We’re a few days away from the premiere of Survivor: 50 – In the Hands of the Fans, another historic season that brings 24 former players—the biggest cast in the show’s history—from Borneo to Survivor 49. To commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary, producers decided to put some of the show’s key elements in the hands of the fans through a public vote.
While we count the days before the premiere, we’ve decided to take a trip down memory lane and relive 50 of the best moments in Survivor.
To keep up with the new season’s theme, we decided to ask Survivor fans to select and rank their favorite moments of all time.
Let’s finish with 10 to 1!
10. Survivor: Borneo, Sue Hawk’s “snake and rat” speech
Final tribal councils are less about the finalists defending their game and more about the eliminated players because it gave them the opportunity to turn the spotlight on them.
For the first 33 seasons, each jury member is given a moment to address the finalists: ask them questions, love bomb them, or shred them into pieces. As Jeff always says, this is the time when the remaining players take accountability for their actions in the game.
As Corrine would call it: payback’s a b*tch.
One by one, the jury members got up to address Kelly Wigglesworth and Richard Hatch:
Gervase Peterson asks if they would change anything in the way they played the game.
Jenna Lewis asks them to name two people who they’d trade places with.
Sean Kenniff congratulates and compliments the two. Sweet.
It’s pretty safe and boring at this point.
Colleen Haskell asks what traits and qualities helped them get to the end.
Rudy Boesch says he had nothing to say. Except he feels dumb about his mistake at the last challenge.
Greg Buis asks them to pick a number between 1 and 10.
Boring. And then Sue Hawk opens her mouth.
“I have no questions. I just have statements,” she starts off.
“Rich, you are very openly arrogant, pompous human being,” Ouch.
“But I admire your frankness with it. You’ve worked hard to where you’re at,” she then decides to make it a bit about herself. “So with my work ethic background, I give that credit to you.”
“But your inability to admit your failures makes you a bit of a loser in life.”
She then turns her sights to former bestie, Kelly.
“You’re very two-faced and manipulative—to get where you are, anywhere in life. That’s why you fail all the time.”
“My vote will go to Richard. I hope that one vote is what makes you lose the money. “
And she’s far from being done.
“But if I ever pass you along in life again, and you were laying there dying of thirst, I will not give you a drink of water. I will take the vultures. Take you.”
Are there vultures in Borneo? Don’t think so. But there are snakes and rats.
She then pleads to the jury.
“This island is pretty much full of only two things: snakes and rats. I feel we owe it to the islands to let it be in the end the way mother nature intended it to be, for the snake to eat the rat.”
It’s so dramatic it deserves to be watched in full glory, so here it is.
9. Survivor: Pearl Islands, Fairplay’s the dead grandma lie
At Final 7 of Survivor: Pearl Islands, everyone pretty much knows Jon Dalton’s shady. He screwed Burton over on the Drake tribe. He did the same to Trish and then he turned on his alliance and blindsided Rupert. He’s fought with Sandra more than once.
But what they don’t know is that Jon’s not just shady. He’s also a pretty decent actor.
At the reward challenge, Jeff brought out their loved ones. And they get to participate.
When Jon’s best friend, Dan, came out, he immediately asked about his grandma.
“She died, dude.
Jon’s world fell apart that instant. Jeff noticed the shift in his mood, so he asks what happened.
With his voice breaking, Jon said: “it was either going to be my buddy or my grandmother coming and my grandmother is not here for a reason.”
“What happened?”
“She’s…” looking for words. “she’s not around.”
“I’m sure everybody here is sorry.”
“I don’t know. I hope to win this and get some more information.”
So, the entire tribe handed Jon the win so he could spend time with Dan and find out more about poor grandma.
We then see Jon and Dan excitedly walking along the beach. “That was a brilliant performance, sir,” Jon tells his friend.
What is going on?
Then Jon goes on a confessional. “My grandmother’s sitting at home, watching Jerry Springer right now.”
He laughs. The devil. But you have to admit, that’s ingenious.
“This is a game for a million dollars. I have one chance in my life at this. You should take every single advantage possible. If you don’t, you’re a fool.”
Dan then goes to confess that before Jon flew out to play, he called his friend and asked for whatever help he can get, any leverage he can have. Outsmart, outthink and outplay.
“You come down here, tell me my grandmother died.”
Grandma must be proud not only because it benefited Jon, he immortalized her. Rest in peace, granny.
