Ranking every three-time player in Survivor history

Ranking Three-Time Survivor Players – Number 8: Tina Wesson

We’re about to start seeing more winners now that we’re in the top eight, so let’s start with Tina Wesson, who won the Australian Outback. She won because Colby made the decision to take her to the end despite knowing she would beat him. Even still, she won the show’s second ever season.

Her return wasn’t glorious whatsoever, as she was the first boot in All-Stars simply because she had won the game before. We didn’t get to see Tina again until Blood vs Water nine years later, where she competed against her daughter Katie.

Tina was originally voted out on Day 24, but returned to the game on Day 36 after winning the Redemption Island duel. She wasn’t able to convince Monica to flip over with her and Ciera, leading Ciera to go home first and Tina to follow her on Day 38, just short of making it to the end again.

Tina’s challenge dominance in Blood vs Water was very impressive considering she was 52 years old and the fact that she almost made it to the end despite having won the game before shows she’s one of the best three-time returnees. Her first boot in All-Stars definitely brings her down a few spots though.

Ranking Three-Time Survivor Players – Number 7: Russell Hantz

I don’t like Russell Hantz at all, but I have to give credit where credit is due – He played a good game in Samoa and should have won that season (even though I’m glad he lost). Yes, I’m also aware that he’s technically played four times, but I’m only counting American versions of the show for these rankings, so he’s still a three-time player in my mind.

Russell was controlling things from Day 1 on the Foa Foa camp in Samoa and despite his team being down 8-4 at the merge, was able to get him and his alliance to the Final 3. Without anyone having seen his previous game, his run on Heroes vs Villains also resulted in him making it to the end. Pretty good, right?

Well, there’s a reason why Russell – despite making it to the end twice – has yet to win a season of Survivor and that’s because there’s this thing called jury management and Russell didn’t acknowledge it AT ALL.

He’d mock people and make them feel badly about getting beaten by him and when it came down to it, nobody wanted to vote for him. He lost to Natalie in Samoa because of how arrogant he was and he lost in Heroes vs Villains because nobody respected his game.

When he returned for a third time on Redemption Island (or Rob vs Russell), he was voted out third overall and first by his tribe. No one was going to let Russell make it far that time.

A case could be made for Russell having invented the way Survivor is played now and I recognize how hard he played in Samoa and Heroes vs Villains, but you can’t treat people like garbage and expect them to give you a million dollars. That’s why Russell is just outside the top five.