Since Survivor premiered in the year 2000, the show has crowned 46 different Sole Survivors. Many of those former winners get a great deal of praise from virtually all observers. Some of the most obvious examples of that include “Boston” Rob Mariano, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tony Vlachos, and Parvati Shallow.
While those winners deserve the respect they get, others who prevailed on Jeff Probst's show deserve much more credit. Even though they are regularly left out of conversations about the best Sole Survivors ever, the following five former winners accomplished things during the game that deserve to be celebrated by fans.
5. Michele Fitzgerald - Survivor: Kaoh Rong
When Survivor: Kaoh Rong finished, many fans were outraged that the jury chose Michele Fitzgerald as the season's winner. Most of those viewers believed that Aubry Bracco, the season's runner-up, should have been awarded the $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor. In retrospect, it is still easy to see why many viewers praised Aubry, given how skillful her strategic gameplay was.
The tragedy of the situation, however, is that too many viewers allowed their admiration for Aubry to obscure why Michele Fitzgerald actually played an incredible game. There are several aspects of what Michele accomplished during Survivor: Kaoh Rong that should be respected by viewers and studied by future players.
One of the most underappreciated Survivor skills is the ability to make it to the end without angering the jury. Through a combination of incredible social skills and obvious emotional intelligence, Michele habitually created bonds with other players and avoided angering the season's jury members. Michele also deserves respect for how strong her challenge performances were, both in terms of completing puzzles and the more physical aspects.
4. Earl Cole - Survivor: Fiji
During Survivor: Fiji, Earl Cole put on a clinic showing how the game should be played. Extremely charismatic and inherently likable, Earl was never once in any real peril of being eliminated. In fact, Rita Verreos is the only player who cast a vote against Earl, and she only did that once. Not only that, Earl also received every jury vote to win the season. In short, Early came incredibly close to achieving a perfect game.
Despite how impressive Earl was as a player, he is so underrated that it seems like the vast majority of Survivor fans have forgotten that he ever competed on the show. Most of the time, it takes Earl sharing his thoughts about newer seasons for him to be discussed by the show's viewers again. That is an utter shame because he is one of the most impressive former winners. The only reason why Earl didn't top this list is that he doesn't have detractors like some former winners.
3. Vecepia Towery - Survivor: Marquesas
Since it featured the debut of arguably the most legendary player ever, Survivor: Marquesas is almost entirely remembered for introducing the world to Boston Rob. What fans need to realize is that Vecepia Towery should go down in reality show history as a former winner who transformed Survivor.
After the first several seasons of Survivor aired, it had become an obvious truth that the key to winning the game was forming a strong alliance and riding it to the end. Then, Vecepia came along and proved that wasn't necessary. In fact, when there were nine people left in the game, Vecepia's only true ally was Sean Rector. Even though she was facing a 7-2 deficit, Vecepia was smart enough to keep her head down and not give her enemies a reason to target her.
Even more notably than that, Vecepia had the foresight to use her luxury item, a poetry book, to take notes about her tribemates. After often studying her notes, she was later able to use that information to win an imperative challenge and impress the jury with her knowledge of them. Sadly, however, Vecepia is often remembered as one of the most boring Survivor winners.
2. Chris Daugherty - Survivor: Vanuatu
In the history of Survivor, there seemingly has never been any other players who've faced the kind of odds that Chris Daugherty came up against. First off, Chris was facing an extremely strong six-person alliance that clearly was targeting him. Secondly, an Idoled Out YouTube video chronicled the evidence that makes it seem like Jeff Probst hated Chris.
Even though Chris's doom seemed inevitable, he never appeared to let despair overtake him. Instead, Chris tried to fly under the radar and allowed tensions in the ruling alliance to fester until he was able to sneak his way through one tribal council after another. In the end, Chris was able to fight his way to the Final Tribal Council with a fellow finalist who'd angered the jury more than he had. Chris then argued his case, took responsibility for his perceived transgressions, and won all but two votes. What an amazing feat.
1. Richard Hatch - Survivor: Borneo
When Survivor: Borneo began, most of the players seemed like they were there to enjoy an incredible adventure. However, Richard Hatch always made it clear that his goal was to win $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor. Thanks to his ability to keep his eyes on the prize, Richard became such an influential part of the show's history that he arguably deserves to be credited as one of the series' co-creators.
More than 25 years after Richard first played Survivor, players are still following in his footsteps. The most obvious example of that is the fact that alliances remain a pivotal part of every season. Some other examples of that include players trying to operate as providers, players throwing challenges, and players being cutthroat. Despite how influential he remains, Richard's place in the show's history often goes uncelebrated. That has resulted in times when Richard has addressed his Survivor snubs. Not only has Richard been left off the show, his legacy deserves more credit too.