8. Survivor: David vs Goliath, ‘Natalie, is there any way I can have your jacket?’
We’ve seen our fair share of ridiculousness and hilarious characters over 36 seasons of Survivor. But none is as disconcerting to watch as Survivor: David vs Goliath’s Angelina Keeley.
Upon returning to a cyclone-hit camp on Day 14, the Jabeni tribe isn’t enjoying Natalie Cole’s company. Her attitude is rubbing people the wrong way, and Mike White is ready to “play Survivor without Natalie”—and is willing to risk getting rid of a Goliath.
But it really doesn’t bother Angelina. What bothers her is something else: the cold.
And she needs warmth. So, she sets her sights on Lyrsa’s jacket.
“I know that’s so so wrong. I’m not sorry. I’m cold,” she tells Natalie.
But she doesn’t have the balls to take it herself. She wants another person to do the dirty work. She feels that person is Natalie.
So, Natalie tells Nick he needs to get Lyrsa’s jacket. As a public defender with morals, Nick refuses. Who wouldn’t??
He says he’s not resorting to theft.
Then Natalie asks him: “How do you feel about giving up your jacket?”
Still, he says no.
“So, your jacket is worth a million?” Natalie asks him, almost threateningly.
Nick doesn’t like it. He tells Lyrsa how Natalie’s trying to make him steal her jacket. And then they spill it to Mike and tried to use it to blindside Natalie.
Mike is down with that but, like Angelina, he needs someone to do the dirty work for him, so he asks Nick to convince Angelina.
At tribal council, Mike voted with the Davids and took out Natalie.
Natalie isn’t sure if Angelina had anything to do with her ouster, which is why when Angelina hugged her as she grabbed her torch, she responded coldly.
“Natalie, is there any way I can have your jacket?” Angelina blurts out.
Natalie simply walked straight to Jeff with her torch. Mike bowed his head, chuckling. Probably because of second-hand embarrassment as well.
“Natalie?” Angeline takes a seat.
Jeff: “Natalie, the tribe has spoken.” Then snuffs her torch.
“Natalie?”
Natalie just gave her the cold treatment—as she walked off with her jacket tucked inside her bag.
7. Survivor: San Juan del Sur, Natalie plays her idol to blindside an ally
Natalie Anderson needs to do some damage control with Jaclyn Schultz at the Final 5 of Survivor: San Juan del Sur because she just helped blindside her boyfriend, Jon Misch.
She’s also looking farther down the road. She is concerned that she hasn’t been impactful enough as a player.
“One thing’s for sure: big moves do win this game. And I feel like I’ve done moves that haven’t been as impactful as I’d like…”
With Keith winning immunity, the choice seems easy: vote out Jaclyn. And she knows it.
“Jaclyn’s ready to go,” Missy says when Keith asked how Jaclyn’s doing.
But she’s not going down without a fight. She tries to talk Natalie into turning on the mother-and-daughter tandem.
“Are you still voting with them? I am being totally real right now. If you want to vote one of them out, I’m down. I won’t vote you out tomorrow,” she assures Natalie.
Although Natalie trusts Missy and Baylor, she is also aware of the power of blood. And when Baylor told her later that she should play the idol for Missy, an idea starts to form in her mind.
“I don’t think you need to play it for you, honestly,” Baylor says.
At tribal, Natalie handed Jeff her idol. But she didn’t play it for herself. Then she turned to Jaclyn.
“Did you vote for who I told you to vote for?”
Jaclyn said yes.
“I’m playing this for Jac,” Natalie says. There’s your flashy move.
Shocked, Missy realized her time was up she bids her daughter goodbye. Baylor responds by saying “Love you, mom.”
Jeff pulled out the ballots. Jaclyn. Jack. Jaclyn. Natalie has her head on both of her hands. Jaclyn is smiling.
Jeff pulls another parchment. Baylor.
“Thirteenth person voted out and the seventh member of our jury…” he shows the parchment with Baylor’s name.
Baylor was right. If someone needed the idol that night, it wasn’t Natalie. It was her.
6. Survivor: Micronesia, Eliza’s “it’s a f*cking stick!”
In Survivor: Fiji Yau Man made the first fake immunity idol. Too bad no one found it.
At the time, we wondered, what would have happened had someone used it? How would that impact the game? Well, we are about to find out after two seasons.
