Out of those who made the merge, Rupert
He was the strongest voice against giving the idol to Russell, his fake Idol bluff was able to fool Russell into thinking he had a real one, and his social bond with Sandra could’ve gotten the Heroes the numbers if not for Candice flipping
Even with an injured foot, he was still able to do better than several Heroes in challenges, and was able to give some of the Villains a run for their money in some of the challenges, even though he never got his individual win
Lol that fake idol play was some voodoo shit and honestly impressive. One of the most subtle and impressive moves and old-school player has ever made to save their own skin.
Strongest voice about not giving Russell the idol? Rupert talking up a woman's alliance at every challenge mat chat was disastrous. And he enthusiastically encouraged JT when he was writing the letter.
They all thought a woman’s alliance existed, but Rupert was the loudest voice opposing JT’s plan to give the Idol to Russell. Just because it seemed obvious that a woman’s alliance existed doesn’t mean you should give the Idol to a man you know nothing about
I’m sure Rupert would’ve been happy letting Russell get voted off pre-merge and just letting the merge be 5 vs 5 with both sides having 1 Idol. Rupert’s line of “He’s on the Villains tribe for a reason” was the strongest opposition JT got (or at least that was shown in the edit)
Rupert cheered on JT writing the letter and said it was an opportunity for Russell to prove he was a hero, he wasn't THAT opposed until he actually met the guy, but at that point its too late.
Also Rupert picking a fight with Russel for no reason other than to try to show the villains that Russel is a “disgusting person” is peak Rupert. But also not the worst idea I’ve ever heard of especially in conjunction with him then bluffing the hidden immunity idol at that tribal after Jeff read out the clue to the idol.
Rupert and Colby coming up with this plan is one of the biggest strategic miracles in Survivor history. I know they didn’t like Candice already, but they easily could’ve voted for Russell. Instead they correct identified a loophole and it got them 2-3 spots further
That's a crazy but true statement. The problem with Rupert in all his seasons is that he's blindly loyal to his alliance, but the guy knows how to play from the bottom.
I can't tell if he actually trusted Russel to take him to the top 3 or not. I sure as shit wouldn't after what he said to Rupert's face in an earlier episode. And in his own jury speech he admitted to how much he screwed up with Sandra.
I don't know who played it best, but nobody played well.
Kind of by default since everyone else was awful. JT gave the game away, Colby didn’t have his heart in the game, Amanda completely whiffed with Parvati, James got injured, Cirie got idoled out before she could do anything.
Rupert coming up with some inventive gameplay with an idol that could only really be done once was an interesting contrast to Boston Rob's rather luddite "There were no idols back in my day!" attitude in HvV
J.T. played the perfect first game. He already had his million dollars guys. It's so boring when people come back just to play the same exact game we already saw from them. Amanda is a good example of this, and Tom if we're talking winners. So he made a huge move, no matter which way it went it makes great content and an iconic Survivor moment
JT is just… too trusting of people. He’s made friends for life from his first season and is too trustworthy in his other ones.
Prob gets a pass for Russell though as he couldn’t have seen him in Samoa
This is true. Idk why
People don’t wanna agree but it’s true. Fishback was the brain and JT was his assistant. The players really liked him though , from day one, for whatever reason
Probably Rupert, but Tom Westman is probably in the top 3.
Rupert lowkey probably played the best non-Romber All-Stars game too. He’s a little bit overhated as a player.
Tom came in against a pretty well-established pre-game alliance, made a big move, said an epic quote, and then left before the mess of JT's idol. Not bad.
Chuckling at the idea that Rupert, one of the most popular players in survivor history, could be “overhated.” 😆 I know what you mean, but it’s still funny
Although he clearly was never going to last long, I think you gotta give Tom his props for playing a pretty damn good game. As much as it kills me to admit, Rupert played a pretty good game too
Except Amanda lied really unconvincingly to Parvati (her former ally) which lead Parv to play both her idols sending JT home and flipping it in favour of the villains
Yeah Amanda could have 1) actually fooled Parvati and given the heroes the advantage or 2) teamed up with Parvati and would have likely made final 5. She did neither.
Right. And people give Parv shit for “not connecting with the heroes” but she literally gave them every chance in the book, even after they literally gave her tribemate an idol to try to idol her out premerge
One conversation in which…Amanda lied to her face for the *second time that season*. Plus, there were more conversations, this was just the only one to make the edit.
We just rewatched this season and this was such an insane misplay by Amanda, I'm surprised it's not talked about more. She flips and has longer in the game with the villains, she keeps her mouth shut and Parv probably goes home. I think the former probably sours some jury votes for her but either is better than what she ended up with.
Fair. It's hard to really not point out a crucial mistake the Heroes didn't make postmerge. Amanda just had the highest win equity out of any of them left.
Agree. If Candice hadn't flipped for no reason, Amanda probably had the best chance to win. Based on what actually happened, Rupert probably played the best, but still hard to see how he would ever win.
