Survivor David vs. Goliath: Should Davie Rickenbacker return?

One of the most enigmatic characters of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, Davie Rickenbacker was a reaction GIF machine. Should he return?

There were 21 people who flew out to Fiji in order to compete in Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Only 20 of them made it to the television show, as an unidentified male had to cancel just days before the competition was set to begin. Davie Rickenbacker was then asked by casting director Lynne Spillman if he was still interested, and a series of connecting flights later, Davie made it to Fiji in the nick of time.

Because he wasn’t there at Ponderosa for the full four to six-day pre-game experience the rest of the players did, Davie played the provider role and kept things on the down low early. That allowed him to make friends and search for Hidden Immunity Idols, the latter of which one of was found within the first few days.

That allowed him to play things cool and play from behind, which worked well when he swapped to Vuku. He was willing to throw Elizabeth under the bus after being blindsided, even though he wasn’t outwardly bitter about it. Instead, he saw the cracks and worked in Elizabeth and his shared interests to flip Alec and vote out Natalia, reversing the tribal odds back in the Davids’ favor.

Davie wasn’t put in too much further danger until the rest of the Davids were at the merge, with Davie helping run distraction point on the beach with his nupe twirling as Nick searched for a Vote Steal advantage with Carl. That helped allow him to play his Hidden Immunity Idol on Christian, which took out John and then allowed the Davids to play their advantages such as the Vote Steal and Idol Nullifier to take out Dan Rengering.

With the Brochachos and Carl falling one by one, Davie was suddenly one of the biggest threats left in the game, both socially and in challenges. That’s why it made sense for him to keep Christian in the game, letting him know to play his Hidden Immunity Idol to protect him against Gabby’s Brutus-like attempt of a backstab.

It could only keep Christian in the game for one extra round, and after not risking the extension of a Hidden Immunity Idol power beyond the Final Seven, Davie entered the finale needing to win immunity. With those honors going to Nick, the inevitable happened; he was voted out in sixth place after one of the most fun runs in a Survivor season.

Despite being behind the 8-ball for the entirety of the game, Davie was one of the more fun players in Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Vote here in our straw poll and let us know if you would like to see Davie return in a future season.