Top 100 Survivor Characters of the Decade: #47–45

A Trio of Strong Women

Let’s keep moving towards number one, I promise this series will be done before the end of the year. Today, let’s look at numbers 47 through 45 on my list.

Once again, a quick reminder of the criteria:

•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).
• 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.

47. Gabby Pascuzzi, Survivor: David vs Goliath

What interests me most about Gabby is that in recent Survivor, no player personifies better the duality of the game. On the surface, Gabby is a smart and strategic woman. She’s a fan of the show who understands how the game works and wants to attack the show head on. But that doesn’t mean she can just turn off the emotional side of the game at a moment’s notice.

Instead of getting this game bot persona she comes in hoping to present, we get an incredibly captivating character whose emotions run the gamut throughout her time on the season. We see real emotion in Gabby as she tries to play the best strategic game she can conjure up, while realising that doing so is taking a lot out of her emotionally.

That kind of contrast is the reality of Survivor. As a fan, I would like to imagine I would get on the show and play like (a less problematic and more likable) Brian Heidik. The truth is, it takes a certain kind of person to pull off a game like that. Most people’s emotion will end up clouding how they want to play the game because like it or not, you meet real people and forge real connections with them. It’s a lot easier to cut hypothetical players than to do it in real life, where you’re taking away their chance to win a life changing amount of money.

Even from the premiere, where there is no vote, we get to see Gabby’s duality. Right away, she forms a bond with Christian over their book smarts. She tells us that she is attracted to smart people and wants to play this game with players who are like her.

I feel Christian and I are kindred spirits. I love that guy. I’m a technical writer, which means that I write documentation for software, so I consider myself the nerd whisperer. I love intelligent people, I love nerdy people, so I definitely was drawn to Christian.

Simultaneously, Gabby doesn’t take as much of a liking towards Pat Cusack, who Gabby sees as a bossy brute. While Nick Wilson would eventually become the consensus boot, she is part of a group of people who would like to target Pat first for the way he acts.

Then the Davids lose the first immunity challenge of the season and are faced with the reality that they will have to vote somebody out. Well, they would have, had it not been for an angry sea, a small boat and some bad circumstances. Actually, the editors let Gabby be the one to describe the final scene of the premiere.

When we leave the challenge, we are on a boat. The seas are really rough and the boat slams down on one of the waves. And, we hear a crack and at first, I thought Pat just hurt his back, maybe tweaked it a bit. But, we don’t know what’s happening and we’re watching, we’re hoping for the best. And then, Jeff arrived and we all groaned because it means something really bad has happened. As Pat left, I felt a sense of guilt in a way because I think I really misjudged him. I thought he was gonna be this bossy jerk guy from New York. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He organized how to build this shelter. He was the leader from day one. He was the center at camp and it’s just a huge loss.

Even though Gabby’s game senses were telling her that Pat needed to go soon, she can’t separate those strategic thoughts for how she felt for Pat as a human being. It’s that inability to disassociate the two that make Gabby such a good character on a season loaded with strong personalities.

Despite Gabby’s conflicting feelings on the inside, she becomes a good Survivor player throughout the season. When it’s finally time for the Davids to vote someone out, Gabby is the person who really flips the script on the would-be majority based on her instincts over a discussion with Bi Nguyen and Jessica Peet.

So as far as I know, the plan is to go for Lyrsa. But Bi and Jess, kind of blew me off and I felt like they were just saying general clichés, it’s like ‘can we talk about the vote?’ And that gives me weird vibes. If people are going on strength, it does make me uneasy. Because, I’m not that much better than Lyrsa in the challenges. I wanted tonight to be an easy vote but, I don’t feel as comfortable as I did a few days ago.

In just one confessional, Gabby displays the ability to use foresight. It would be easy for Gabby to not rock the boat (sorry Pat, bad analogy) and just vote out Lyrsa Torres with everyone else. That would be one person out and Gabby lives to see another round. But it would also remove somebody ahead of her Gabby in the pecking order and bring her that much closer to having her number called. Gabby is able to recognize what might happen and through her connection with Christian, is able to flip the vote on Jessica.

