Top 100 Survivor Character of the Decade: #85–81

Featuring Two Different Kind of Criminals

Welcome back to my countdown of the top 100 Survivor characters of the decade. Before we begin, here’s a quick reminder of the criteria in play:

•The most important thing to note is that this is all subjective and done by myself. No doubt many readers will see people miss the top 100 and will feel like I have slighted a character. These are simply my opinions on who the top 100 is, it’s my personal list that I’ve been curating for well over 4 months, and I completely understand that you can disagree. I look forward to healthy disagreement as I reveal this list.

•A player’s entire history is considered in their rankings. For example, I won’t be looking solely at Malcolm Freberg’s Philippines appearance, his Caramoan and Game Changers games are part of the whole product.

•This list will only include Survivors who debuted between 2010 and 2019. That means players who have played prior to that won’t be included even if they participated in a season that fits out parameters (IE: the entire cast of HvV).

•Sadly, as it is still playing out, I can’t fairly incorporate out Island of the Idols cast into my rankings. That means I will have to leave them out entirely. With that said, there’s no doubt that Noura would have cracked the top 20 (probably the top 10) if she sustains this run she has been on. Likewise, players like Missy, Kellee, Elaine and even Dean would also have had a shot at making the top 100. I sadly don’t have the time to put this thing together if it means having to wait for this season to end.

•I am ranking these Survivors as characters. Not as strategists or game players. I am solely trying to determine who I believe were the most entertaining characters of the last decade.

To read any of the previous entries, click HERE.

With all of that out of the way, I present you numbers 90 through 86 in A Tribe of One’s Top 100 Characters of the Decade countdown.

85. Christine Shields-Markowski & Stacey Powell, Survivor: South Pacific

You may have noticed already as this list progresses that I’m sometimes willing to bend the rules a little bit. Well, here you have another occasion in which maaaaybe I’m not following everything to the letter. This entry has a pair thrown together, mostly because I felt like it worked and that on their own, I don’t think either of these ladies would have made the list. Their best work is together, and, in that sense, I think it’s fair to consider them as a unit.

In South Pacific, the Upolu tribe is surprisingly accepting of Coach as their leader. Some, like Brandon and Edna, truly think of him as their chief. Others, like Sophie and Albert, are mostly going along for the ride, letting Coach think he’s running the show while they strategize behind his back. Whether real or not, Coach has a pretty good approval rating as Upolu’s top dog. But like any leader, Coach also has his detractors.

You can call them Christine and Stacey. They are the anti-Coach faction of Upolu because they see Coach as the ridiculous man that he is but unlike Sophie or Albert, they are unable to put up the charade that they respect him.

Upon Coach and Ozzy joining the game, Christine calls them “temporary players”. This would be a bad move in general, especially without knowing how the rest of the tribe feels. It’s even worse when you’re saying this to Coach, the man with an ego the size of Russia and with a skin as thin as a rake. This would immediately put Christine into Coach’s crosshairs (or within range of a katana strike).

While Christine’s openly antagonistic behaviour towards Coach is bad strategy, it is great television. Alongside Christine, Stacey was the only other player unwilling to bend the knee for Coach. As such, they became the two biggest targets in his eyes. They certainly did not help themselves by fervently looking for idols.

Upolu’s first tribal council is a clusterfuck. Coach is determined to get Christine or Stacey out, wanting to split the votes in case either of them has an idol. For their part, Christine and Stacey want to target Edna for being weak. Then completely on his own island, you have Brandon who is laser focused on booting Mikayla. Because she gives him a boner and as a married man, he can’t have that.

Brandon eventually reveals publicly to everybody during tribal council that he’s the one who told Christine and Stacey to vote for Mikayla. It’s a wild tribal council that is hard to follow on first listen, but the result is that Christine is sent to Redemption Island. Stacey and Christine are broken up but don’t worry, they’ll be reuniting pretty soon.

After being booted, Christine gets to meet our lovely poet, Semhar. She tells Semhar, “I don’t think Coach liked me at all”, which a blind man could have seen. She also refers to him as King Farouk, which is a nice historical pull.

At Christine’s first duel, Upolu sends Coach and Stacey to oversee it. What an awkward time that must have been for both. Coach being Coach, sends himself to the duel to see if she would lose. His thirst for vengeance is so petty that he’s not content with just voting her out, he needs to see her fail too. Christine remarks on that by calling him a dope.

Unfortunately for Coach, it turns out that Christine is kind of a beast at these carnival games. She takes out Semhar and then Papa Bear, who was booted from Savaii in the 3rd episode. With each victory, you can see Christine’s confidence rising steadily, realizing that she has a shot at returning in the game. You can see that gain of confidence after her duel against Papa Bear,

I want the spectators to see that I’m not out. At all. And I’m still in it and there’s still fight left in me and they’ll see it. That’s what they wanna see? That’s what they’re gonna get.

While Christine is dispatching some Savaii fools at redemption island, Stacey is still alive back at Upolu. That won’t last too long. She gets a stay of execution when Upolu wins an immunity challenge. She doesn’t have a lot of time in this episode but she still gets to be a legend. When Brandon finally reveals his heritage, Stacey has the best reaction out of any Upolu.

Onto the next episode, where Stacey gets the boot. In the classic “Shoulder the Load challenge”, Stacey is the last Upolu member left standing. She gets to 140 pounds before she eventually drops the weight, making Savaii the winner.

That challenge loss means Stacey is back on the chopping block. It quickly becomes a debate between Stacey’s strength but relative lack of loyalty or Edna’s loyalty without any of the challenge strength. For her part, Stacey doesn’t feel like Edna should stay over her, or as she puts it,

Edna is, like, on an Easter egg hunt right now. She is scramblin’ like scrambled eggs in a hot skillet right now. “What do ya think?” You ain’t talked to me since Day 1. Now, all of a sudden, you wanna talk to me ‘cause you know it’s either me or you? They should vote out Edna over me. Look how much I lifted today. Could Edna lift twenty? I doubt it. Y’know, bones, bones, bones. Bones can’t lift too much if it’s just all skeleton with the bones.

I really wish Stacey had a longer life in this game, that’s a grade-A confessional right there.

Because Coach is incapable of being real on South Pacific, he takes it upon himself to reassure Stacey before the vote. If her tribe had been more willing to mount a coup against Coach, she would have been on board on day one because there isn’t a moment in this game where she buys into Coach’s “honor, loyalty, integrity” BS,

I’m not buyin’ Coach’s BS at all. The loyalty game-playin’ stuff? I don’t… I don’t buy that whatsoever but, y’know, I’m not giving up. It’s like a job. I ain’t quittin’, so. I’m not a really big liar. I have to lie while I’m here. I gotta lie to kick it. And what that means is I gotta lie to try to get in to fit in. You lie to kick it with the next man.

Once again, this woman knows how to give a confessional.

Unfortunately for her, we know that Upolu, for various reasons, did follow Coach’s decisions. And he wanted Stacey out so that’s what Upolu did at tribal council, sending her to redemption island to face off against her only friend. But not before Stacey got the chance to stiff arm Coach’s attempt to hug her.

If you ever need a microcosm for why Coach eventually lost South Pacific, the Stacey vote-out is perfect. The smug smile as she the votes are being read. The transparently fake order to the rest of Upolu to hug Stacey on her way out. His own attempt to hug a clearly pissed off Stacey. This guy set himself up to fail by placing himself on a pedestal but being clearly two-faced in his actions. That’s a good way to anger the people you’re playing with.

Stacey gives us a prediction for what’s going to happen when they get to the next duel,

Tribal was a joke today. And he talk about loyalty? You need to be loyal to nobody but God. They all gonna be loyal to their God, which is Coach. When this Redemption trial comes, I’m gonna spill everything that’s goin’ on over there.

And she will certainly deliver on that promise.

Before they can get to that, Christine and Stacey get to catch up. It’s nice seeing them together, even if we know we will lose one of them to the duel. They have good chemistry. Christine is a little quieter and allows Stacey to be herself, which includes saying about Upolu, “all y’all gonna go to hell with gasoline drawers on.”

At the next duel, Albert and Mikayla are sent to spectate for Upolu. Dawn and Whitney are in attendance for Savaii. They get a nice show when Stacey decides to let her old tribe have a piece of their mind, especially a certain person who might be seen as their leader.

This is absolute fire. You can’t tell me this isn’t an all-time great Survivor speech. I especially like the “chucky the cheese jokes” part of it. And of course, everything relating to calling Coach, Benjamin, “adults call him Benjamin, so I’m gonna call him Benjamin.” I also love that Christine is like Stacey’s meekest hype woman ever, interjecting here and there with a little comment of support. It’s a seriously fantastic scene.

And for the humor that it provides, Stacey is also completely bang-on. She says that the tribe is being controlled by “Albert, Sophie and Coach,” who just so happen to become the season’s final three. Stacey maybe wasn’t a great social player, but she could see through the lies from day one and she knew what was going on at Upolu. In a different set of circumstances, she would have been one hell of a Survivor player.

Stacey loses the challenge, but wins all of our hearts. Even more so because when Albert and Mikayla relay what happened at the duel to Upolu, Coach gets so upset. Like so upset. He’s not even that mad about being called out as a leader with Albert and Sophie, he just comments that “that’s disgusting”. But when Albert reveals that Stacey refuses to call him Coach (which Albert can’t get out with a straight face because at his core, he knows what Stacey said was funny), Coach gets angrier than he’s ever been on Survivor.

If someone calls me Benjamin to my face, I’m gonna lose it. My parents call me Coach. I’ve been called Coach since I was 18.

My favorite underrated part in all of this is that on two separate occasions, people are confused with the use of Benjamin. Probst has to clarify who this Benjamin person is, both for himself and the audience, who only know him as Coach, and Brandon doesn’t even know Coach’s real name when Albert tells the story. This shows that despite this being a ridiculous self-given name, Coach’s stick-to-itiveness has successfully made it become the only name he’s known by.

Who is even called a Coach at 18? What could he possibly have been coaching? 5-year-olds in their first soccer practice? And he was so good at coaching these toddlers that he figured it should become his moniker for life? There are millions of coaches worldwide, how did he get to unilaterally decide he would be the one known as Coach with a capital “C”? His mind is too powerful.

So, that’s all we get of Stacey (and allow me to plug Stacey’s character entry in Mario Lanza’s Funny 115, it’s an all-timer) but Christine gets to move on. With each victory, she gains more and more power to the point that Upolu is essentially pooping themselves out of fear for her return.

But fear not, Savaii will come and save the day, and Upolu, by screwing themselves over. Even though Christine has vocalized that she does not want to work with Upolu if she returns, Ozzy gets the idea that he has to get himself voted off, so he can take out Christine and Savaii can enter the merge with even numbers.

I have a different plan for you Ozzy… you could have also voted off Cochran, the guy your entire tribe spends the season shitting on, to the point where he is obviously holding back some resentment for Savaii, instead. Then Christine probably wipes the floor with him at redemption island (Cochran wouldn’t ascend to Ultra Instinct Cochran until Caramoan) and she comes back. Vengeful at Upolu, she joins your Savaii side and instead of getting betrayed by Cochran, Savaii has the numbers over Upolu and you, Ozzy can ride the wave to the end where unlike Coach, you probably win easily.

Sounds like a plan? It would to me, but Ozzy can’t have anybody threatening his challenge beast status, so he does what he must and goes to Redemption Island. It would have been hilarious if Ozzy had failed to defeat Christine, but we don’t live in that timeline. Ozzy does his thing, wins the competition and the rest is history.

Christine and Stacey both got into the record books as simple pre-mergers. Their rebellion against the Coach dictatorship will be forgotten with time. My hope in getting them into this list is that in some way, I can extend their memory for a little while longer. BLAM!

84. Rick Devens, Survivor: Edge of Extinction

When all else fails, Survivor production can be counted on for one thing: if they realize a player is good in front of the camera, they will force them down our throats to the point of making its audience hate that person. This becomes doubly true if the person production is featuring happens to have benefited from a twist. Say like, if this person got the chance to return to the game after being voted out through a season’s theme.

Enter Rick Devens, the most recent poster boy for this phenomenon.

In his everyday life, Rick is a news anchor. Obviously, given this fact, Rick is comfortable in front of the camera. Probably more than most castaways the show has ever thrown into the game. As such, production is going to go to Rick to describe a lot of the action. Maybe a little too often.

None of this is Rick’s fault. He’s giving the crew what they want, and they air the footage. But man, they went overboard with this to the point where it started to feel like we were back in Samoa and Rick was looking a little more… Hantzian. Credit r/Survivor for this fact but in the final three episodes of the season, Rick had 32 confessionals. The person with the next highest number of confessionals was Julie… who received 32 total confessionals.

So, I think that the criticisms towards Rick are valid, I just don’t think Rick should be the target. He merely became emblematic of the problems modern Survivor can sometimes have. I can’t fault Rick for trying to find idols, but I can fault production for allowing that strategy to be viable by constantly replenishing the idols. I can’t fault Rick because Probst decided he was going to go by Devens. I can’t fault Rick for coming back after being voted out, but I can fault production for making that a possibility.

Brushing aside that aspect of the Rick Devens experience, at the core of his character, I just happen to like the guy. At the end of the day, I watch Survivor for its entertainment value and Rick delivered in that aspect. He played the game with such passion and excitement that it made me feel a bit of the elation he felt. Especially once he came back from being voted out.

And once we saw the season play out, Rick’s edit made a lot more sense. Because the winner of the season was absent for pretty much the entire post-merge, they needed to build him up somehow. So short of Chris being able to show off his gameplay, they decided to showcase Rick instead. He became the Bowser to Chris’s Mario. When it came time for Chris to take on Rick in fire-making, Rick’s defeat would be Chris’ calling card as a winner. It was an attempt to make him more legitimate.

Rick the character is incredibly fun. The way he’s running around the island, looking for idols and terrorizing the rest of his cast is charming. They were all against him and somehow, he was always getting the upper hand in finding idols. Maybe if the rest of his cast had made him feel more at ease, Rick wouldn’t have been looking for idols so steadfastly. Instead, they made it clear that he was public enemy number one, giving him free reign to do whatever he wanted without any fear.

Right away from his introduction, we see Rick’s enthusiasm for the game.

As everyone’s introducing themselves, I’m so overwhelmed by the fact that I’m in this game. I’m still so excited, because I’m a huge fan of the show; I’ve watched it since the very first episode. No one thinks news anchors are tough; I’ve got “dad bod” out here, but I got a lot of belief in myself. I wanna come into the game like the Kool-Aid Man, I want to break through the wall. Oh yeah!

Early in the game, Rick is more subdued but still very visible. One of the earliest tight partnerships we get on Edge of Extinction is between David and Rick. They see a lot of similarities in each other. And in David, Rick vocalizes an interesting strategy. He was hoping to align with big guys and in a way, David is his big guy. Obviously not because of his stature but because of his reputation from the first time he played Survivor. Rick is hoping that because of David’s experience, he can act as a shield for him in the game.