At the merge, Eliza Orlins and Jason Siska are on the outs while the alliance of Ozzy Lusth, Amanda Kimmel, Parvati Shallow, and James Clement is in control.
Jason has won immunity, so he’s safe until the next round. That leaves Eliza vulnerable. But she isn’t too worries because she knows Jason has the immunity idol. And he plans to give it to her.
And they plan to blindside Ozzy tonight.
“I made an alliance with the right person who has been to Exile one too many times,” Eliza says in a confessional.
Eliza comes over to Jason to ask where the idol is. She needs to have it before they leave for tribal.
“I got you covered, don’t worry,” Jason says.
“I have to have the idol. Where is it?”
“Hidden.”
“Are you gonna get it?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’m trusting you. It will literally be the biggest blindside in history,” Eliza says, giddy.
Oh, yes it will. You just wait.
“I can’t wait to send Ozzy’s cocky ass home,” Jason says.
Jason tells Eliza where the idol is. Then he leaves the shelter and goes down the beach.
Moment of truth.
Eliza pulls out a piece of item wrapped in a napkin. Drumroll. She opens it out appears…
A stick. With a smiley on it.
“This isn’t it.”
“This is stupid, this is just a napkin.”
Her eyes grew wide in panic. Or maybe anger. We don’t know.
She goes over to where Jason is and
“What are you trying to pull? I’m going home anyhow.”
“What?”
“It’s not the idol.”
“It IS the idol.”
“It’s NOT the idol.”
“Yes, it is.” At this point, I lost it.
“Ozzy must have put it there. He must have the real thing. That’s not the idol.”
“What is it?” LMAO.
“It’s a fucking stick.”
“I know. It has a face on it. Don’t worry.” BRB. ROFL.
“Ozzy put it on there, made a face in it.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“It’s NOT the idol!”
“Why do you say that?” Clearly something’s wrong with this guy. Must have hit his head or something.
“Because that can’t be the idol.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just a stick!”
“I know,” he pauses. “You think so?” You think??
“I think that that’s not the idol,” Eliza finally talking some sense into Jason.
“That’s a bummer.” OMG. This guy.
Later that night:
“I hope something miraculous happens with this stick” Eliza says as she writes down Ozzy’s name.
No miracle that night. But it gave Eliza one of the most memorable moments in Survivor history.
5. Survivor: Game Changers, Cirie eliminated with no votes
“A Survivor legend goes out in legendary style.”
Such were the words of Jeff Probst and it couldn’t be any more true.
Cirie Fields is the best player to never win. Sorry Rob C., I love you but Cirie is on another level.
She has masterminded some of the most iconic, game-changing moves that played out on reality TV. And she did them all without breaking a sweat. Like a real mafia boss.
She changed the game in Panama when she convinced her original tribe mates to vote out the only person who can catch fish. And then executed the brilliant 3-2-1 move at Final 6. She then impressed us even more in Micronesia when she hatched the plan to blindside Ozzy and pulled off the best heist in Survivor history: getting Erik Reichenbach to give up the immunity necklace and then voting him out.
There was no question about why she’s in Survivor: Game Changers.
Which is more than can be said about a few people on the cast.
Although she started the game on the outs, a string of tribe immunity wins helped propel her to the succeeding rounds. She got into the merge and managed to get enough numbers on her side and get to the Final 6.
With more bigger threats left in the game, the future looks good for Cirie.
Aubry Bracco and Tai Trang want Sarah Lacina out, so they enlisted the help of Cirie.
Brad Culpepper’s alliance wants to split the vote between Aubry and Tai.
Cirie was in nobody’s crosshairs.
She’s sure to reach the Final 5.
But a chaotic tribal council stood in Cirie’s path.
Worried about his ally, Tai plays two idols: one for him and one for Aubry. This throws Sarah into panic mode so she played her Legacy Advantage. Scared of the uncertainty, Troyzan played his immunity idol.
To be referred to in the future as “advantage-geddon,” the barrage of idols left every single person on the tribe immune from the vote. Except for Cirie. She becomes the only person eligible to receive votes, and therefore, by default, was eliminated in the game.
“For what it’s worth, not a single vote in here has your name on it,” Jeff tells Cirie.
Oh. Our hearts.
4. Survivor: Micronesia, Erik gives up immunity and gets voted out
Right after James was pulled from the game, Erik became the last man standing—and the biggest physical threat. The Black Widow Brigade’s only agenda at this point is to get rid of the ice cream scooper.
