Welcome back to Inside Survivor’s 50 For 50, a semi-regular feature highlighting 50 former castaways who we think should be considered for a spot on Survivor 50. In a snake draft, the Inside Survivor team selected ten players each, with the only rule being they couldn’t have played more than twice.
PROFILE
Name: Chris Daugherty
Age: 53
Season: Vanuatu, 2004
Finish: Winner
HIGHLIGHTS
Beginning the game on a tribe of men, Chris found himself in hot water early on after single-handedly costing them immunity in an infamous encounter with a balance beam. But Chris had a philosophy of taking punches head-on, telling us the game was Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, not Outbalance. He had faith that things would turn around and that they did. Working with Lea “Sarge” Masters, Travis “Bubba” Sampson, Chad Crittenden, and Rory Freeman, Chris formed the Fat Five alliance and targeted the younger, more fit men on the tribe throughout the pre-merge, taking a backseat as he cruised to the merge without much opposition.
However, the merge was yet another brutal setback for the construction worker when assumed swap allies Julie Berry and Twila Tanner betrayed the men, making the next few boots obvious on paper. But once again, Chris had faith in the future, telling his dwindling allies that if they could hold on and endure, an exploitable crack in Yasur’s ranks would open up as the women’s alliance was infested with personal beef and a clear pecking order to exploit.
Left as the last man to be eliminated due to his strong social game, hard work ethic, and lower threat level, Chris seemed doomed to a seventh-place finish. But as he predicted, Yasur imploded, split in two, and went to war, with Chris quickly added to the underdog faction of Twila, Scout Cloud Lee, and Eliza Orlins. Chris promised to burn the Yasur alliance for how they’d treated his allies, and so Survivor’s greatest revenge story began. First fell Leann and Ami, the ringleaders of the majority. Then Chris decided to play dirty, becoming the swing vote at five and four to eliminate Julie and Eliza in back-to-back brutal blindsides with a smug grin on his face just to rub it in.
After winning the last two immunities and taking Twila, the last target on his hitlist, to the end, he gassed her up to attack the jury as he tossed out the most transparently bullshit apologies of all time. Against all odds, Chris’ strategy of enduring hardship, biding his time and letting bigger players tear each other apart paid off, and a stellar Final Tribal performance secured him the win.
WHY HE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED
In the grand lore of Survivor, Chris is probably one of the more forgotten winners outside the super fan circles. His win wasn’t beloved at the time, much like the season itself, and even Jeff was salty about Chris taking out his would-be girlfriend Julie in such a brutal fashion, using a significant portion of the reunion to dunk on the guy out of spite. He’s never been close to returning, isn’t really called up for big seasons, and probably won’t be considered yet again despite wanting to return.
But the last few years have seen a Vanuatu renaissance in the community with the season rising in the ranks and Chris’ win becoming one of the most iconic victories. So why not honor that by allowing Chris to redeem his wider reputation with another appearance? His ruthless gameplay and love of lying would be a perfect fit for the New Era’s fast pace where every round’s a blindside, and his charming confessionals would add so many great one-liners to the season whether he’s on top or at the bottom.
He’s basically the prototype of Tony Vlachos, a huge, quirky character who lied his ass off and flipped left and right, only he never got to rule the roost in the post-merge. Spending most of his time on the bottom or as a swing vote in other people’s plans, we never got to see what Chris would do as a shot-caller, rallying numbers and making schemes of his own. So between the guaranteed entertainment value, his ruthless gameplay, and the sheer intrigue of watching a once forgotten winner return twenty years after everyone, including Jeff, no-sold his victory, the truth is clear: Chris deserves a chance at win number two, and Survivor 50 is the last chance he’ll probably have.
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