Survivor David vs. Goliath: Should Elizabeth Olson return?

The Survivor record-holder was integral in a number of key blindsides and part of the biggest moment at the merge. Should Elizabeth Olson return?

Sometimes, a season of Survivor is won or lost in the opening days. Making the key alliances that carry through to the end can be beneficial to core groups of four, five or even six and more. However, everyone came to play in David vs. Goliath, including Elizabeth Olson; the Texan superfan who gave it her all from start to finish.

Elizabeth was quick to make friends in the game, including tight alliances with Lyrsa who you would not expect coming into the season. Her social game was fairly strong early, as she was able to know her closest target was the potential first vote at the David camp. Elizabeth was crucial in helping bring Gabby into the fold, who then linked to Christian, then Nick, to vote out Jessica.

The real shine of her social game came at the tribe swap. With just Davie (someone on the opposite side of the first vote) as her fellow David on the Vuku tribe, the two worked Alec over separately, but equally, to try to flip his vote. He even got along swimmingly with Kara, who bonded over horses and religion, to the point of making Natalia Azoqa nervous and paranoid.

Elizabeth was the one pushing Alec to play for a resume way earlier than necessary, helping him stand up in the middle of Tribal Council and shift his plan to vote out Natalia. Without Elizabeth (and, later, Davie) saying the right things and pushing the right buttons, the Davids might have been at an even bigger disadvantage at the merge.

Unfortunately, one argument with Carl right before the merge and Lyrsa getting voted out as the final member of the Survivor: David vs. Goliath pre-jury tanked Elizabeth’s stock at the merge. Carl got a bit too tipsy and spun a yarn that nobody likes Elizabeth and that she was an easy vote target, and that was enough for the Goliaths to go with.

Of course, Angelina wanted to take out a threat like Christian, so after some back and forth she tearfully told Elizabeth she was the target right before Tribal Council. Elizabeth then spilled the beans at tribal, tanking Angelina’s game, but it wasn’t enough to stop 12 votes; the most received at a single Survivor Tribal Council ballot by any player.

Elizabeth was a fiery, entertaining character who had a lot of heart. Vote here in our straw poll and let us know if you think she should return in a future season.