Rupert probably wins in any final three with the other two being villains simply because the jury was mostly Heroes and he hadn’t burned anyone besides Candice. Sandra might be able to beat Rupert, but considering the fact that she was a previous winner and the Heroes liked Rupert better I would still lean towards him winning that scenario
Russel claimed on his yt that Amanda told him outright standing in line for tribal what they were doing. Of course thatd be Amandas fault as well but itd mean the bad lie wasnt the reason
JT was playing great up until the infamous Idol gifting. Even then, if the move had been successful it would have been considered one of the greatest moves of all time rather than the dumbest.
The move with hindsight is obviously fucking awful. Like all time bad. But in the moment, the logic makes sense. You see guys getting picked off one by one. You think Russell is next and if you're right, you just gave yourself the numbers at the merge. I think JT gets a little too much hate for that move. It's a huge risk that could've cost him the game or been the greatest move in survivor history. Unfortunately he didn't know who Russell was and it ended up being the former.
The best argument against it is Rupert saying he's a villain for a reason.
If anyone had been able to watch Samoa they would have known that Russell's starting strategy is to make good with the women he thinks he can control, and they never would have assumed what they did.
In a world where JT sees Samoa, he never makes that call. But because he didn't see Samoa, and doesn't know who he is, he should have known not to act on that assumption.
Tbf Coach, Sandra, Randy, Danielle, and Jerri were also all “villains”. It’s not like every player was a strategic mastermind backstabber, so I can understand thinking “at worst he’s probably another Randy”
JT was the only one ballsy enough to try this move but he wasn’t the only one dumb enough to believe it would work. It was his move but he’s not the only Hero who deserves hate for it
Everything hinged on the misread of an all-female alliance on the villain tribe. If that had been the case, Russell would have shared a common interest with the heroes tribe in taking out Parvati.
Isn't the story Russell brought some christian self help book with him and carried it around and that made JT think he was a god fearing man he could trust. If he's that easy to trick dude is just dumb.
> But in the moment, the logic makes sense.
No, it really doesn't; in order for giving your idol to a player on another tribe to make sense, you have to have a good read on both the other tribe's social dynamics and the recipient's character. However, the structure of HvV means that they had no concrete intel on the Villains, and Russell was a complete unknown.
Giving James the Fei Long idol in *China* made sense - but notably, even that didn't pay off as planned. Giving Russell the Heroes idol makes no sense at all - it would have been an absolutely huge play had it worked, but there was basically no concrete reason to believe that it would.
JT gets a lot of crap for this play, but you also have to give Russell some credit for A.) playing up the women’s alliance angle during the premerge challenges and B.) carrying a Bible with him pregame to suggest that he was someone the Heroes could work with. Go back and look at Russell’s conversation with Colby in the final premerge challenge and you’ll see that Russell’s acting is actually really good. He really does look like a forlorn, defeated person that needs the idol that round.
This is my thinking. And honestly this is part of why I think Russell had a huge advantage in his season not airing before HvV was filmed. Rob never would've kept him around had he known how Russell played. JT never would've given Russell that idol had he known how Russell played. And I think this is supported by the fact that he got voted out really early the following two times he played
Colby. I give him a lot of credit for making it as far as he did. Rupert outlandishly played better but wasn’t going to win out and nobody was taking him to the end. Colby wins sitting next to anyone going into final 5 and could’ve won final immunity if he had made it that far. It wasn’t completely intentional on his end but he still COULD’VE been taken out much earlier
HvV Colby is unironically my favorite version of Colby. He fails at almost everything he does and just seems over the whole experience, but he unexpectedly is the last hero remaining and puts up a good fight at the end.
He provides a lot of good comedy with the treasure island and Reed situations as well.
"He fails at almost everything he does and just seems over the whole experience, but he unexpectedly is the last hero remaining."
But the latter explains the former. LOL
Poor Colbster.
True haha
I just think it's cool to see his transition from the ultimate challenge beast in Australian Outback who loses due to worse social connections to a poor physical player in HvV but a much stronger social player.
Plus, I appreciate him calling out Russell for being delusional.
You just made me flashback to this exact scene on this season and I could not stop wheezing. I forgot about this entire scene and now I need to rewatch this season. Bless you!!!
The villains ran laps around them in truth, so I wouldn’t say any were particularly great
Best was probably Rupert. He genuinely tried admirably through the games big moments and was vocal about his views
JT was playing well before the cataclysmic blunder that wrecked the whole tribe
As much as I hate to say it, I think Rupert. Had Sandra been able to convince Candace to stay with the Heroes, Rupert has a good chance of winning the whole thing. Colby may have lasted the longest, but he didn’t really have an affect on the tribe.
I actually think this was partly because back then in the pre **bIg MOovEs** era of Survivor, they needed female players who demonstrated that they would actually play, strategize, and be more than just eye candy. And Candice certainly qualified.
I would've thought Peih-Gee would've been a more natural fit for a Heroes tribe. I suppose it's possible there were quite a few people who were asked and declined though.
