Survivor Season Rankings (Updated May 2015)

After a wait of a couple of years, I have finally updated these rankings. I tend to rank gameplay seasons higher than "entertaining" seasons, but that's not a hard and fast rule. Mostly, it's just my opinion of how entertaining the seasons are. I haven't really watched any back (despite my many promises that I will) so some are going off of memory, which could skew the rankings.

Without further ado, here are my rankings, first summarized, then a bit more detailed.

Ranking Summary:

0.  Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)
1.  Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)
2.  Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites (Season 16)
3.  Survivor: Peal Islands (Season 7)
4.  Survivor: Cagayan (Season 28)
5.  Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)
6.  Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)
7.  Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Season 27)
8.  Survivor: Worlds Apart (Season 30)
9.  Survivor: Caramoan (Season 26)
10. Survivor: Phillipines (Season 25)
11. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)
12. Survivor: China (Season 15)
13. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)
14. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)
15. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)
16. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)
17. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)
18. Survivor: One World (Season 24)
19. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)
20. Survivor: San Juan del Sur (Season 29)
21. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)
22. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)
23. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)
24. Survivor: South Pacific (Season 23)
25. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
26. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)
27. Survivor: Gabon (Season 17)
28. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)

29. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)

DETAILED SUMMARY BELOW (With some spoiler space)

0.  Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)

It is difficult to rank the first season when compared to the others. It is the season that laid the blueprint for how every other season was played, and yet the one that also helped to define how we, the viewers, were to watch the show. So I cheated, and took it out of the rankings.

1.  Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

2.  Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites (Season 16)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season.

3.  Survivor: Peal Islands (Season 7)

Rupert is overexposed now, but in Season 7 he was an amazing character, one whose embracing of the Pirates theme of Pearl Islands gave the season a great start, and then gave us someone to root for throughout the season. Plus, you get Johnny Fairplay and the greatest lie ever told in Survivor (until poor Ice Cream Scooper Erik and the giving away of immunity.) And we have possibly the greatest player ever to play the game (especially if you go by results) in Sandra playing her first season.

4.  Survivor: Cagayan (Season 28)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

5.  Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

6.  Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

7.  Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Season 27)

A lot of people groaned when they heard the details about this season. Half returning players, half family members? The return of Redemption Island? "UGH," they said. As it turned out, both twists helped to carry the season through what would have been (frankly) a boring end game. Instead of just getting (essentially) a Pagonging of the minority, we also saw an emotional challenge between mother and daughter where the loser gets eliminated, a DRAWING OF ROCKS where the clear cut favourite could have been eliminated and some of the most aggressive Tribal Council play from somebody who knew his time in the game was on the line from Hayden. And that's not even the half of the season.

8.  Survivor: Worlds Apart (Season 30)

The only person who could win and make it an acceptable season did win. But the season itself was great for gameplay, and not so great for misongyny and general not niceness from people who truly believe they are in the right. Unfortunately, the latter definitely overshadows the former, which ends up hurting the season.

9.  Survivor: Caramoan (Season 26)

The focus on the big characters in the first half of the season was a bit ominous for those who prefer the strategy of the season, even if it was interesting to watch (enjoyable doesn't reflect how uncomfortable it could be to watch Brandon break down and Shamar be Shamar.) But once the merge hit, the blind sides came non-stop, we had a shocking tribal council with two idols in play which caused us to see the first ever scramble during tribal council, someone getting blindsided with an immunity idol in their pocket, one of the greatest speech ever getting voted out, a generally likeable cast from final 9 onward and yes, even a satisfying winner. Pretty well everything that you could want in a season, you got.

(Though the bullying of Dawn was awkward at best.)

10. Survivor: Phillipines (Season 25)

This season had a couple of epic tribal councils and the most inept tribe ever, and a complete flip of the game when that inept tribe ended up in the final four. Plus Penner's final jury questions/speech. Combine that with the existance of Abi-Maria and you have a very great season.

11. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him (looking back at it, it doesn't seem to be as bold but at the time it was an amazingly ballsy play). Very underrated year.

12. Survivor: China (Season 15)

Looking back on this season with the knowledge of how Todd has fallen apart since it aired, it does make ranking this season within the context of just the season more difficult. But looking at it from just the season itself, it has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

13. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first ever major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. Plus Mike Skupin's epic injury, a bad tie-breaker being used to take out Jeff Varner and the launch of Elizabeth Hasselback's career.

14. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

15. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)

J.T. and Stephen dominate the year; we're also given the gift of the Dragon-Slayer, Coach!

16. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)

Oh, Brandon. You are still not forgiven for screwing over Kelly for no good reason. But with that said it is a fun season where we have our first tribe swap, and our first tease of a switch of the majority alliance.

17. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)

The Boston Rob show gets up here because of Boston Rob's hilarious confessionals, his running of the show from start to finish and Phillip's wackiness. In an unrelated note, if Rob didn't win I would have rated it lower.

18. Survivor: One World (Season 24)

The removal of Colton stopped us from seeing him get his comeuppance that we so richly needed. But at the same time, we had great characters in Tarzan and Kat, an amazing situation where a tribe won immunity then decided to give it away so that they could vote somebody out and possibly the greatest game ever played on Survivor by Kim. It's tough to keep it this low, but predictability beats the game itself.

19. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge (under questionable means) ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

20. Survivor: San Juan del Sur (Season 29)

The second coming of the Blood vs. Water was nowhere near as strong as the first 

21. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)

I rank this higher than everybody else it seems, but Yau Man and Earl were fun to watch, and the drama of Dreamz not giving immunity to Yau Man at the final 4 (after being gifted a car by Yau Man in exchange for a promise of the necklace) made it enjoyable (even if the have/have not twist was possibly the second worst twist of all time.)

22. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. And then she loses to Danni. But it did have Gary Hogeboom thinking he needed to disguise who he was from everybody else, lest they remember a backup quarterback from the NFL. And also, the first season with what is now a big part of Survivor, a hidden immunity idol.

23. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

24. Survivor: South Pacific (Season 23)

The editing ended up hurting this season, as they built it up to show why Coach lost, instead of why Sophie won. Maybe that happened because they had very little to use to show Sophie as a great player, but that's an even bigger damning of the season.

(Also, the first half of the year with Brandon acting very creepy towards Mikayla was uncomfortable at the best of times.)

25. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve to stay around becaue they had already won was annoying and uncomfortable.

26. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deserving of being there.

27. Survivor: Gabon (Season 17)

You remember how great it was that Bob Crowley won, but when you think about it more, the season was pretty terrible. Bob Crowley was just a likable person, not a good player. When the most memorable things to have happened was an amusing fake hidden immunity idol and Bob making his buff into a bow tie, you know you have a terrible season.

(Though thankfully it did give us Corrine.)

28. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)

It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this ahead of...

29. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)

Easily the most unlikable cast in Survivor history overshadows one of the greatest games played by Brian Heidik. The final immunity challenge was cool, but otherwise it was a horrible season to watch. No tribal swap, no merge until the jury and we were left with waiting for the Pagong-ing to finish. And one of the best games played was rewarded with a 4-3 victory versus a terrible person.

Survivor: Ranking the Seasons (Updated December 2013)

Here are my rankings of Survivor Seasons. A couple of notes:

• I am writing this prior to the airing of the finale, so there is a chance that I will revisit the Blood vs. Water ranking after watching it. (I will not be able to actually watch it live, or on Sunday for that matter, so my recap - BURNING QUESTIONS RETURN! - will appear on Monday evening or Tuesday morning.)   
• As has been the case for the last, oh, 5 years or so, I still have to rewatch a lot of these seasons, so there is memory bias in effect.

(At the suggestion of a reader of a previous post, the format of this post is to put a non-spoiler summary at the beginning, with no details as to what happened in each season. Then I will have a detailed listing that will have spoilers in it.)

Ranking summary:

 1. Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)
 2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)
 3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Season 16)
 4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Season 7)
 5. Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)
 6. Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)
 7. Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Season 27)
 8. Survivor: Caramoan (Season 26)
 9. Survivor: Phillipines (Season 25)
 10. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)
 11. Survivor: China (Season 15)
 12. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)
 13. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)
 14. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)
 15. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)
 16. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)
 17. Survivor: One World (Season 24)
 18. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)
 19. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)
 20. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)
 21. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)
 22. Survivor: South Pacific (Season 23)
 23. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
 24. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)
 25. Survivor: Gabon (Seaon 17)
 26. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)
 27. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)





DETAILED LISTING



1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

5. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

6. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

7. Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Winner: ?????)

