For the second year in a row, I’m going to try to do a basically impossible task — accurately rank every Survivor player from the four major seasons of the franchise across the globe.

2019 was an up-and-down year for Survivor, to say the least. Two poorly received US seasons — Edge of Extinction and Island of the Idols — sandwiched two strong international seasons, South Africa’s Island of Secrets and Australia’s Champions vs. Contenders 2.

Why is this such an impossible task? Because the games were all so different.

Season 38 featured the unprecedented Edge of Extinction twist, which enabled two players who were voted out to come back into the game. It also had four returning players, and it’s extremely difficult to compare their games to newbies given the huge target on their backs.

SA7 was a relatively standard season of Survivor, while AUS4 stuck to its 24-player, 50-day format.

Island of the Idols featured the most advantages in Survivor history, including a record 12 idols (the season clearly lived up to its name).

Comparing every player’s games is an arbitrary and subjective task, but I’m here to do it anyway.

The criteria I’m basing my rankings on are 1) how much they accomplished in the game (moves they pulled off, how often they were on the right side of the vote, and overall agency), 2) if they didn’t win the season, how close they were to winning the game (considering both their placement and what the jury’s opinion of them were), and 3) how good of a Survivor player I think they are, regardless of their placement.

So without further ado, here are my rankings for all 83 Survivor players of 2019.

If you only want to read the final list without descriptions, scroll to the bottom of the page.

RANKINGS

83. Reem Daly (Edge of Extinction, 16th place)- Dudeeee, you’re ranking me last? That is LAME bro. I will drop kick you.

Reem’s overbearing motherly ways annoyed her tribemates, and her move to target Wentworth got her voted out first. Maybe the only good thing about Edge of Extinction twist was that it let us spend the entire season with one of the best characters of 2019.

82. Lee-Anne van Renen (Island of Secrets, 21st place)- There was only room for one pageant queen on Sa’ula beach. Lee-Anne didn’t integrate herself with the Amigos alliance, and was voted out by her fellow beauty queen Nicole.

81. Ronnie Bardah (Island of the Idols, 20th place)- He wasn’t able to turn around the bad luck of professional poker players on Survivor, as his early scheming made him the first boot.

80. Anastasia Woolmer (Champions vs. Contenders, 24th place)- It originally looked like the eventual winner Pia would be the first boot, but Nova switched the vote because she felt Anastasia was the bigger social threat.

79. Laura Choong (Champions vs. Contenders, 23rd place)- She didn’t do much to be voted out other than be tiny, although she was seen as trying to make too many allies.

78. Keith Sowell (Edge of Extinction, 18th place)- Come on, God. Keith would have needed divine intervention to make it to the end of Survivor, as he was a terrible physical player and found himself on the outside of his tribe almost immediately.

Although Keith made a nice move to put the target on Reem at the first vote, he was voted out next and eventually raised the mast to quit Edge of Extinction after the merge challenge.

77. Wendy Diaz (Edge of Extinction, 17th place)- The chicken-freeing whirling dervish, Wendy was an entertaining character but a horrible player. She was the only one on Manu to not vote for Reem, Keith and Chris on their boots. She released the chickens on nu-Manu, then was voted out in the mixed tribal with Lesu on the tiebreaking vote.

76. Susie Maroney (Champions vs. Contenders, 22nd place)- She appeared to be in the strong sporting seven alliance, but Abbey and Ross flipped on their original alliance and took Susie out.

75. Paul Smulders (Island of Secrets, 20th place)- The living embodiment of this meme, Paul was booted in one of the most out-of-nowhere votes of 2019.

He seemed to be the fifth man in the Amigos alliance, but was positioned to be close with Nicole and Steffi.

However he didn’t give them assurances that the three were solid together, and instead of the boot being either Seipei or the injured Nathan, the target shifted on Paul. Despite finding the idol, Paul went home with it around Rob’s neck.

74. Felix Godlo (Island of Secrets, 17th place)- He was in the numbers with former tribemates Jacques and Tania on nu-Laumei, but rubbed his tribemates the wrong way after the immunity challenge and was ousted.

73. Vince Moua (Island of the Idols, 18th place)- He never could work his way out of the bottom, and his hilarious efforts to get the idol by getting embers from the Vokai tribe’s fire (I still can’t believe that actually happened) were in vain, as he was blindsided by the girls with the idol in his pocket

72. Steven Bradbury (Champions vs. Contenders, 20th place)- The gold medal speed skater’s game went up in smoke after Abbey and Ross switched, and he pissed of Abbey by calling her reasoning for flipping “weak.”

He was saved over Nova for being better in challenges, but was taken out at the next vote.