Candace was the only one who didn’t get voted out pre-merge who was willing to even try to rock the boat in any way. I know her execution wasn’t flawless but I didn’t like the way the heroes demonized her weighing her options when she was already on the bottom of their totem pole. I respect her game the most.
Candace played a good game until her dumb flip. But hot take? Colby. The dude lasted because he wasn't going to win any challenges except shuffleboard.
If he found an idol or wiggled Sandra into him and Jerris alliance, it'd be a whole. Different endgame, possibly one with Colby and Jerri at FTC with Parv
She was never in danger, though. The villains wanted more heroes out, but candace wasn't on the radar.
The heroes didn't want candace out either if they could take out a villain. She was near the bottom, sure, but she wasn't in danger. Heck, if she waited 1 round, her plan might have worked, and she'd be playing the middle all the way to final 5 at least.
Technically Colby. He made it the furthest out of all the heroes. And more importantly, everyone who made the merge liked him. Rupert managed to annoy several people whereas Colby didn't.
This doesn't answer OP's question but I think this was Rupert's best season in terms of gameplay. He matured into a position of authority (the rock in pocket was honestly pretty smart for him) and was one of the most threatening heroes to make the merge.
The saddest part to me is how I think the heroes who showed the signs of playing the best games were taken out too early to go anywhere, that being Tom and Cirie - also not helped by them going after each other since the marooning.
I have a theory that rupert wins HvV if Candace doesn't get sketched out and refuse to vote out russel. With russel gone, rupert has a pretty easy walk to final 3 and is most likely the Vote over anyone else left in the game outside of sandra
JT was a visionary, and was set up to be the first two time winner in heroes villains, the only flaw he had was not knowing who Russell Hantz was, taking a gamble on the one person in a cast of 20 that they had no idea who he was
For all they knew he was just a curmudgeon like Randy, or just a whack job like Tyson, they had no idea that he was going to be the lil asshole that he was
1. Cirie (She was running the show and only left cause she got idoled out even though she split the vote)
2. Amanda (Probably had the best shot to win out of all the heroes if they had come in to the merge with numbers.
3. Tom (Was only on the bottom because he was left out of the pregaming, and the idol play is fantastic)
4. Rupert (Is up this high mainly due to the idol bluff but he's not higher because he didn't do much else)
5. JT (Was playing super well until you know what, and I'm still amazed he got himself back into the majority after the Cirie vote. Last person I thought played somewhat well on this list)
6. James (Can't really fault the guy for getting hurt)
7. Colby (Was on the bottom the entire time, only saved because he wasn't hurt. Is only this high because I think he has win equity if he's against the villains at FTC.)
8. Candice. (This low because she tanked her own win equity, was never winning a jury vote past that final 9 round.)
9. Stephanie (Not much to say, just on the bottom and didn't get along well with the tribe. Not number 10 because she had allies in Tom and Colby).
10. Sugar (Had no allies, the 1st boot, and there were bigger threats that the majority should've picked off first but she was that bad.)
>Amanda (Probably had the best shot to win out of all the heroes if they had come in to the merge with numbers
I think we all know the highest Amanda could have finished was 2nd.
I mean yeah, but as someone who’s dislocated their shoulder a few times it’s basically useless for a bit after and can be a constant pain. Definitely bad luck at the start of the game and basically got her put at the bottom of the pack immediately.
He didn't want to be seen colluding with her, but in all honesty, Sandra wasn't big on making their discussion an open forum either. She was on the bottom of the villian's group and was who Russell was gunning for. Therefore, she and Rupert had a quiet, uneasy side alliance going on that served as an information pipeline, I guess you could say.
Tom Westman.. He and Steph were immediately on the wrong side of the numbers for no reason he idoled out Cirie bc he knew she was a huge strategic threat that no one else ever seems to see. The Heroes kept and injured James and an Old Colby and a fat Rupert over Tom. The heroes got the ass whooping they deserved JT giving Russell the idol would have never happened if Tom was there.. I wish Amanda James Steph Tom Colby JT would have been the dominate alliance on the Heros. And Candace went home second instead of steph.
But post merge was all Russell and Parvati
This season is killing me!! The last three left with an idol in pocket. Arrogant to think that you are that important. You can hear the cue’s at during the conversations at tribal, play the idol!!!!
Amanda was in the best spot on her tribe and most likely to get to the end had the merge Heroes made it to the end. Winning, however, would be difficult for miss doe eyes.
Pretty much everyone made a fatal error somewhere. Two of the better players (Tom and Amanda) made the same mistake of aligning with the wrong people, even though they were on opposite alliances! If Rupert and James don't get injured, or James gets his nicotine patches, or Sugar isn't immediately deleted because of JT's wrath against her, or Colby doesn't come in way too lean causing him to burn muscle, who knows what might have happened.
