Survivor: Russell Hantz’s Top 100 Greatest Survivors Ever (10-1)

1. Tony Vlachos (Cagayan, Game Changers, Winners at War)

Tony Vlachos had to be number one and it isn’t even up for discussion. He’d have been a top 20 entry for his Cagayan win alone, but then winning season 40 – a season filled with winners – without having a single vote cast against him and becoming the second only two-time winner solidified his spot as the best player of all-time.

While Sandra also won twice, Tony played two of the best games that Survivor has ever seen and as such, the true King of Survivor was crowned.

Tony’s win in Cagayan was a ruthless cutthroat one. He had no problem cutting members of his alliance if it benefitted his end game, but he managed to keep the alliance intact time and time again. One of his best moves that season was telling the other contestants that his special idol could be played at the final four when it actually expired at the final five.

Tony really shouldn’t have even been in a position to win Cagayan because Woo should have taken Kass to the end. Tony convinced Woo that he’d have a shot against him and that led to Woo wanting to face him because it was the honorable decision.

While Tony was eliminated second in Game Changers due to his aggressive style of play, he returned for Winners at War and played arguably the best game Survivor has ever seen. The fact that he was a huge target early on, but somehow made it to the end without getting a single vote cast again him really just shows how incredible of a player he is.

The only person who tried to take Tony down was Kim and when he caught wind of it, he took her out and from there, the victory was practically his for the taking. He played such a good game and it’s really hard to make a case for why anyone else deserves this number one spot.

If you have an argument for someone else, I’d love to hear it in the comment section.

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Well, there you have it folks! These are the top ten Survivor players to ever play the game and it’s hard to argue too much with the top 10, though I’d swap Kim and Russell personally (and Kim would be in the top five).

I enjoyed this ranking from Russell Hantz’s YouTube channel and hopefully more rankings and countdowns are to come as we prepare for what’s going to be a painfully long offseason.