71. Tania Copeland (Island of Secrets, 16th place)- The South African version of Debbie Wanner, the kooky Tania was on the outs from the early going on Ta’alo. She got a lucky break when she was sent to the Island of Secrets and got to choose what tribe to join after the swap, picking Laumei.

The original Ta’alos stuck together to vote out Rose-Lee at the first tribal, then Tania and Seipei made a move to oust Felix. Not sticking with the original Ta’alos turned out to be the nail in Tania’s coffin, as Laumei once again went to tribal and Tania was voted out for being considered the least useful player going into the merge.

70. Ting Ting Wong (Island of Secrets, 19th place)- In another shocking South Africa early boot, Ting Ting became the target when Tania was sent to the Island of Secrets. Jacques promised he would play his idol for her, but he panicked and played the idol for himself, sending Ting Ting home.

69. Rose-Lee Smith (Island of Secrets, 18th place)- Luck is a big factor in Survivor, and Rose-Lee got dealt a bad hand when she stayed on Laumei after the swap. She was in the minority with her former tribemate Durao, and was voted off for being the worse physical player.

68. Samantha Schoers (Champions vs. Contenders, 18th place)- Receiving arguably the most anonymous edit in Survivor history, Sam didn’t get a single confessional in her seven episodes on the show. She was shockingly blindsided after a flip by Daisy, Baden and John, as Luke and David were once again able to turn the tides.

67. Molly Byman (Island of the Idols, 19th place)- One of the preseason favorites to win the game, Molly was shockingly taken out after drawing Parvati comparisons for having Jamal and Jack wrapped around her finger.

66. Casey Hawkins (Champions vs. Contenders, 15th place)- Swapped onto the wrong side of the numbers, Casey tried to get in the good graces of the former Champions. But she was seen as playing both sides, and was sent home at the second tribal she attended when the votes were split against her and Harry played his idol.

65. Sarah Ayles (Champions vs. Contenders, 17th place)- The hurricane survivor was on the wrong side of the numbers on the Champions 2.0 tribe after Daisy/John/Baden flipped, and was voted out immediately after Sam.

64. Chelsea Walker (Island of the Idols, 17th place)- Although she looked to be in a great position early, her Lairo tribemates grew weary of her relationship with Dean, and she was blindsided with an idol.

63. Tom Laidlaw (Island of the Idols, 16th place)- Was seen as a trustworthy player, but that backfired on him when he was swapped into the minority on nu-Lairo and was voted out because Janet thought he would stay loyal to his original tribe mates at the merge.

62. Jason Linden (Island of the Idols, 15th place)- Drawing comparisons to Stephen Fishbach on the island (personally I think he looks more like Dr. Mike, minus the glasses and creepy sex jokes), Jason got in trouble early in the game for looking for an idol, but he seemed to regain his footing, as he was involved in the Molly blindside.

But despite looking to be in a good position on nu-Vokai, he had his vote taken from him by Elaine, then was voted out by the original Lairos in a 4–3 vote.

61. Julia Carter (Edge of Extinction, 12th place)- After being almost invisible in the pre-merge, Julia made the biggest move of the game thus far at final 12 of Edge of Extinction, turning on the Kama 6 and ousting Eric.

The move backfired spectacularly at the next tribal, as her and Gavin didn’t make any of the factions of David/Devins, Ron/Julie or Wardog/Wentworth/Lauren feel comfortable, leading to the “Pilots and Passengers” chaos.

Julia tried to be a pilot, but her plane crashed into a Fijian cliff.

60. Andrew “ET” Ettingshausen (Champions vs. Contenders, 19th place)- The former footballer found himself on the wrong side of the numbers after the flip on the athletes, and was picked off after the Champions lost five out of their first six immunity challenges.

59. Hannah Pentreath (Champions vs. Contenders, 16th place)- Invisible for most of her time on the show, Hannah was taken out in a wild tribal in which David and Luke both played their idols, as the vote was split against her.

58. Rocco van Rooyen (Island of Secrets, 15th place)- Superman (as he was called by Rob) was a beast physically, but not the greatest mentally.

Although he wisely got the clue to the hidden immunity idol by reading Paul’s parchment, Rocco never found the idol.

He never seemed to truly the gain the trust of anyone in the game other than Laetitia (and Dante/Meryl on Ta’alo 2.0), and was voted out after the second swap for being perceived as too big of a physical threat. It was the only tribal he attended.

57. Nova Peris (Champions vs. Contenders, 21st place)- Seemed to be running the show during the early days on Champions beach, and flipped the vote from Pia to Anastasia before the first tribal.

But she found herself on the wrong side of the numbers after Abbey and Ross flipped on the Sporting Seven, and she was taken out after Susie.

56. Danté de Villiers (Island of Secrets, 10th place)- It’s kind of amazing Danté made it as far as he did, because he had one of the worst social games I’ve ever seen. Alienating nearly every single player at different points in the game, Danté was basically a dead man walking come merge.

His winning the triple immunity at final 11 led to Seipei getting blindsided, but Aquaman couldn’t outswim the sharks looking to eat him alive, and he was chopped off next.

55. Matt Farrelly (Champions vs. Contenders, 14th place)- The challenge-obsessed Matty Wahlberg didn’t put much emphasis on the more important aspects of the show. Swapped onto the wrong side of the numbers at the nu-Contenders tribe, he was taken out before the merge when Harry played his idol.

54. Jack Nichting (Island of the Idols, 14th place)- By all accounts a well-liked player, Jack was shockingly taken out when Kellee gave Dean her idol, as Jack went home with just two votes cast against him.

53. Jamal Shipman (Island of the Idols, 12th place)- He could never quite re-gain his footing after the Molly blindside, only voting correctly once at the five tribals he attended.

He wasted an idol on Noura when his number one ally Jack went home, was on the wrong side of the Kellee boot and then got screwed over by a trip to Island of Idols where he lost his vote. All of that culminated in Jamal getting taken out in a 6–3 vote.

52. Aubry Bracco (Edge of Extinction, 15th place)- Ranking the returning players from Edge of Extinction is extremely difficult, given the size of their target going into the game. We all know Aubry is a great Survivor player, but when she was placed on a Kama tribe that wasn’t keen to have returning players around, she had her back against the wall from day one.

Although she was able to find the idol and was gifted an extra vote by Devens, she was blindsided by Victoria, Gavin and Eric on Manu.

If it was a rookie player I wouldn’t put her this high, but I just can’t in good conscious rank Aubry behind people like Dante and Matty Wahlberg.

51. Joe Anglim (Edge of Extinction, 14th place)- In a season essentially built for him, Edge of Extinction couldn’t be a better representation of Joe’s Survivor career. He helped Kama dominate the pre-merge, never attending tribal council. But at the merge he was blindsided by the Kama 6, then he lost out to Chris in the challenge to get back into the game.

Probably the craziest statistic of 2019 — Joe has played 72 days of Survivor without voting for the person who went home. I don’t even know how that’s possible, but it’s true.

50. Andy Meldrum (Champions vs. Contenders, 12th place)- Nothing seemed to go Andy’s way in AUS4. Despite talking a big game, Andy couldn’t get much accomplished on the island.

He was on the wrong side of the numbers when Sam was blindsided on the nu-Champions tribe, and his attempt to gain Luke and David’s trust and get them to blindside Shaun didn’t work out.

He finally got something right when he was unanimously voted out at the merge, telling the tribe that David had an idol even though he didn’t think David actually had one.

49. Eric Hafemann (Edge of Extinction, 13th place)- One of the faces of the Kama-strong movement, Eric tried to keep his alliance members loyal by constantly reminding them of the loved ones visit. But when he and Ron started to bring David and Devens into the fold, he was blindsided in a vote spearheaded by Julia and Gavin.

48. Meryl Szolkiewicz (Island of Secrets, 13th place)- A clever player, Meryl couldn’t shake off the perception of being a schemer.

At a reward challenge, she expertly distracted her tribemates to let Dante find the clue to the idol, then she found the idol at the immunity challenge. But fearing she had been seen, she told her entire tribe she found it, and later had to burn it despite having no votes cast against her.

Meryl and Dante found themselves at the bottom come merge, and Meryl was voted out in a 7–6 split vote with Geoffrey.

47. Kellee Kim (Island of the Idols, 13th place)- She was able to control a lot of the pre-merge, surviving three tribals and saving Dean with her idol.

However Dean didn’t return the favor in alerting her that she was going to receive votes against her. After originally wanting to target Missy at the merge, she decided to go along with a (seemingly) consensus vote against Dan, but instead she was blindsided with two idols.

46. Missy Byrd (Island of the Idols, tied for 10th place)- She might have played the hardest out of anyone in season 39, but that’s not necessarily a compliment.

After starting the game in the girls alliance, Missy helped orchestrate the blindside of Chelsea before the swap. She and Elizabeth decided to play up their discomfort with Dan in order to make Kellee feel like she was safe, then blindsided her (although to be fair, Kellee was originally coming for Missy).

She did a poor job of handling Karishma when she needed her vote, as she felt bullied by Missy. It came back to bite her, as Karishma was the swing vote and sent her packing.

45. Aaron Meredith (Island of the Idols, tied for 10th place)- After getting blindsided at the first tribal council when Ronnie went out, Aaron was able to get back into a solid position at the swap, as he was able to befriend Tommy and get in with the Vokais.

But he raised his threat level after the blindside of Jason, and even more so after winning the first two immunities post-merge. Despite believing he was in a strong alliance, he was voted out unanimously at the split tribal.

44. Elizabeth Beisel (Island of the Idols, 9th place)- Although she seemed to be well-liked, Elizabeth wasn’t much of a strategist.

She was able to be on the right side of every vote (counting a split vote against Karishma at the Jamal boot), until her game blew up at the split tribal.

After she lost her top allies Missy and Aaron, she was targeted for being considered a social and physical threat. Although she only had one vote cast against her, Karishma’s idol put her in a tie-breaker against Janet, and she was unanimously ousted in the re-vote.

43. Dan Spillo (Island of the Idols, 6th place)- Clearly the most controversial figure of 2019, I’m going to do my best to judge Dan based on his gameplay and not his actions (although making tribemates uncomfortable is obviously factored into his social game).

Dan was able to be in a tight alliance with many fellow Vokais throughout the game, including Tommy, Jason and Janet (although he was thrown under the bus by Tommy and Lauren once the Vokais lost their numbers when Jason was voted out).

At the merge, Dan was targeted by Kellee and Janet for making the women feel uncomfortable, but he survived that vote and his name really wasn’t brought up again.

Dan wasn’t going to win the game and a big reason he made it as far as he did was because everyone knew he couldn’t win. But he had the trust of Tommy and looked like he was headed for the final three, until he was pulled from the game.

42. Simon Black (Champions vs. Contenders, 7th place)- The Steve Willis of Champions vs. Contenders 2, Simon was basically a non-entity as a character and player throughout the season.

Although he was clearly liked by his tribemates and was the last surviving member of the Sporting Seven alliance (besides Abbey), he never had any agency in the game.

While he remained loyal to the Champions after the swap and post-merge, he targeted Abbey (off-screen) and it came back to bite him as he was blindsided by her, Luke, Harry and Baden.

Although he won the redemption challenge against Daisy to get back in the game, he was eliminated unanimously at the next vote, this time for good.

41. Nathan Castle (Island of Secrets, 14th place)- The only person I’ve ever seen literally carried into tribal council, Nathan was protected for most of the pre-merge by his Amigo alliance despite being injured for the entire season.

He had one of the best bromances of 2019 with Rob, but he was shockingly voted out by his fellow Amigo Nicole because of his injuries, as she didn’t know the merge would be the next day.

40. Geoffrey Cooke-Tonnesen (Island of Secrets, 12th place)- Whether it was warranted or not, Geoff was targeted for being considered a strategic threat after the merge.

He was seen as the mastermind of the Nathan vote, which put him on Rob’s hit list. After getting six votes at the merge vote, he was voted out by a large majority at the next vote, as Geoff’s alliance with Mike, Mmaba and Nicole couldn’t save him.

39. Cobus Hugo (Island of Secrets, 9th place)- A free agent for most of the game, Cobus never could really find a ride-or-die ally (other than Jacques at the end of his game). Despite being in the spit-shake seven alliance, he was taken out mid-merge in a split vote with Jacques.

38. Mmaba Molefe (Island of Secrets, 8th place)- Was able to float under the radar for most of the game and integrated herself well with the main decision makers. But she had the votes split against her when Jacques played her idol, and went home despite her finding an idol at tribal.

37. Ross Clarke-Jones (Champions vs. Contenders, 13th place)- The lovable surfer was one of the catalysts of switching from the Sporting Seven alliance to the Luke/David alliance.

After his swap to the nu-Contenders, he remained in a good position with the former Champions and looked primed to float his way deep into the game, similar to Brian Lake.

But a devastating ankle injury took him out of the game just before the merge.

36. John Eastoe (Champions vs. Contenders, 9th place)- John has the distinction of having the most prominently featured butt in Survivor history. The chicken parma loving gold miner wasn’t a big player, but was involved in the flip on Champions 2.0 to give Luke and David the numbers.

John did a decent job of getting close with Luke, but at the final nine the Contenders were clearly outnumbered, and John went home when Daisy played her idol on herself.

Also, shout out to Mike Bloom’s Robot John impression.

35. Daisy Richardson (Champions vs. Contenders, 8th place)- Daisy’s game can be boiled down to how badly she used her idols.

After winning an idol at the merge, she immediately played it unnecessary during a unanimous vote against Andy.

Then after getting caught red-handed finding the idol by Luke, she played the idol for herself rather than one of her fellow Contenders, leading to John going out.

Her bad idol play ruined any chance the Contenders had to swing the numbers back to their side, and Daisy was voted out next.

