Survivor David vs. Goliath: Ranking the top 5 players of the season

5) Kara Kay

Similar to Alison, Kara’s game went under the radar as she didn’t receive nearly as many confessionals as the Final Three castaways. However, we still saw evidence of her strong social game. Ever since the Dan vote, Kara was always in on the plan for each Tribal Council.

The relationships that she developed allowed her to stay in the loop. Not only was she in on the Goliaths’ plans, but her bond with Gabby made her a perfect fit to help in executing the Carl blindside. Let’s not forget that Kara basically pulled a Gabby by breaking free from her closest ally.

Kara and Dan developed a close bond from Day 1, which allowed her to sit in a powerful position behind an alpha male who had a pair of idols in his pocket. However, she wasn’t keen on being stuck behind Dan’s shadow. When she saw that the time was right, she was determined to make the move to get him out. She spoke with Gabby and Nick about the plan and revealed the news about his second idol. This gave the Davids the insight to use the Nullifier, helping to execute Kara’s plan to eliminate Dan.

The problem with Kara’s game is that she never really had control over the vote. During the last few Tribal Councils, it was Mike who would bring everyone together to vote his way, portraying Kara as simply a number that Mike could use. When she had the chance to get him out at the Final Five, she backed out of it, which proved to be a fatal mistake. Even if she won the fire-making challenge, I couldn’t see her getting more votes than Mike did.