2) Mike White
The Hollywood director played a sneakily great game, staying under the radar while still controlling the votes. Even back at the tribe swap, it was Mike who made the decision to take out Natalie and Lyrsa. Mike’s biggest strength was his incredible social game.
As brought out at Final Tribal, he made final two deals with many castaways, which made everyone trust Mike and open up to him. As a result, from the Final Seven onwards, Mike’s knowledge of everyone’s plans enabled him to take control.
He blindsided Christian while still throwing two votes on Davie as an insurance policy. This was a vote where all the Goliaths had their own ideas for the vote, but Mike was able to pull it together and finally get Christian out. The next couple of votes saw Mike remove two more dangerous threats in Davie and Alison.
The fault in Mike’s game was ultimately his inability to get the big threats out sooner. He tried so long to vote Christian out, that every unsuccessful attempt saw the Davids gain momentum. All of those correct idol and advantage plays allowed Nick, Davie and Christian to build up a better reputation with the jury. So Mike made the right decision to stick Goliath strong, but allowing one David to sneak through was enough to blow up his game.