With Survivor 50 officially wrapped with filming, fans have already begun speculating on the cast members’ respective chances at winning the much-anticipated season. With two winners confirmed to be in the mix and potentially a third from Survivor 49, there is still the possibility that we could have a third 2-time winner emerge from the season.
While there is no arguing with the fact that both Dee Valladares and Kyle Fraser are excellent choices for returning winners, I can’t help but lament the great winners that we have yet to see make a return. Their first times around were all nothing short of a success, but who’s to say they couldn’t make lightning strike twice? Here are four Survivor winners who are still in need of making a return.
Vecepia Towery
One of the few old-school winners to never make a return to the game, Vecepia is one of the first players in Survivor history to perfect the under-the-radar game. While other castaways were infighting about the “right” way to play the game, Vecepia strategically waited for her adversaries’ egos to be their ultimate demise. It was a strategy that went underappreciated at the time, and frankly, it still goes underappreciated now. That doesn’t make her winning game any less impressive, especially so early into the franchise.
After being snubbed from returning for Winners at War, Vecepia joined her fellow Black Survivor alum to advocate for positive change in the franchise. The advocacy done by her and other alumni led to the 50% BIPOC initiative that was implemented in all CBS reality shows. Even when she wasn’t given her deserved recognition from production, she still tried to create better opportunities for future players. As the first solo Black winner of any competitive reality TV show, it’s about time to see her play one more time.
Chris Daugherty
He went from the man who couldn’t make it over the balance beam, to the sole man left in the game, to the Sole Survivor of the season. Chris Daugherty has one of the most impressive winning stories in the history of the series. In a season all about the gender divide, Chris was able to appeal to the senses of both his original tribemates and the women he met during the tribe swap and merge. If the measure of a winner is their ability to maneuver out of difficult situations, few players have been able to play as masterfully as Chris.
So why have we never seen him play again? There are a few theories as to why that may be, but it is truly a loss on Survivor’s part to snub such a fantastic winner from a second chance. When Chris originally played there were no idols, no twists, no exile island or the like. Seeing an old-school player adapt to the new-school game is always an interesting social experiment to watch unfold, and I think Chris is smart enough to adapt to the new game with ease.
Earl Cole
Many Survivor winners have won in Fiji, but there is only one winner of Survivor: Fiji, and he made Survivor look easy. He may have started on the Have-Nots tribes, but no one was Outwitting, Outplaying, and Outlasting quite like Earl, and it showed when he became the first unanimous winner in the show’s history. Even more impressively, he did it all without watching the show beforehand.
Earl’s schedule over the years has prevented him from making a return to Fiji for Survivor, but it hasn’t stopped him from contributing to the country that made him a millionaire. He has even announced that he is shooting his next movie there! That doesn’t mean that CBS shouldn’t keep trying to bring him back to our screens. Here is hoping that one day the stars will finally align and the GOAT will make his long-awaited return.
Natalie White
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again; a bad edit does not make a bad winner. Natalie may just be the best example of this in Survivor history. With everything that is Russell Hantz dominating the edit of Survivor: Samoa, it’s easy to forget all that Natalie achieved to deserve her win, and deserve it she did.
Yes, she achieved the ultimate goal in Survivor by receiving the necessary jury votes to win, but her game was so much more than simply sitting next to Russell in the end. She was the key to getting the Galu women to vote off Erik at the merge, had the social capital to help pull necessary allies to their side after the initial merge, and played her presumed naivety to perfection. She perfected Vecepia’s original masterclass in playing an under-the-radar game. Natalie is a winner that seems lost to time, and that’s all the more reason we should be singing her praises.
These winners may not be featured on Survivor50, but their legacies live on in the Survivor canon as the Sole Survivors of their respective seasons. In due time, hopefully, we will be granted their return to TV. And if not on Survivor… well, I hope the Traitors casting team keeps their names in mind.
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