6. Cook Islands (Season 13)
First off, let’s just appreciate for a second what an absolutely ridiculous concept Survivor: Cook Islands is. The twist of the season was that the tribes were divided by race: African American, Hispanic American, Asian American and White American. Can you imagine the firestorm that would ensue if they tried something like that in the modern day? Whoever pitched it would get laughed out of the producers’ meeting.
With that said, Survivor handled the controversy surrounding the experiment relatively well, and the results were a vastly underrated season. This was the first time we were introduced to a number of players that would go on to become veterans of the game, including Ozzy, Parvati Shallow, Jonathan Penner and Candice Woodcock. What that tells you is that Cook Islands was loaded with great characters, including the vastly underrated winner, Yul Kwon.
Though his game wasn’t perfect, he played well strategically and that was enough to beat Ozzy, who rested on the laurels of his physical prowess. But really, all of this is secondary to the fact that Cook Islands offered fans the greatest love story ever told.
Billy Garcia and Candice, forever.