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 Season 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 go.
50. Survivor: Gabon, Sugar takes Randy’s cookie
Survivor: Gabon brought us one of the most hilarious episodes in the show’s history and it involves $20 and a plate of cookies.
In Episode 9, the Final 8 participated in an auction that laid out the foundations of one of the funniest blindsides—ever.
Ken Hoang won an advantage that allowed him to take Bob Crowley’s money and send him to Exile Island. This also gave Sugar Kiper the opportunity to stick it to her rival, Randy Bailey, a foreshadowing of what’s to come.
First item up for grabs: three bottles of beer and a small plate of peanuts.
Randy wants it. He bids $20.
Not gonna happen, Sugar probably thought in her head. She raises it to $40.
“$60!” Randy bids again.
Sugar goes to $80. Randy bids $100.
Then Sugar jumps to $160. She doesn’t want happy hour for Randy. Randy bids $180.
Sugar stops bidding, and Randy wins it.
A beaming Randy gets his prize. Then we hear Sugar tell Susie “I just wanted to up the ante for him!” and then proceeded to laugh.
While Sugar failed to keep Randy from getting a couple of delicious treats, it was the last item where she got the sweetest taste of victory.
It’s also one of the pettiest things we love seeing on Survivor. A delicious takedown against
Jeff pulls out a covered plate announces anyone who bids $20 will win it for the entire tribe. Randy’s hand shoots up. It was a plate of cookies—eight pieces of big cookies. He was thinking of eating it all by himself but then Jeff reminded him: For. The. Entire. Tribe. Randy.
He takes the plate and offers it first to Sugar. Sugar politely declined.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Randy hands it out to everyone. He tells Corrine she can have two if she likes since Sugar will not be getting one. Corrine was happy. But she says she will take one and a half.
Jeff asks Randy if he’s giving Sugar’s cookie to Corrine.
“I offered her one, she didn’t take one so they’re mine,” Randy answers. Then he asks Matty if he wants another half. Of course, Matty gets the other half. It’s a cookie.
Now there’s only one cookie left: Randy’s cookie.
He turns to Sugar and says “last chance.”
Then Sugar did one of the funniest, most passive aggressive moves: she takes the last piece of cookie from the plate. And then hands it to Matty. OMG.
Jeff then rubs it in. “Randy offers Sugar his own cookie. She takes it and gives it to Matty.”
Randy was not having it. “Would you like to repeat that?” he says, obviously annoyed.
And that’s the sweet taste of small victories.
49. Survivor: Cook Islands, Final Four fire-making challenge
It’s Day 38 and the Final Four—the legendary Aitutaki 4—is faced with their biggest challenge yet: voting out one of them.
The setup to Episode 15 has been remarkable. Four people—Yul, Becky, Sundra, and Ozzy—have been left out to dry by Jonathan and Candice by mutinying over to the Rarotonga tribe. Up against 8 people, they fought their way to the merge until the Final Four.
Since they’ve all gotten so close, the choice to vote out somebody has become a dilemma for Yul and Ozzy. They then decide to let fate handle it—and go to a tie-breaker.
Sounds fair.
At tribal, Beck and Sundra received 2 votes each.
Jeff then tells them to prepare for a fire-making challenge. Sundra and Becky take their spots and as soon as Jeff gives the signal, they got to work.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
No spark.
Clink. Clink. And more clink.
Nothing.
Thirty minutes passed. Over at the jury bench, Candice, Parvati, Adam, and Jonathan looked bored.
That image dissolves into Becky’s knife banging on the flint, producing tiny sparks.
Still nothing.
Then we see Jeff, hunched over, hand on his chin.
Brad looks sleepy. He leans his head on a rock.
One hour has passed.
Adam and Penner yawn in almost perfect unison. Candice yawns too.
“Come on,” she mutters.
Ozzy now has his face covered with both hands. Embarrassed perhaps? Yul is literally hunched over, head on his knees.
