Ranking Four-Time Survivor Players: Number 3 – Sandra Diaz-Twine
Up until this year, Sandra Diaz-Twine was the only two-time winner in Survivor history. She won the first two times she played, which came in Pearl Islands and Heroes vs Villains.
Sandra could have never returned after those two seasons and left a huge mark on the series, but she came back two more times – Once for Game Changers and again for Winners at War. She also served as a mentor on Island of the Idols with Boston Rob.
Sandra made it to the end on Pearl Islands without ever having a vote cast against her. She was smart to align with Rupert and Christa early on, which saved her in the pre-merge phase despite her not being great in challenges.
Sandra was one vote shy of recording the show’s first-ever perfect game, as Tijuana voted for Lill over Sandra on Day 39. Still, making it to the end without having any votes thrown your way is impressive.
Sandra was a member of the Villains tribe on Heroes vs Villains and was vehemently against Russell. They hated each other, but Russell thought Sandra had no shot at winning and ended up keeping her around to take to the end because he viewed her as a goat.
Well, funny thing about that was that Sandra beat both Russell and Parvati in the final vote, securing the show’s only two-time winner title.
So, Sandra has won twice – Why is she not number one on this list?
The answer to that is that Sandra really wasn’t a great player in either season. In Pearl Islands, she invented the “Anyone but me” strategy and it obviously worked, but she wasn’t doing much of the leg work when it came to voting people off.
In Heroes vs Villains, she was brought to the end as a goat, but it backfired as a result of a bitter jury. The Heroes voted for her because she tried to help them earlier on, but they didn’t listen until it was too late.
Sandra’s best strategic game actually was in Game Changers where she continuously stirred things up between people. She instigated fights between J.T. and Michaela, which made it easier for the tribe to boot J.T. despite him being helpful in challenges.
Sandra’s legacy took a hit – albeit not a huge one – due to her demise in Winners at War where she was “slayed” by Denise. Sandra gave Denise her Hidden Immunity Idol for two fire tokens and was promptly taken out by that very same idol. Ouch.
Sandra then rose the white flag on the Edge of Extinction and was the only contestant that season to not be included on the jury. No one really blamed her for this, as she knew she wasn’t going to win the challenge and didn’t see the point in “wasting her time” in harsh conditions.
Be that as it may, Sandra sits in the third spot when it comes to four-time player rankings, but she’s still one of two contestants to have won twice, so she deserved to be put in the top half on this list.