Survivor: Russell Hantz’s Top 100 Greatest Survivors Ever (80-71)

74. Tommy Sheehan (Island of the Idols)

Our next winner to appear on the list is season 39 winner Tommy Sheehan, whose win was unfortunately clouded by the ugliness of the Dan Spilo situation.

Tommy played a really good social game on Island of the Idols and as it was noted in his segment, he didn’t find an idol at all and never went to the island of which the season was named after. His best move was convincing Noura to take him to the final tribal council and force Lauren to make fire against Dean.

Maybe over time people can learn to appreciate Tommy’s win, but for now, it’s too recent and still too surrounded by the Dan controversy for people to really look into it as a solid Survivor victory.

73. Ben Driebergen (Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, Winners at War)

Yet another winner! In the first 34 seasons of Survivor, Ben Driebergen doesn’t win. He’s the one voted out right before the final three and rounds out the jury. The fire making twist was essentially invented to get Ben to the end and that’s why a lot of people don’t think much of him in the winner category.

That being said, he did play a good game. He was able to find idols without clues and was the mastermind behind several blindsides because of those idols.

He didn’t get a great edit on Winners at War, mostly being depicted as an unlikable goat, but him falling on the sword to help Sarah get to the end was a lovely gesture. He knew he had no shot at winning, so he tried to help his friend get some brownie points with the jury.