34. Karishma Patel- (Island of the Idols, 8th place)- The cat with nine lives, Karishma had her name thrown out early and often in season 39.

Receiving the most votes against her in one season in Survivor history, Karishma was a social outcast due to her attitude, poor challenge ability and overall efforts around camp.

Still, Karishma showed some fight, getting in the swing vote position to take out her nemesis Missy, and finding an idol and using it to save herself at final nine.

But that was Karishma’s final life, as she was taken out at the next vote.

33. Aurora McCreary- (Edge of Extinction, 7th place)- The sarcastic attorney just could never find her footing in season 38.

She aligned with Joe and Aubry on Kama, ostracizing herself from the rest of her fellow newbie tribemates.

Although she was able to hop on several votes as a number, Aurora just never had any agency in the game.

Winning two immunities put a target on her back, and she was voted out right before the second Edge of Extinction challenge.

32. Noura Salman (Island of the Idols, 3rd place)- A simultaneously batshit crazy woman and an incredibly lovable character, Noura was for all intents and purposes a goat.

Although she won three immunities, Noura was just never going to be taken seriously at the end, and she didn’t receive any votes at final tribal.

31. Shaun Hampson (Champions vs. Contenders, 11th place)- A strong player both physically and socially, the horse was the leader of the Contenders. His epic rivalry with David spanned the entire pre-merge and early post-merge, as Shaun could never trust David after he was given a fake idol.

He helped his tribes win seven of its first eight immunity challenges, but he was stolen by the nu-Champions, putting him and David on the same tribe.

They targeted each other immediately, but in one of the wildest tribals of the season they both somehow survived, as David and Luke played their idols. Shaun smartly decided to split the vote on Hannah instead of Luke, and she went home.

The nu-Champions never went back to tribal before the merge, which was probably a mistake by Shaun and the former Contenders to not throw a challenge when they had a chance to take out David or Luke.

After the Contenders (for some reason) agreed to vote out Andy at the merge, they had lost their numbers, and Shaun was taken out in the next vote

30. Steffi Brink (Island of Secrets, 5th place)- Island of Secrets became the Island of Steffi, as the fitness model went to exile four times throughout the game.

An original member of the Amigos, Steffi was erratic and emotional, making her a liability at times. She went off on Jacques for not telling everyone about his idol (despite her allies Rob and Nicole also having idols), and in general just didn’t really seem to understand the game.

She finally woke up when her friend Gina visited her on Island of Secrets and realized she needed to take out Rob, but by that time it was too late. Rob won the final three immunities, and she was taken out when Nicole told Rob about Steffi’s plans to blindside him.

29. Julie Rosenberg (Edge of Extinction, 3rd place)- As an edgic snob, I have to embarrassingly admit I was convinced Julie was winning Edge of Extinction.

However, after her erraticism during the Julia tribal, it was pretty clear that the jury viewed her as a goat for the rest of the game. Julie was often out of the loop of what was going on in the game, and just never was able to get herself into a position of control, especially after her closest ally Ron went out.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that she was a zero-vote finalist in the end.

28. Durao Mariano (Island of Secrets, 3rd place)- The doofy Durao was not exactly a strategic mastermind. He was somewhat similar to Laurel from Ghost Island, as he did a good job of getting in tight with the kingpin Rob, but he failed to ever turn on him.

Durao was Rob’s secret squirrel, which helped advance his game, but he also gave Rob way too much power. Durao alerted Rob that Mike was gunning for him, which was the best chance anyone had to take him out. Earning Rob’s trust got him to the final three, but it didn’t earn the jury’s respect, as he received zero votes at final tribal council.

27. Baden Gilbert (Champions vs. Contenders, 2nd place)- (Josh Wigler voice) Oh my gosh, you ranked me at number 27? Thank you sooo much.

Although Baden looked to be on the outs early at Contender beach (receiving four votes at their first tribal), he was able to recover nicely and proved himself as an underrated challenge beast.

After being a part of the flip to Luke/David on the nu-Champions tribe, Baden was able to get himself into Luke’s good graces, which served him well in the post-merge.

Baden was able to float along through the post-merge, only receiving five votes against him.

But he was a clear goat and had no chance of beating anyone, although he was able to pull out the final immunity win, effectively getting to decide who would win the season.

He decided to vote out Harry, handing Pia a unanimous victory.

26. Laetitia le Roux (Island of Secrets, 4th place)- Invisible for a large portion of the game, Laetitia was able to get into the good graces of the Amigos, which secured her a spot in the final four. She found an idol and the final four vote steal advantage, and she had a chance to beat anyone in the final five outside of Rob.

But her plan of an all-girls final three was ruined by Rob, and she was voted out unanimously at the final four.

