Survivor birthday: Fabio Birza (Nicaragua) turns 28
Perhaps the most loved (but least strategic) winner of any season of Survivor, Fabio Birza will celebrate his 28th birthday today.
Player: Jud “Fabio” Birza
Occupation: Student
Hometown: Venice, California
Season: Nicaragua
Tribes: La Flor (Yellow Buff), Libertad (Red Buff)
Finished: 1/18
Survivor Nicaragua was such a weird season. Right in the middle of peak middle school gameplay, it was a season where the young faced off against the old. Instead of a wide variety of challenges, a focus on strategic and logical puzzles meant better teamwork. A Medallion of Power turned the game upside down. Finally, a young man who went by Fabio Birza won a million dollars on charm alone.
You see, there’s this weird part of this show’s history where survival aspects were starting to get less respect and social and strategic play started to take form. Still, a player’s ability to beat others when they needed most (with three-straight immunity wins) was still respected enough to let people hear you out at the Final Tribal Council.
It was there that Fabio Birza started to speak from the heart and solidify his winning case.
More from Survivor News
- Survivor winners: Ranking all 42 Sole Survivors by season
- Survivor Season 42: Way too early power rankings
- Survivor Season 42 is coming in 2022 (find out what we know so far)
- Survivor Season 41 episode 12 power rankings
- Survivor Season 41 episode 11 power rankings
Fabio, if anything, was a great social player, getting the love and respect on a human level from everyone he played with. They may not approve of his hippie ways, and may not have driven the strategic inputs, but he did have the barest of game awareness and the determination to make it to the end and cash that million-dollar check.
It’s been a few years since his historic season, becoming the youngest to win in the show’s history. He’s still active in the Survivor community, showing up in places like Andrea Boehlke’s post-show on the People Entertainment Network to give his thoughts on the most recent season, Survivor Game Changers.
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
From us at Surviving Tribal, we would like to wish Fabio Birza a happy 28th birthday!