When the tribes swap, Gabby ends up with Christian on Tiva with John Hennigan, Dan Rengering and Alison Raybould. This is where Gabby shines brightest in my opinion. We see her struggling with the fact that Christian, her best friend in the game, is hitting it off with his new bro friends while she struggles to fit in on the sidelines.

Gabby goes through on Tiva what many of us go through in lige. She doesn’t feel like she belongs with her new tribe and it makes her feel like she’s back in school, trying to find where to sit at lunch. That’s a feeling I’m sure most of us have felt at least a few times in life.

I always struggle between knowing people probably like me but having that little voice of self-doubt that says, ‘well what if they don’t?’

Everyone knows that voice. We all have it. It calls out to us when we feel our weakest, hoping to make us welch and not take risks. That voice is what many people will listen to their entire lives, never taking the risk they wanted to take because, “what if it doesn’t work out”. Gabby is having this issue on Survivor but to me, her struggles feel so real because they are so relatable.

Which is why, when Gabby steps up and wins the reward and immunity challenge for her new tribe, so many of us cheered for her.

Thanks to Jabeni being a train wreck and Tiva being such a force in competitions, Gabby is able to get out of the swap unscathed. Because, as Gabby says, “hope in not a strategy”, she does good work to try to secure her spot on that tribe by bond with Alison but that bond never needs testing thanks to their winning streak.

At the merge, Gabby becomes involved in the gameplay between the Davids and the Goliaths. She is also included as a member of the failed Strikeforce alliance, a group that would have seen some players for both tribes working together. Unfortunately, that alliance never took off the ground.

Insead, the Davids know they are on the bottom because they get to the merge down in the numbers. That first tribal council at the merge becomes a memorable moment for the season. Prior to getting to tribal council, Angelina Keeley goes to Elizabeth Olson to let her know that the Goliaths have decided it will Elizabeth that night. Obviously, Elizabeth reveals that information at tribal council, which causes the Goliaths to have an averse reaction to Angelina’s actions. This is mostly an Angelina moment but Gabby does have some screen time at tribal council where, once again, her strategic mind is at war with her emotions.

At the time, many people attributed Gabby’s tears to strategy. While I think that Gabby is savvy enough to realize that her emotions can be used to advance herself in the game, I also think that every tear she shed in the game was real. Gabby is an empathetic person and she can’t help herself from feeling bad for the people who are in danger. It’s what makes her so likable in a game where you now have to be cutthroat to make it far.

Throughout the game, Gabby tries to fight that perception that she’s an emotional player. The Davids are able to get one up on the Goliaths thanks to a combination of advantages on their side coming together and forming like Voltron. Gabby has finally found some footing in the game and is in a position of power. She should be happy with the work she’s done to get there.

But then Carl Boudreaux starts talking a little too much. He’s also in power alongside Gabby and that access to higher ground has changed Carl. He’s getting a bit too bossy and confident for his own britches. Gabby sees his behaviour and begins thinking he needs to go. The Goliaths will attribute all the moves the Davids made as a group to Carl, purely because of his talking, and that needs to be dealt with.

If Carl goes home tonight, I’m going to feel so vindicated that this whole time, I’ve been seen as an emotional young woman, seen as hysterical, all these insults flung my way. I’m going to feel so proud that I broke free from those misconceptions and shown that, I’m not going to be an underdog in this game anymore.

The problem with this move is that while Gabby sees it as a strategic decision, it’s almost purely emotional. Yes, Carl would eventually need to be dealt with, but Gabby is striking too quickly. The Davids have just finally gotten the numbers on the Goliaths. There 5 Davids and 4 Goliaths. They could have taken out a few more Goliaths before planning their move on Carl. But in that moment, Carl is just talking too much and Gabby can no longer deal with it, so she acts with Christian and blindsides him out of the game.

It’s at that point that the wheels come off for the entire David alliance. Now that the group has turned inwards, nothing is stopping them from continuing to cannibalize themselves. This is further reinforced when they get the family visit and Gabby sees Christian with his girlfriend, Emily. That opens her eyes to the fact that Christian is the kind of guy you can always lean on and that she’s been doing the same thing with him.

That leads to Gabby realising that Christian has to go in order for her to be respected by the jury. These are all accurate observations but Gabby decides to act on them way too quickly. She convices the Davids to go along with her plan and vote for Christian, deciding to go after her best friend in the game.

