What mark has Sierra Dawn-Thomas made on Survivor?

After two seasons on Survivor, when she went to the jury both times, has Sierra Dawn-Thomas left a mark on the game as a whole, or hasn’t she?

The case for Sierra Dawn-Thomas to be on Survivor: Game Changers was never an easy one to make. Even in the Surviving Tribal pre-season assessment of her game, my colleague noted that, well, it didn’t seem to be there. In fact, Entertainment Weekly confirmed with her that she was the last person added to the cast, and only to replace someone else — a fourth winner, Natalie Anderson. (Now there’s a Survivor what-if.)

And, now that we know that Sierra’s on the jury for the second time in as many seasons, we still don’t know if we can make that case. Sure, she entered into an alliance that took her into the post-merge and found a secret advantage in the game. However, neither of those things actually saved her. Everyone acknowledged her status as a threat. Indeed, she played a fine physical and fair social and strategic games. Not for nothing did Sandra peg her as one of the leaders of the alliance on Mana.

But does that constitute an actual legacy? Will people remember much more than “Malcolm got knocked out because of an immunity idol”? Well … okay, yes, probably, just because of the newness of the twist that led to said vote.

Going back to that pre-season assessment, though, my colleague also noted that, “Perhaps the biggest criticism seen of Thomas is that she failed to make a big move in Worlds Apart. This is fact.” In Game Changers, Sierra did work herself into a good position. She built relationships with Brad and Troyzan in particular. Ultimately, though, her trust failed her.

It may turn out that her biggest move here ends up being trusting Sarah and handing her the Legacy Advantage. That is not much of a move. (It does, however, reflect well on Sarah going forward, as yours truly has noted before.)

Next: And the best Survivor winner is...

At this point in time, we just can’t argue that Sierra has changed the way people play Survivor. Perhaps she’ll surprise during her jury question at the Final Tribal Council, though. A good iconic speech goes a long way.