Survivor casting: Who do new players often compare themselves to?

One fan has broken down who new players often compare themselves to in their Survivor bios, offering a glimpse into how newbies emulate their play after.

Ever since Heroes vs. Villains, new Survivor players are often questioned about which former player they best compare to in order for viewers to get a better look at their personality before their season begins. It’s a simple icebreaker that helps CBS evoke nostalgic memories of the past while setting up its players as characters to root for or root against.

Reddit user Iamsoooooocrazy has decided to compile all of the answers provided by new players from season 21-on (ever since they reliably asked that question) and provide the answers in a spreadsheet. The player being compared to is in the left-most column, while the entire list of players that compared themselves to them follows. Green indicates a winning player, blue a returnee, yellow a finalist, purple a post-merge player and red a pre-merge player.

Easily, the most comparable player is Parvati Shallow, with 24 different first-time players self-reporting themselves as her type since Nicaragua. Only one player has gone on to win their season, though, as Michele Fitzgerald stands alone in that regard. The most successful comp comes with Stephenie LaGrossa, as three separate winners (Sophie Clarke, Kim Spradlin and Denise Stapley) compared themselves to her.

For male players, Boston Rob Mariano has the most comparisons at 18, with both Tony Vlachos and Mike Holloway comparing themselves to him. Brenda Lowe has three comparisons, but all three comps (Elyse Umemoto, Laura Alexander, Hope Driskill) were all pre-merge boots. The overall worst comparison to make has to be Brandon Hantz, though, as both players who compared themselves to him (Roxy Morris and Zane Knight) were both first ones voted out of Survivor Philippines.

Next: Survivor: Ranking all 34 seasons

To be fair, some newbies compare themselves to multiple past Survivor players. Interestingly enough, nobody compared themselves to Parvati on Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, and Ben compared himself to Russell Hantz. Now that he’s been compared to “The Survivor Devil,” it’s all starting to make sense!