There’s just one problem: he won immunity. Again.
And that puts the all-women alliance in a pickle.
The only thing going for them is that Erik is thinking about the endgame. Although he can fight his way to the finals by winning immunity, he is worried about how the jury feels about his character. He knows no one respects him because he went back on his word more times than he can count.
He needs to redeem himself.
He also knows this because the girls keep reminding him.
And this gave them the opening they need to pull off the best heist in Survivor.
“If he didn’t have that necklace he’d be gone.” Parvati says.
A thoughtful look crossed Cirie’s face. Inside her brain, something starts moving.
“I wonder if he would give Nat his necklace?” she asks.
And then the crazy idea of convincing Erik to give Natalie his immunity necklace began to take form.
Cirie tells Natalie: “Tell him if he were to give you the necklace, that would redeem him and we would vote for Amanda.”
Natalie is sure that won’t work. “Who would fall for that? I feel stupid listening to you guys right now.”
Apparently, Erik would.
The girls set the plan in motion. Natalie would propose the crazy idea to Erik. Parvati and Amanda would make him feel that no one respects his game, while Cirie tells Erik she wants to work with him but she finds it difficult to trust him.
At tribal council, the con continued. After letting Erik know no one is voting for him in the end unless he does something to redeem his character. Cirie told him that his words mean nothing but his actions might restore his credibility.
When Jeff asked if he wants to keep his necklace, he paused and thought for a while.
“It’s a very tough decision for me…” he starts out.
A confused and shocked look came to the jury’s faces.
“… and I know action speaks louder than words. Uh, I want to give individual immunity to Natalie.”
Eliza’s jaw drops. Ozzy shakes his head.
James is hysterical.
Parvati cannot believe what’s happening. Amanda is wide-eyed, a huge smile on her face.
They then proceeded to vote Erik out.
The women successfully pulled off the unthinkable—and became legends after that.
“You guys drive me crazy,” says Erik as he walks out.
“I’ve lost my reign as the dumbest survivor ever,” we hear James say.
Jeff summed it up perfectly: “that’s what you call a life lesson.”
3. Survivor: Cambodia, Wentworth plays idol and takes out Savage
By the time Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance aired, dozens of people have already found and played hidden immunity idols—some effective, some not; but mostly memorable.
When it comes to game-changing idol plays, Kelly Wentworth’s idol play at Final 12 remains one of the most iconic in the show’s history.
Out of all the contestants in Cambodia, Wentworth has the fewest previous days played. She’s also the lowest ranking returnee, originally placing 14th. There was a lot to prove, and not much to lose.
(She’ll soon create a few Survivor records: first person to find a hidden immunity idol at a challenge, first woman to find multiple idols in a single season, first person to successfully play multiple hidden immunity idols for herself)
She immediately tried to find the immunity idol at camp, disguising it by collecting palm fronds and coconuts.
“I knew that would give me the opportunity to potentially look for an idol,” she admits.
She finds the clue and discovers that the idol can only be retrieved at the immunity challenge—a Survivor first—and that would take a huge risk, something she’s willing to do.
So, while everyone’s focused on cheering Wigglesworth tying sticks, Wentworth grabs the idol right under everyone’s noses. Sneaky, sneaky!
When Jeremy targeted her and ally Ciera on Episode 8, Wentworth was ready to strike. Although she initially worked with Joe to take out Stephen, who was one of the majority, plans shifted at the last minute and the majority turned their sights on her.
At tribal, she remained quiet most of the time, letting Ciera do the talking. It was clear that a core group is controlling the game but people are not willing to move. Wentworth then revealed that someone in the majority approached her in hopes of shaking things up.
Jeff asked her why she won’t reveal who that person is.
“What if I’m here tomorrow and I have to work with them?” she cleverly responds.
Once the whole tribe has voted, Jeff asked if someone’s planning to play an idol, Wentworth made her move.
“You know what, Jeff? I may be on the bottom but I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Jeff confirmed its legitimacy and started reading the votes.
Wentworth negated 9 votes. She, Ciera, and Abi-Maria voted for Savage.
An incredulous Savage becomes the second member of the jury.
2. Survivor: Heroes vs Villains, Parvati’s double idol play
“Parvati is the most dangerous person on our tribe,” says Coach in a confessional on Episode 6 of Survivor: Heroes Vs Villains.
