Top Ten Survivor Heroes

You might be wondering why I didn't update my blog on Wednesday, as I normally do and why I'm updating it today on Sunday. During the winter hiatus of Survivor, I allow myself to update the blog on Sundays in addition to Wednesdays. But, that's only under certain circumstances. During the break after Philippines, I didn't originally do random blog posts, nor were my posts scheduled for a certain time. During the break after Blood versus Water, I did this at first starting in January, but didn't have enough posts written to update on both days so I cut one day. During the break after San Juan del Sur, I originally thought that I might not due any posts on Sundays since the finale of that season wasn't on a Sunday. But a sudden sickness prevented a post on a Wednesday, so I started double posting then. Plus, I was trying to start updates of a different blog of mine on Sundays then anyways. Now you see, I decided to update a different blog on Wednesday and I don't update multiple blogs in a single day. Thus, you will see a post on Sunday this week and next. When Survivor starts again, my posts will be on Thursday for a while since Lent will be happening and I won't be able to see Survivor live. Now, sorry for this long introduction as I update what's going on with this blog. I'm getting to the actual post now.

Who are the best Survivor heroes? Well, that’s what I’m going to try to figure out in this newest blog post of mine. I’ll go through various contestants and list which ten I think are the best heroes in Survivor history. I might as well get started.

The rules: 1- This is the most important one actually: I’m choosing people based solely on my own opinion. So if you don’t like them or don’t think that they were actually heroes, then make your own list. These are my choices. 2- Tarnished heroes are not included on the list. Well, some tarnished heroes are not: those I felt were ruined enough that they were either no longer heroes or no longer good heroes. 3- I’m sorry if I don’t have enough women on this list. Now this could be like the villains list where I thought going into it that I wouldn’t have enough women, but half of my list was women. I don’t know yet if there will be enough women although that may not be the case when the list is made. I can’t think of any other rules at the moment. Clearly I’m choosing good heroes. Before that, here’s the obligatory honorable mentions section.

Honorable Mentions: A well known hero from the first season was Colleen who outlasted all of her tribe members. Jenn from Palau made a good hero. But, I decided to go with other players instead. Yau-Man was also close to being on it, as were people who aren’t even an honorable mention, but I’m not choosing him. JT was so heroic that he even tired to help out a villain in a move that famously backfired. I’m not choosing him due to picking other choices. Brett from Samoa fought valiantly against Russell and fell short. He’s not on the list because I picked a better person who was better able to control Russell. Jane from Nicaragua is someone that I liked, but I didn’t see much a reason for putting her on the top ten. Matt from Redemption Island fought hard to stay in the game, but I’m not choosing him to go with other choices. Malcolm may have debatable status as a hero and, like other honorable mentions, I decided to go with other choices. Spencer could be considered a hero, and probably is, but there’s enough against him recently for me to cut him from the list. Mike from Worlds Apart won against a villain’s alliance, but once again, I’m not picking him.

#10 Darrah (Pearl Islands): You might not remember Darrah, but I do. She was a challenge beast that helped Burton get eliminated. She fought hard to stay in the game. But her challenge wins made her a threat and she was voted out. But, she was still pretty heroic throughout the game.

#9 Ethan (Africa and All-Stars): I love this winner a lot. He was a great person to watch dominating the social game in Africa up until his win. In All-Stars, he did good enough that he outlasted all the other winners. It’s not often when you see heroes actually win the game, but he was great at the game as evident by his win.

#8 Natalie (Samoa): Some have called Russell Hantz the greatest Survivor villain. If you want my opinion as to where he ranks as a villain, you can read my other post on my top ten villains for that. But let’s say that you join with Russell and use him to bring you to the end. Then, you totally trump him in the jury votes, besting him at his own game. It takes a great hero like Natalie to beat Russell the first time at least and that’s what she did. It’s hard to think of other times off hand where the hero clearly won out over the despicable villain of the season.

#7 Jeremy (San Juan del Sur and Cambodia): His first game may have come to an abrupt end thanks to his alliance blindsiding him, but the second time around, his strategy to win worked. He was well liked by the rest of the jury that all ten of them voted for him to win and there wasn’t a single vote for either of the other great finalists. He’s certainly a great winner and a great hero.

#6 Sierra (Tocantins): This may be an odd choice, but I still like this contestant. I hate the fact that her tribe mates were terrible to her throughout the game. She managed to survive. I just wish that she outlasted Coach that time around. But I think that she’s a good hero the way she fought to be in the game, even if she never turned the game around.

#5 Terry (Panama and Cambodia): This player struggled against the odds past the merge in his original season. The second time he played, he left in a heroic manner by leaving to be with his sick son. He is certainly a dominate type of player, either though we didn’t see much of him the second time around. But, he could still return and he’d probably be as heroic the third time around as well.

#4 Chris (Vanuatu): I have heard arguments against him being a hero, but I see his game as being heroic. From the first vote out to the post merge game, Chris struggled against the odds to stay in the game and he fought valiantly, with and without immunity, to not only stay in the game, but to beat all the other players that season. Few people who win could turn the game around the way he did. He might have been one of the most successful people who did that.

#3 Denise (Philippines): Only one person struggled so much throughout the premerge game that they were never able to avoid a tribal council. After the merge, they would have to attend every tribal council unless they are voted out. Denise fought hard to stay in the game and was only immune once. She attended every tribal council her season and is the only contestant to witness the elimination of every other player in a single season. The way she made it to the end and won proves the type of great player, and the great hero, that she is to the Survivor world.

#2 Tom (Palau and Heroes versus Villains): This is another person who could be considered a villain to some. But he lead his tribe to its dominance throughout the tribal part of the game. He then won lots of immunity challenges, spending a record amount of time immune throughout the game (but not all in a row, like Joe did in Cambodia). Even the one person who didn’t vote for him to win the game knew the type of threat that he was. That’s why he’s so high on this list.

Now you might be wondering who I picked as the number one best hero in Survivor history. I actually almost cut him from the list, before deciding that he would work out as number one. I don’t know why he wouldn’t deserve to be a great hero. And while some people didn’t like him, I do. I’m not sure what he could do to change that.

#1 Rupert (Pearl Islands, All-Stars, Heroes versus Villains, and Blood versus Water): An eccentric person, by far, this person is so well liked that there is no way the other players would ever let him reach the end of the game. If he was there, you can bet that he’d sweep the jury votes for sure. His main flaw as a player is that the villains of the seasons always seem to get the better of him and the game. But he’s certainly a hero. Even when he doesn’t make it far in the game, his main move is being heroic and giving up his chance to play for someone else. But, he’s the greatest hero in my mind.

Well, that’s it for this top ten of mine. I hope that you like it. Did it fit well with my top ten on villains? I hope that it did. I wonder what heroes you think that I might have missed or what you think weren’t actually heroes. But I think that I made good picks. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.