“Alright, stop right where you’re at,” Jeff finally says. “We’re gonna go to matches.”
Sundra and Becky both chuckled. This is embarrassing, they must think to themselves.
The jury looks relieved. It’s finally going to be over soon.
Thirty more minutes passed… and still nothing.
Ozzy is already shaking his head. Some people in the jury are now laughing.
And then Jeff finally let it out. “After 38 days out here, you should both know how to make a fire.”
Maybe he’s pissed? It was grueling to watch. Like second-hand embarrassment.
Suddenly Sundra runs out of matches. Heck. All she can do now is watch Becky as she finally gets a flame high enough to burn through her rope.
Becky wins and earns a spot at the Final Three. Sundra becomes the last jury member.
They jury claps. Is it celebratory? Or relief that they can finally chill at Ponderosa?
But it’s definitely one of the most memorable—and laughable—moments, not just in the season, but in the entire franchise.
48. Survivor: Australian Outback, ‘Don’t wave your finger on my face!’
Back in 2001 no one knows what the word ‘hangry’ means.
But Survivor: The Australian Outback knows what that looks like: two grown-ups yelling at each other because of chickens.
It’s Episode 5 and the Kucha tribe is not short on food sources. Mike Skupin killed a pig. And they just won chickens! Kimmi Kappenberg wants tofu and edamame, though. Don’t get her wrong. She likes her chickens, yes. But not as food; she likes them as her friends.
“Kimmi was befriending the chickens, giving them names, petting them,” Jeff Varner says in a confessional.
But this is Survivor. And Kimmi knows that. But she also knows there are other ways to kill the chickens. She asks the tribe to not eat the chickens all at once. Maybe do it every other day.
Alicia Callaway thinks otherwise.
“We are active every day; we need protein every day,” the personal trainer tells Kimmi.
“This isn’t like a debate to be arguing about,” Kimmi counters.
Alicia walks out of the shelter.
“I have a problem with your attitude!” Kimmi says.
“Oh really?”
All of a sudden, it’s no longer about the chickens.
“What the hell is up your butt?” Kimmi steps out of the shelter too.
Alicia loses it. Then they started screaming at each other. With poor Elisabeth literally stuck in the middle of all this ridiculousness.
Alicia tells Kimmi she’s the one being defensive about the chickens.
“Do not yell at me!” and wags her finger—the first time—to stress the point.
Then Kimmi blurts out, with both arms: “I am not getting emotionally attached to the chickens!”
“The only reason why we said it is because we care about your feelings—” wags her finger. “—but don’t jump all over me, sweetheart,” wags her finger even more and then walks away.
Kimmi wasn’t gonna let it end like that. Plus, it was no longer about the chickens. She’s more upset about the finger-wagging.
“Don’t wave your finger on my face!”
Alicia turns around, with her finger pointed at Kimmi.
“I will ALWAYS wave my finger in your face.”
47. Survivor: Micronesia, Amanda plays immunity idol to save herself
In Survivor: China, Amanda Kimmel had no problems finding and sharing an immunity idol. She also had no problem blindsiding someone in possession of two idols, even if it was an ally.
When she found herself in the crosshairs of Black Widow Brigade members Natalie Bolton and Alexis Jones at Final 6, she knew she had to find an idol.
So, when she lost the reward challenge, she volunteers to go to Exile Island in hopes of finding an idol.
Of course, Amanda successfully finds the clues. And, of course, producers are not going to let her have it easy. She discovers the idol is buried beneath the tribe flag at camp. Uh-oh.
To make sure there’s no target on her, she tells everyone the next day that she doesn’t have the idol. She even emptied out her bag to prove it. Her goal at the moment is to win immunity so she doesn’t have to find the idol. But then Erik wins.
Amanda knew it was over. Unless she finds the idol.
Right now, there’s only one person she trusts: Parvati Shallow.
“Do you think they’ll vote for me tonight?” Amanda asks.
“They want to. They’ve been talking about it while you’re gone,” Parv warns her.