25. Jacques Burger (Island of Secrets, 7th place)- Made an epically bad decision at his first tribal when he shockingly played his idol for himself rather than Ting-Ting, sending his biggest ally home.

But Jacques was able to recover nicely, particularly on nu-Laumei when he formed the Misfits alliance with Seipei and Durao, surviving three tribals on the laughably outmatched tribe.

He appeared to be in a good spot at the merge, as he was also in the spit-shake alliance, but Seipei getting blindsided blew up his game. Jacques held onto his idol as long as he could, using it to save himself at final eight, but he couldn’t fulfill his goal of making it to the loved ones visit.

24. Lauren O’Connell (Edge of Extinction, 5th place)- Having one of the most memorable moments of 2019 when she passed out during a challenge, Lauren was able to make it shockingly far without ever having to use her idol.

The problem is, when she did use her idol, she used it in the worst way possible. She was manipulated by Chris into playing her idol for him at final six, which resulted in her going home at the next vote.

Although Lauren was a solid player, by all accounts she wasn’t considered a serious threat by the jury.

23. Ron Clark (Edge of Extinction, 8th place)- The education guru was able to survive for a long time despite the break up of his beloved Kama. But when the votes were split between him and Rick, Ron went home due to Devens’ idol play.

22. Elaine Stott (Island of the Idols, 7th place)- Deemed the biggest threat to win the game from the very first days of the game, Elaine was able to survive as long as she did due to likability and loyalty.

The “busted can of biscuits” made her biggest move when she won the block a vote advantage, and used it to take Jason’s vote away and vote him out.

At the merge, she worked her way into the Vokai’s alliance, buddying up with Tommy and his crew. But nobody wanted to sit next to Elaine at the end, and she was taken out unanimously at final seven.

21. Janet Carbin (Island of the Idols, 5th place) — I struggled with how to rank Janet, one of the most popular players of 2019.

Many believe that Janet would have won have if she had made it to the end, and she was incredibly close. Dean’s idol nullifier screwed her entire game, as she believed she would win in the fire-making challenge and go on to win the game (an absolute stab in the heart by the editors, just pouring salt on the wounds of a horrendous season of Survivor).

Janet obviously had a great social game and was loved by seemingly the entire cast. But (and I hate to use this EoE phrase), Janet pretty much played a passenger game.

While she was in the majority on Vokai and nu-Lairo, her game looked sunk when she voted for Dan (in an effort to stick up for Kellee and the girls who played up their discomfort about Dan) at the merge vote.

She (unnecessarily) played her idol at the next vote, then eventually worked her way back into her Vokai alliance. But she was never really the one pulling the strings on anything post-merge, most notably failing to make a move on Noura at final seven with Elaine.

Despite her likability, I think there is a chance Tommy or Lauren could have beat Janet in the end due to their superior strategic gameplay.

20. Seipei Mashugane (Island of Secrets, 11th place)- Seipei did an excellent job in the pre-merge recovering from almost being the first boot, integrating herself with the Amigos and forming the Misfit alliance with Jacques and Durao.

But she became too powerful after the merge, and when she told Rob that she didn’t want to go to the end with all of the Amigos, she was blindsided.

19. Mike Venter (Island of Secrets, 6th place)- The affable Mike made it far by getting in Rob’s good graces at Ta’alo 3.0, and was his biggest non-Amigo ally for a good portion of the game.

But when Rob got wind that Mike was targeting him, Rob started keeping him at arm’s length, and eventually took him out at final six.

18. Gavin Whitson (Edge of Extinction, 2nd place)- Despite never having his name written down once throughout the entire game, Gavin could only muster four out 13 votes at final tribal council.

And while Gavin was for the most part a floater who never really took the game into his own hands, personally I would have given him my vote to win the game.

He was in the majority of the vote on all but the Wentworth boot (his votes at final six and five were nullified by idols), he was one of the main orchestrators of taking out one of his closest allies Eric, and he played his double vote to help get Ron out.

I’m not saying Gavin played an excellent game by any means. He didn’t do enough to establish himself as a legitimate threat, and his final tribal performance was lacking.

But compared to someone who was in the game for just 13 days, it still doesn’t sit right with me that Gavin wasn’t the winner of Edge of Extinction.

17. Chris Underwood (Edge of Extinction, 1st place)- How the hell are you supposed to rank Chris? His victory is the biggest anomaly in Survivor history, and we’ll (hopefully) never see anything like it again.

Voted out third after telling Wardog about the plan to target Wentworth, Chris sat on Extinction Island for four weeks before winning his way back into the game.

He no doubt played an excellent game to reach the end — convincing Lauren to play her idol for him, getting Rick to give him the half of the idol so he could play it at final five and putting himself into the firemaking challenge to take Devens out.