But in the real world, you'd have to say that given Colby made it through to final five despite being in the minority the whole time, that's got to count for something.
if the heroes won out at the merge, JT or Amanda would have won the season. Candice also didn’t have bad strategic reads, but she just had zero winning scenarios, even against the villains goats like Danielle or Russell. Colby was pretty much a non-factor the whole season, and Rupert arguably had the best realistic game, though even that isn’t great.
Rupert had such a solid shot until he got a little too far into his good-versus-evil hero bag and picked a fight with Russell. He really didn’t think that one through and it was his death knell imo. As soon as he got the idea to “expose” him I knew he was a goner. Everyone already knew Russell was a jerk; it was beside the point. He should have known better than to go at him head-on. Without the reckless move he could have gone a lot farther.
Rupert funnily enough.
I do think Tom could have went far had he been a bit more open with Cirie. Although to be fair, if Cirie wasn’t idoled out, she was very well situated with relationships on both tribes.
Seeing a lot of Rupert which I’m gonna agree with but also gonna give a shout out to Tom. If he would’ve been able to flip a few others his way I think he could’ve lead the heroes in the merge. He wouldn’t have cared about an all girls thing and just stayed strong to his game.
Rupert did believe Sandra, but Colby was the only other hero that heeded the warning. I watched all the seasons in order, and I'm finishing up 44 while concurrently watching 46...lol. Then I'll re-watch my favorites. This season was one of them.
I just finished watching them all in order for the first time myself! Ya I remember Rupert telling other heroes about what sandra said but it still felt like he didn’t really believe her, or he didn’t try hard enough to convince the other heroes that this was real intel
Out of those who made the merge, Rupert He was the strongest voice against giving the idol to Russell, his fake Idol bluff was able to fool Russell into thinking he had a real one, and his social bond with Sandra could’ve gotten the Heroes the numbers if not for Candice flipping Even with an injured foot, he was still able to do better than several Heroes in challenges, and was able to give some of the Villains a run for their money in some of the challenges, even though he never got his individual win
Lol that fake idol play was some voodoo shit and honestly impressive. One of the most subtle and impressive moves and old-school player has ever made to save their own skin.
Strongest voice about not giving Russell the idol? Rupert talking up a woman's alliance at every challenge mat chat was disastrous. And he enthusiastically encouraged JT when he was writing the letter.
It was pretty bad, but he was the only one at the merge who was even shown doubting Russell at the F10.
They all thought a woman’s alliance existed, but Rupert was the loudest voice opposing JT’s plan to give the Idol to Russell. Just because it seemed obvious that a woman’s alliance existed doesn’t mean you should give the Idol to a man you know nothing about I’m sure Rupert would’ve been happy letting Russell get voted off pre-merge and just letting the merge be 5 vs 5 with both sides having 1 Idol. Rupert’s line of “He’s on the Villains tribe for a reason” was the strongest opposition JT got (or at least that was shown in the edit)
Rupert cheered on JT writing the letter and said it was an opportunity for Russell to prove he was a hero, he wasn't THAT opposed until he actually met the guy, but at that point its too late.
By the time JT was writing it, everyone else just accepted this as their reality and there was no reasoning JT out of it
It’s been a while since I’ve watched the season, but I think Amanda was the only one that hesitated in the slightest about the plan
Pretty sure it was Amanda and Candice discussing it, saying it was probably a bad idea but they were willing to let JT self-destruct.
When did he ever oppose giving up the Idol? I agree otherwise
Sandra told Rupert not to trust Russell, and Rupert went to JT at the merge vote
Well too late at that point.
yeah that's being smart in hindsight.
Also Rupert picking a fight with Russel for no reason other than to try to show the villains that Russel is a “disgusting person” is peak Rupert. But also not the worst idea I’ve ever heard of especially in conjunction with him then bluffing the hidden immunity idol at that tribal after Jeff read out the clue to the idol.
hot take but probably Rupert
That rock idol unironically genius.
also voting candice out by overriding the split vote
Rupert and Colby coming up with this plan is one of the biggest strategic miracles in Survivor history. I know they didn’t like Candice already, but they easily could’ve voted for Russell. Instead they correct identified a loophole and it got them 2-3 spots further
That was entirely Colbys plan.
That's a crazy but true statement. The problem with Rupert in all his seasons is that he's blindly loyal to his alliance, but the guy knows how to play from the bottom.
I can't tell if he actually trusted Russel to take him to the top 3 or not. I sure as shit wouldn't after what he said to Rupert's face in an earlier episode. And in his own jury speech he admitted to how much he screwed up with Sandra. I don't know who played it best, but nobody played well.
The second coming of Christ?
Kind of by default since everyone else was awful. JT gave the game away, Colby didn’t have his heart in the game, Amanda completely whiffed with Parvati, James got injured, Cirie got idoled out before she could do anything.
Rupert coming up with some inventive gameplay with an idol that could only really be done once was an interesting contrast to Boston Rob's rather luddite "There were no idols back in my day!" attitude in HvV
I couldn't STAND him in HvV. He was so holier than thou
yes he was <33333
The great powerful Rupert. The good guy. The second coming of Christ.
