Ranking the Winners

After the all winner season happened, I thought to myself that it might finally be time for me to share my ranking of the winners thus far while rearranging them a bit to make sure that they are in a good order that I like. I’ve seen maybe something like this on that one facebook group that I talk about from time to time, but thought that I would do my own in this blog myself.

First, I need to get to sharing the rules and other criteria for this post. You might wonder if I should consider the two players who won twice separately. I will not as they were the same person in both of their separate wins. I am also largely only focusing on the season or seasons that they won and not any other seasons that they might have played. Some of this will be based just on how much I like or don’t like a winner, but will also consider other factors like number of jury votes and more important things like that. For your convenience, I will separate this into different sections. I won’t say that none of them deserved to win, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. I will start at the worst in my mind and work my way up to the top.

The bad winners

Brian is my lowest ranked winner because I hate how someone as despicable as him could actually win the game. Can you believe that someone who put on such an obvious villain persona and wasn’t above screwing his own allies over still got four jury votes, which was all he needed to win.

Sophie isn’t someone that I hated as much when she played the second time, but I still wasn’t fond of her first season. I felt she was awful and don’t think that it was just my sister’s original hatred of her also rubbing off on me. She remains the most recent winner that I didn’t really like. Even in the finale, it was hard to understand why someone with an edit as bad as hers was about to win the game.

Vecepia was too much of a floater for me when she played the game and that wasn’t something that I could get behind originally back then. She was the first winner that I didn’t really like as much. I may yet some around on her, but it was hard for me to accept someone as villainous and somehow who flipped so much while also not seeming to do much throughout the game actually winning it in the end.

Danni might not have been that bad a winner to other people, but to me, it didn’t seem like she had done that much to get to where she was. She voted out Rafe at the final three after he dumbly voided his deal with her at the end. She faced a horrible villain that time in the game and won easily, but it was still hard to see what she did in the end.

Todd has dealt with a lot of personal struggles in his life so I hope that he doesn’t see this post. I don’t think that he’s a bad person outside of the game. I just found it hard to get behind his win when it seemed like he was not doing as well as he could be with it.

Aras didn’t even get to vote out his number one thorn in his side and only seemed to win based on a move that another player made. After Terry was voted out, one couldn’t see much else that he did to deserve the win other than not be as hated as the other player in the game who could win. One could say that they got rid of the final two as a result of his win.

Chris Underwood might be the most recent winner to garner the ire of tons of other players in the game as he hadn’t gotten as far as he could have without a brand new twist benefiting him while also having the edge of having knowledge of what the jury members wanted or didn’t want from other players. He only avoids getting a worse place on the list by personally taking out who would have almost certainly won otherwise in the game and can at least say he did something.

The average or acceptable winners

Boston Rob could have been a much better winner had he gotten it under other circumstances. Instead, he got too much of an edge over a bunch of noobs who were star struck by him to the point of letting him dance circles around them and walk all over them. Still, even if one doesn’t like how easy the win of his season came to him, you have to admit that he had a strong social game and deserved every bit of what he got in the end.

Bob is the oldest winner thus far and made it easily by sticking with his alliance in the end. He isn’t that much higher on the list as he isn’t that really a standout of a winner and he could have done more to impress the general public. Still, I felt that he did a better job than the others in the final three his season and was a pretty deserving winner in the end.

Amber ranks at least higher than her husband because she had a harder time getting to the win and had to deal with the fact that her husband was quite the capable player, even if she was slightly more liked by those in the jury that season. She didn’t piss off as many people and had an edge.

Yul was a very smart and capable person the season that he won. He largely had to deal with the fact that another very capable player, Ozzy, was also playing a good game that impressed so much of the jury in the end. I may have wished that Ozzy won that season instead and might have some issues then with Yul as a result. But I still think Yul wasn’t as bad as he could otherwise be ranked.

Natalie Anderson may not have been the most likable person at the start of the game, but she was more than respected by the end of her season by what she was able to do in the end. She may not have been that star a winner and it may not have even been obvious to some that she would even make it as far as she did. But many people would have to agree that no one else should have won that season.

Ben benefitted from a lot of idols and other advantages in the game such as a brand new final four format that no one had ever heard of or knew would happen before. But they are forgetting how much he deserved the win and did well in certain parts of the game while ignoring that he wasn’t the target as much as some points as he could be.

John Cochran might be hated by a lot of people still, but did play a pretty decent game the second time around. He proved that he could be a great player and work with others. He was never once the target at a vote and he did get all of the jury members to vote for him in the end.

The better winners

Nick thankfully didn’t need a revised final four format to save him as he won the final immunity and was able to do pretty well against the Goliaths in the game. He could have easy been the first one out of the game were it not for a freak accident. But he is a great player and I don’t think that he got the level of hatred that many winners of today get.

Kim was wonderful and had a tribe of men totally self destruct even when they had an even lead in the game. By the time that the final five had started, there probably wasn’t a way that she couldn’t win the season in the end and she was wonderful as a result.

Parvati is quite the great player and inspired tons of others to want to be like her. At one point, she had played more days than any other player in the game as she did quite well in the game.  Could she do better in future seasons? I guess we’ll see.