A lot of people groaned when they heard the details about this season. Half returning players, half family members? The return of Redemption Island? "UGH," they said. As it turned out, both twists helped to carry the season through what would have been (frankly) a boring end game. Instead of just getting (essentially) a Pagonging of the minority, we also saw an emotional challenge between mother and daughter where the loser gets eliminated, a DRAWING OF ROCKS where the clear cut favourite could have been eliminated and some of the most aggressive Tribal Council play from somebody who knew his time in the game was on the line from Hayden.

This doesn't take into account the number of other events that happened - the Codys vs Brad Culpepper feud that cumulated in their battle at Redemption Island; the amazing tribal council that lead to Brad's ouster, where Caleb just flipped the game by announcing that he was going to vote for Brad; the play of the new players, who managed to shake the game up significantly through two blindsides while remaining incredibly inept at any sort of challenge; Ciera voting her own mother out of the game for no other reason than to show she was loyal to Tyson and his crew; the dominance of Laura M. at Redemption Island; the effect of the Blood vs. Water twist on the strategy of the game and in general how it refreshed the game; and the rise of many new players who's return would be welcomed. Plus, it's had an interesting overarching story.

Survivor 28 has a lot to live up to.

8. Survivor: Caramoan (Winner: John Cochran)

In retrospect, I overrated this season. It wasn't the best non-consensus top 3 season ever, but it was still pretty damn good. The focus on the big characters in the first half of the season was a bit ominous for those who prefer the strategy of the season, even if it was interesting to watch (enjoyable doesn't reflect how uncomfortable it could be to watch Brandon break down and Shamar be Shamar.) But once the merge hit, the blind sides came non-stop, we had a shocking tribal council with two idols in play which caused us to see the first ever scramble during tribal council, someone getting blindsided with an immunity idol in their pocket, one of the greatest speech ever getting voted out, a generally likeable cast from final 9 onward and yes, even a satisfying winner. Pretty well everything that you could want in a season, you got.

9. Survivor: Philippines (Winner: Denise Stapley)

This season had a couple of epic tribal councils and the most inept tribe ever, and a complete flip of the game when that inept tribe ended up in the final four. Plus Penner's final jury questions/speech. Combine that with the existance of Abi-Maria and you have a very great season.

10. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him (looking back at it, it doesn't seem to be as bold but at the time it was an amazingly ballsy play). Very underrated year.

11. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

Looking back on this season with the knowledge of how Todd has fallen apart since it aired, it does make ranking this season within the context of just the season more difficult. But looking at it from just the season itself, it has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

12. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first ever major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

13. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

(Hmmm. In thinking about that moment again, maybe Cook Islands should rank #1...)

14. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson and a domination of challenges by J.T.

15. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

16 . Survivor: Redemption Island (Winner: Rob Mariano)

The Boston Rob show gets up here because of Boston Rob's hilarious confessionals, his running of the show from start to finish and Phillip's wackiness. In an unrelated note, if Rob didn't win I would have rated it lower.

17. Survivor: One World (Winner: Kim Spradlin )

The removal of Colton stopped us from seeing him get his comeuppance that we so richly needed. But at the same time, we had great characters in Tarzan and Kat, an amazing situation where a tribe won immunity then decided to give it away so that they could vote somebody out and possibly the greatest game ever played on Survivor by Kim. I think this could move up when given more time to reflect on it (and other seasons.)

18. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge (under questionable means) ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

19. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man were the downfalls.

20. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

21. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

22. Survivor: South Pacific (Winner: Sophie Clarke)

The editing ended up hurting this season, as they built it up to show why Coach lost, instead of why Sophie won. Maybe that happened because they had very little to use to show Sophie as a great player, but that's an even bigger damning of the season.

(Also, the first half of the year with Brandon acting very creepy towards Mikayla was uncomfortable at the best of times.)

23. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve to stay around becaue they had already won was annoying and uncomfortable.

24. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deserving of being there.

25. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

You remember how great it was that Bob Crowley won, but when you think about it more, the season was pretty terrible. Bob Crowley was just a likable person, not a good player. When the most memorable things to have happened was an amusing fake hidden immunity idol and Bob making his buff into a bow tie, you know you have a terrible season.

26. Survivor: Nicaragua (Winner: Judson "Fabio" Birza)

It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this ahead of...

27. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Easily the most unlikable cast in Survivor history. No tribal swap, no merge until the jury and we were left with waiting for the Pagong-ing to finish so Brian Heidik could win. Cool final challenge though.

Survivor: Ranking the Seasons (updated May 2013)

Here are my rankings of Survivor Seasons.

I still have to rewatch a lot of these seasons, so there is a chance that these will change completely at some point. But for now, they are as they are.

(At the suggestion of a reader of a previous post, the format of this post is to put a non-spoiler summary at the beginning, with no details as to what happened in each season. Then I will have a detailed listing that will have spoilers in it.)

Ranking summary:

 1. Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)
 2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)
 3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Season 16)
 4. Survivor: Caramoan (Season 26)
 5. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Season 7)
 6. Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)
 7. Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)
 8. Survivor: Phillipines (Season 25)
 9. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)
 10. Survivor: China (Season 15)
 11. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)
 12. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)
 13. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)
 14. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)
 15. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)
 16. Survivor: One World (Season 24)
 17. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)
 18. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)
 19. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)
 20. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)
 21. Survivor: South Pacific (Season 23)
 22. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
 23. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)
 24. Survivor: Gabon (Seaon 17)
 25. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)
 26. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)





DETAILED LISTING


1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)
The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)
In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)
A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Caramoan (Winner: John Cochran)

The first half was about big characters doing whacky (and sometimes uncomfortable) stuff. It was fun in a train wreck sort of way. But once the merge hit, the blind sides came non-stop, we had a shocking tribal council with two idols in play which caused us to see the first ever scramble during tribal council, someone getting blindsided with an immunity idol in their pocket, one of the greatest speech ever getting voted out, a generally likeable cast from final 9 onward and yes, even a satisfying winner. Pretty well everything that you could want in a season, you got.

5. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)
Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

6. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)
Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

7. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)
The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

8. Survivor: Philippines (Winner: Denise Stapley)
This was probably ranked too high due to it being the most recent, and having some memorable moments. It did have a couple of epic tribal councils and the most inept tribe ever, and a complete flip of the game when that inept tribe ended up in the final four. Plus Penner's final jury questions/speech. Awesome.

9. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)
The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

10. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)
It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

11. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)
The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first ever major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

12. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)
Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

13. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)
The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson and a domination of challenges by J.T.

14. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

15. Survivor: Redemption Island (Winner: Rob Mariano)
The Boston Rob show gets up her because of Boston Rob's hilarious confessionals, his running of the show from start to finish and Phillip's wackiness. In an unrelated note, if Rob didn't win I would have rated it lower.

16. Survivor: One World (Winner: Kim Spradlin )
The removal of Colton stopped us from seeing him get his comeuppance that we so richly needed. But at the same time, we had great characters in Tarzan and Kat, an amazing situation where a tribe won immunity then decided to give it away so that they could vote somebody out and possibly the greatest game ever played on Survivor by Kim. I think this could move up when given more time to reflect on it (and other seasons.)

17. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)
The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge (under questionable means) ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

18. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)
Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man were the downfalls.

19. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)
Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

20. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

21. Survivor: South Pacific (Winner: Sophie Clarke)
The editing ended up hurting this season, as they built it up to show why Coach lost, instead of why Sophie won. Maybe that happened because they had very little to use to show Sophie as a great player, but that's an even bigger damning of the season.

(Also, the first half of the year with Brandon acting very creepy towards Mikayla was uncomfortable at the best of times.)

22. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)
It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve to stay around becaue they had already won was annoying and uncomfortable.

23. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)
This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deserving of being there.

24. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)
You remember how great it was that Bob Crowley won, but when you think about it more, the season was pretty terrible. Bob Crowley was just a likable person, not a good player. When the most memorable things to have happened was an amusing fake hidden immunity idol and Bob making his buff into a bow tie, you know you have a terrible season.

25. Survivor: Nicaragua (Winner: Judson "Fabio" Birza)
It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this ahead of...

26. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)
Easily the most unlikable cast in Survivor history. No tribal swap, no merge until the jury and we were left with waiting for the Pagong-ing to finish so Brian Heidik could win. Cool final challenge though.

Ranking the Survivor Seasons (Updated: December 2012)

Here's my rankings of Survivor Seasons.

I still have to rewatch a lot of these seasons, so there is a chance that these will change completely at some point. But for now, they are as they are.

(At the suggestion of a reader of a previous post, the format of this post is to put a non-spoiler summary at the beginning, with no details as to what happened in each season. Then I will have a detailed listing that will have spoilers in it.)

Ranking summary:

1. Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)
2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)
3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Season 16)
4. Survivor: Phillipines (Season 25)
5. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Season 7)
6. Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)
7. Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)
8. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)
9. Survivor: China (Season 15)
10. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)
11. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)
12. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)
13. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)
14. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)
15. Survivor: One World (Season 24)
16. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)
17. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)
18. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)
19. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)
20. Survivor: South Pacific (Season 23)
21. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
22. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)
23. Survivor: Gabon (Seaon 17)
24. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)
25. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)





DETAILED LISTING


1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Philippines (Winner: Denise Stapley)

An epic couple of tribal councils post merge bridges us between the most inept tribe ever, one of the most dominant tribes ever, the bottom of the merged tribe joining forces with the bottom of the dominant alliance to flip the game, a bunch of interesting characters/people and the most likeable final four in a long time. Plus Penner's final jury questions/speech. Awesome.

5. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

6. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

7. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

8. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

9. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

10. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first ever major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

11. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

12. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson and a domination of challenges by J.T.

13. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

14. Survivor: Redemption Island (Winner: Rob Mariano)

The Boston Rob show gets up her because of Boston Rob's hilarious confessionals, his running of the show from start to finish and Phillip's wackiness. In an unrelated note, if Rob didn't win I would have rated it lower.

15. Survivor: One World (Winner: Kim Spradlin )

The removal of Colton stopped us from seeing him get his comeuppance that we so richly needed. But at the same time, we had great characters in Tarzan and Kat, an amazing situation where a tribe won immunity then decided to give it away so that they could vote somebody out and possibly the greatest game ever played on Survivor by Kim. I think this could move up when given more time to reflect on it (and other seasons.)


16. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge (under questionable means) ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

17. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man were the downfalls.

18. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

19. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

20. Survivor: South Pacific (Winner: Sophie Clarke)

The editing ended up hurting this season, as they built it up to show why Coach lost, instead of why Sophie won. Maybe that happened because they had very little to use to show Sophie as a great player, but that's an even bigger damning of the season.

(Also, the first half of the year with Brandon acting very creepy towards Mikayla was uncomfortable at the best of times.)


21. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve to stay around becaue they had already won was annoying and uncomfortable.

22. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deerving of being there.

23. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

The biggest drop from my previous rankings (where I had it ranked at 14.) I think my memory was clouded by the fact that Bob Crowley was just a likable person. When the most memorable things to have happened was an amusing fake hidden immunity idol and Bob making his buff into a bow tie, you know you have a terrible season.

24. Survivor: Nicaragua (Winner: Judson "Fabio" Birza)

It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this ahead of...

25. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Easily the most unlikable cast in Survivor history. No tribal swap, no merge until the jury and we were left with waiting for the Pagong-ing to finish so Brian Heidik could win. Cool final challenge though.

Survivor - Ranking the winners

It's been a long time since I've done this. And there have been a few memorable performances and some not so memorable ones. Without further ado, here's the list.

1. Rob (Season 22)

Yes, I've put Rob's season at number one. It was a pitch perfect performance, which should have been a 9-0 vote. That it wasn't is not a reflection on Rob; it's just one of those variances that the game gives us. (Scary thought - Rob probably didn't need immunity go make final tribal.)

2. Brian (Season 5)

The best winner pre-Rob, I've knocked him down one perch because he was facing Clay, who was pretty unlikable in his own way. And yet, Clay managed to get two votes.

3. JT (Season 18)

Needed Stephen Fishbach to do a bit of the heavy lifting for strategy, but there is no questioning JT's dominance in challenges and the social game.