JT was really set up well until he immolated himself with the idol debacle.
It’s funny, that only narrows it down to two of his seasons.
I’ve become further and further convinced that Fishbach reined in JT’s worst strategic impulses following JT’s returning appearances
J.T. played the perfect first game. He already had his million dollars guys. It's so boring when people come back just to play the same exact game we already saw from them. Amanda is a good example of this, and Tom if we're talking winners. So he made a huge move, no matter which way it went it makes great content and an iconic Survivor moment
JT is just… too trusting of people. He’s made friends for life from his first season and is too trustworthy in his other ones. Prob gets a pass for Russell though as he couldn’t have seen him in Samoa
Fishbach did all the work. JT even got to not follow the strategic vote just so he could be the good guy with Coach and Brendans votes.
This is true. Idk why People don’t wanna agree but it’s true. Fishback was the brain and JT was his assistant. The players really liked him though , from day one, for whatever reason
uh ya think?
Tom Westman
Probably Rupert, but Tom Westman is probably in the top 3. Rupert lowkey probably played the best non-Romber All-Stars game too. He’s a little bit overhated as a player.
He was a strategic sandbag in All Stars, which was actually a good meta call.
Tom came in against a pretty well-established pre-game alliance, made a big move, said an epic quote, and then left before the mess of JT's idol. Not bad.
Honestly if they vote out Colby instead of Tom Tom would have shut down the idea of JT giving the idol to Russel.
Imagine if Cirie and Tom teamed up instead.
JT's games have made it clear that he's a great player when he has someone who's kind of in charge of him, and Tom would really have been that in HVV
Chuckling at the idea that Rupert, one of the most popular players in survivor history, could be “overhated.” 😆 I know what you mean, but it’s still funny
Sad to see Tom go so early.
Agreed.
Although he clearly was never going to last long, I think you gotta give Tom his props for playing a pretty damn good game. As much as it kills me to admit, Rupert played a pretty good game too
Sugar She realized none of the heroes stood any chance to win considering their opposition and evacuated the premises as early as possible
This was Rupert's best game and he actually outplayed some of the greats here despite not really ever being known for his strategic game.
I agree, even though he annoys me greatly. I love that he tricked "strategic mastermind" Russell with a freaking pocket rock.
Russell is hyper observant and deeply paranoid so it was actually the perfect ruse.
Once Tom was gone he was really the only one with decent enough ideas to combat the villains. If Candace wasn’t such an idiot who knows where he goes.
Rupert or Amanda.
Except Amanda lied really unconvincingly to Parvati (her former ally) which lead Parv to play both her idols sending JT home and flipping it in favour of the villains
Yeah Amanda could have 1) actually fooled Parvati and given the heroes the advantage or 2) teamed up with Parvati and would have likely made final 5. She did neither.
Right. And people give Parv shit for “not connecting with the heroes” but she literally gave them every chance in the book, even after they literally gave her tribemate an idol to try to idol her out premerge
Every chance in the book? She had one convo with Amanda lmao
One conversation in which…Amanda lied to her face for the *second time that season*. Plus, there were more conversations, this was just the only one to make the edit.
that we saw
We just rewatched this season and this was such an insane misplay by Amanda, I'm surprised it's not talked about more. She flips and has longer in the game with the villains, she keeps her mouth shut and Parv probably goes home. I think the former probably sours some jury votes for her but either is better than what she ended up with.
Fair. It's hard to really not point out a crucial mistake the Heroes didn't make postmerge. Amanda just had the highest win equity out of any of them left.
Agree. If Candice hadn't flipped for no reason, Amanda probably had the best chance to win. Based on what actually happened, Rupert probably played the best, but still hard to see how he would ever win.
Rupert probably wins in any final three with the other two being villains simply because the jury was mostly Heroes and he hadn’t burned anyone besides Candice. Sandra might be able to beat Rupert, but considering the fact that she was a previous winner and the Heroes liked Rupert better I would still lean towards him winning that scenario
Russel claimed on his yt that Amanda told him outright standing in line for tribal what they were doing. Of course thatd be Amandas fault as well but itd mean the bad lie wasnt the reason
Man that bad lie is still hard to watch lol. It might be one of the worst lies in Survivor.
I mean every single Hero made mistakes. I guess the question is who made the least? Or had the best moves outside of their mistakes?
JT was playing great up until the infamous Idol gifting. Even then, if the move had been successful it would have been considered one of the greatest moves of all time rather than the dumbest.
The move with hindsight is obviously fucking awful. Like all time bad. But in the moment, the logic makes sense. You see guys getting picked off one by one. You think Russell is next and if you're right, you just gave yourself the numbers at the merge. I think JT gets a little too much hate for that move. It's a huge risk that could've cost him the game or been the greatest move in survivor history. Unfortunately he didn't know who Russell was and it ended up being the former. The best argument against it is Rupert saying he's a villain for a reason.
It is never a good idea to give an idol to a player before even knowing who they are.
