Survivor Winners at War finale power rankings: Ultimate Surviving Championship

5. Denise Stapley

“The Penultimate Step of the War” also served as the penultimate episode of the season, setting up storylines for the endgame for the five active players and the one set to join them. Denise is finally getting excellent narrative content at the Final Seven, but it came way too late in the season to pick up much steam.

Instead, Denise is now on the bottom of a tribe that sees her as a threat for dethroning Queen Sandra Diaz-Twine, especially when she was overheard by Tony in a Spy Nest in wanting to target him. The editing suggests that Denise is one of the hyenas Tony is so worried about, and with her dropping her shield down and getting caught trying to hunt down a lion, she might be picked off from the herd next.

Regardless, I’m glad that, at the very least, we were given a bit of her narrative and understanding of her Survivor journey this season. Having taken home her ideals of “Endure” and “Let Go” literally etched in her skin, Denise’s Survivor bucket is overfloweth (more or less in her own words). She’s been given an understandable sendoff right before the Final Tribal Council.