Survivor Insights 30: Three Sole Survivors Under My Belt

With JT’s recent triumph in Tocantins Brazilian Highlands, I now have three sole survivors under my belt. Of the eighteen seasons of SURVIVOR, I can’t truly believe my instincts have driven me in the right way. Back in season 12 (Panama Exile Islands), I chose Aras Baskauskas and Danielle DiLorenzo as my early picks and these two were in the final two and Aras eventually took home the title. Parvati Shallow was my only huge favorite in season 16 (Micronesia) and surprisingly, she outlasted the rest.

I have already posted an article about “How did my two favorites won?” in my blue blog and today, I want that article to be posted here. David Bloomberg of Reality News Online wrote all the information and analysis you can read in the following paragraphs.

What David Bloomberg has to say?

Sole Survivor: JT
“J.T. was the country boy who could survive outdoors, but that’s not what Survivor is really all about… Like Stephen, J.T. definitely did well in terms of the first rule, scheming and plotting. He formed his alliance with Stephen on Day 2 and went all the way to the end with him… J.T. also clearly knew what he wanted to get across to the jurors and was able to argue it. He played up his aw-shucks country boy aspect, did a lot of smiling, and basked in the love from the jurors.”

“The thing is, J.T. had cultivated that love over the past 39 days… his combination of strategy and friendliness is rarely seen on Survivor. The ability to stab somebody in the back and still have them be your friend and hand you a million dollars is somewhat amazing to watch. Even though he was obviously a huge threat to win, nobody wanted to go against him until it was too late and he had it all wrapped up. Then he put the bow on top with a great jury performance.”
Sole Survivor: Parvati

“Each time, Parvati was the blindsider, never the blindsided… She owned Tribal Council from the moment of the opening statements. She took credit for playing aggressively and beating her competition before they had a chance to beat her. She made bold power plays and helped guide a powerful group of women to some of the biggest moves in Survivor history.”

“Parvati played strategically while eliminating emotional decisions, but also played socially, thus building up emotional attachments. She took out the threats when they needed to be gone, and she set herself up in a prime position to give her an enormous amount of flexibility to go forward no matter which side came out ahead. She set herself up to make it to the end, and then did a fine job with the jury.”

Sole Survivor: Aras

“Early in the game, Aras did not seem a likely candidate to win. A couple of his original tribemates thought he was a bit nutty as he tried to start a fire using mind power. Then, after the switch-up, he revealed the core alliance, which is generally a big blunder… Once he got in the finals, Aras said many of the right things. Aras talked about how he tried to play the game with integrity. Yes, he had to turn on a couple of people, but he was just trying to get them before they got him. And yes, it was necessary to tell the few lies he did.”

“Aras also pointed out several times that he took the time to get to know each and every one of them on a personal level.. He did a good job of reading the jurors and telling them mostly what they wanted to hear… Aras was not the best strategic player this season. That would probably have been Cirie. Aras was not the best at challenges this season. That would definitely have been Terry. But Aras put those two facets into one person, and added a good social game as well. By being second best at several things, he avoided being the biggest target.”

(And yeah, before I forget, during the first season of Survivor Philippines which took place at Ko Tarutao, Thailand, the First Pinoy Sole Survivor was also my first impression pick: See this > Survivor Insights 13: JC Tiuseco- First Pinoy Sole Survivor)

What SurvivorDean has to say?

All in all, Survivor: Panama Exile Island is still my number 1 favorite season of SURVIVOR considering all my first expectations happened during this season. The twist and turns were not as unpredictable like in Micronesia but it’s still a solid and colorful season. Until now, it’s still unbelievable to believe I chose two early picks and the two outlasted the big physical threat (Terry) and the most social strategist (Cirie). Aras and Danielle rocks this season’s finale.

Survivor Micronesia and Survivor Tocantins are two different seasons with bold characters and it’s likely unfair to compare the two. The competition in Micronesia is fierce considering it’s a battle between fans and favorites. Unexpected accidents and alliances happened in Micronesia and it ended spectacular.

Quite the opposite in Tocantins, watching every episode has something to shock you. It’s undeniably the season of blindsides. The only predictable events in Tocantins are when Sierra got the cut and when JT won. I wasn’t expecting JT got a 7-0 votes over Stephen but the moment he wore the necklace in his neck in Final 3, I knew his chances of winning was 75%.

Comparing JT’s strategy to Parvati, these two appears to have a strong charisma to fully-convince people. Both of them played a well-structured social game. The only difference is, JT won three Immunity Challenges in a row when he truly needs it. Parvati only won one immunity challenge and in fact, during the Final 3 Endurance Immunity Challenge, she was the first one out.

Parvati has more chances of getting the cut but she still survived even without winning the immunity. She’s not only a darling, she’s also a social blindsider which JT didn’t regularly do (he relied on winning immunity to be safe).

Therefore, I stick to Micronesia as my second favorite season.

1) Survivor Panama Exile Islands (season 12)

2) Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs Favorites (season 16)

3) Survivor Tocantins (season 18)

4) Survivor Amazon (season 6)

5) Survivor All-Stars [season 8]

*With respect to Season 1, I also love this season and it’s not enough to rank it as 1, 2 or 3. This season was the start of everything beyond the imagination can conceive. Richard Hatch remains to be the King of Alliance.