gina, Rob, John!, Zoe!, Tammy?, Robert, Sean, Kathy, Kathy As I mentioned in my write up on Paschel, Neleh and Paschel headed the only completely successful coup in the eight seasons we have had so far, and for that alone she deserves her number eight spot on this list. Being part of the only reciprocal supporting pair in the final four, Neleh had to be considered one of the front runners to win and one can certainly argue that her loss to Vecepia had more to do with irrational anger from the deposed former rulers than from any real appreciation of Vecepia's play. The only place I would have suggested she play differently would have been to dispose of Sean before five, likely when Tammy went. Other than that she played a truly great game and I wouldn't have argued if she were picked over Vecepia in the end. |
| 7 | Amber Brkich Season: All-Star, Position: 1st, Vote Points: 9, Vote Percentage: 113% Voting Line: Rob C, Jerri, Lex, Kathy, Alicia!, Shii Ann, Tom, Rupert Like Clay, Amber picked the right horse on to which to hitch her cart. I can't rightly criticize her game but at the same time it was very obvious that she was doing little more than following Rob's lead. I think for a player to win they should have to show that they are able to take control of the game and step out of the shadows. Amber never did that and because of this I can't say that she is the one that deserved to win All-Star. Every other winner separated themselves from their alliance mates in some way and I think this will continue to be a necessary component to victory in future games. That the players knew each other going in, and in many cases were friends, will always make All-Star an aberration and not something that future contestants should model their play after. |
| 6 | Richard Hatch Season: Borneo, Position: 1st, Vote Points: 10, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Stacey?!, Stacey, Dirk!?, Gretchen!, Greg, Jenna, Gervase, Colleen, Sean, Sue The godfather of this game, some people may be surprised that he didn't finish higher on this list. Although Richard wrote the first few chapters on how this game is to be played, he didn't finish the book so one shouldn't be surprised that some players will finish higher than this. Truth be told, because those around him were still trying to figure this whole thing out, Richard didn't have to work as hard as some of the later seasons' winners did. Richard began his game by targeting Stacey right off the bat, even when there was no one else doing it. I rated his first vote as dubious because by the standard of future play, isolating yourself like this is a sure way to an early dismissal. That being said, Richard wasn't that far from finding his way to Loser Lodge anyway, but at their second tribal council he did manage to convince enough of his tribe-mates that Stacey had to go, and from then on he never looked back. His best boot was definitely in recognizing the threat that Gretchen represented in the other tribe and having her removed before she had a chance to question her no alliance policy. This is a lesson that many future dominant alliances will continue to miss as they obsess about immunity strength as opposed to leadership threats in deciding their boots. Although there were threats, a counter attack to his leadership never really emerged and in the end he won in a close vote to Kelly Wigglesworth, a player that found alliance voting rather unsavoury. Thank goodness Richard did win this game as it accelerated the evolution of this game and laid down the first layers of it's fundamentals. |
| 5 | Colby Donaldson Season: Australia, Position: 2nd, Vote Points: 11, Vote Percentage: 100% Voting Line: Kel, Maralyn, Mitchell!, Jeff, Alicia, Jerri!, Nick, Roger!?, Roger!?, Elizabeth, Keith? Yes okay, he voted out Keith and instead took Tina with him into the final two but who knows, maybe he would have lost to Keith too. Alright maybe not, but one still shouldn't let this understandable bout of loyalty and gamesmanship - yes gamesmanship to want to be up against the best in the end - to colour his very strong game. Colby formed half of the best duo to have ever played this game. First, they had to contend with the power struggles within their own tribe. They did the wise thing in simplifying the situation right off by removing Kel and tried to ride behind Mithcell and Jerri for a while but found that wasn't working and so took out Mitchell and took control. What Colby and Tina really showed us was how to play the middle-game, but I'll save that conversation for my Tina discussion. Right now I want to talk about the jury vote. Choosing between two such closely allied players was tough, as reflected by the 4 to 3 decision - but in the end I always want to see the player that most controlled the course of the game to win. I do believe that player was Tina and not Colby, and I think this is most clearly indicated in the Amber boot (when Colby voted Roger). Colby very clearly was out of the loop for this one. It is also interesting to note that Nick, Amber and Roger were all Colby supporters in the final vote and all three went before Elizabeth and Keith, who were Tina supporters. One can't make an argument for the order based upon immunity strength. Perhaps it was an indication of who was truly controlling the boots. Irregardless, Colby is beyond a doubt one of the best players ever in this game and his like really hasn't reappeared. |
