Top Ten Boldest Moves

In stark contrast to the dumbest moves that Survivor players have done that I’ve talked about before in this blog, I will look at the other end of the spectrum and think about all of the huge moves that a player has made that has benefited them and/or others that were very risky moves in general. This is a list of the ten boldest moves in Survivor history (thus far, at least). Some of these are looking at a dumb move from a different perspective. But all of these are huge moves that paid off. I hope that I didn’t miss any important bold move that I should have.

#10 Brian betraying his allies- As much as I will always hate Brian, I have to admit that few people could be as despicable as he was and still win the game. He had two allies that he ultimately betrayed in order to advance his own game. And still, his allies didn’t feel betrayed, but felt that he had done good in the way that he played and admired him for doing what he needed to. He betrayed his friends and still won the game in the end.

#9 Tony’s idol lie in Cagayan- You have a super idol, but others don’t know what the rules with it are. You don’t have to be honest about its powers. Thus, you can make people think that it has other powers than what it actually has. With it, you can make it seem like you can still use it even when you can’t. And that was one of the many ways that Tony used to advance in the game.

#8 Coach getting John to switch sides- The move was so illogical. If there was a tie, you would have a 2 in 7 chance of your side drawing a rock. If you flip to the other side, you are certain not to win as they will cut you loose the first time they don’t need you anymore. Sure, your own side may hate you too and you probably do not have a chance of winning with them either. But Coach was able to get John to switch to the other side and his side ultimately won because of it.

#7 Colby’s causing the tie on himself- A strategic vote can be risky to cause if you have to make yourself the target. But the tribes were evenly split after the merge and Colby had no votes against him. The rules at the time said that previous votes would eliminate a person. So he convinced the other tribe to vote for him while his tribe was united against a person with previous votes.

#6 Sarah’s flipping- In Game Changers, Sarah made a lot of risky moves and turned on people a whole lot of the time. And yet, she won. A lot of flippers are known as not being able to win the game because others don’t like being betrayed. Sarah won while doing so.

#5 Boran throwing a challenge- In general, throwing a challenge is a risky move that probably shouldn’t be done as you will lose the challenge and won’t be able to continue without voting out a person. And yet, when Boran became the first tribe to do it, they got rid of a troublemaker unanimous and the tribe still lasted long into the game. In fact, the entire final four was from this tribe.

#4 Natalie’s idol gamble in San Juan del Sur- If things didn’t go according to plan, Natalie would have gotten voted out had the person she wanted to work with decided to turn on her. Natalie gave up her idol for another person to play. This helped both of their games, ultimately. But Natalie won the game and this risk was a good one.

#3 Russell risking elimination to save Parvati- While this move is commonly and correctly seen as a dumb move from Tyson’s perspective, few people look at it from Russell’s side. If this move didn’t turn out the way he wanted, he would have gotten voted out while playing his idol on a different player. But he was able to convince someone to cast an extra vote on Parvati and he kept him and her safe as a result.

#2 Vecepia’s flipping- As stated before, flipping is generally thought of as a bad thing. Kelly might have lost the first season in part because she had flipped. But Vecepia was the first player who had gone from one side to another and back again while still managing to win with that strategy.

#1 Richard throwing the final immunity challenge- This might have been the first truly bold move to have paid off. Richard had a lot to lose if people understood his cockiness and voted him out as a result. But he knew that whoever won the challenge was going to go to the end with him. What, then, was the point of winning? He made a huge move and it was one of the many reasons why he won.

Well, that’s about it for this blog post. I hope that I didn’t miss anything that people think that I should have included. It is hard to remember all of the past seasons and think of what all happened. Maybe there was something that I didn’t think was bold that others did. I guess that I’ll see if anyone has an opinion on this. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.