“It’s here. I need your help,” she tells Parv.
“Find that damn idol, lady.”
Parvati then makes up some excuse for Amanda for not being in the shelter so she can dig under the tribe flag.
At that night’s tribal council, Amanda put on a performance worthy of an Emmy nomination. She got everyone to believe she believes she’s going home. And when Jeff popped the question:
“If anybody has the immunity idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.”
Nervous silence.
“About that, Jeff…”
Natalie’s eyes went wide. Erik’s rolled up. Amanda then reached inside her bag.
“I just wanna say that when I told y’all I didn’t have it, I didn’t have it then. So, I didn’t lie,” explains Amanda, now with a huge smile on her face.
“I got ittttt!” she says as she hands it over to Jeff.
The jury was happy. Natalie and Alexis weren’t—especially Alexis because she was sent packing that night.
Amanda is the first woman to play a hidden immunity idol right.
46. Survivor: Edge of Extinction, Chris Underwood re-enters the game and wins
Chris Underwood is one of the most controversial Survivor winners because he had been voted out early and only played a handful of days. But he did make the most of those days.
For its 38th season, Survivor introduced the Edge of Extinction twist where those voted out have the option to leave permanently or stay on the Edge where they wait until for the chance to get back in the game.
Here, they are also able to win advantages that they can send to any remaining player; it’s basically Redemption Island Pro Max.
Chris was the third person voted out after he was deemed untrustworthy by his allies. He chose to stay on the Edge of Extinction until the first re-entry challenge, which he lost to Rick Devens. He remained on the Edge and participated as a jury member until the second re-entry at Final 6, which he finally won.
With only few days left before the Final Tribal Council, Chris needs to fatten up his resume if he wants a chance at winning, so he went to work. Using the information he got from the other eliminated players, he convinced Lauren to make a move by playing her idol for him at tribal. He also gave one half of his idol to Rick to gain his trust—and activate the idol so he can use it at Final 5.
At Final Four he wins immunity, giving him a sure spot at the Final Three. Afraid it’s not enough to score cookie points from the jury, he gives up his immunity necklace and puts himself at the fire-making challenge against Rick, the biggest threat in the game.
It was a risky move that paid off because he beats Rick and proved his worth as a finalist.
Chris eventually wins in a 9-4-0 jury vote.
45. Survivor: Fiji, Dreamz betrays Yau Man
The 54-year-old computer engineer proved to be a strategic and social player. He’s charming and everyone likes him! He’s also good in challenges, having won two individual immunities. He aligned himself with the right people. He even found a hidden immunity idol—and was also the first contestant to create a fake hidden immunity idol.
This move would eventually inspire a future player in creating his own version of a fake idol which resulted in one of the most delicious blindsides in the history of the show.
But for all of Yau Man’s positive traits, one that stands out the most is he is really a genuinely nice guy. Don’t forget that he’s also very smart.
At Final 6, Yau Man won a truck at the reward challenge. Instead of keeping it, he decided to give it Dreamz, who is the only one who doesn’t have a car in real life.
But Yau Man is strategic, so he wanted it to also benefit him. Yau Man makes Dreamz promise to give him the necklace if Dreamz wins immunity at Final Four. Of course, Dreamz agrees. He’s never had a truck. This is a great gift!
But when Dreamz wins the final immunity challenge, he decides the Final Three spot is all too important and he can’t risk it. So he decides to keep the necklace and vote out Yau Man.
44. Survivor: Pearl Islands, Sandra throws tribe’s fish after Rupert’s blindside
Rupert Boneham almost instantly became America’s favorite pirate when Survivor: Pearl Islands first aired on TV.
He was larger than life. He was great at providing for the tribe. Vital at winning challenges. He has a cute pet snake and he’s wearing a skirt.
He was also a huge target. In Episode 10, Burton Roberts led the charge to blindside Rupert.
And that made Sandra furious.
As the tribe walked back to camp after tribal, Sandra was beyond angry. She was fuming. And she’s out for somebody’s head. That happened to be Jon Dalton.
