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: Natalie Bolton
Age: 48
Season: Micronesia, 2008
Finish: 4th
HIGHLIGHTS
Natalie Bolton is a beloved and iconic player, mostly remembered as part of one of the most successful alliances in Survivor history, the charming yet deadly Black Widow Brigade in Survivor: Micronesia. Though not too notorious in the first half of the season, Natalie later demonstrated her whole skillset, including her cunning, intelligence, and ultimate loyalty to her alliance. During the jury phase, she also used her social skills to vote out all the male players alongside her fellow Black Widows.
Going back to the beginning, Natalie started in the Fans tribe and played a low-key game to avoid drawing too much attention to herself. Having initially aligned with Alexis Jones, they later joined forces with Parvati Shallow after the tribe swap. All three managed to get to the merge, where they started working with Cirie Fields and Amanda Kimmel. Despite their differences and personal paths towards the endgame, the five women voted out every opponent until they were at the final six.
After Erik Reichenbach went on an immunity streak, Alexis was ultimately sacrificed to the jury. As Erik won immunity once again and Natalie was looking to be the next Black Widow Brigade victim, Cirie devised a plan where Natalie would convince Erik to give up his immunity and give it to her as a sign of goodwill and of Natalie wanting to work with Erik as the last two Fans. As her ultimate game move, Natalie indeed convinced Erik of this plan, causing Erik to be voted out unanimously at the next tribal and creating one of the most memorable, engaging, and nail-bitter moments in the show’s history.
Ultimately, Natalie was voted out in fourth place, missing out on the final two chairs by two tribal councils. At the final tribal council, where Natalie asked Parvati how her strategy during the game translated into the bedroom… one only has to see Jeff Probst’s facial reaction to see how her question was received by everyone in the game and at home. Natalie ultimately voted for Parvati, giving her fellow Black Widow a much-deserved win.
WHY SHE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED
It’s common knowledge by now that Natalie was on the shortlist of playing Heroes vs Villains and was even flown to location, but ultimately was dropped from the main cast. She was also in the mix for Second Chance but didn’t make the final ballot.
It’s been several years since then, and it is time for Natalie to make her triumphant return to Survivor. Her reputation would undoubtedly be an obstacle for her to overcome, as many could pigeonhole her as a duplicitous player wanting to make an all-girls alliance. Nonetheless, Natalie could use her reputation in her defense, as many would target her instead of others, and she could also use other people in her same category as meat shields to advance, just as she did in her original season.
As sixteen years have passed since Natalie played Survivor, it isn’t for sure she would like to return, especially as the game has evolved significantly. However, Natalie seems like the ideal candidate to not only return with full guns blazing but also be able to take control of the game and own it in the end to get the win.
During her first game, Natalie continuously demonstrated she had the charm, smarts, social, and manipulation skills needed to play Survivor. Having learned from her mistakes (and taking a page from Cirie’s, Parvati’s, and Amanda’s playing books), Natalie should be a no-brainer addition to Survivor 50.
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I want her back. Most fans do I think. She deserves it, but I think the producers might be scared that a villainess might win! Yet a villainess winner might be what 50 needs! Or maybe she’s not a villainess…