Survivor 47 has officially come to an end after the very deserving winner was crowned in the season finale! We watched all 14 episodes of the season and thought it was about time that we ranked all 18 players based on their gameplay this season.
There's always some variance in Survivor with which threats make the end of the game. Most of tthe time, the biggest threats are targeted and voted out earlier in the game. Just because the players made The Final Three, it doesn't mean that they played the third-best game this season.
For this ranking, we focused on how players played the game from a social, strategic, and physical perspective. Yes, it counts how well you perform in challenges!
So, let's get the ranking started with the first person voted out in Survivor 47, Jon Lovett.
18. Jon Lovett
Jon Lovett was the first person voted out of Survivor 47, and it's not like he actually did anything wrong. Jon ended up as the oldest player on a young tribe, and it was clear from the jump that he was the easy vote out. He tried a Hail Mary play, but it never got going in the end.
It's such a bummber because Jon seems like such a smart guy. I would have loved to see some of the creative strategic moves he was going to try to make during the season.
17. TK Foster
TK Foster almost got last place on this list because I feel like he had everything going for him, but he messed it up with his reaction to the tribe losing the immunity challenge. We've seen this so many times in Survivor. You have to keep your cool or you become a target, and that's what happened.
The Tuku tribe seemed to be the strongest of all of the tribes. Had they been able to figure things out early, they could have had a huge majority heading into the merge. This was the only challenge they lost before the merge.
16. Aysha Welch
Like Jon, Aysha never really had a chance to leave her mark in the game. From the jump, she was behind with her tribe because had to compete in the the new version of the Sweat vs. Savvy challenge, which she lost. So, that's never a good first impression, you know?
Had that not happened, I'm curious how this would have played out. Aysha ended up on a tribe with Rome Cooney, who definitely made life for those outside his alliance quite challenging.
15. Anika Dhar
It's such a bummer Anika was voted out right before the merge because I do think there's a chance she was one of the brighter strategic players of the season. She was voted out after Sam Phalen, Sierra Wright, and Andy Rueda teamed up to blindside Anika. The move was questionable at the time, and it might have worked out had Sam and Sierra not thrown Andy under the bus one vote later, which made no sense.
Anika was one of the biggest blindsides of the season. Even Jeff Probst said on the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast that Anika's blindside was the most talked about blindside of the season.
14. Tiyana Hallums
Tiyana Hallums had one of the most disappointing exits of the season. After making it through the three-tribe stage of the game, Tiyana ended up in a group with the five former Tuku players and Rachel LaMont. Rachel was going home had Sol not gifted her the Safety Without Power advantage. The Tuku tribe was forced to choose one of their own, and Tiyana was voted out.
For me, Tiyana seemed like she had a great chance to go far in the game. Had she not butted heads with Gabe Ortis and thrown Gabe under the bus on the reward challenge to the other players, there's a good chance that Tiyana could have survived that vote. But, because Kyle had immunity, Tiyana was the only safe play from Caroline, Sue, and Gabe.
13. Kishan Patel
Kishan Patel is the one player I feel like got voted out Survivor 47 way too early. And, it was solely because Genevieve recognized the huge threat that Kishan was. Kishan had the perfect plan to blindside Rome, but Genevieve said, I'll raise you one, and targeted Kishan instead. Honestly, it made perfect sense for Kishan to blindside Rome, showing how good of a player he is. And, it made even more sense for Genevieve to blindside Kishan after seeing just how well he's playing the game.
I would have loved to see what Kishan could have cooked up post-merge with someone like Andy or even Genevieve.
12. Rome Cooney
Rome Cooney was easily the most polarizing player in Survivor 47. There were so many things I loved about Rome. His love of Survivor and excitement to be playing this game was so obvious in every scene. He was the perfect narrator of the season.
When it came time to relax and let the game unfold a little bit, Rome couldn't handle not having a plan or being in control. By the time the merge happened, his moves were too transparent to the other players, and that's why he was voted out. I think he could have gone a lot further in the game had he been able to take a step back, but that's not Rome.
11. Sierra Wright
Sierra Wright played a pretty good game, but she definitely emerged as a threat because of her strong alliance with Sam. She also just made a huge move to vote out Anika right before the merge. Then, she was just a rockstar during the Survivor auction, and I think that, maybe, jealousy played into the vote to get rid of Sierra.
Ultimately, Sierra was done in because of Sam's slip to let Andy be the backup vote in the Rome vote. Sol told Andy about it, and Andy got his revenge by being the final vote in making the split vote between Sam and Sierra possible. And, the tribe thought that Sierra was the much bigger threat in the game.
Had that not happened, Sierra was in the perfect spot to make a deep run in the game. She did all that work with Andy only for it to be undone in one vote.
10. Teeny Chirichillo
Teeny Chirichillo nearly made the Final Three after an epic fire-making challenge against Sam Phalen. Had Teeny's fire station not been on the outside but on the inside like Sam, she probably would have made the Final Three, and she probably would have been a lot higher on this list.
Looking back at Teeny's game, there aren't many moves that make you feel like Teeny had a good handle on what the best play was going to be. There were opportunities to bail on her "alliance" before they bailed on her, but that's not how it played out. In challenges, Teeny wasn't really a factor during the individual portion of the game. And, clearly, there were a lot of players who wanted to sit next to Teeny at the end. Still, a Final Four finish and playing a Top 10 game in Survivor 47 is a great accomplishment!
9. Sue Smey
Sue played as good of a game as she could possibly play. She wanted to be loyal to her alliance members, and that's exactly what she did. Had a few things bounced right for her, she could have stolen a few votes in the finale, but being a finalist in a season with this many amazing players is obviously a huge deal.
Sue helped pull off some big moves this season, and she protected some of the biggest threats in the game for as long as possible. That's ultimately Sue's biggest accomplishment, in addition to being a challenge threat and winning an individual immunity challenge.
Without Sue, there's no way Gabe, Caroline, or Rachel would have made it as far as they did. She was an incredibly vital player this season.
8. Kyle Ostwald
Kyle Ostwald played a great game in Survivor! He won four individual immunity challenges, and he was targeted basically immediately after the merge, but he kept winning challenges. Had he remained in the game even longer, could he have broken the all-time record for immunity wins in a season? It's possible.
Kyle struggled building solid alliances throughout the game, which left him in jeopardy. Had he been able to stay tight with Gabe, Caroline, and Sue's alliance, he might have been protected further into the game, but Kyle clashed with Sue at times. And, it didn't really seem like it was his fault. She held a grudge against him for most of the game because he tried to vote her out very early in the Tuku tribe. Ultimately, that lack of a solid alliance is probably the reason Kyle couldn't make it to the end.
He also didn't seem to make any big moves on his own, although he was a part of several blindsides.
7. Sol Yi
Sol Yi is one of my favorite players of Survivor 47! He played a great under-the-radar game, and he was in the process of making some big moves until Genevieve convinced the entire tribe, somehow, to vote him out in episode 9.
Look, Genevieve was right to go after Sol. She was the only one, I think, who saw the secret game Sol was playing. He was making some really solid connections, and he almost convinced a majority to vote with him. Had he been able to do that, I think things would have turned out very differently. If Sol had not gotten that close to Genevieve, would she have seen him coming? I don't know.
Sol saving Rachel with the Safety Without Power advantage is the second-biggest move of the season so far behind Rachel's hidden immunity idol play at the Final Six. So, Sol was building a resume for himself. It was just cut short.
6. Caroline Vidmar
Caroline was one of my early picks to win Survivor 47, and she nearly got there. Caroline played a great game. She allied with Gabe and Sue on the Tuku tribe, and she stuck with that alliance until it no longer made sense. She knew that if she allowed Gabe to stay in the game, he would probably vote her out at some point and take Sue to the end with him. She was responsible for voting him out, but it left her quite vulnerable to Genevieve, Sam, and Andy's Operation: Italy. Ultimately, that's what got her in the end.
Had Andy stayed loyal to the Underdogs alliance, I think the Final Three is some combination of Andy, Caroline, and Rachel. Teeny and Sue probably would have dropped off. That would have been an incredible Final Three, but it didn't happen.
5. Sam Phalen
Sam actually played a better game than I gave him credit for, but he fell a little bit short in Survivor 47 because of a few things. First of all, Sam wasn't as big of a target as some of the other players in the game. He was not a big threat in the immunity challenges. And, it sure seemed like other players felt like they could beat him compared to some of the other players, including Andy Rueda and Genevieve Mushaluk, which is why Rachel targeted those players instead of Sam at the Final Six and Final Five.
After losing his top ally, Sam did everything he could to scramble at the bottom and stay in the game. And, it nearly worked. He received one vote during Final Tribal, stopping Rachel from becoming the first unanimous winner of the new era and the first in almost 15 seasons of Survivor.
To me, Sam's game was marred by a few key mistakes. Sam didn't realize how big of a player Andy was going to be. Sam entered the merge with a solid alliance that just pulled off a major blindside. Sam, Sierra, and Andy should have stuck together for at least a few votes, but Sam threw Andy under the bus immediately after the merge, which sent Andy on his blindside spree that nearly took him to the end of the game.
That mistake was critical, and it's possibly the reason why Sam lost $1 million.
4. Gabe Ortis
I always thought Gabe was too big of a threat to make it to the end of Survivor 47. Sooner or later, the tribe would realize that he is the biggest threat in the game and take him out. And, that's basically what happened. From a social and strategic perspective, Gabe played a brilliant game. He allied with Caroline and Sue on Day 1 and kept that alliance strong until the last few Tribal Councils. Ultimately, Caroline decided she could go further in the game without Gabe. Unfortunately, that wasn't really true. Caroline was voted out one spot after Gabe, as we just mentioned.
Overall, had Gabe made it through one more vote, there's a really good chance he's in the Final Four with Caroline and Sue. Gabe even mentioned that during the episode. Unfortunately, he was sent packing and became the 10th and became the third member of the jury.
3. Andy Rueda
After the first episode, I thought Andy Rueda had no chance to win Survivor 47. I don't think any of the players thought he could do it, but Andy, for real, almost won Survivor 47. Without Rachel baiting Andy into sharing all of his secrets at the Final Six and Rachel playing her hidden immunity idol and voting him out, Andy was putting together the best resume. If he gets through the Final Six in Sam's spot, Andy would have had a great chance to win this season.
Overall, Andy wasn't doing anything especially creative, but he was playing a great social game, connecting with everyone. He was flip-flopping all over the place and setting people up to get voted out. It was actually quite brilliant when you look at how Andy orchestrated the blindside on Sam and Sierra. He was integral in the vote to get rid of Gabe, and he's the reason Caroline didn't make the Final Six. He was really, really good after those first few days on the beach.
2. Genevieve Mushaluk
There's no doubt in my mind that Genevieve played the second-best game in Survivor 47. If not for an ill-timed drop in the Final Five immunity challenge, Genevieve might have won the game.
And, Genevieve's control of Survivor 47 started way back at the beginning during her time with the Lavo tribe. Genevieve pulled off a massive blindside of Kishan Patel before the merge which basically set her up for a lot of success in the game. If things played out a little differently with Rome and his post-merge antics, Genevieve would have had a solid four with Rome, Teeny, and Sol heading into the post-merge game.
Even with the things that did not go her way, Genevieve literally conjured magic from nothing with the fake hidden immunity idol, Operation: Italy, and pulled off a huge blindside of Sol Yi, who was actually putting together quite a solid alliance. If Genevieve didn't take out Sol, he was probably going to come after her before too long. It did make Genevieve a huge target, but she did a great job making moves and winning challenges to stay in the game. It nearly worked!
1. Rachel LaMont
I don't think anyone can argue with Rachel LaMont as the top player of Survivor 47! She played an incredible game, especially in the second half of the season where she absolutely dominated. After finding her hidden immunity idol in episode 8, Rachel was firmly at the bottom of the tribe. She worked her way all the way up from the bottom with a combination of great social play, using her advantages perfectly, playing an idol perfectly, taking out the biggest threats in the game, and becoming a challenge beast!
Rachel won four immunity challenges this season, tying the mark for the most immunity wins by a woman in Survivor history. Rachel had three immunity wins in the final three challenges of the season. She made sure she got to the end, and when she was there, she pitched her case to the jury and left the Survivor 47 winner.
Overall, it doesn't get much better than Rachel's gameplay in the last few episodes of the season. No one could stop that momentum. I'm sure she wishes the early part of the game worked out a little better, but that's all stolen rice in your pockets now, as they say.
So, that's the ranking of all 18 players from Survivor 47 by their gameplay throughout the season. Please don't hate me if I ranked your favorites too low!
We'll do it all again after Survivor 48 this spring! You can watch the teaser trailer for the new season now.