In an earlier episode, Jerri referred to her as “a virus.”
Everyone wants Parvati out—yesterday. But she managed to stick around through her alliance with Russell and Danielle until the merge.
In the previous episode, JT gave Russell an idol with the intention of using it to get rid of Parvati which is why he wasn’t happy to see her approaching their camp on Episode 10. And he wasn’t alone; the rest of the Heroes basically ignores her at camp.
Parvati began plotting the Heroes’ downfall immediately. She pulled Amanda aside to see if she’s willing to work with her. Amanda then warns her that everyone’s out to get her. To gain Amanda’s trust, Parvati confesses she has the idol.
“You better play that thing. Just in case,” Amanda warns especially since Parvati just lost immunity to Danielle.
Parvati knew Amanda was lying. But she doesn’t know who the Heroes are targeting.
Thinking Parvati could really have an idol, Colby tells JT that they should vote for Sandra just to be sure. Or Jerri.
Before they head to tribal council, Parvati prepared for battle.
“I have two little green men protecting me. And apparently everyone else in this game is like desperate to get rid of me and say I am the most dangerous player out here. I don’t know, I guess they’re right,” she says as she puts her two idols in her bag.
And she’s about to execute one of the bloodiest blindsides in the history of the show.
After Jeff asked if anybody has an idol and want to play it, it was on.
“You know what, Jeff…” she says as she fished something out of her bag.
“I think it would be downright depressing to sit and watch green bananas turn yellow without my debaucherous little villains, so…” pulls out the idol and hands it to Sandra.
“Sandra, that’s for you…”
Sandra was surprised. “Get outta here! For real?”
JT was chuckling, probably thinking what a dumb move. Even Colby was smiling.
“And Jeff… I would just like to increase our odds,” Parvati continues.
A worried look came across the Heroes’ faces. Russell looked confused.
Parvati pulls out another idol. “Jerri, that one’s for you, too.”
“Damn it,” JT whispers. He knows he’s toast.
Extreme relief washed over Jerri as Jeff pulls out five parchments with her name on it. While regret and disappoint engulfed the Heroes as JT’s name appeared on the remaining ballots, sending him to the jury.
1. Survivor: Heroes vs Villains, Sandra becomes first two-time winner
“Last time I was mean. This time I’m meaner. I’ll lie; I don’t care. But I’ll make up a good lie,” Sandra Diaz-Twine says in a confessional at the first episode of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains.
And she delivered on that promise.
Her sassiness has not faded one bit even after thirteen seasons and now, as part of the Villains tribe, she is bringing back the same feisty energy that helped her win a million dollars the first time.
She was up against formidable players. A lot of huge personalities with impressive resumes. Although she’s not strong in challenges, Sandra has a unique ability to get people to do her bidding. Her sassy social skills and impressive talent for reading the room helped her wiggle her way out of sticky situations.
It was never an easy path for her in Heroes vs Villains. Her alliance was decimated and her chances of winning immunity is slim. But she knows how to make connections and can think on the fly. Her instincts are always on point.
Her villainy this season is, ironically, almost heroic at times.
She devised a plan to buy Courtney a few more days.
Her motivation is mostly fueled by revenge for her fallen comrades.
She tried to save a group of sheep from the wolf multiple times.
Her social skills and strategic choices more than made up for her physical performance. But the best part about watching Sandra play Survivor is there is never a dull moment when she’s on the screen.
Her confessionals are gold.
She is not afraid to get loud and stand up for herself.
She’s not scared of burning someone’s hat.
Nor is she worried about her ego.
She knows who she is as a player and uses her strengths the best way she could.
Russell claims he carried her to the Final Three because she’s easy to beat and won’t get any votes.
But it’s actually Sandra’s good read on people and situations that allowed her to keep the target off her back while trying to stir something up.
She let Russell believe she’s down to “take the hundred thousand” and be a runner-up. What he seemed to forget was that, one of Sandra’s powers is one that’s most important in a social game like Survivor: the power to persuade.
Had he bothered to watch her final tribal performance in Pearl Islands, he might have had made smarter choices at the Final Four because while Sandra can get loud, she can also get persuasive.
“Russell’s keeping me around because I’ll never get a single vote. But I don’t know about that.”
Queen stays queen.
Adios!
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How was Rob proposing not in the top 50? It is an iconic moment