But the facts are he only survived five tribal councils the entire game, and he was immune for two of them.

He had the biggest advantage in Survivor history of getting to live with the jury for four weeks, and he was basically given directions of how to earn the jury’s vote once he got back into the game (he even had Ron write a note to Julie telling her to trust Chris).

Chris is undoubtedly the worst winner of all time, and I rank him as the sixth-best player of his own season due to how little time he actually spent in the game.

16. David Wright (Edge of Extinction, 11th place)- David had his targets set on fellow returning player Wentworth from the outset, but could never get her out of the game, coming closest at the Chris boot.

The original Manus could never quite get on the same page after the merge, as David/Devens and Wardog/Wentworth/Lauren always had a healthy amount of distrust for each other. Despite working together for the Eric and Julia votes, Wardog spearheaded David’s boot, as everyone except for Devens went along with the plan.

15. Kelley Wentworth (Edge of Extinction, 10th place)- Despite having her name thrown out at nearly every tribal she attended, Wentworth managed to scrape through nine votes without using her idol.

With strong allies in Lauren and Wardog, she looked to be in a great position to continue into the endgame, but she was betrayed by Wardog and taken out with the idol in her pocket.

14. Rick Devens (Edge of Extinction, 4th place)- Like Chris, I really struggled with how to rank Rick.

After getting voted out fourth, Devens was able to re-enter the game at the merge due to the EoE twist, missing two tribals in the process.

He was on the wrong side of the vote for a lot of the post-merge, voting incorrectly on the Joe, Eric, David and Wardog boots.

Still, he positioned himself as the clear biggest threat in the game due to his likability and by building a strong resume — idoling out Ron and Victoria and winning four immunities.

Devens probably would have won the game unanimously had he made it to final tribal, but of course Chris took him out in the firemaking challenge.

13. Dean Kowalski (Island of the Idols, 2nd place)- Detective Dean flew too far under the radar for most of the game, and his late game push couldn’t make up for his slow start.

He was blindsided by his faux-showmance Chelsea getting voted out, and he only survived the pre-merge because Kellee gave him an idol.

Dean hung in the background as the bigger targets went out early in the post-merge, buddying up to Tommy.

His game finally came alive when he got both the idol and the nullifier, as he eliminated Janet at final five by blocking her idol.

He then took out Lauren in the fire-making challenge to earn a spot at final tribal council.

But he couldn’t shake off the early perceptions of himself, as he only mustered two votes at the end.

12. Abbey Holmes (Champions vs. Contenders, 5th place)- The women’s AFL star was responsible for some of the biggest flips of the season.

Her and Ross flipped on the Sporty Seven to the Luke/David side to vote out Susie, and as fans we owe them a ton of gratitude, because there’s a very real world where the Champions vs. Contenders final five could have been something like ET, Steven, Nova, Susie and Simon, instead of the incredible group we got.

After forming close bonds with Janine and Pia on the nu-Contenders tribe, the group stayed together post-merge, orchestrating the blindside of David and appearing to be in the driver’s seat.

But then Abbey once again decided to change things up, flipping to Luke, Harry and Baden to take out Simon (who was gunning for her).

Abbey seemed to be in a great position to make it to the end after Simon and Janine went out, but Luke’s incredible move at final five of sending Baden back to camp and pulling a 2–1–1 with Pia sent Abbey packing.

11. Dan “Wardog” DaSilva (Edge of Extinction, 9th place)- Before his boot, I think it was fair to say Wardog was playing the best game of season 38.

He was in a swing position early in the pre-merge, choosing to take out Chris instead of Wentworth, aligning with Wenworth and Lauren to get rid of Devens and masterminding the play to get Wendy out of the split tribal.

When the original Manus looked dead in the water after the Joe vote, Wardog planted seeds in Julia and Gavin’s brains to get rid of Eric.

But after getting out his nemesis David, Wardog made a horrible decision to blindside Wentworth. The move made him the new biggest target in the game, and he was promptly taken out.

10. David Genat (Champions vs. Contenders, 10th place)- One of the best characters of 2019, the leather jacket wearing, sarong wrapping model proved to be the biggest villain of the year (not counting Dan).

He was the absolute star of the pre-merge.

David helped orchestrate the flip on the Sporty Seven, getting Abbey and Ross to come to his side.

He swapped Shaun a fake idol for a real idol, which he used to save himself at the Hannah boot.

David caused another paradigm shift at the swap when the Contenders flipped to his side, and he found another idol in the popcorn reward.

David didn’t have much of a choice but to play hard for most of the game, but he carried himself as a Godfather figure a little too much, which put a target on his back from the girls in his Champions alliance.