Christian believes that we’re voting for Alison. Which is perfect because, with Christian having a hidden immunity idol, we have to take him out when he least expects it. So I’m excited, and I’m nervous, and I’m sad because, that means betraying someone that I’ve been close to for so long. But I need to remember that Christian doesn’t want me to win. Christian wants Christian to win. And so I have to do it if I want to win this game.

Unfortunately for Gabby, Christian is able to key in on what’s happening and does indeed play that hidden immunity idol.

And so ends Gabby’s journey on Survivor. She goes out of the game trying to pull off a strategic move that ends up backfiring. The irony is that if she had acted on her emotions, they would have told her to keep working with Christian, and she might have had a chance to go a lot further. Sometimes you trust your emotions and that’s the wrong move (voting out Carl) and sometimes you go with strategy when you should be going with your gut (trying to betray Christian).

Regardless, it was Gabby’s big swings in these two votes that set the course for the rest of the season. After Carl gets voted out, he is followed in succession by Gabby, Christian and Davie. Nick is able to slither his way to the end thanks to a combination of alliances and immunity wins but outside of him, the Davids get eradicated. It’s an unforced error that changes the entire fate of the game and Gabby is at the heart of it.

Perfect gameplay can be admired but it doesn’t always make for good television. If everything is perfect at every turn, things get boring in a hurry. With Gabby, we didn’t get that kind of perfection. We got someone struggling to figure out how to play an emotional game without emotions and constantly failing to do so. It’s a much better story to watch unfold and it’s why I think Gabby deserves a second chance to play the game, whenever that may be. Until then, she always be memorable to me for her unique combination of game smarts and general emotional state.

46. Reem Daly, Survivor: Edge of Extinction

In my opinion, Reem is the best first boot we’ve ever seen on Survivor. It isn’t really a fair competition, given that as a first boot, she was still allowed to be on the entire season, but if we’re ever going to get a full season of a first boot, Reem had to be the one.

At face value, Reem is nothing special in the realm of people getting voted off first on Survivor. She’s a little too abrasive with her tribe mates. She also doesn’t clue in that people don’t want others touching their clothing, especially in the era of the hidden immunity idol. Throw in the added aspect of her being the oldest member of her tribe, an often cited reason for the first boot, and you had a perfect storm.

Still, as Reem was facing the music, she showed why production wanted her on this cast. The minute she realizes her name is on the chopping block, Reem’s fury comes out and her motherly instincts disappear. From this point on, she’s on the warpath.

When you hear your name’s out there, it’s like, ‘screw you dude’. Just because I didn’t go power lift before I showed up. Like, they’re idiots. Like, I am so strong. You don’t even know this old lady, bro. This old lady can kill it.

Screw you, man.

There’s a great moment where Reem goes to David Wright to confront him about her name being out there. Only she has a machete (which she is shown sharpening earlier… why does she need it so sharp?) in her hand and it’s pointed toward David. I love David asking her to “put the machete down please” as if she was realistically going to shank him for potentially targeting her.

The ring leader behind the “vote out Reem” movement appears to be Kelley Wentworth. And boy, Reem does not like that. She fights tooth and nail at her only tribal council to save herself. Eventually, she realizes during tribal council that there really is no getting out from under this, she will be the first boot of the season, something she’s dreaded more than anything. Still, until her dying breath, Reem goes out of the game swinging.

Were that all we got of Reem, she still would have made this list (although not in this spot and certainly not above Zane Knight). She would be remembered like a Wendy-Jo, from Survivor Nicaragua, somebody who did everything wrong without even realizing it and paying the invoice by becoming the first boot.

But that isn’t all we got from Reem, in fact, this is where her adventure really took off. Production will often cast people they know have no chance of winning. Reem is one of those people. In that sense, her best-case scenario was becoming the first boot of Edge of Extinction and becoming the island’s mayor. From this point until the end of the season, the edge highlights are all Reem and whatever she’s getting up to over there.

The cinematography of Reem getting to extinction for the first time is beautiful. It’s one of my favorite sequences in modern Survivor. Everything is so dark and dingy, it almost feels like a horror film. You can feel the anxiety and fear that Reem must have been living through in that moment. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she gave up then and there.

But Reem isn’t one to throw in the towel. From now on, her Survivor story isn’t about winning, it’s about living on the edge and digging deep within herself to see how strong she can be. At first, she’s really down on herself because she’s the first boot and she’s afraid of how people will react to that.

I’m pissed that I blew my chance. I just don’t wanna embarrass my kids. If I left them, there has to be a good reason to leave them. I’m not a quitter you know man, I’m not a quitter. I’m not a quitter.

As time goes on, Reem learns to live on her island. Keith Sowell’s appearance helps reinforce her desire to stay because he’s such a lost puppy. Those are Reem’s motherly instincts kicking in. She may be trying to push them down but at her core, Reem is somebody who cares strongly about those she loves. Reem at the time may have felt like pulling the sail and leaving, but she can’t in good conscience leave this guy alone to die.

Then Chris Underwood gets to the edge and he becomes the first recipient of Reem’s rage. He’s coming off getting blindsided by his Manu tribe but Reem couldn’t care less. She mocks him for being so downtrodden and expecting any kind of solace from her after she was cast aside in the first vote. It will be a running theme of people getting to the edge of extinction and then getting verbally destroyed by Reem, who has things she needs to say to certain people.

On the edge, Reem has an up and down relationship with Chris. He’s constantly giving her grief and she gives it back. That comes to a head when Reem unintentionally helps Keith find the advantage that has been hidden on the island (the advantage that likely keeps Chris from coming back in the first challenge). Chris makes fun of Reem for doing so and they get into an all-out argument that ends with Reem yelling at Chris about how stupid and annoying he is.

There’s a quick one-off moment between Reem and Eric Hafemann that perfectly encapsulates why I love Reem as much as I do. It’s as Eric gets to the edge for the first time and he’s coming in with a wave of optimism,

Eric: This is better than I thought it would be!

Reem: Dude, don’t get excited.

For better or for worse, Reem is a realist. She’s not cut out for the show because she can’t be fake or put on airs but put a camera in her face, and you’re going to get some great footage coming from a very genuine source.

Eventually, Kelley gets voted out of the game and Reem get joy through her pain.

Finally, Kelley gets voted out. Like, I don’t know what the hell took them so long. I was trying to do that on day three, which ended up getting me voted out. I mean, bravo. Finally, Kama’s so stupid. So, I’m really happy that that finally went down but then when she was like, ‘huh, liars!’, I was like, ‘listen dude, you know karma, karma’s a bitch’. Kelley was part of getting rid of me. Kind of killed my Survivor dream, per se. So I mean that sucks! It sucks as a super fan. It sucks. So, I had to say something, I really did. Because everyone here at edge of extinction is mad at somebody and if you don’t let it all off your chest, it’s just gonna get ugly and it’s gonna fester. So get it off your chest. Everybody knows that there’s a healing process once you’re here, but it takes time.

And true to her word, Reem makes sure that Kelley knows how she feels about her.

Kelley, I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m fucking mad. I’m sure you picked up on that. I feel like my Survivor experience went to shit because of you. Don’t act like people don’t come here and have diarrhea of the mouth about what’s going on. Everybody’s talking about what’s going on, you know what I mean?

That’s the beauty of the Reem experience. She tells Kelley how she’s feeling, doesn’t mince her words and from that point on, it’s over in Reem’s mind. She’s gotten to say her piece and she can move on. There’s something real about living life that way and not holding onto things until they become to heavy to bear. Reem unloads her feelings on the spot, is able to feel better and isn’t hampered by baggage she’s had for years. Reem wouldn’t say it herself, but there’s something very philosophical about the way she lives her life.

After Chris and Kelley, there’s one more person that has earned Reem’s ire: Wardog. Of the three, he’s the most like Reem. Quickly combustible and prone to talk shit when attacked. So when Wardog finally gets to the edge, Reem is quick to let him know he has some words coming for him in the morning.

Just like with Kelley, Reem gets her feelings out in the open so that she can move on. Sure, this one doesn’t go as smoothly because Wardog isn’t ever going to back down but from that point on, Reem has aired all of her grievances and she can start to get some closure on her unique Survivor journey.

She gets a lot more of that closure when she gets the chance to read a letter she wrote to herself at the start of the game. This is where Reem can finally start to get over being the first boot and simply accepting the journey she went on for what it is, one of self-discovery.

I was so caught up on this, ‘you were voted out first, you’re a loser’ but, it took me so long to finally be proud of myself and realize, ‘wow! I am a Survivor!’ I’ve learned so much. I would have never in a million years guessed that from writing this, everything would just come full circle. And I’m still here! I don’t give up!

Unfortunately, Reem doesn’t win the challenge to get back into the game near the end. Her experience on Survivor remains as a first boot, but one that got a chance to do a lot more soul-searching than others who shared her fate. As it’s time for Reem to finally exit the game, Jeff Probst asks her about her lowest moment in the game over the course of her 30+ days on the edge,

The day I got there. I’ve never been so cold. So alone. So miserable. And, that was probably my darkest moment cause I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that I wanted a chance. We all came out here for a reason. I came out here to prove something to myself and, I am proud of myself. And I hope my family is proud of me.

Not everyone can win Survivor. In fact, most people will lose. If you’re qualifying your experience on the show as “win or bust”, you’re likely going to have a bad time. That’s something we got to see Reem realize in real-time. We got to see her process the emotions of being first boot, confront those who dealt her that hand in the end, come out of the experience with something to be proud of.

Reem represents the cycle all first boots go through. It’s just that because of her season’s twist, we got to see her go through it. That makes her unique and memorable. Throw her personality and way with words on top of all that and it made for the perfect first boot for the Edge of Extinction. It’s not a season I would classify as top-tier Survivor (or even middle-tier) but Reem is absolutely the cream of the crop when it comes to first boot and the edge would have been a complete failure if she hadn’t been there to carry it.

Ten years down the line, I likely won’t remember most of the Edge of Extinction roster, there was a lot of fodder. I can guarantee you I’ll remember Reem and in the end, that’s got to count for something.

45. Alecia Holden, Survivor: Kaoh Rong

In the history of Survivor, I think that Alecia Holden is one of the most fairly edited players we’ve ever seen. I think that the perfect way to describe her is as Jeff Probst does during the tribal council of her boot episode,

Alecia… I think you’re going to be voted out tonight. I don’t think there’s any chance they’re voting anyone else out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tribal that was this clear cut. And yet I still root for you.

Edits are a way to make a person playing a game into a mould production has decided they should fit. You can easily strip away anything positive from Osten Taylor and make him a complaining quitter or you can only show the glowing footage of Cochran in Caramoan and make him into this legendary winner. You’re only seeing an aspect of that person.

In Survivor, there are no heroes or villains, despite having an entire season based around the concept, just people who exist on the island with different values and beliefs. That was never made more obvious to me than seeing Alecia on Survivor: Kaoh Rong.

Watching Alecia play Survivor, it’s easy to see how it might be hard to get along with her. She can be kind of bratty. She doesn’t perform well in challenges and needs to be told to go get puzzle pieces as the puzzle maker. Her world perspective seems to be very self-centered and she’s quick to get into arguments.

At the same time, this is a woman who attempted to make fire for five straight hours as her tribe mates took a nap. She fought ferociously to stay in the game despite having the odds stacked firmly against her. In her boot episode, her tribe makes it very clear she will be going home at tribal council and Jeff offers them the chance to just vote then and there if Alecia agrees to it. She won’t because she’s not a quitter.

Nobody is fully good or fully evil. We are just the combinations of our strengths and weaknesses with our personalities to top it off. Alecia is the best representative of that on Survivor because the edit shows both her blemishes and her positives.

From the very beginning of the season, it’s clear Alecia is not going to fit in well with her tribe. They’ve been deemed the brawn tribe and there are five physically strong competitors… and Alecia. A stick-thin young blonde who sticks out like a sore thumb.

Honestly, Alecia should have been the first boot. Thanks to Darnell Hamilton losing the mask and Scot Pollard and Kyle Jason being scared of a potentially Cydney Gillon/Darnell alliance, Alecia was spared. Already at this point, Scot and Jason can’t stand Alecia and yet, they allow her the chance to stick around because they are already overplaying the game.

It doesn’t magically get better for Alecia. She’s still on the bottom of her tribe. But Alecia is a fighter and she’s not going to call it quits, no matter how bad the odds look for her. That leads her to have this great exchange with Jennifer Lanzetti.

J: No. That’s not the best thing you can do in this game.

A: Win a challenge?

J: No! That’s not it either.

A: Alright, just tell me.

J: Getting out the strongest players while you still can.

I love this weird game of Survivor charades between two players who are horrible at playing the game. This should have been a normal conversation but Jenn brings it up as a quiz and Alecia can’t give her the answer she wants so instead, we get this weird run-around before Jenn can get to her point.

That small conversation, in which an all-girls alliance is floated and Jenn seems to agree to it, is all Alecia needs. At tribal council, she announces that Jenn approached her with the intent to form an all-girls alliance. The bomb is dropped and from there Jenn makes every wrong move she could have made to give Alecia yet another chance in the game. Alecia has this fantastic reaction when the vote to send Jenn home is read.

This is another moment where Scot and Jason are just overplaying the game. Jenn had a bad moment where she considered going another route. But she course corrected and was willing to stay true to them. Pound for pound, Jenn is an infinitely more reliable than Alecia, who is openly going to flip to anyone else at the first opportunity. Yet somehow, Alecia is spared for another day as she continues to toil at the bottom of the pecking order.

Then we get to the infamous reward challenge for spices. The one where Caleb actually almost died. It’s a brutal challenge that production clearly didn’t intend to be this difficult. Everybody is killing themselves to dig for these bags in the sand. And then you have Alecia, slowly kicking sand around as her tribe mates are digging ferociously.

This leads to her entire tribe being frustrated with her. Scot tells her she’s only good as a cheerleader. Jason tells her, “just dig. Shut the fuck up and dig. I’m not trying to be a dick. I just want to find these bags.”

Well, Alecia isn’t going to stand for being spoken to like that. After the challenge, she goes up to Scot, who is comically taller than him, and confronts him about his comment.

I just wanna say, I might not be as big as you or as strong as you but, you should know from the NBA like, when we’re all not giving up and I’m trying to encourage you. To look me straight in the face and say, ‘why don’t you keep being a cheerleader, that’s all you’re good at’. That’s not working as a team. What would one of your players say if you said that on a basketball court as a team.

In the first tribal council of the season, Alecia says she is on the brawn tribe because she’s a “mental giant”. This gets a buffoon sound effect from production and scoffs from her tribe. But it’s true and in her confrontation with Scot, you can see it. Alecia isn’t going to back down from this much older, stronger and taller man. She knows he should treat her with more respect and she’s going to demand it from him. That’s why’s she on the brawn tribe and she deserves to be there.

I’m not intimidated by him because he’s bigger than me or stronger than me. I’m gonna let him know how I feel and, I want our tribe to work more as a team and not put each other down. And with me, you know, they just keep doing it.

And that’s why we cheer for Alecia. Despite being constantly put down by Jason and Scot, she never misses a beat. She’s always optimistic about her outlook in the game and she doesn’t let these two guys bully her into a corner. Alecia is Teflon when it comes to verbal attacks and that kind of mental fortitude is both impressive and noteworthy.

I love when the argument is still going in the shelter and Scot asks Alecia when she’s ever been on a team. Alecia’s “I played soccer during my life” irritates him so much. He’s incensed that she answered him so quickly and nonchalantly. She’s so nonplussed about the whole thing that it makes Scot and Jason even angrier.

Her life in the game isn’t long. She finally gets the cut in episode four when the brawn tribe isn’t able to win immunity. She shouldn’t even have lasted that long in the first place but her tenacity kept pushing her through. In the short time that Alecia does play Survivor, we see all facets. She’s bratty and kind of annoying. But she’s also fearless in taking on these aggressive bullies and won’t ever give up until she’s voted out. The brawn tribe never gives her the respect she deserves, but I’m fully willing to give it to her here.

On top of that, Alecia is a key player in setting up Scot and Jason as the season’s long term villains. Their behaviour towards her will set up that these guys are not willing to work with strong women and will not be pleased when their downfalls involve strong women. Alecia isn’t able to get them out of the game but Aubry’s machinations down the line feel like vicarious revenge.

In terms of early boots, Alecia gives you all you can hope for. Drama, character and memorable moments. She got a bad draw in terms of the tribe she was on but I think that in any season, Alecia would likely fair about the same way. She’s the kind of Survivor character that burns hot and fast and in many ways, those are often the best.