“Where’s that snake mother*cking Jon!?” she yells.
Sandra turns to Tijuana Bradley and Darrah Johnson. “Ladies, he cannot be trusted. He will backstab in a f*cking heartbeat—” she then turns to Jon “like you did everybody here!”
“You’re not playing any game,” Jon tells her. “You’re riding Rupert’s coattails. Well guess what: that coat just left.”
“Every time a plan went down, you put it together,” Sandra counters.
“I hope these three ladies turn on your ass. ‘Coz you cannot be trusted.”
Suddenly, someone asks: “who threw the fish out?”
“Sandra did you throw the fish out?” Burton asks.
“No, I’m hungry. What the fuck am I doing with throwing the fish out?”
Sandra then walks over to where the buckets are, right between Christa and Burton, to check out the bucket.
Then Burton immediately turns to Christa. “Christa, you did it.”
A shocked Christa denies it.
“Sandra was talking the whole time,” argues Burton.
They started searching the grounds for the fish. Jon then asks Sandra why she’s pretending to search for the fish.
“Why are you looking? You know where they are.”
“How the fuck did I know?!”
“You probably did it.”
“How the f*ck?! Coz I’m screaming at him. I’m not talking to you!”
Realizing perhaps that the evidence against Sandra was flimsy, Jon settles on blaming poor Christa.
As they gang up on Christa, we then see Sandra standing beside her, stroking her hair, comforting her.
The witch hunt continued in the morning. Sadly, Christa’s the only one up for burning at the stake.
“I feel horrible for being blamed and not having any way to prove that I didn’t do it”.
And then Sandra breaks the fourth wall. Oh boy are we in for something good.
She goes on to a confessional.
“When we got back to camp, I kept thinking: you know what, you’re not coming and enjoy Rupert’s fish. Screw that. So, I got up to camp first and I grabbed the bucket full of fish—and it was so damn heavy—and I tripped on a vine and I spilled all the fish, and I started arguing with Jon to the point where it saved me because they never pointed the finger at me as being the one dumping the fish.”
And no one ever found out.
43. Survivor: All-Stars, Boston Rob saves Amber
All is fair in love and war. And Survivor.
That’s the hard lesson for Lex Van Den Berghe when he gave in to his friend Rob Mariano’s request in Episode 10 of Survivor: All-Stars.
On Day 23, a tribe switch up separated love birds Boston Rob and Amber Brkich. Amber got stuck in the new Chapera tribe the entire ex-Mogo Mogo people.
“I definitely feel like I’m the one who got screwed in this whole situation,” Amber says.
She quickly went from being in control to the easy vote.
But not if Boston Rob can have his way.
And Boston Rob almost always gets his way. He got his way with Hunter Ellis in Survivor: Marquesas and just a few episodes earlier, with Rob Cesternino. He’s about to have his way again.
“I promised Amber I would take her to the end with me. But I gotta figure out a way to get her there,” Rob says in a confessional.
When the new Chapera lost the immunity challenge, Boston Rob had to act fast because he knows Amber’s going home if he doesn’t. As Chapera was walking out of the challenge arena, Boston Rob approaches Lex as he walks past and quickly tells him:
“You take care of her; I’ll take care of you.”
This order request sent Lex, Kathy Vavrick-O’Brien, and Shii Ann Huang to panic mode. They want the numbers when they reach the merge, so they must vote Amber out. But they are far more afraid of the wrath of Rob Mariano.
“It’s such a godfather move,” Kathy says.
Over at Mogo Mogo, Boston Rob has faith his connection with Lex. “Lex is smart. He’ll keep her around,” he says.
Of course he’ll do the smart thing.
So Lex goes up to Jerri and tells her they are voting her out because they don’t want to come into the merge with Boston Rob carrying a grudge against them because they took out his girlfriend. Such a smart move—for Boston Rob.