| 4 | Rudy Boesch Season: Borneo, Position: 3rd, Vote Points: 11, Vote Percentage: 110% Voting Line: Sonja, Stacey, Dirk!?, Gretchen!, Greg, Jenna, Gervase, Colleen, Sean, Sue As entertaining a player as Rudy is, like Clay and Amber listed above, I really don't think he belongs in the same company as the rest on this list. It's really more in that these players that ride in the wake of their more dominant other halves really can't be punished in how I score their voting. The only reason that Rudy is placing ahead of Richard is because his very first vote was for the logical Sonja where Richard played an isolated vote on Stacey. Either way, it is clear that for the rest of his votes Rudy was simply following Richard's orders and that it is Richard that deserves the credit and the eventual win. |
| 3 | Sean Rector Season: Marquesas, Position: 5th, Vote Points: 12, Vote Percentage: 120% Voting Line: Sarah, Patricia!, Hunter, Gabriel, John, John, Zoe!, Tammy, Robert, Neleh If I were forced to pick a favourite player, that player would have to be Sean from Marquesas. I know there were people that got angry with him, which quite frankly that got me liking him even more, but I found what came out of his mouth to be hysterical and his gameplay to be exceedingly strong. The players of the Maraamu tribe likely represented the most complex dynamic in the early going. Sean immediately bonded with Peter and Vecepia and the three of them looked to be forming an alliance. After their first loss, the consensus of the tribe seemed to be that Sarah should go. This would have played great for Sean. Sarah gone leaves Rob isolated and it likely wouldn't be too tough to persuade him to later vote out Patricia and eventually Hunter. This would have left the tribe at maximum strength (if Sarah and Patricia were the first boots) and Sean firmly in charge of a dominant four player alliance. But it wasn't to be. Instead of leaving good enough alone, Peter pitched to the tribe that they should remove Patricia, which earned the ire of Hunter and Gina. Rob and Sarah were quick to jump on anything that didn't result in Sarah going which saw Peter go and Sean left shaking his head. Eventually Sean, along with Vecepia and Rob, found themselves minority members of the Rotu tribe and there they demonstrated the correct way for the weaker tribe to behave. You stir the pot and look for cracks. Leaving things to their natural courses would have resulted in just a lot of pagonging and an easy win for the dominant duo (John and Tammy). Stirring the pot stirs emotions. Emotions bring on irrational behaviour, which bring on potential mistakes and may cause other weaker members in the game to begin to question why they are supporting the dominant group. And that is exactly what happened as Paschel, Neleh and Kathy joined forces with Sean and Vecepia to give us this game's only successful, and sustained, coup. Even sitting in the fourth and fifth spot now, Sean never gave up working on the weak link in the Neleh/Paschel armour in the form of Kathy. In the end, Kathy couldn't turn on the dominant pair (though she should have) and Sean was gone. Make no mistake though, without Sean and company's constant attacks he would never have advanced as far as he did and Vecepia would never have had a shot at the win. You would think the fact that Vecepia (the only non-dominant pair member to win at this game) did win would mean that future players that found themselves in the weaker tribe role would follow their lead. Sadly this is not the case as weaker tribes have consistently spent their energies sucking up to the dominant players when they should have been conspiring against them. Not surprisingly, no other weaker tribe members have advanced as far into the game as Sean and Vee have. |
