Best pre-Hidden Immunity Idol blindsides in Survivor history

Best pre-Idol blindsides in Survivor history- No. 8: Deena (Amazon, Season 6)

Survivor: Amazon had so many great blindsides and it was really hard putting Deena’s boot this low on my list of best pre-idol blindsides. Deena was essentially playing a game similar to that of Rob Cesternino and was taken out because of it.

Deena’s demise was that she wanted to take out Alex, who she viewed as a huge threat to win the game. Deena floated the idea to both Jenna and Rob, neither of whom liked this option and learned they couldn’t trust Deena as a result, so they took her out.

Deena is someone I wanted to see return and play the game because she was an aggressive female player before women really had that label. She didn’t float under the radar and had she played on a season without Rob, Deena might have made it to the end and won.

Best pre-Idol blindsides in Survivor history- No. 7: Hunter (Marquesas, Season 4)

The blindside of Hunter in Marquesas was unlike anything Survivor fans had seen at that point. Teams didn’t boot their strong players in the pre-merge portion of the game, but that didn’t apply to Maraamu, who had the cunning Boston Rob on their tribe. Boston Rob led the charge to boot Hunter third and it was a huge move.

As time has gone on, this vote doesn’t seem as big, but I really don’t think people grasped how huge it was at the time. Hunter was the strongest player on Maraamu and this was a tribe that was already crumbling. It truly was a jaw-dropping move, but it gave us Boston Rob’s first successful blindside as well as Hunter’s famous final words where he called his tribe a bunch of knuckleheads.

Good times.