Welcome 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: Ami Cusack
Age: 51
Seasons: Vanuatu, 2004 and Micronesia, 2008
Finish: 6th Place and 11th Place
HIGHLIGHTS
From the moment she first set foot on the Islands of Fire in Survivor: Vanuatu, Ami Cusack ran the Yasur tribe like the navy alongside her right-hand woman, Leann. But it wasn’t until the swap that we saw the gameplay that earned her the moniker “The Ice Queen.”
In the majority of her swap tribe, Amu ruthlessly called for Travis” Bubba” Sampson’s elimination after he tried to communicate with his old tribemates and turned on her own alliance member, Lisa Keiffer, after feeling threatened by her innocent question regarding food. The tone was set: if you do anything to cross Ami, real or imagined, your game was over.
This trend carried into the merge as Ami led her Yasur alliance to the Final 7, with Chris Daugherty as the last man standing. Ami ran a tight ship, but rising tensions within her alliance started to reach a boiling point. Ami and Leann decided to spare Chris in favor of taking out Eliza Orlins instead, a decision that allowed Eliza, Twila Tanner, Scout Cloud Lee, and Chris to take control of the game and blindside Leann to secure a majority. Ami followed soon after, despite a valiant effort to save herself.
Ami returned four years later as a Favorite in Micronesia, but her presence of the season is relatively subdued compared to her time on Vanuatu. On both her starting tribe and her swap tribe, Ami found herself in an underdog position working in the minority, making for a fun reversal of much of her role as the all-powerful villain in Vanuatu.
It turned out that Ami was just as entertaining when playing from the bottom as she was when playing from the top. After teaming up with the Fans, an aborted plan to betray her fellow Favorites and blindside Ozzy Lusth ultimately led to her emotional elimination just before the merge, marking a tragic end to Ami’s Survivor journey (for now).
WHY SHE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED
Simply put, Ami is one of the greatest characters the show has ever had, full stop. Few Survivor players are as ruthless, and even fewer are as complex. She has moments where she’s almost a cartoon villain, with her decision to execute her ally Lisa for simply asking where to find the manioc being the best example. But then we get scenes of her describing her almost sisterly love for Eliza even after being blindsided by her, and it feels just as authentic as her more villainous moments.
Ami’s ruthlessness and compassion aren’t contradictory: they go hand-in-hand to make her a uniquely compelling Survivor player and character worthy of another appearance. Of course, like with any Old School player on this list, there’s the excitement of seeing how she would adapt to the New Era all these years later. Ami has proven herself to be both an overconfident power player on Vanuatu and a scrappy underdog on Micronesia, and depending on how she adapts to this very new game, she would offer a lot in either of these roles.
Finally, while many consider her Micronesia performance lackluster, this is just another reason to bring her back for one last season. A personal tragedy just before the start of Micronesia undoubtedly played a factor in why Ami was less of a major player in the first few episodes of the season. For Survivor 50, we deserve to see what Ami can deliver as a returning player when she’s on her A-game.
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Didn’t love the soft Amy in Micronesia that much…. Loved the villainous feminist Amy in Vanuatu
We’ll be watching Survivor 50 for 50.
Especially with Ami on board.
She’s awesome and always brings her best.
We haven’t missed a season.
Love ya cousin Ami.
Boston Rob Must come back!
Wow. Look to bring back the 2nd and 3rd place contestants. The ones that just lost or was the favorite of the public. Many names to mention…. Make it interesting with good stunning player’s.