As I’ve said, Chris’s story inevitably becomes intertwined into Rick’s. It starts early in the game when Rick betrays Chris by voting him out. Up to that point, Chris believed that Rick was one of his trustworthy allies. When the plan to go after Wentworth was blown up, it was Chris who ended up taking the blame because Rick was unwilling to have it fall on him.

The problem for Rick is that he ends up some terrible tribes. The original Manu never wins an immunity challenge. Then he swaps to Lesu, a new 3rd tribe, with all the Manu people left in the game except Big Wendy. This is a tight pair that has worked together for three episodes. Unfortunately for them, they also continue to struggle in challenges and end up at another tribal council.

This is where Rick gets voted out for the first time. My assessment of Rick after he was voted out was as such.

All that said, it does suck to lose Devens this early. The new players don’t feel as developed as they could be given how this season works. Devens was one of the new players that we had gotten to know pretty well. I liked his sense of humor and regular dude feel. Of course, he is going out to Extinction but I don’t particularly like his odds of coming back and he’s likely going to be shunned by the players already there, considering he had a hand in each of their demise.

I certainly know how to make predictions (just not good ones).

Rick then goes to the edge of extinction for a couple of episodes. He has a fun scene with Chris and Reem, chasing down Keith who decides to go rogue looking for a possible advantage on the island. This time in Rick’s game is mostly him absorbing getting voted out and changing his resolve to come back as “No Fucks Given” Rick Devens. He says as much himself after he’s won his way back into the game,

Before Edge of Extinction, the game in a lot of ways was getting the best of me; but if I can win my way back into the game, what the hell’s out here that’s gonna scare me? I can win these people over! I can win challenges! I’m a whole new man, thanks to the Edge of Extinction.

At this point, Rick is still very much emotional over being voted out. He’s angry at Kelley, Wardog and Lauren for booting him and he’s decided he’s not working with those people anymore. He spends the Joe and Eric votes with his head buried in the sand, refusing to think strategically.

That scene with Wardog where Rick tells him he doesn’t want to work with Lesu at all is prime Rick Devens. The whole “pretend he’s down to work with them,” act until he tells Wardog “I don’t wanna fucking work with you at all” is strategically terrible but also very funny. That sort of describes Rick’s post-merge game.

Where Rick’s persona really started to change was in Julia’s boot episode. It’s at this tribal council that Rick manages to throw the target onto Julia out of thin air. He was able to alienate Julie from the rest of Kama and cause a fracture down the middle. He also stated that he was a poop.

That tribal council is the definition of live. We’ve had people walking around and whispering to each other, but this was a damn meltdown. It felt like a legitimate stage production the way people were just walking around with Probst and the jury as the audience there to enjoy the show.

From there, we got crazy Rick Devens. I’ve often said that tribal council is essentially theatre. Nobody took this more seriously than Rick Devens, as evidenced by that Julia tribal council. Edge of Extinction had some bombastic tribal councils and almost every time, Rick was at the center of the drama. Like the time he used Ron’s “advantage menu” to read Ron and Julie the riot act.

You can hate the attention Rick got on his season but it’s hard to deny he doesn’t know how to seize a moment. The way he had the jury locked onto his every move. They were fearful for him when the advantage menu gets denied and the way they excitedly laugh when he pulls out his own immunity idol. Rick played that moment perfectly both in-game and for the audience at home.

And then there’s the whole fake idol saga. Rick’s utter enjoyment of Lauren and Julie thinking they’ve found idols that he’s planted is contagious. He’s got the kind of smile that just lights up a room and when he’s just giddy like a child, it makes you feel how much he loves being on Survivor.

In true Bowser-like fashion, Rick cannot win the game. His purpose is to put the hero over. So, Rick’s game comes crashing to a halt at the final four. In the most epic use of the fire-making challenge thus far, Chris opted to forego his own immunity to battle Rick. He crushed Devens and like Megaman does to his opponents, Chris took all of Rick’s weapons in the process. That one move was enough to win Chris the game, legitimizing Rick as the ultimate jury threat had he just managed to get into that final three.

Instead, Rick gets a more fitting fate. He becomes the season’s robbed goddess. He’s a shoo-in to be asked back but until then, let’s try to remember how much fun and lightheartedness Rick inserted into a season that feels meh. And of course, let’s not forget… La Cheeserie!

83. Sabrina Thompson, Survivor: One World

Some players made this list for their cumulative work. Others, because they were funny or compelling characters who despite their lack of game ability, connected with me. Then there are a special few who made this list based on one moment. Sabrina is one of these characters.

I am not going to sit here and tell you that One World is a good season. I get enough flack for defending South Pacific, I’m not about to throw my hat in the ring for One World too. It’s a pretty dreadful season in which Kim Spradlin puts on a Survivor clinic. She totally dominates the competition and it’s probably the most impressive one-time display we’ve ever seen.

By Kim’s side for the onslaught is Sabrina. At the beginning of the game, Sabrina could even be considered as Salani’s co-leader with Kim. She is still the co-owner of the record for the quickest idol find by a woman. She’s a loyal ally and she certainly has her moments where she helps Kim in the game. Sabrina is kind, positive and not to mention, attractive. She’s a perfectly fine Survivor character. But that’s not enough to make this list. This is the reason she’s on this list:

I said it in the Stephanie Johnson entry; Survivor is at its best when it can make me feel genuine emotion. That confessional by Sabrina is simply beautiful. She’s so thankful for the opportunity she received by getting on Survivor. She’s thinking about the sacrifices she needed to make in order to even get there. The students she’s crossed in her life are etched in her heart.

Representation is important. People of color need to see individuals who look like them on television, movies and video games. We are currently amid a season that has shown us how much representation matters. Jamal was given the opportunity to explain microaggressions and how they impact a person’s life and Kellee and Janet were allowed the opportunity to speak on the generalization that comes with the idea of a “woman’s alliance.”

Nobody is standing around thinking that the world as it is has reached its zenith. We all need to strive to be better every single day. By allowing minorities this kind of representation, Survivor gives them a voice to be heard on a national level.

That’s why Sabrina’s confessional is so moving to me. She’s just so appreciative of the chance to play Survivor. She wishes that her students could have the same opportunity,

I’m a teacher. In one of the craziest neighborhoods in the country and uh, I just got laid off. I signed up to be a teacher. To teach kids people don’t wanna teach. I wanted to tell all the kids everything. How the sand felt, how the water felt. I would love for my kids just to see this view. They see… a few blocks of Brooklyn, that’s it. And that’s all they aspire to see so, hopefully they see that I took a chance and they’ll take a chance. All they to do is one time.

Beautiful right? And here’s the kicker. The part where Survivor still feels romantic to me all these years later, even with its flaws and the thread on its tires wearing thin. One of Sabrina’s students did eventually get to have the experience Sabrina did.

Des Afuye of Ghost Island was one of Sabrina’s mentees in school. In a wild coincidence, Sabrina’s wishes that her students could see some of the views she got to see came true for at least one of them. It’s hard to believe Sabrina wouldn’t have had an influence on Des. If that kind of stuff doesn’t move you at least a little bit, then I question if you even have a heart.

82. Sarah Lacina, Survivor: Cagayan & Survivor: Game Changers

I’ll start with Sarah with the least interesting of how two seasons, Game Changers. Sure, it’s the season she ended up winning but Sarah was wholly uninteresting for most of that season. She put on a clinic, I’ll give her that, but it was tough to watch. It was like if Tony Vlachos was winning another season but this time, he was devoid of any charisma in the process.

A lot of that isn’t even Sarah’s fault. They tried to paint her as a great player without showing the moves that made her so dominant. Like how she took sentimental keepsakes from Brad Culpepper and Troyzan Robertson to ensure they wouldn’t betray her in the game. If they did, she told them she would destroy their valuable items. That’s vicious gameplay and it would have been wonderful to see. And yet it didn’t even make air.

Instead, we got to hear Sarah talk about how “last time I played like a cop, this time I’m playing like a criminal.” Which, cool, glad to see you’re adapting how you play the game, but we only needed to know this once. It doesn’t help that Sarah isn’t the most… adept, in confessionals. Most of hers are monotone and dry. So, when you have an entire season of that, it becomes a bit tough to listen to. She does have this classic though,

when we were leaving the challenge I looked over at Michaela and I see a secret advantage, right at her feet. That’s called attention to detail. I’m a police officer. But the normal person that drives down the road would not know if the car in front of them’s registration tags were expired or not. (Long pause) I would (hands up gesture).

Does that not remind you of anybody? Here, let’s try this.

Sarah’s best moment in Game Changers for me is how brutally she slices Sierra Dawn-Thomas’ throat. Sierra has the legacy advantage in her pocket. She informs Sarah about the advantage and tells her that in the event she is voted off, Sierra will have it willed to Sarah, because they are working so closely together.

What Sarah hears is “hey Sarah, vote me off and I’ll give you a free advantage,” which is what most players would hear. It’ll also never get old to hear Sarah calling someone her “It girl.” Fast forward to tribal council and suddenly, Sierra is going home as Sarah puts on a great act of surprise while Sierra has the look of shocked Pikachu.

I would also say that Sarah has the best reaction to the Zeke/Varner incident. She’s so introspective and touched, while also being disturbed for Zeke being outed. The way she comforts Zeke in saying she’s thankful for having known him as Zeke and not as someone he feared being known as was wonderful. That tribal council is incredibly dark but it’s also one of the few moments in Game Changers that allow for any character growth and Sarah has a huge amount of it here.

But Game Changers isn’t why Sarah is on this list, that’s all Cagayan baby. Sarah isn’t super visible in Cagayan, until her boot episode anyways, but she makes the most out of her time on the season. Sarah is especially key to this season because she becomes the audience insert for our meeting with Tony.

Sarah suspects that Tony is a cop so she decides to. broach the subject with him. This is the actual transcript of their conversation.

Sarah: Will you look at me real quick. Will you be honest with me?

Tony: Uh-huh.

S: Are you a cop?

T: (whispering) no way.

S: You swear?

T: I swear!

S: You look like cop-

T: I could be a cop!! If you want, why?

S: You swear you’re not?

T: I swear! Why? I wouldn’t hide that!

S: What do you do?

T: Construction. Tiles.

S: Yeah… where at?

T: That’s my main thing but I do… (hearing Sarah’s question about where) Jersey City.

S: You look like a cop. You look like…

T: I have a tattoo here. They don’t allow that.

S: How do you know?

T: I have plenty of cop friends. You don’t know no cops?

S: No, I do know cops.

T: I have like… maybe 50 friends that are cops.

A little bit later on, Sarah tells Tony what she does,

S: I’m a cop.

T: Are you really? You’re a pretty cool girl Sarah, you know, I got a confession to make. Want me to tell you the truth?

S: Yeah.

T: I’m not a cop.

S: You’re lying to me!

T: I’m not!

S: You are.

T: You were gonna say, I knew it! Ah get outta here!

Obviously, this is a top-tier Tony moment (who the fuck has 50 real friends, let alone cop friends?), but Sarah is great too. I love her direct questions and interrogation methods. It’s obvious that she’s a cop (but to be fair, it is for Tony too, obviously) and she’s certain he’s going to cop to it when he asks her if she wants to know the truth.

Finally, Tony cops (get it?) to being a police officer in the next episode. Sarah gets him to swear on his badge that they are together until the end. You can see the greenness in Sarah in Cagayan that is totally absent in Game Changers. She gives Tony a lot of props for showing her how to play the game and it’s clear from these scenes that this is true.

At this point, Sarah is all-in on Tony. She’s not even upset he lied to her at first because, hey…he’s a cop and a cop wouldn’t betray another cop… right?

You know how people say they have a gaydar? Well, I have like a “cop-dar.” Like, I could tell who cops are and Tony’s a cop. And I knew it from Day 1. And he finally told me. I felt like I won the lottery. I was like, “Gosh! Dangit! I knew I was right!” Now that I know Tony’s a cop, we got that blue blood going and cop blood runs thick. So, he is loyal to cops, and you better believe I’m gonna stick by his side. We’re gonna be partners in crime.

Sarah then swaps and integrates herself beautifully amongst her new group. To the point where survives a vote despite being the only Brawn member of her tribe. Up until this point, Sarah seemed like a solid winner choice because she was hitting all the right notes.

And then we merge, and Sarah becomes Christy Smith on steroids. Despite original lines being drawn by Brawn, Brains and Beauty, the tribe swap has been successful in mending together new alliances. Tony, Woo and Trish have secured an alliance with Jefra and LJ. On the other side, Spencer, Tasha and Kass have forged a partnership with Jeremiah and Morgan. Who does that leave in the middle but our beloved Sarah?

Being no dummy, Sarah quickly realizes the spot she’s landed in. And she gets a little too excited about it. Up until now, Sarah has come off as the most level-headed player in the game, but you know what they say about power corrupting absolutely? Well, Sarah just got a dose of it and it went straight to her brain because she’s way too confident about her chances now.

Tony first tries to get her to come back to the Brawn tribe. They have 4 members and Tony believes they can ride it out to the end. He even gives Sarah the 3rd spot, above Woo, in the alliance. Knowing from the past how important Sarah’s badge is to her, Tony asks her to swear loyalty on her badge. Sarah doesn’t agree to do so and says she needs to think on it first, savoring the spot she’s found herself in.

I am in the best spot that you can be at in this game because five and five (shows hands) and guess what? I’m in the middle. It’s a Sarah sandwich! It’s perfect!

Sarah then goes back to the other group to discuss the vote. Truth be told, Sarah was always with this group, but she enjoyed having the power to decide who goes home. Sarah wants LJ out but Jeremiah and Kass both rightly fear he might have an idol. They offer up Jefra instead. But now Sarah wants Woo, or Tony if Woo won immunity. Kass would rather target Trish. Sarah doesn’t think Trish is strategic and thus, a waste of a vote. Sarah gets incensed over this group not going with her ideas that she threatens them, to their faces, that she could go back to the other group any time she decided to. Which is… not a great thing to say to your alliance questioning your loyalty.

I think it’s completely idiotic to pick a fight with me. I’m not saying, “Let me be the princess” and walk around on eggshells around me, but the last thing you want to do is piss me off. I can do whatever I want, y’know. You want to pick a fight with me, I’ll flip over with those other guys, so don’t test me because I will put you in your place and send you packing.

After Woo wins immunity, the alliance agrees to settle on Tony, because Sarah guarantees that he doesn’t have an idol. Kass has become increasingly distrusting of Sarah and Tasha’s support of Sarah’s arguments are piling onto Kass’ worrying. Sarah doesn’t care about any of this because she’s at the point where she has now crowned herself.

There’s eleven people. We have a solid five, a solid five and me. I can make the choice. I think there are harder competitors on Tony’s side and I would rather go with the weaker side, so I am with the New Aparri. I think we’re solid. The only rift that we have is between Kass and I. I will make the decision on who goes home next. I get to decide. I’m the president right now.

When Tony realizes Sarah is definitely on the other side, he tells his alliance as much. The non-strategic Trish is then the one to approach Kass, who she notices is feeling down about her own alliance, about potentially voting out Sarah. So, the person Sarah doesn’t believe is playing the game ends up opening the door to Sarah’s own boot, gotta love when that happens.

Tribal council gets heated. After convincing everyone that Tony doesn’t have an idol, Sarah and the others are shocked when he pulls one out of his bag of tricks. After the votes, he plays the idol for LJ. The latter responds in kind by pulling out his own idol and playing it for Tony. But Sarah’s alliance is secretly stoked, they didn’t vote for either of them. They voted for Jefra instead. At this point, Probst begins to read the votes.

The shock when that 6th vote is for Sarah never gets old. Especially Spencer’s jaw, which really does seem like it hits the floor. Tony’s clapping is also a nice little cherry on top. Of course, this moment also creates the “0 chance to win the game” quote and propels Kass’s story fully into Chaos Kass mode.

So, Sarah is booted, it helps create the most compelling storylines of the season (Chaos Kass, Tony’s relationship with her and the other side) and it’s a lesson in how not to play Survivor. Sarah really does learn from this moment, as we see in Game Changers, but as a standalone boot, it’s one of the best episodes in modern Survivor. Power is taken as quickly as it can be given and unfortunately for Sarah, she learned that the hard way.

81. Vytas Baskauskas, Survivor: Blood vs Water & Survivor: Cambodia

The Blood vs Water concept is interesting. How would players react if the opposing tribe was composed of people they love? I believe that putting it into practice has bared two great seasons of Survivor. The show loves to go back to the well of Ciera voting for Laura as the crown jewel of BvW being something worth exploring. I disagree. That moment is overrated, the real palpable relationship we got out of that original Blood vs Water season was between Aras and Vytas.

We already know Aras from Panama. He’s the Jim Halpert of the Casaya tribe, reacting to their crazy shenanigans while also doing his best to keep them together. Aras is good-looking, smart, affable and charming. He checks off pretty much all the requirements for a Survivor winner, which is why he won his first season. I would stop short of calling Aras a golden boy (especially knowing his zanier personality outside of Survivor) but he’s damn close. Regardless, it’s clear that Aras is a good guy.

When production brings back Aras for BvW, we get to meet Vytas. If Aras was the good brother, Vytas is the badass older brother. He’s got more of an edge to him. Their parents showered Aras with all the praise. He was the college athlete. He won Survivor. That’s something that Vytas has resentment towards because he’s always been the other brother.

On top of that, Vytas has struggled with addiction in the past all while spending some time in prison and that has driven a wedge between his brother and himself. They love each other but they have a lot of unchecked emotions to work through. A lot of people would not want to talk about such a past on a game like Survivor but Vytas does so with his tribe openly. He has a great confessional about why he’s so open about it,

My addiction impacted my family, like, profoundly. Even my relationship with my brother, to this day, is still, like, not fully mended. So, this is great experience I’m gonna get to have with my brother. The fact that we’re going on this together is a pretty great, y’know, opportunity to mend some more. I think in a game where trust is the most important part, I just wanted to share with my tribe my past. Y’know, if you really want someone to trust you, you have to let them in a little bit. And I do want to be vulnerable and show them that part of my past, like, makes me stronger. For me, I don’t think people that hear about that part of my path are gonna think less of me. I don’t think people are gonna see an ex-con that’s conniving and a dope fiend that’s willing to do, like, whatever he can to get what he wants. Like, I’ve got fourteen years clean and I have a lot of experience away from that and I do want to show them that there’s, like, a different part of me than just being a yoga teacher and I think it will help strengthen the bonds and connections I have with them, then get further in this game.

This is both beautifully said and true. It shows me that Vytas understands the game on an emotional level. I’m not talking about strategy or anything like that. Just that Vytas understands that at its core, Survivor is about the people. If you want to win, you need people on your side and you get those people by winning them over. By sharing your story and getting to know them. Some players might feel like telling your tribe you were once a criminal is going to put a target on their backs. Vytas understands that if he frames it correctly, he’s letting people get to know him. By holding his past back, he would be holding back a piece of himself, making him less genuine and less likely to engage his tribe mates.

Vytas’s best scene is easily in the Sumo at Sea challenge. This is a very physical competition where players go 1 on 1, trying to knock each other off a platform using those big American Gladiator-style batons. This is the perfect time for the Vytas vs Aras storyline to come crashing together. As they go to the platform, Vytas tells Probst that Aras has always been afraid of him. Aras states that he badly wants to beat Vytas in this challenge. Then they get to swinging.

