Top Ten Survivor Villains

Well, here we get to another top ten list of mine. You may have noticed a lot of notable and memorable villains throughout the history of Survivor. I apologize in advance if there winds up being a lack of women on this list. Men seem to get better edits on the show, well, depending on the man. Sometimes they don’t care about giving people good edits, but that’s probably a different blog post entirely. The point is this: I am going through my own personal list of Survivor contestants and picking who I think are the ten best villains. Now, there certain criteria that has to be met, as always.

Rules: 1- As always, this is based solely on my own opinion. 2- I’m only including people that I feel made great enough villains. 3- I will factor in all of their games, should they have played more than once. 4- One does not have to have won to be on the list, although, the top four of this list will be all winners. 5- Although I don’t really like the contestants who are numbers 9 and 10 (who still make the list due to how great of villains they are), most of the people on this list are people that I liked in some way, despite their villain status. Well, I might as well get to the honorable mentions.

Here’s who I think didn’t quite fit the top ten, but still deserve their villain status. Lex was a wonderful villain in Africa the way he got crazy after he got an extra vote. In All-Stars, his villain status remains as he blatantly costs a person the win. Why people love him in Africa and hate him in All-Stars is a huge mystery to me. Am I the only one who felt the other way? I didn’t like him as much in Africa, but I did like him in All-Stars. Boston Rob had villainous ways that brought him to the end twice and gave him the win once. But, I don’t feel that he’s as worthy as the ten that I’ve chosen.

Vecepia may be an unusual choice for this list, even as an honorable mention, but she was pretty villainous when she played the game. Ami made a great villain, although she did end up giving up her mission in the end. So she won’t make the top ten. Shane might have been on a different version of the list, but I feel that he was just close enough to not being a top ten villain since he didn’t seem to make big moves like other villains have. Dreamz was pretty evil when he played, but not close enough for me. Ken is more remembered for his dumb moves that got him voted out, even though he made a good villain in a way. Coach is the last of the honorable mentions of mine on this list. He was pretty terrible to Sierra when he first played. While I liked him in later seasons, I don’t feel the need to put him on the main list as I like the ten I’ve chosen in terms of villainy. So, now’s let’s get to that list.

#10 Johnny Fairplay- While his second game was certainly terrible, his first game is what gets him on this list of mine. His admittedly wrong name (Fairplay) and the way he got everyone to turn on each other and pretty much ignore the fact that he was getting further in the game is why and how he’s a great villain the first time around. He had a lie to gain sympathy planed from before he even started playing the game. It was shocking just how far he got before we have a dumb decision made by the winner of the final immunity challenge and future runner-up. But he’s still a great player the first time around, even if there are better villains than him in the long run.

#9 Russell Hantz- This guy is so fucking arrogant that you can’t believe at first that he made it to the end of the game, not once, but twice. His game play would never give him the win, but it does make him one of the most well-known villains in Survivor history. I don’t know how many fans he has in the end, but he makes a good villain in the end.

#8 Jerri Manthey- There are many things to say about Jerri. Why is she on this list? Well, she is concerned the first female villain on Survivor and she plays it off so well that she seems like a nice and reasonable person in the end. While it may just be her most recent season that has her as nice as she is now, she’s definitely a good villain, even if she never made it to the end of the game.

#7 Natalie Bolton- Here’s a choice that might seem strange to some, but there’s a reason that she outlasted all the other new players on her season. With the power of other women, she would help take control of the game and failed to make it further because of the numbers against her. It’s a shame that she didn’t make it further, but you know how returning players can dominate the game. However, I still think that she’s a great villain who helped coax her enemy into giving her his only form of immunity. Few others can compare to that level of a villain.

#6 Jonathan Penner- This person once had the record of most votes against due to his ways. He might not be the most obvious villain in Survivor, but he is a pretty good one. From flipping on both sides in his first game to controlling a nice alliance for a while the third time, he’s pretty nice and likable, despite his villain status.

#5 Ciera Eastin- I like this player a lot, despite her flaws. I don’t understand why some people don’t think of her as a villain. But she’s still an interesting contestant who played hard trying to fight for the best spot in the game, even though she didn’t make it to the end. I have her listed highest out of villains who didn’t win due to her cutthroat way of playing the game, even if it isn’t always the best strategy.

From this point forward, I’m only picking villains who won. There is one very notable villain winner that I can’t stand and thus, won’t be on this list. I hope that this isn’t a slight to anyone, but this is based solely on my opinion anyways. When I think about it, there’s actually multiple villain winners that I won’t pick because I didn’t like them (or, quite possibly, because I didn’t think they were either a villain or a good villain). I do wonder if you know the particular person that I’m not including.

#4 Parvati Shallow- This person may have some mixed reception to some people. There might have been some negative thoughts about her at one point, but she has ultimately proven herself to be a great player who can actually use sexiness to her advantage. (Notice how many other people think that they can play like Parvati and win. They normally don’t even make the merge.) But she has quite a unique strategy in the game and it has given her the win once and lead her back to day 39 a second time.

#3 Sandra Diaz-Twine- Only one person thus far has won Survivor twice. Now she’s not number one on my list, but she’s still a great villain. A good example of this was in her second appearance on the show where she did not join forces with the heroes tribe and still got all of their votes to win the game. That’s pretty good and interesting, right? It’s not known if she will remain the only two-time winner or if she’ll even become a three time winner if given the chance. But she is undoubtedly a great villain.

#2 Richard Hatch- The very first winner made such a great villain that it can be hard to see at first that he actually did win. He helped create the very first alliance and it brought him all the way to the end to win. He didn’t care who he pissed off and he very well might not have won if just one person who voted for him had liked Kelly better. But he outplayed, outwitted, and outlasted the rest of the competition. Although, there’s one person I thought made a better villain.

Who do I have as the number one Survivor villain of all time? Well, I have probably mentioned this in previous blog posts. There is one person who could master the game in such a way that it can be unlikely in my mind that any current contestant has made a better villain thus far. Some saw the win coming and others didn’t expect it. But, there’s still one person that I think makes a better villain than any other villain on Survivor.

#1 Tony Vlachos- Why do I have Tony listed as the greatest villain? Well, if you remember his season, then you probably remember how he dominated the game for so long. He didn’t care who he double-crossed to win the game. He got eight freaking jury votes. He actually turned the type of arrogance that Russell Hantz has and turned it into a freaking win. That’s a great villain to me. And that’s why I have him listed at number one.

Those are my thoughts as to who the ten best Survivor villains are. I hope that you agree with most of my list I also hope that I didn’t slight anyone according to you. Like I said, there is one winner that I rank lowest of them all and thus, won’t put on this list, despite this person being considered by others to be a good villain. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.