| 2 | Vecepia Towery Season: Marquesas, Position: 1st, Vote Points: 13, Vote Percentage: 118% Voting Line: Sarah, Patricia!, Hunter, Gabriel, Rob, John, Zoe!, Tammy, Robert, Neleh, Neleh Because a win at the final four immunity challenge was integral to Vecepia's final victory, and also because the season edit on Vecepia spent very little time showing her saying or doing anything, Vecepia is likely the most under-rated winner this game has had. Many folks felt that Vecepia did little more than fly under the radar long enough to receive the spoil-sport votes from the jury, but nothing could be further from the truth. First off, she was a full participant in Rob's and Sean's aggresive attacks on the dominant duo's position and this was after John and Tammy promised Vecepia a fifth spot in their alliance. An offer that has been good enough for many other players before and since. Second, when Vecepia did make the final four, she did something no other player before or since has done. She forced a tie. Not only is it very unlikely that Kathy would have done the same if she had won the immunity challenge, no other player has ever done it despite the fact that it is always to the advantage of the third and fourth player in the final four to vote together and force a tie - always! I can go through the probability argument, you can find it in my strategy guide, but it is such an advantage to not be that third player in the final three (that is you have to win the immunity challenge to move on) that it is worth the shot at being the one that goes to achieve a break up of the dominant pair before going into the final three. Even more than that, taking control of a game usually works well with the jury and simply following the path of least resistance until you win that final challenge doesn't work. Just ask Kelly Wiglesworth, Kim Johnson, Matt Von Ertfelda or Lillian Morris. Even after breaking the Paschel/Neleh duo, Vecepia wasn't finished and once Kathy was out of the final immunity challenge, Vecepia made sure that it was going to be her and Neleh in the final two. She elevated herself from a fourth to a second, leaving Kathy in her dust wondering what just happened. Vecepia more than deserves her place on this list and I wish more players would take the lessons she has to offer to heart. |
| 1 | Tina Wesson Season: Australia, Position: 1st, Vote Points: 13, Vote Percentage: 130% Voting Line: Kel, Maralyn, Mitchell!, Jeff, Alicia, Jerri!, Nick, Amber!, Roger!?, Elizabeth It was her middle game that really separates Tina from the other Survivor winners. There is no question that Ogakor benefited when Michael fell into the fire resulting in the two tribes going into the merge tied. What also worked to their favour was that Kimmi had let them know that Jeff had previous votes on him - Tina just flat out asked her at one point and she let her know. Armed with that information, they knew exactly whom to target in a tie vote and Jeff was gone. Once in the majority, however, her and Colby hardly had a clear road. The remainder of the Ogakor tribe consisted of Jerri and Amber, a pair and Jerri especially demonstrated a willingness to play aggressively. She was being strung along by Colby, but how long was it going to last? If Jerri caught wind that Colby wasn't taking her anywhere she would likely go over to the remaining Kuchas and shoot to take out the dominant duo. Tina and Colby recognized that once it was five Ogakor to three Kucha, they no longer would require Jerri's vote and they enlisted the support of the remaining Kuchas to take her out. This was the first counter-pagong and represented a step beyond Richard Hatch's taking out the other tribe strategy. There is a very good chance that once it was down to only two Kucha's, Jerri would have tried to form a new alliance against Tina, Colby and Keith, so they one upped her. This certainly wasn't without an element of risk. Kucha's better move would have been to fink out the dominant group by approaching Jerri with a new deal (like what Rob, Sean and Vee did with Gabriel in Marquesas), but this was the first time anyone had done anything like this and the counter-counter-play never occurred to them. Tina and company had read the situation correctly. However, it is the Amber boot that I find the most interesting. With Jerri out of the picture, Amber wasn't going to be turning on anyone. So why did she go so early? I think there are two clues as to the answer. One, Colby never voted for her and it was clear from his reaction that he was out of the loop on this boot. Two, Amber supported Colby as was clear by her non-hesitating final two vote. Amber was in Colby's camp and her removal forced Colby to only one place for loyal support - Tina. What is really interesting to note is that it wasn't just Amber. The next three boots after Jerri were all people that leaned towards Colby over Tina. When Tina went into the final four she was surrounded by three other players, all of which would have taken her in the end. It is this kind of subtle manipulation that really makes Tina's game in Australia the best game that was ever played. |