It’s a perfect encapsulation of what we know of their relationship. Aras, the good brother, allows Vytas a second chance by letting him get up. Vytas takes that opportunity to deliver a cheap shot, hoping to win that way. This angers Aras and he lays the smackdown on Vytas (and I’ve heard that this edited from a few different matchups and that Vytas won the one where he cheapshotted Aras but hey, the edit works on me). That emotion Aras is feeling when he tells Probst he doesn’t want to fight because they’ve already done that enough, that’s extremely real.

The moment is made better by Vytas’s subtle resentment of the loss. Vytas doesn’t see himself as the top dog between Aras is as he says, “the college athlete, I’m the junkie.” He proclaims to be proud of Aras but you can tell that he’s also very peeved that he didn’t get his chance to finally get one over on him.

Because that’s the thing we will learn about Vytas, the man is bitter as fuck. We will explore that in a little bit but first, we can get to his shining moment.

At the merge, Aras and Vytas get together with Tina and Katie, with whom they had a pre-game alliance. They would have run roughshod on this cast had it not been for Tyson picking up on this and flipping the game on them. Aras gets picked off first and Vytas follows him right afterwards. They both end up on Redemption Island.

On redemption island, we see more of the disparity between the brothers. Vytas is super pissed off that Tyson (attributed to Gervase by the brothers) managed to get footing on them. He blames Aras because he said they were good to go, meaning the pre-game alliance that the show is skirting around. Aras is much more positive, pointing to Redemption Island giving him a chance to come back. Vytas claims that he’s the one who is going to return to the game and Aras tells him he would be happy either way.

After Tina is voted off, she joins the brothers on Redemption Island and it’s time for them to duel. Finally, after all these years, Vytas gets his moment. He wins the duel and Aras comes in last, ending his game for good. It’s time for Aras and Vytas to come to grips with their relationship.

That moment in which Aras wishes for them grow old together and share stories of their time on Survivor is especially poignant. It seems to me like they both got out of this experience exactly what they needed to move on from the past. Vytas got to defeat the brother who was always held up above him and Aras got the chance to tell his brother some of the pain and sadness Vytas’s past had brought on him. That’s well beyond Survivor the game, that influences real-life.

Then Laura gets voted out and joins Tina and Vytas at redemption. In the next duel, Laura, a known puzzle savant, quickly solves hers and then helps Tina finish as well. Vytas is very clearly pissed off about what is happening, which is understandable, but he’s powerless to stop it. Just like that, he gets knocked out of the game.

At final tribal council, Vytas is still holding on to some anger. He tells Tyson that he would not vote for him despite being played because he told him, “if you vote me out, I won’t vote for you”. He attacks Gervase for playing in an “old-school” fashion, which in Vytas’s opinion, doesn’t work on Survivor anymore (even though Gervase was sitting in the final 3 and Vytas was the second juror). He tells Monica he’s angry that she played him and doesn’t want to vote for her either. Vytas is even holding resentment towards Tyson and Gervase for voting against Aras who, by contrast, could not be any more chill as a juror.

It makes sense that Vytas is a bitter person. Sure, he’s reformed and won the battle over his addiction but that’s not without a lot of fighting scars. He hasn’t led an easy life and whether you want it to or not, that takes a toll on a person. You see that coming out of Vytas on Survivor, he’s clearly not an optimist despite trying to stay positive and the losses in the game wear him down.

But then there’s the less appealing of Vytas and why he isn’t as high on the list as he could have been. The part that has been magnified by his behaviour in Cambodia, where he was the season’s first boot.

In Blood vs Water, Vytas swaps onto a tribe with all women, as we know from the Laura write up. On that tribe, he says a lot of things about women that aren’t… ideal. He mentions that he doesn’t think they can win challenges because he has older women on his tribe. He says he’s acting like a reformed bad boy to get in good with the women, because they love those kinds of guys. And then there’s the time he compares himself to an alpha-male lion because, women will always keep one man around to continue surviving.

Those comments on their own aren’t great but they don’t destroy him as a character. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight and a second Vytas appearance that those comments start to shift how we feel about him. In Cambodia, Vytas becomes the first boot because of his behaviour towards the women. He’s seen as far too touchy feely, a bit creepy and off-putting and he makes the women on his tribe feel mega uncomfortable.

That’s not great to watch. And then you go back and remember how Vytas acted with the women of his post-swap tribe and the only difference is that the BvW bought into what Vytas was selling and the Cambodia women did not. In both cases, Vytas is acting sub optimally but he’s only called out one time. In my opinion, that one time is enough to diminish his character throughout both seasons.

Still, the Aras storyline is very compelling to me. It’s a huge selling point for BvW as a whole. It feels like the pairing that has the most heartfelt emotion and the one that best explores the questions posed by BvW. How does it bring out past shared trauma? Can it help mend a relationship that has been frayed? Can it help evolve a relationship? Vytas’s presence helped answer all those questions and for those reasons, he deserves to be remembered as one of the best Survivor characters this decade.

Hard to believe but next week we will already be entering the 70s. There are so many more entries to go but I love how much people have gotten involved with this project. Keep sharing your thoughts with me as we go along in this celebration of Survivor completing its second decade of existence.