Troyzan Robertson Retrospective

Age: 55
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Previous Season(s): Survivor: One World
Previous Placing: 8/18
Days Lasted: 30
Correctly Voted for Boot: 4
Votes Received: 6*
Individual Immunity Challenge Wins: 2
Most Memorable Moment: Screaming “THIS IS MY ISLAND!” after winning an immunity challenge.

*Includes 2 negated votes due to an idol play.

What happened in his previous season: As the swimsuit photographer from Miami, Florida, Troy “Troyzan” Robertson was one of the biggest superfans on One World. In a season twist, both tribes, separated by gender, were put on the same beach and required to compete against one another. The battle between the men and women became instantly personal at the first immunity challenge when the men turned down the gesture of good will to finish the challenge (after Kourtney Moon’s medevac) and instead took the immunity win.

Troyzan started off the game pretty quiet. He was the surfer guy who got along with everyone. He was an excellent liaison between the rivaling men and the women. Early on in the game, the overwhelming amount of testosterone in the camp ousted Colton Cumbie, who felt out of place due to his inability to relate to guys. However, when a group of the younger guys threatened to take over once Colton was eliminated, Troyzan made moves to ensure that did not happen.

Playing both sides, Troyzan started recruiting the older men in the tribe, Jonas Otsuji, Leif Mason, and “Tarzan” Smith, to protect himself from the macho alliance. After their first immunity loss in Episode 3, Colton seemed like an easy target, but instead, Troyzan recruited Colton to join his alliance and target Matt Quinlan, the presumed leader of the opposing alliance. At their first tribal the plan was put in place, and Matt was blindsided not only by Troyzan and his alliance but by members of his own alliance.

The men won the next immunity challenge, but a shocking series of events saw them attending tribal council that same night. Colton noticed Leif bonding with Bill Posely, Colton’s sworn enemy, so Colton decided that Leif had betrayed the alliance and needed to be punished. At Colton’s behest, Troyzan, along with many of the men on his tribe, forfeited their immunity win to the women and voluntarily went to tribal council. At tribal, while Leif was called out for his betrayal to the alliance, Colton’s score with Bill was finally settled, and Bill was the fourth person taken out of Survivor: One World.

The tribe swap happened on Day 12, mixing up the men and women. Troyzan was put on the Salani tribe with former tribe members Jay Byars and Michael Jefferson, along with Kim Spradlin, Chelsea Meissner, Sabrina Thompson, and Kat Edorsson from the women’s tribe. While on Salani, Troyzan formed an alliance with Jay, Kim, and Chelsea. The alliance didn’t need to vote anybody out as Salani was a physically strong tribe and won the next Immunity Challenge and then Colton was medevaced.

On Day 18 the two tribes merged, with the Salani seven making a pact to stay strong and vote out the five Manonos. They took out Jonas at the first merge vote, as he was more likable and a male that the other males would agree to target. But soon Troyzan and Jay began to get suspicious about a girls’ alliance when the women were reluctant to take out Christina Cha or Alicia Rosa. When Kim came to Troyzan and informed him that former ally Michael was targeting him, it struck paranoia within Troyzan and prompted him to target his former tribemate. Troyzan followed through with the suspicion and helped the women eliminate another male from the game.

On Day 23 Troyzan and Jay felt more uncomfortable than ever, now with the girls having a two person lead in the game. Troyzan started making alternative moves against his ally, Kim, with the leverage of having the hidden immunity idol in his back pocket. Fearful the girls would systematically eliminate the boys one by one, Troyzan pitched a plan with Jay, the other men, and Christina to have all votes cast for him so that could play his idol and blindside Kim. Jay was not comfortable with this move and blamed Troyzan’s paranoia, informing Kim of the plan. On night 25, Troyzan played his only idol claiming that “a lot of people have gone home with an idol in their pocket, I’m not going to be one of them.” Two votes for Troyzan were flushed out, but it was not enough to take out Kim, as five votes went to Jay who was blindsided out of the game.

Troyzan was now completely isolated and the biggest target on the beach. Using his persuasiveness to try and pull in Kat, Alicia, and Christina, Troyzan did his best to attempt to manipulate the girls into taking out their fearless leader Kim. However, it was clear that Troyzan was completely on the outs and winning immunity was his only hope. In a “second chance” style immunity challenge, Troyzan made it through each elimination and pulled off immunity, yelling to the other castaways: “This is my island!”

Troyzan was unsuccessful at the next immunity challenge and had to endure the girls celebrating directly in front of him. Back at camp, Troyzan pleaded very hard that the girls did not have Kat and Christina’s best interest in mind and that they were just playing into Kim’s plan. It was not enough, though, as Troyzan was taken out by four votes that night at tribal, but not before he leaned into Kat and whispered in her ear “do it,” encouraging her to go all the way and win. Troyzan became the fifth member of the jury, voting for Sabrina to win.

For years the rumors have spread about Troyzan making a return to Survivor. First, he was speculated to be a cast member on Fans vs. Favorites 2, but replaced by Malcolm Freberg last minute. Then, in 2015, Troyzan was part of the Second Chance ballot for Survivor: Cambodia, where the fans of Survivor voted in their cast. Troyzan, unfortunately, did not receive enough votes to be put back on.

Biggest Strength: Troyzan’s biggest strength would be adaptability. In One World, Troyzan kept his cool during many shuffles in the game – including the men throwing the immunity challenge, the tribal swap, and the ever-shifting alliances amongst the men and women.

Biggest Weakness: Troyzan’s weakness would be his aggressiveness. He is very aggressive in challenges, very aggressive in strategy, and very aggressive just as a person, making castaways weary of him.

Troyzan is one of twenty returning castaways who will compete on Survivor: Game Changers which premieres March 8 on CBS. Stay tuned to Inside Survivor for more cast retrospectives and other pre-season content.

• Retrospectives
• Season 34
• Survivor Game Changers
• Game Changers Retrospectives
• Troyzan Robertson

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