Introduced in season 2, Survivor: The Australian Outback, Colby Donaldson had us all glued to our screens as he navigated a love-hate relationship with Jerri Manthey which we were lucky enough to get not one, but two sequels of when the two returned for both Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. But without Jerri to be the fire to his ice as he returns for Survivor 50, fans are wondering if this opens the door for him to finally lock down the title of Sole Survivor.
Colby’s Quick Stats
Survivor Career:
- Survivor: The Australian Outback (2nd Place)
- Survivor: All-Stars (12th Place)
- Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (5th Place)
Total Days Played: 98 days
Total Votes Against: 20 votes
Individual Immunity Challenges Won: 5
Individual Reward Challenges Won: 2
Immunity Idols Played: 0
Advantages Played: 0
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Taking on an early leadership role for the Ogakor tribe, Colby used his strength as a physical asset to lead the team to victory in the first immunity challenge. But poor performance from weaker tribe mates led to a series of losses where he strategized to keep the tribe strong, along the way developing a relationship with Jerri Manthey, although some of her social decisions had him questioning how much he could trust her.
When his other ally Keith Famie was being targeted, Colby worked with him and Tina to keep his allies together, leading to a win at the next immunity challenge before they merged. In order to stay Ogakor strong, Colby convinced the other tribe that he’d received a lot of past votes, which incited them to vote for him. In return, all the original Ogakor members voted for Jeff Varner, causing a tie. Per the rules, of the tied players, the one with the most previous votes against them would be sent home. When it was revealed Colby actually had none, Varner was sent home due to his prior two strikes.
Colby then went on to dominate the individual portion of the game, winning two individual reward challenges (including the infamous car reward) and five individual immunity challenges—setting the record for most individual immunity wins by a player in a single season, still yet to be broken. His winning streak led him to the final decision of which of his allies to take to Final Tribal Council with him: Keith or Tina Wesson. He knew Keith would be easier to beat, but he took Tina as she was more deserving.
This decision may have been his downfall as Tina beat Colby in a 4-3 vote that left him as the runner-up.
Survivor: All-Stars
In the first season of returning players, Colby entered with a new outlook on the game: he didn’t trust anybody, and he let his tribe know. His tribe managed to avoid Tribal Council for the first two votes, but on day 9, his tribe mate Jenna Morasca left the game to be with her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer before she came out to play.
After this, one of the three tribes was dissolved and the players redistributed, sending Ethan Zohn and Jerri Manthey to Colby’s tribe. He thought it good to have a former winner around as a target and was also happy to reunite with his former Australian Outback tribe mate.
When the tribe lost the next immunity challenge, they unanimously voted out Richard Hatch, but the following loss led the rest of the tribe to lean towards eliminating Colby, Ethan, or Jerri. Colby connected with Ethan about sending Jerri home over either of them, but with the rest of the tribe worried about Colby’s physical prowess and Jerri motivated by revenge after Colby voted her out last time, Colby was sent home in a 3-2 vote, finishing in 12th place.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Starting on the Heroes tribe, Colby began the game on the outside of the majority alliance alongside Survivor: Palau castaways Tom Westman and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick. The stress of social exile led to unexpectedly poor performances in the first few challenges. By the time the Heroes had lost three immunity challenges, he was the only member of his alliance left, but thankfully, the tribe was able to turn things around and win the next three immunity challenges.
Colby entered the merge with the Heroes and Villains tied in numbers, but after Parvati Shallow played two hidden immunity idols (one on Colby’s Survivor nemesis, Jerri Manthey) in one Tribal Council, the Villains took control of the game and picked off the Heroes one-by-one until Colby was the last Hero standing.
He made it to the Final 5 by helping Russell Hantz blindside Danielle DiLorenzo when Russell realized Parvati was more loyal to her than to him. But after losing the immunity challenge, the Villains snuffed his torch as they thought him to be a jury threat. Of the Villains who made it to Final Tribal Council, Colby voted for who he felt was most heroic and helped to crown Sandra Diaz-Twine the first two-time winner of Survivor.
Survivor 50 predictions: How far will Colby go?
I have a feeling Colby might be seen as a non-threat in Survivor 50. While he set the record for most immunity wins in a season, that was 25 years ago, and he didn’t win an individual challenge in any of his seasons after that. Because of this, people might not be afraid to keep him as a number in the second half of the game.
However, a huge factor of the new era is that the game completely shifted as it was reformatted. I wouldn’t say challenges are easier (because no challenge in Survivor is “easy”), but we’ve seen non-athletic players beat physical threats much more often than we ever used to. So Colby is very much still a threat in this new era, even if others don’t realize it initially. And where he’s always been viewed as a threat is with jury votes. If he makes it to the end as an alliance number, it’s quite possible he might win.
Colby Donaldson's Survivor 50 Player Score
Over the seasons we didn’t see much variation in Colby’s gameplay: winning challenges and trying to make allies. I can’t imagine there will be some major shift in how he approaches Survivor 50, but he’s had a chance to study the game without playing for over a decade now. There’s a great chance he’s had the time to adapt to fit the new era and none of the castaways on that beach with him will even realize he has the tools he needs to get where he needs to go.
Outwit (Social Game): 5/15
Outplay (Physical Game): 10/15
Outlast (Strategic Game): 3/15
Wildcard Factor: 1/5
Total Player Score: 19/50
Still for a lot of fans, the most interesting factor of this season for Colby will be the fact that Jerri Manthey isn’t playing beside him. Will Colby finally get a win without his Survivor frenemy around to foil his game? Survivor 50 premieres Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount +!