As far as individual immunity challenges go, Survivor 49 hasn't really been the battlefield we've been seeing in recent season. Even throughout the entire history of Survivor, our players who have reached the Final 5 and won individual immunities averaged about two wins each, which means an average of six people per season would don the iconic safety necklace.
Last season alone we saw five players take a win across 10 individual challenges, four of whom ended up in the Final 5. And before that, in Survivor 47, 5 players individually won the 10 challenges—one of which awarded immunity to the last man and last woman standing—including winner Rachel LaMont who scored four of those wins, making her the most recent woman in the show's history to tie the woman's individual immunity win record.
So even in seasons where we see a player reach a historic milestone, there are still at least a few other final castaways who earned immunity as well. But for some reason, Survivor 49's individual challenge winner pool has been quite an exclusive club so far. And based on how things have been playing out, fans won't be too surprised if it stays that way.
There are still two immunity challenges left in the season, so there are a few ways the finale could unfold and change the performance outcome for our finalists, but as of right now, Savannah Louie is the only player left who has won any individual immunity challenges. If she wins one more, she will tie for the woman's record of most individual immunity challenges won in a single season and if she wins both of them, she will break the record and be the first woman to tie the men's record thereby removing gender from the equation entirely.
And while that's a huge feat for Savannah, if she is able to pull out two more wins, that will mean she is the only finalist this season to have ever worn the necklace. There's only one other season in Survivor history that saw a Final 5 with only one individual immunity winner; season 35, Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.
Ben Driebergen is remembered as winning that season after he impressively found and played three hidden immunity idols back-to-back-to-back to keep himself alive in the game before earning a spot in the Final 3 at the fire-making challenge. But he never won individual immunity. Our runner-up Chrissy Hofbeck, however, won four of the nine individual immunity challenges that season. That's a 44.4% win rate, which might not seem very impressive unless you compare it to the other four finalists individual win rates which are all 0%.
Chrissy might have joined the history books that season—one of many reasons fans are excited to see her back for Survivor 50—but so did her fellow finalists...as the worst finalist challenge performers in Survivor history. And the only way they'll be semi-redeemed is if Savannah can keep her fellow finalists from the immunity necklace, getting her to five out of eight individual wins this season and a 62.5% win rate. That would be keep everyone else on par with the rest of our season 35 crew, technically tying both seasons' finalists—minus Chrissy and Savannah—as the worst challenge performers in history.
But like I said, there are still two chances for Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Sophi Balerdi, Kristina Mills, and Rizo Velovic to score a win for themselves this season, averaging out the individual win rates for the season and evening out the playing field, statistically speaking. And while that still won't put them at the top of the best finalist challenge performers, it will keep them from being the worst.
If you want to look at the Final 5 as a whole, Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers can't be beat. At an overall 44.4% individual challenge win rate, they are the lowest ranked finalists in Survivor history, far below the average 76.47% win rate across all seasons. The three other overall seasons who have fallen the farthest below the average are:
- Survivor: Kaôh Rōng - 57.14% - 3 players won 4 of 7 total challenges
- Survivor: David vs. Goliath - 60% - 4 players won 6 of 10 total challenges
- Survivor 47 - 60% - 3 players won 6 of 10 total challenges
We'll have to wait and see if Savannah goes on to tie and/or beat the challenge record. If she does—and is indeed one of the players from this season picked to be on Survivor 50—it will definitely be fun to potentially watch her go head-to-head with Chrissy as they've both found themselves in almost identical positions.