Friday, July 3, 2020

Top 20 Survivor Players who (still) deserve a second shot

Survivor is my all time favorite reality show.  They've now gone on for 40 seasons and 20 years.  There have been 487 different players in Survivor's 20 year run.  103 have played multiple seasons.  Of the remaining 384, there are certainly some who deserve a second shot.  Some are interesting characters and some are actual good players.  I have come up with 20 players who deserved a second shot.  I even went to the trouble to make it 10 men and 10 women, with some diversity as well, as if this could be a future season of Survivor.  And to make it even more interesting, I divided them into two tribes: Characters and Players.  

The ten on the character tribe are known more for their interesting personalities than being good players.  This certainly would be an interesting and fun to watch tribe.  Would they struggle?  Probably.  But it would be so much fun to watch.

Characters:

Shane Powers (Exile Island/Panama)
I believe Shane was in the running to be a Villain on "Heroes vs. Villains", but was a last minute cut, probably for Russell Hantz.  Who knows if he even is on good terms with CBS, but it still would be interesting to see Shane return.  He might be on the cusp of being too old, but we've seen older returning players.

Nate Gonzalez (Cook Islands)
Nate was sure fun to watch and I liked his personality.  He also gave us some of the best jury member reactions we've still ever seen.  I would love to see Nate brought back, if just for his reactions as a jury member.

Erik Cardona (Samoa)
Erik would definitely be a "villain" type of player.  He did, however, do his best to persuade the jury to vote for Natalie to win over Russell, which may have resulted in Natalie's victory.  He would have been a great player that could have potentially stopped Russell Hantz had he not been blindsided when he was.  

Dave Ball (Samoa)
Yet another male player from Samoa, and they were on the same tribe, too.  Dave was an interesting character, and he had some great one-liners.  My favorite was "He [Erik] got clotheslined... by the clothesline!"  They should bring Dave Ball back.  Mostly because Jeff often used his full name.

Hayden Moss (Blood vs. Water)
Hayden finished with the 2nd best position of any "loved one" on Blood vs. Water, yet he has never been brought back.  He played a hard game and even managed to sway Ciera to his side to force a rock draw.  I loved his banter with Tyson about "russelling feathers".  He would be an interesting character to bring back.

Heidi Strobel (Amazon)
I'm surprised they brought back Jenna but never Heidi.  Heidi was just as interesting of a character, if not more so.  I still think Heidi could come back, but instead of being the hot, ditzy blonde she's the hot, ditzy mom.  She stays active as can be gathered from her posts on Instagram.  Her being married to a famous baseball player (Cole Hamels) would probably work against her, though.

Michelle Yi (Fiji)
Fiji actually had a pretty good cast, despite only one player (Yau Man) ever returning to play again so far.  There's only a small handful that could work in bringing them back, and one of them is Michelle.  Michelle was screwed over by a twist in the game, which was an impromptu tribal council with a group of random players in which she was on the wrong side of the numbers.  She was adorable and also started fire with basically nothing, so she would be awesome to have back.

Natalie Bolton (Micronesia)
Natalie was definitely a villainess on her season, which didn't really show until after the merge and the Black Widow alliance formed.  She was the one who got the immunity necklace from Erik.  She also gave some confessionals to show her true colors.  I'm a bit surprised she was never brought back.  I'd love to see her back.  

Alicia Rosa (One World)
Sure, Alicia said some mean things and didn't seem like a good person, but she still made for an entertaining villain.  She went through breast cancer and a double mastectomy in the past few years, which probably made her appreciate the smaller things in life more.  I'd love to see her given a second chance.    

J'Tia Taylor (Cagayan)
She may have dumped out her tribe's rice, but I'm sure she's matured since then.  She has since gotten married.  Perhaps with a second shot, her tribe would do better?  Probably not, but it would be interesting to see her again.

Players:

Jonas Otsuji (One World)
Jonas was well-liked, which ultimately was the reason for his demise.  The guy reminded me of a good-natured Boston Rob.  I always thought he deserved a second shot.  He gave some pretty funny confessionals, too.

Ian Rosenberger (Palau)
I think Ian is someone CBS has definitely wanted back, and he was asked back for Cambodia: Second Chance but he declined.  He's still fairly young and could come back if he changes his mind.  

Rafe Judkins (Guatemala)
I thought Rafe was playing the best game of his season, and I'm a bit surprised he never played again.  He's a television writer now, so it's unlikely he'd ever leave that comfortable job to play Survivor again.  But Rafe seems like someone intelligent enough to adapt to the faster-paced game.

Kenny Hoang (Gabon)
Kenny was undoubtedly playing the best strategic game in Gabon.  He tried to make Bob out to the be the bad guy, but it backfired.  I would love to see him given a second shot.  I could see him controlling a game if he was brought back.

Reynold Toepfer (Caramoan)
Reynold was a huge part of the Three Amigos alliance.  He became a force in challenges as well.  He just got on the wrong side of the numbers.  He seemed like a strong and vocal player who was in hot water the entire game.  Yet he made it a lot further than people were expecting.  It might be hard to bring him back as Reynold has settled down and started a family.

Darrah Johnson (Pearl Islands)
I loved Darrah on Pearl Islands.  She wasn't a very vocal or strategic player, but she went on immunity run semi-late into the game, which once it ended, resulted in her being voted out.  She's still under the age of 40.  She also was the Morgan tribe member that got the furthest in the game before being voted out for the first time.  

Sherea Lloyd (China)
I remember Sherea being the strongest female of her struggling Zhan Hu tribe.  When the tribes had to pick the other tribe's two strongest players they'd like, Sherea was chosen.  Yet, she has never returned to play again.  I think she could still be a force.  

Ashley Underwood (Redemption Island)
Of the two girls under Boston Rob's wing, Ashley was definitely the stronger player, which resulted in Natalie making it to the end and not her.  She started being a huge force in challenges late in the game.  If she had somehow managed to take out Boston Rob and went to the end with Natalie and Phillip, I think she wins.  I would like to see her given a second shot.

Chelsea Meissner (One World)
I think Chelsea played a pretty darn good game.  It's just that Kim Spradlin was controlling everything and was playing an even better game.  I'd love to see Chelsea given a second shot if she wanted.  I think she would learn to be more vocal and more aggressive.

RC Saint-Amour (Philippines)
The funny thing is, RC was supposed to be on "Blood vs. Water" with her dad, but he had a medical issue and they couldn't go and were replaced by Candice and John.  So CBS has definitely wanted her back, yet she still has yet to come back.  She's still fairly young, so why not?  

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