4. Richard (Survivor 1)

The originator of the strategy that carries the game even today.

5. Tom (Season 10)

Dropped from the number one spot when I reconsidered his final three performance. If Ian doesn't have a bout of conscious and a desire to buy back his integrity, Tom could very well lose. Given this, it's tough to give Tom credit for the best game ever. Even if he made of the greatest moves by threatening to tie the vote to essentially blackmail Katie into voting with him to get rid of Greg.

6. Yul (Survivor 13)

Even with the most powerful immunity idol ever, Yul played an incredible game.

7. Parvarti (Survivor 16)

Biggest jump from last time, after reconsidering how much was her and how much was Amanda that season.

8. Todd (Survivor 15)

Not a reflection on Todd, who played a very strong game.

9. Tina (Survivor 2)

Did what nobody else could do that season - take out Colby.

The rest.

10. Aras (Season 12)
11. Bob (Season 17)
12. Chris (Season 9)
13. Jenna (Season 6)
14. Ethan (Season 3)
15. Earl (Season 14)
16. Fabio (Season 21)
17. Sandra (Season 7)
18. Amber (Season 8)
19. Natalie (Season 19)
20. Danni (Season 11)
21. Sandra (Season 20)

Not last because she did give the jury what they wanted to hear.

22. Vescepia (Season 4)

Winning because your opponent won't admit she did something that she doesn't feel she did is not exactly the best credentials.

Survivor Season Rankings - Updated with Redemption Island

Here's my rankings of Survivor Seasons.

My goal is to rewatch each season during the summer and possibly revamp these ratings. In some cases it's been 8 years since I last saw them, so it's worth the review.

(6/2 Update: At the suggestion of commenter Scott, I'm leading off with a non-spoiler list which is just a list of the seasons. After that is a list with a bit of discussion with each season, along with the winner of each season. If you havent seen each season, stop after the first list.)

Ranking summary:

1. Survivor: Borneo (Season 1)
2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20)
3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Season 16)
4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Season 7)
5. Survivor: Samoa (Season 19)
6. Survivor: Amazon (Season 6)
7. Survivor: Palau (Season 10)
8. Survivor: China (Season 15)
9. Survivor: Australian Outback (Season 2)
10. Survivor: Cook Islands (Season 13)
11. Survivor: Tocantins (Season 18)
12. Survivor: Africa (Season 3)
13. Survivor: Redemption Island (Season 22)
14. Survivor: Gabon (Seaon 17)
15. Survivor: Panama (Season 12)
16. Survivor: Fiji (Season 14)
17. Survivor: Guatemala (Season 11)
18. Survivor: Vanuatu (Season 9)
19. Survivor: All-Stars (Season 8)
20. Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4)
21. Survivor: Nicaragua (Season 21)
22. Survivor: Thailand (Season 5)





DETAILED LISTING


1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

5. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

6. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

7. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

8. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

9. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first ever major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

10. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

11. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson.

12. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

13. Survivor: Redemption Island (Winner: Rob Mariano)

The Boston Rob show gets up her because of Boston Rob's hilarious confessionals, his running of the show from start to finish and Phillip's wackiness. In an unrelated note, if Rob didn't win I would have rated it lower.

14. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

Even with the fake hidden immunity idol, Susie almost won. 'Nuff said.

15. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge (under questionable means) ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

16. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man were the downfalls.

17. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

18. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

19. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve tostay around becaue they had already won was anoying and uncomfortable.

20. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deerving of being there.

21. Survivor: Nicaragua (Winner: Judson "Fabio" Birza)

It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this slightly ahead of...

22. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Oh, the tediousness. We were just waiting for the end so Brian could win and watching was like watching a death march to the end. Cool final challenge though.

Survivor: Ranking the Seasons

With Survivor: Nicaragua in the books, it's time to update the Survivor season rankings. So, here we go:

1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

5. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

6. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

7. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

8. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

9. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first eer major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

10. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

11. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson.

12. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

13. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

Even with the fake hidden immunity idol, Susie almost won. 'Nuff said.

14. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

15. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man.

16. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

17. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

18. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve tostay around becaue they had already won was anoying and uncomfortable.

19. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deerving of being there.