Earl was the first person to win a unanimous jury vote, a feat that has rarely been duplicated by even the best players that came afterwards. He might have benefited from going up against hated people in the end but more than deserved his win, if not a higher place on this list.

Wendell won a tie-breaker in a way that no other player had before. He knew what to do in order to have certain alliances in the game take him where he needed to be and have another player blunder as much as he did in the end.

Mike may not have been the first winner to possess an idol, but he was the first one to have an idol save him from certain elimination. His struggles against the axis of evil made his public enemy number one, but he did manage to not only overcome them, but also get a lot of their jury votes to win in the end. And the fans were all ready to vote him into the next season.

Michele is hated by some people, but she shouldn’t wonder why people don’t like her when she played such a great and exceptional game in the end, being able to oust the right people and being seated with others who did somehow have a great chance at winning the game. She deserved her win and was such a great winner in my mind that she ranks this high to me.

Tommy Sheehan may not have had a flashy game or seemed to do that much as a lot of focus on who was doing well his season was shot on a lot of short term wonders with him doing poorly in the edit, but not bad with the jury. He wasn’t duped by things or too eccentric and he could prove himself to be a good player if he ever returns to play again.

Jenna might be the first winner that many fans hate, but she was also the first winner who got a landslide vote that became so common in the future that many forget that no one had done it before her. Even her number one enemy voted for her to win the game.

Fabio doesn’t have a lot of fans supporting him and has a questionable win status since he won by only one vote and both of the quitters that season voted for him, but I quite like him and think that he did as well as he could considering all that went on that season.

The great winners

Natalie White is also highly underrated by all those who are delusional enough to think that Russell Hantz was somehow a better player than her. She helped arrange a blindside and got this person to give his support for her. From being on a tribe that truly sucked before the merge to knowing how to get rid of the other tribe’s members in the end, she also knew that others wouldn’t want her allies to win and she got quite a good win as a result.

Tyson may be the only three time player to have won thus far, but it was quite an impressive win. He got his revenge when the other tribe voted out his then girlfriend (now wife, I think) by doing all the he needed to in order to get to the end of the game and win it in the end.

Jeremy was doing wonderfully the first time until his tribe mates had the sense to get rid of him and he was voted out as a result. The next time, the players never had the sense to get rid of him. He did so well that it wasn’t too hard to think of a better ranking for him.

Sandra may be a two time winner, but there were other winners that I liked more than her in the end. She got rid of all the heroes and got every single one of their votes in the end. She was great the first time as well playing the game. And I think that this is where she belongs.

The top ten

Sarah knew how to embrace her inner villain in the end when she won, being able to manipulate all the other players in the game. I couldn’t tell if they wanted her to have the best edit when she won as I wasn’t sure if they wanted her to come off as that great a person in the end. Did that make sense? Oh, well. I think that her ranking works as starting the top ten.

Richard was the first ever winner and sort of invented many of the great aspects of the game that we saw in the end and still see today like alliances in the end and very other great parts of it. Some say that he did the game best.

Adam was such a wonderful player that even without his poor mother’s health, he still would have done well in the game in my mind. Can you think of someone who got as well as he did without the benefit of an usually high number of people on the jury?

Tom Westman could only be voted out of the game three times as he won immunity for his tribe or himself tons of times in the game. He was well liked and couldn’t really be that bad a person for others which is why he did as well as he did.

Chris Daughetry had to deal with surviving as the last man on a tribe of six other women and he was able to outsmart them all into lasting as long as he did in the game. Quite the player, he did such a good game that it is shocking that he hasn’t been asked back.

Tina was quite a good player with her tribe largely doing bad at some parts in the early game, only for her to manage to do well despite voting everyone out of the game successfully. I don’t think that we saw someone as well as her being as nice as she was, even if she was sly and managed to fool others into thinking that she was as nice as she was.

The Mount Rushmore of Winners

Denise attended every tribal council and played with every player in her season (only three others in the fourth season played with every other player, I think, in a normal season that had tribes at the start) and could be considered a huge legend in the game due to this feat. Who could be on a tribe that did as bad all the time and yet still prove to be a good player deserving of the win in the end? She is.

JT played a perfect game so to speak. He was and remains very likable that first time he played and was very well liked among everyone including, possibly, Stephen Fishbach fans. It is hard to think of a man or woman who had as great a first game as other winners like him have.

Tony proved that you can be a hardcore villain and win not just once but twice that way. His third time that he played redeemed his terrible second time by more than a lot. It might have been hard for me to see that he’d be doing well, but I like what happened with his game and think that he may be the most likable villain and best villain who ever played the game.

Ethan is my favorite winner still to this day even if he never made it as far as he could have other times he played the game. He is one of the most likable winners in the game and was quite the hero in the end. I’m glad that he’s still alive and hope that he lives for years to come.

That’s about it for this post. Sorry that it was as lately posted as it was today as I really need to get to writing all that I need to in order to publish it and might not have even had a post at all if I didn’t live in the time zone that I do. I don’t expect it to make as much sense to others. I hope that you liked this post, even if you don’t agree with a lot or any of it. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.