Survivor season rankings: All Survivor seasons, ranked

21. Marquesas (Season 4)

In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, we’re in the portion of the rankings where, for the most part, the seasons were neutral regarding being on the good-bad scale. They all have redeeming qualities throughout the 39 days, but they also have plenty of moments that you simply don’t remember. Survivor: Marquesas is probably the poster-child for such a season.

With the show still in its infancy, we were introduced to one of the game’s most legendary players in the fourth season with Boston Rob Mariano. Yes, he’d go on to play three more times after his first appearance, eventually winning on his fourth try. However, he would’ve had a better chance at winning in Marquesas if not for the best quality of the season as a whole.

Players like Boston Rob and several others were clearly in the driver’s seat and were set to start taking a group all the way to the end by picking off those in smaller alliances after the merge. Instead, those smaller alliances and lone wolves banded together to shift the power of the game. The underdogs took control and, while that means the strongest players of the season weren’t there at Final Tribal, it’s a groundbreaking move that was fun to watch.