20. Survivor: Nicaragua (Winner: Judson "Fabio" Birza)

It was a tedious season until Fabio went on his immunity streak. By breaking up the boot order, Fabio rode to victory, and gave us a likeable winner, which puts this slightly ahead of...

21. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Oh, the tediousness. We were just waiting for the end so Brian could win and watching was like watching a death march to the end. Cool final challenge though.

Survivor: Ranking the best players

10. Rob Mariano

The player who probably deserved victory in Survivor: All-Stars ended up failing to make the jury in his two other seasons, though he was admittedly targetted as a threat in Heroes vs. Villains. Played the original version of the Rusell Hantz game - dominate the strategic side of things, social side be damned. Shockingly improved his challenge play to be the most dominant in Heroes vs. Villains and All Stars.

9. Colby Donaldson

The most dominant challenge player in a season. Should have won Australia but instead chose honour over cash. Transformation in Heroes vs. Villains to an all-round inept hanger on might have been the most jarring realization of the season.

8. J.T. Thomas

Unfairly maligned as the person who made the stupidest play ever - http://www.erikgotscrewed.com - what is ignored is how he ran the Heroes tribe in Heroes vs. Villains by choosing who would be voted out each time the Heroes went to tribal council. Combine that with his performance in Tocantins and you have a great player.

7. Yul Kwon

Not just added because of his position in the Obama administration, Yul presided over one of the great comebacks in Survivor. His victory in Cook Islands waas pure strategy. I'd love to see him play the game again.

6. Russell Hantz

The most polarizing person to ever play the game. His play could conservatively be called aggressive. He dominated the play in both seasons he was in, even being in the minority in Samoa and still making it right to the end. It could be easily argued that he deserved the victory in Samoa; others would argue he also deserved the victory in Heroes vs. Villains. However, his absolute lack of attempt to empathise with the jury that he brutally disposed of ended up costing him the victory.

5. Todd Herzog

Conniving, but willing to eliminate people with a smile. One of the best to take ownership of his underhanded moves, but able to spin it as a positive for the person he dumped. Underrated in a lot of parts.

4. Brian Heidik

Singlehandedly made the Thailand season boring by dominating and being an uninteresting character. Might be the best combination of challenge threat and mastermind in any one season; might also be a reflection on the weak competitors that he faced.

3. Sandra Diaz-Twine

Going 2 for 2 in Survivor wins has to put you in the running for best player ever. What does her in is the way she won the second title. Her final tribal council strategy was spot on, but her admitted strategy before that ("Vote out Russell") failed horribly, and she was only in the position she was due to her annoying habit of running her mouth. She is easily the weakest challenge player to ever win the game.

2. Richard Hatch

The originator of Survivor strategy.

1. Parvati Shallow

Winning a season against people who have already played is an accomplishment in and of itself. Making it to the end and coming close to winning again after winning that previous season is enough to earn you the right to be called the best Survivor player of all time.

Survivor: Ranking the Seasons

Dalton Ross has his season rankings up, and I can't say as I agree with everything. But rather than just say I disagree, I'll update my rankings as well:

1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original can never be duplicated.

2. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

In this case, familiarity helps. Knowing each of the players going in and how they were likely to play set some expectations. The season lived up to it and more. The casting of players and characters was fantastic. The winner was a bit disappointing, but the lead to the final tribal was great.

3. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

4. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

5. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the jury vote, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

6. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

7. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

8. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

9. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first eer major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

10. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

11. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson.

12. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

13. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

Even with the fake hidden immunity idol, Susie almost won. 'Nuff said.

14. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

15. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man.

16. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

17. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

18. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Samoa. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve tostay around becaue they had already won was anoying and uncomfortable.

19. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deerving of being there.

20. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Oh, the tediousness. We were just waiting for the end so Brian could win and watching was like watching a death march to the end. Cool final challenge though.

Ranking the Survivor Seasons

So, I was going to write a follow up to explain why, 24 hours after the fact, Natalie beating Russell was a horrendous decision by the jury. As it turns out, Dalton Ross beat me to the punch. The Jeff Probst gave his thoughts here. Headline: Nobody outplayed Russell. When Jeff Probst, Mr. Politician, speaks out to say that the jury got it wrong, youknow there was a miscarriage of justice.

So instead, I'll rank the seasons today (much like Dalton), and maybe write a bit more tomorrow.

1. Survivor: Borneo (Winner: Richard Hatch)

The original and still the best. The purity from nobody knowing what they were getting into, from the players, to the producers to the television viewers makes it still watchable.

2. Survivor: Micronesia — Fans Vs. Favorites (Winner: Parvati Shallow)

A lot of blind sides, the single stupidest move in Survivor history and some interesting characters introdued. Awesome season. Though I'm a bit frightened at the similiarities between this and the Ruins III.

3. Survivor: Pearl Islands (Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine)

Rupert. Johnny Fairplay. The season that Survivor became fun to watch for reasons beyond the actual game.

4. Survivor: Samoa (Winner: Natalie White)

Putting aside the absolute travsmockery of a winner, this season was a win simply because of Russell. His play reinvigorated the show and the game.

5. Survivor: Amazon (Winner: Jenna Morasca)

The first season where alliances were fluid. The game was played in a much different manner than before, with votes moving continually.

Oh, and chocolate and peanut butter.

6. Survivor: Palau (Winner: Tom Westman)

The first season where we saw a true dominant tribe. Then came Stephanie's survival for 2 weeks, then Tom's bold move to threaten to tie a vote to get people on side with him. Very underrated year.

7. Survivor: China (Winner: Todd Herzog)

It has James' stupid non-play of a hidden immunity idol, Todd wearing his bad deeds, and Amanda's first final tribal council failure. A pretty good year.

8. Survivor: Australian Outback (Winner: Tina Wesson)

The beginning of the Jeff Probst/Colby Donaldson bromance. Also the first eer major strategic blunder, though it was at least done out of some sense of loyalty. What ever happened to Elisabeth anyway?

9. Survivor: Cook Islands (Winner: Yul Kwon)

Two of the most likable players in Yul and Ozzie. It also had the funniest Survivor moment, when Sundra and Becky "battled" to build fire. Taking 90 minutes to do so. After being given matches 30 minutes in.

10. Survivor: Tocantins (Winner: J.T. Thomas)

The year of Coach! Also, a great blindside of Tyson.

11. Survivor: Africa (Winner: Ethan Zohn)

Oh Kelly. If only Brandon hadn't have gone into business for himself, we would have had the first momentum swing post-merge ever, and you might have stuck around longer. Also notable for Lex getting eliminated in the Fallen Comrades competition even though he answered a question correctly. That earned him (and Big Tom) 2nd place money.

12. Survivor: Gabon (Winner: Bob Crowley)

Even with the fake hidden immunity idol, Susie almost won. 'Nuff said.

13. Survivor: Panama (Winner: Aras Baskauskas)

The Terry year, where his loss of the final immunity challenge ended up giving us Aras as a winner. Awesome for Terry's dominance, not so awesome for everything else.

14. Survivor: Fiji (Winner: Earl Cole)

Yau Man and Earl were the stars of the season. The have/have not twist and the inevitability of Earl winning once Dreamz refused to hand over immunity to Yau Man.

15. Survivor: Guatemala (Winner: Danni Boatwright)

Stephanie gets a second chance and turns into a mean person. Still an attractive person, but a mean person nonetheless. And then she loses to Danni.

16. Survivor: Vanuatu (Winner: Chris Daugherty)

Probably the most difficult to place. Chris's victory when outnumbered 5-1 and with not winning immunity was impressive, but the show was horrible before that.

17. Survivor: All-Stars (Winner: Amber Brkich)

It gave us Boston Rob and Amber as a power couple, but it also gave us the biggest farce of a final council before Sunday night. And the overriding theme of the previous winners didn't deserve tostay around becaue they had already won was anoying and uncomfortable.

18. Survivor: Marquesas (Winner: Vecepia Towery)

This should rank higher. It gave us Boston Rob, whatshername being carried to the island like Cleopatra, and the first shakeup of the status quo. But it was the most frustrating final two ever, with both not really deerving of being there.

19. Survivor: Thailand (Winner: Brian Heidik)

Oh, the tediousness. We were just waiting for the end so Brian could win and watching was like watching a death march to the end. Cool final challenge though.