Lex would soon find out what Boston Rob meant when he said “I’ll take care of you” once they get to the merge. But for now, he’s glad and at peace because he knows his friend over at Mogo Mogo would be happy when they that Amber is still in the game.
Kathy was spot-on. Such a godfather move.
42. Survivor: Winners at War, Denise slays the Queen
It’s Episode 6 and Boston Rob has just been sent to Edge of Extinction. That’s one less big threat for everyone.
But one less potential ally for Sandra Diaz-Twine. She also doesn’t have fire tokens. But she has an immunity idol.
Day 16 arrives—Sandra’s unlucky day in Survivor—so a tiny part of her is a bit concerned.
Dakal loses the immunity challenge. In theory Sandra should be okay because she has Kim Spradlin and Tony Vlachos on her side; they are the majority. They just need to decide who between Jeremy Collins and Denise Stapley to send home.
They just don’t know yet who is better for their game.
They also don’t know that Denise has an immunity idol.
No one also knows that Sandra has an idol that’s good until the next tribal council.
When Denise tried to work something with Kim and Sandra, the Queen came clean about her chances that night. But she’s also wary of the fact that Tony is nowhere to be seen—and that he could be up to something. She warns both to be careful where they talk.
“I’m getting a freaky feeling. I’m getting a bad vibe in my stomach,” Sandra says.
Tony then wants to keep Jeremy because they need the big targets as shields at the merge. Sandra can’t see how it benefits her in the long run so she decides to come up with something else. And maybe get fire tokens along the way.
“I still haven’t decided how I feel about Denise going home,” Sandra says in a confessional.
She then approached Denise and offered her immunity idol in exchange for two fire tokens. She tells Denise she can pick between Jeremy and Tony as long as she and Kim are safe.
Denise proposes she gives Sandra one fire token now and one after they get back from tribal that night. Sneaky. Sneaky.
“Let’s do it,” she says and then takes out the idol from her bra.
That night, just before the votes are read, Denise stands up and hands Jeff her idol and plays it for herself.
“I’m hoping maybe this will settle my stomach. I don’t know,” she says. And then pulls out the other idol.
A worried look crossed Sandra’s face. Tony is puzzled.
“I’d like to play this for Jeremy,” Denise tells Jeff.
Now Denise and Jeremy are safe. The votes were read: four votes for Denise and one vote for Sandra.
Ding. Dong. The Queen is dead.
On Day 16.
Now maybe, bad luck is real?
41. Survivor: Cook Islands, Candice and Jonathan mutiny
Episode 9 of Survivor: Cook Islands started with Jonathan Penner. Candice Woodcock, Sundra Oakley, Becky Lee, and Yul Kwon discussing a potential merge. A.K.A. we need to get rid of Ozzy.
But Yul was quick to remind them that it’s all of their best interests to stick together.
There’s a potential problem though. Her name is Candice.
“I don’t want to keep this six through the merge. I want to get back together with Adam and Parvati so I’m ready for some movement just to get some people out here,” she says.
Lucky for her, the Survivor gods are listening. Right before the reward challenge, Jeff offered the tribes a chance to mutiny.
And they all had ten seconds to decide.
Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five—nothing.
Four. Three.
Candice steps off the mat. WTF.
Two. One.
Jonathan steps off, too. Double WTF.
Candice and Jonathan walk off to their new old tribe, Rarotonga.
Jeff notices Yul’s expression.
“Yul, you don’t look happy.”
“No, I’m stunned. We had a very good gameplan, and I’m surprised,” he answers.
It’s now 8 against 4. Doesn’t look good for Aitutaki.
In an amazing feat, Yul, Becky, Sundra, and Ozzy beat Rarotonga at the challenge for a delicious afternoon of drinks, pastries, and letters from home—just the kind of recharge they need.
Fueled both by ecstasy and vindication, Ozzy shouts at Jonathan: “mutineers are the first people to die, man!”
They then send Candice to Exile Island, depriving her of the one thing that made her jump ship in the first place: quality time with Parvati and her beau Adam.
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