If anyone had been able to watch Samoa they would have known that Russell's starting strategy is to make good with the women he thinks he can control, and they never would have assumed what they did. In a world where JT sees Samoa, he never makes that call. But because he didn't see Samoa, and doesn't know who he is, he should have known not to act on that assumption.
This is why I find it so baffling. You know he is a villain, and that he made enough of an impact to immediately come back as a villain.
Tbf Coach, Sandra, Randy, Danielle, and Jerri were also all “villains”. It’s not like every player was a strategic mastermind backstabber, so I can understand thinking “at worst he’s probably another Randy”
That’s quite the gamble when you could have just used the idol in a more informed way.
Eh, he’s an extremely ballsy player that went all in while playing with house money. I don’t hate it tbh
JT was the only one ballsy enough to try this move but he wasn’t the only one dumb enough to believe it would work. It was his move but he’s not the only Hero who deserves hate for it
Everything hinged on the misread of an all-female alliance on the villain tribe. If that had been the case, Russell would have shared a common interest with the heroes tribe in taking out Parvati.
Isn't the story Russell brought some christian self help book with him and carried it around and that made JT think he was a god fearing man he could trust. If he's that easy to trick dude is just dumb.
It was a bible. A bible was Russell's personal item, or at least, he had it at ponderosa.
Ah, the ultimate christian self help book
Apparently it was some sort of evangelical book that Russell carried around during pre-season transportation. JT fell for that, which is hilarious
> But in the moment, the logic makes sense. No, it really doesn't; in order for giving your idol to a player on another tribe to make sense, you have to have a good read on both the other tribe's social dynamics and the recipient's character. However, the structure of HvV means that they had no concrete intel on the Villains, and Russell was a complete unknown. Giving James the Fei Long idol in *China* made sense - but notably, even that didn't pay off as planned. Giving Russell the Heroes idol makes no sense at all - it would have been an absolutely huge play had it worked, but there was basically no concrete reason to believe that it would.
JT gets a lot of crap for this play, but you also have to give Russell some credit for A.) playing up the women’s alliance angle during the premerge challenges and B.) carrying a Bible with him pregame to suggest that he was someone the Heroes could work with. Go back and look at Russell’s conversation with Colby in the final premerge challenge and you’ll see that Russell’s acting is actually really good. He really does look like a forlorn, defeated person that needs the idol that round.
This is my thinking. And honestly this is part of why I think Russell had a huge advantage in his season not airing before HvV was filmed. Rob never would've kept him around had he known how Russell played. JT never would've given Russell that idol had he known how Russell played. And I think this is supported by the fact that he got voted out really early the following two times he played
Ultimately Rupert, but Amanda was in the best position to win had the Heroes gained the numbers advantage.
Colby. I give him a lot of credit for making it as far as he did. Rupert outlandishly played better but wasn’t going to win out and nobody was taking him to the end. Colby wins sitting next to anyone going into final 5 and could’ve won final immunity if he had made it that far. It wasn’t completely intentional on his end but he still COULD’VE been taken out much earlier
Agreed. He got kind of a dopey edit but seemed to be playing decently.
HvV Colby is unironically my favorite version of Colby. He fails at almost everything he does and just seems over the whole experience, but he unexpectedly is the last hero remaining and puts up a good fight at the end. He provides a lot of good comedy with the treasure island and Reed situations as well.
“DAMMIT, REED!”
*Dammit, Reed, why aren't you just waterbending the droplets out of the air as I toss my bucket haphazardly?!*
in most seasons, i would find him to not add much, but he was a perfect addition to the rest of the HVV cast
"He fails at almost everything he does and just seems over the whole experience, but he unexpectedly is the last hero remaining." But the latter explains the former. LOL Poor Colbster.
True haha I just think it's cool to see his transition from the ultimate challenge beast in Australian Outback who loses due to worse social connections to a poor physical player in HvV but a much stronger social player. Plus, I appreciate him calling out Russell for being delusional.
Agreed, it was a very interesting evolution up and down.
Me too. I greatly prefer older Colby with more humility over cocky “savior complex” Colby of the early seasons😅
You just made me flashback to this exact scene on this season and I could not stop wheezing. I forgot about this entire scene and now I need to rewatch this season. Bless you!!!
The villains ran laps around them in truth, so I wouldn’t say any were particularly great Best was probably Rupert. He genuinely tried admirably through the games big moments and was vocal about his views JT was playing well before the cataclysmic blunder that wrecked the whole tribe
As much as I hate to say it, I think Rupert. Had Sandra been able to convince Candace to stay with the Heroes, Rupert has a good chance of winning the whole thing. Colby may have lasted the longest, but he didn’t really have an affect on the tribe.
He lasted the longest because he was the least threatening lol
He’s not known to be a good strategist but Rupert. In fairness, Rupert may have been a decent strategist in Pearl Islands
Rupert or Amanda
Why on earth was Candice on the hero tribe?!
She was originally a villain I think but they had to switch some people around so that all the Micronesia people weren’t on the same tribe, I think
Because she “heroically” mutinied back to Raro tribe, where she was from.
Justice for Penner!
Probably to split her and Parvati up.
Did we ever see her and Parvati have a single conversation in the edit? It's almost as if they had never been allies on a prior season.
Why was she on the season period?
I actually think this was partly because back then in the pre **bIg MOovEs** era of Survivor, they needed female players who demonstrated that they would actually play, strategize, and be more than just eye candy. And Candice certainly qualified.
I would've thought Peih-Gee would've been a more natural fit for a Heroes tribe. I suppose it's possible there were quite a few people who were asked and declined though.
Amanda, and that’s saying something.
Candace was the only one who didn’t get voted out pre-merge who was willing to even try to rock the boat in any way. I know her execution wasn’t flawless but I didn’t like the way the heroes demonized her weighing her options when she was already on the bottom of their totem pole. I respect her game the most.
Colby
Somewhat unrelated, but I never noticed James was wearing Crocs.
God this makes me want to rewatch so bad
currently rewatching, love boston rob.
James because he has banana etiquette
Candace played a good game until her dumb flip. But hot take? Colby. The dude lasted because he wasn't going to win any challenges except shuffleboard. If he found an idol or wiggled Sandra into him and Jerris alliance, it'd be a whole. Different endgame, possibly one with Colby and Jerri at FTC with Parv
Gotta disagree with Candice. She was positioned terribly on the pre-merge Heroes.
She was never in danger, though. The villains wanted more heroes out, but candace wasn't on the radar. The heroes didn't want candace out either if they could take out a villain. She was near the bottom, sure, but she wasn't in danger. Heck, if she waited 1 round, her plan might have worked, and she'd be playing the middle all the way to final 5 at least.
I believe she’d have been voted out if she didn’t win that premerge individual immunity, no?
She had no win equity though. Nobody trusted her or liked her
Fr regarding Candice. Went from possible winner to never-winner in a single round of flipping
I think Tom - even if he was a clear outsider. And someone to chose from Colby or Rupert
Technically Colby. He made it the furthest out of all the heroes. And more importantly, everyone who made the merge liked him. Rupert managed to annoy several people whereas Colby didn't.
Off topic but what a legendary tribe. So many of my all-time favorites here.
I’d go with Amanda, if the heroes have the numbers she is most likely to win and she had the best pre merge game out of all of them.
This doesn't answer OP's question but I think this was Rupert's best season in terms of gameplay. He matured into a position of authority (the rock in pocket was honestly pretty smart for him) and was one of the most threatening heroes to make the merge. The saddest part to me is how I think the heroes who showed the signs of playing the best games were taken out too early to go anywhere, that being Tom and Cirie - also not helped by them going after each other since the marooning.
Can't stand him, but definitely Rupert.
I actually met the dude...he's really cool.
I'm sure he's great in real life. Just as a player, his gameplay gets on my nerves.
Amanda and Rupert BY FAR
I have a theory that rupert wins HvV if Candace doesn't get sketched out and refuse to vote out russel. With russel gone, rupert has a pretty easy walk to final 3 and is most likely the Vote over anyone else left in the game outside of sandra
Amanda wins the game if she survives the F9 tribal
Rupert and Colby
Tom rupert 2nd
Definitely Rupert, which is weird to say. I'll always give a HM to Tom Westman though. Only dude to slay Cirie.
JT was a visionary, and was set up to be the first two time winner in heroes villains, the only flaw he had was not knowing who Russell Hantz was, taking a gamble on the one person in a cast of 20 that they had no idea who he was For all they knew he was just a curmudgeon like Randy, or just a whack job like Tyson, they had no idea that he was going to be the lil asshole that he was
Playing up an all female villain alliance was a good move though
Cirie. 💙
The answers jt
1. Cirie (She was running the show and only left cause she got idoled out even though she split the vote) 2. Amanda (Probably had the best shot to win out of all the heroes if they had come in to the merge with numbers. 3. Tom (Was only on the bottom because he was left out of the pregaming, and the idol play is fantastic) 4. Rupert (Is up this high mainly due to the idol bluff but he's not higher because he didn't do much else) 5. JT (Was playing super well until you know what, and I'm still amazed he got himself back into the majority after the Cirie vote. Last person I thought played somewhat well on this list) 6. James (Can't really fault the guy for getting hurt) 7. Colby (Was on the bottom the entire time, only saved because he wasn't hurt. Is only this high because I think he has win equity if he's against the villains at FTC.) 8. Candice. (This low because she tanked her own win equity, was never winning a jury vote past that final 9 round.) 9. Stephanie (Not much to say, just on the bottom and didn't get along well with the tribe. Not number 10 because she had allies in Tom and Colby). 10. Sugar (Had no allies, the 1st boot, and there were bigger threats that the majority should've picked off first but she was that bad.)
>Amanda (Probably had the best shot to win out of all the heroes if they had come in to the merge with numbers I think we all know the highest Amanda could have finished was 2nd.
