4. Cirie Fields (Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs Villains, Game Changers)
Cirie Fields is the best player to never win the game and it’s not even a question. There’s a reason she’s rated above so many winners on this list and it’s because of how well she played the game in three of her four seasons.
This was coming from someone who was afraid of leaves on her original season too, so watching the journey of Cirie from early on in Panama to where she’s at now is one of the biggest transitions in Survivor history.
While Cirie was good at the game, she always happened to get eliminated in the worst possible ways. She made the final four in her first two seasons, but lost in fire-making to Danielle in Panama and then was blindsided with a final two in Micronesia where Amanda voted her out and took Parvati to the end.
In Heroes vs Villains, Cirie targeted Tom Westman and he returned the favor by idoling her out of the game, the first and only time she’s been taken out pre-merge. Game Changers was the most heartbreaking Cirie elimination though, as she was taken out simply because everyone else was immune at the vote, also known as “Advantageddon”. Survivor has done their best to try and prevent this from happening again.
Cirie has been behind some of the biggest moves in Survivor history, such as suggesting getting Ozzy out and bringing up the idea to convincing Erik to give up the necklace (which somehow worked), both of those happening in Micronesia.
It’s baffling that Cirie not only hasn’t won the game but also that she has never made it to the end. She was so close in her first two seasons, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. She’s hands down the best to never win in the history of Survivor.
3. Rob Mariano (Marquesas, All-Stars, Heroes vs Villains, Redemption Island, Winners at War)
Rob Mariano, or “Boston Rob” as many refer to him as, is the only five-time player in Survivor history and for good reason. Rob was trying to play a new school version of Survivor back in season 4 and showed he was there to win when he took Hunter out third despite the Maraamu tribe already struggling to win.
Rob played very aggressively in Marquesas and as a result, was a huge target when he was on the wrong end of a tribe swap. He managed to make it to the merge, but was taken out first at the merge and didn’t make the jury.
He was a surprising pick to return for All-Stars simply because he wasn’t a huge name like some of the other names on that season were. With people not really fixating on him, he was able to take control of the game and even found love, forming an alliance with Amber on Day 1, falling in love, and getting engaged at season’s end. The two got married not long after and have four kids.
Despite his dominant game in All-Stars, Rob didn’t win the season due to, for lack of better terms, a bitter jury. He returned for Heroes vs Villains and the rivalry between him and Russell was really fun to watch, but Rob lost the battle.
He won the war, however, outlasting Russell on Redemption Island and going on to win the season pretty handily. Yes, he played with a lot of goons on his winning season, but he took advantage of the weak players around him and finally recorded his first Survivor victory.
Blindsiding Matt shortly after he returned from Redemption Island was cold-blooded, but a move that made perfect sense. Rob implemented that. He also invented the Buddy System in his winning season, which as we saw in Winners at War isn’t always a great strategy, and that allowed him to essentially control his entire tribe.
It took him four tries, but he did it and he definitely goes down as one of the best players ever. He was taken out early in Winners at War because of how huge of a target he was, but still made it fairly far despite being the biggest name in the show’s history.
Even non-Survivor fans know who Boston Rob is and that’s a testament to how good of a player he is.