Survivor birthday: Chris Daugherty (Vanuatu) turns 47
Sometimes a good speech can make waves, and for the players of Survivor Vanuatu, Chris Daugherty’s Final Tribal Council performance is one for the ages.
Player: Chris Daugherty
Occupation: Highway Construction Worker
Hometown: South Vienna, OH
Season: Survivor Vanuatu
Tribes: Lopevi (Red Buff), Alinta (Orange Buff)
Finished: Sole Survivor
There aren’t many Survivor winners like Chris Daugherty. He’s the only “fat” winner of the show outside of Richard Hatch, and that was due to him essentially creating the gameplay template all subsequent players would use to follow him. In a season like Survivor Vanuatu where the men were pitted against the women, a doughy man amongst fit to athletic competitors was not destined to last.
Escaping the first Tribal Council alive was no mere feat, but it wouldn’t be the last Herculean task for Dougherty in this season. After the Lopevi men fell one after another, the merge brought forth a reckoning that took out all others but him on Day 27. Instead of digging his heels in the sand and trying to go on some sort of immunity run, Chris worked his social game, saw a crack in the majority alliance and formed a Final Four alliance of his own.
Of course, to be the only man left in Survivor and take out five women that would ultimately craft the decision about who wins the game meant Chris Daugherty had to burn bridges. However, with him winning the final two Immunity Challenges, he took the detested Twila to the end and told her to be brutally honest at the Final Tribal Council. In reality, he was grooming her to look the villain as he donned an apologetic persona.
Chris Daugherty went from a player who received votes at the first Tribal Council to winning the majority of votes at the Final Tribal Council, securing the title of Sole Survivor with one of the most powerful, emotionally manipulative FTC performances of all time. Without shifting blame or anger to Twila, or had he not appeared as emotional or shaky in his voice, he may not have been the winner of Season 9 after all.
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
We at Surviving Tribal would like to wish Chris Daugherty a very happy 47th birthday. If health circumstances change, he’d be an excellent candidate to bring back for an all-winners or winners vs. legends type of season.