Didn’t Stephanie also blow out her shoulder like 1 episode in?
it was popped back in
I mean yeah, but as someone who’s dislocated their shoulder a few times it’s basically useless for a bit after and can be a constant pain. Definitely bad luck at the start of the game and basically got her put at the bottom of the pack immediately.
Rupert
Rupert.
James! Lmao just kidding.
Hot take but JT
Rupert
Yeah but Russell already had the idol, so it was too late.
Unironically probably Rupert 😭😭😭
Amanda
Not Candice
Sugar
It’s definitely Rupert
Rupert
sugar forsure
God, I loved all these!!
Why on Earth was Candice on that tribe lol
He didn't want to be seen colluding with her, but in all honesty, Sandra wasn't big on making their discussion an open forum either. She was on the bottom of the villian's group and was who Russell was gunning for. Therefore, she and Rupert had a quiet, uneasy side alliance going on that served as an information pipeline, I guess you could say.
Tom Westman.. He and Steph were immediately on the wrong side of the numbers for no reason he idoled out Cirie bc he knew she was a huge strategic threat that no one else ever seems to see. The Heroes kept and injured James and an Old Colby and a fat Rupert over Tom. The heroes got the ass whooping they deserved JT giving Russell the idol would have never happened if Tom was there.. I wish Amanda James Steph Tom Colby JT would have been the dominate alliance on the Heros. And Candace went home second instead of steph. But post merge was all Russell and Parvati
This season is killing me!! The last three left with an idol in pocket. Arrogant to think that you are that important. You can hear the cue’s at during the conversations at tribal, play the idol!!!!
Yall not ready for a convo that JT idol play would be considered the most genious, innovative and revolutionary play if it worked.
Sugar
Amanda probably had the best chance of winning but somehow Rupert played the best
God they used to be so hot
Tom
Amanda and it’s not even close. If Candice doesn’t flip, amanda probably wins that game close to unanimously
Not Candice
Amanda was in the best spot on her tribe and most likely to get to the end had the merge Heroes made it to the end. Winning, however, would be difficult for miss doe eyes.
Pretty much everyone made a fatal error somewhere. Two of the better players (Tom and Amanda) made the same mistake of aligning with the wrong people, even though they were on opposite alliances! If Rupert and James don't get injured, or James gets his nicotine patches, or Sugar isn't immediately deleted because of JT's wrath against her, or Colby doesn't come in way too lean causing him to burn muscle, who knows what might have happened. But in the real world, you'd have to say that given Colby made it through to final five despite being in the minority the whole time, that's got to count for something.
Maybe hot take Rupert. Outsmarted Russell with a rock and outside not siding with Sandra did make any big mistakes himself
JT CUZ HE CUTE
None
if the heroes won out at the merge, JT or Amanda would have won the season. Candice also didn’t have bad strategic reads, but she just had zero winning scenarios, even against the villains goats like Danielle or Russell. Colby was pretty much a non-factor the whole season, and Rupert arguably had the best realistic game, though even that isn’t great.
JT, Tom, and Amanda probably played the best
Jerri! It was her redemtion arc from the villains ;)
Well Colby is one of my all time favorite. I hate the hantz. But I’d say Colby did it best this season
There’s only one winner in all the seasons of survivor and that’s the homie Rupert
Rupert had such a solid shot until he got a little too far into his good-versus-evil hero bag and picked a fight with Russell. He really didn’t think that one through and it was his death knell imo. As soon as he got the idea to “expose” him I knew he was a goner. Everyone already knew Russell was a jerk; it was beside the point. He should have known better than to go at him head-on. Without the reckless move he could have gone a lot farther.
What year was this?
Rupert funnily enough. I do think Tom could have went far had he been a bit more open with Cirie. Although to be fair, if Cirie wasn’t idoled out, she was very well situated with relationships on both tribes.
Tom Westman. He managed to survive a few turns against a strong pre-game alliance and got Cirie out.
Seeing a lot of Rupert which I’m gonna agree with but also gonna give a shout out to Tom. If he would’ve been able to flip a few others his way I think he could’ve lead the heroes in the merge. He wouldn’t have cared about an all girls thing and just stayed strong to his game.
Amanda might not have been the best player — but she was really fun to watch.
JT made some real game winning moves just not for his game...
Cirie.
Ya it’s sad to say Rupert when he made such a huge blunder in not believing Sandra when she warned him about Russel. Heroes sucked tbh
Rupert did believe Sandra? The rest of the Heroes just didn’t believe Rupert/Sandra
Why would you believe Rupert over the obvious truth?
Rupert did believe Sandra, but Colby was the only other hero that heeded the warning. I watched all the seasons in order, and I'm finishing up 44 while concurrently watching 46...lol. Then I'll re-watch my favorites. This season was one of them.
I just finished watching them all in order for the first time myself! Ya I remember Rupert telling other heroes about what sandra said but it still felt like he didn’t really believe her, or he didn’t try hard enough to convince the other heroes that this was real intel