They eventually struck on him at the final 10, as Pia, Janine and Abbey recruited the Contenders to blindside David with an idol in his pocket.

I could see some taking issue that I have David — who only finished 10th place in his season — this high.

But David was able to survive 10 tribals (the same number Tommy Sheehan survived in Island of the Idols) while working himself out of the minority twice. While David definitely played too hard too soon, I give him credit for playing one of the best pre-merge games in Survivor history.

9. Nicole Capper (Island of Secrets, 2nd place)- Perhaps the most pious player in Survivor history, Nicole’s holier-than-thou attitude made for good TV but bad gameplay.

Nicole was able to make strong social bonds throughout the game with people like the Amgios, Cobus and Mike, but her emphasis on playing the game morally despite blindsiding several of her allies — including Nathan, Seipei, Cobus and Steffi — drew the ire of the jury.

She put together a strong final tribal council and was able to get four jury votes, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to beat Rob.

8. Victoria Baamonde (Edge of Extinction, 6th place)- The best player of season 38, Victoria was a silent assassin.

Although she didn’t have a signature, flashy move outside of the Aubry blindside, she was on the right side of every single vote until her ouster (if you include her role in the split vote between Rick and Ron). She also orchestrated the split vote to get out Ron when Devens played his idol, taking out another huge threat.

It took Devens playing his idol to get Victoria out, sending her home despite having just two votes cast against her the entire game.

7. Lauren Beck (Island of the Idols, 4th place)- In control with Tommy for practically the entire game, Lauren was one of the real contenders to win season 39.

A strong social player, Lauren was in the majority alliance from the early going of Vokai. Although the Vokais were briefly in the minority on nu-Vokai when Jason was voted out, she regained control at the merge, as her and Tommy dictated almost every vote.

Perhaps her finest moment was manipulating most of the tribe to sit out of the immunity challenge to eat, which won her an idol (which she played for herself at the Elizabeth boot).

But Lauren had a borderline meltdown when she was thrown into the fire-making challenge by Noura, and ended up losing to Dean.

6. Harry Hills (Champions vs. Contenders, 3rd place)- If these were rankings of who had the most nicknames of 2019, Harry would be number one.

Dirty Harry. Harry Houdini. The Cockroach.

Harry just could not be killed during Champions vs. Contenders, despite having a target on his back from the swap on.

Harry made a name for himself at the swap, when he saved himself with idols on back-to-back votes, leading to Casey and Matty Wahlberg going out.

At the merge, he was able to sit back while Andy, Shaun and David made themselves into bigger targets, and he was able to work his way into Luke’s good graces to earn protection as his fellow Contenders John and Daisy went out.

Harry, Baden, Luke and Abbey got together to take out Simon, and that alliances allowed Harry to make it to the final four.

Harry came up with a massive immunity win at final four, sending Luke out of the game. If he had been able to win the next one, Harry would have won the game, but Baden ended up winning and voting out Harry.

Harry not only was a strong player, but also a great character, as he was outed for inventing a son (shout out to Oscar) and his love-hate relationship with Janine was one of the highlights of the season.

5. Janine Allis (Champions vs. Contenders, 6th place)- As the founder of Boost Juice, Janine didn’t need to go play Australian Survivor.

But she did, and turned into one of the most legendary characters in the show’s brief history.

The Godmother was able to find her groove after the swap, controlling the Champions and sparking a rivalry with Harry.

With loyal allies in Pia and Abbey, Janine looked to be running the show at the post-merge, as her most notable move was helping spearhead the blindside of David.

But her game fell apart when she made a bad decision in bringing Pia with her on the reward challenge at final eight, giving Abbey time to bond with Harry and Baden.

Simon getting blindsided at final seven essentially ended her game, and she was the next one out.

4. Pia Miranda (Champions vs. Contenders, 1st place)- She said in the first episode that she was either going to be the first one out or the winner of the season.

Call her Pia the Prophet, because after having three votes cast against her at the first tribal, Pia indeed went on to win the game.

Pia played a classic Australian Survivor game, hiding in the background and subtly pulling the strings while letting bigger threats take each other out.

Pia became extremely close with Janine and Abbey, and they were able to control the game at the swap and in the early goings of the post-merge.

Pia found herself on the wrong side of the numbers after the Simon boot, but she was still able to scrape by as bigger threats in Janine, Abbey, Luke and Harry were voted out.

At final tribal, Pia straight up eviscerated Baden, giving one of the greatest FTC performances in Survivor history (not shocking given her acting background) and winning the vote unanimously.

On paper, Pia’s game wasn’t overtly impressive. She didn’t really have a big move that could be attributed solely to her, she only won one immunity and never had an advantage.

Of the final six, she was either the fourth or fifth biggest threat left.

But she only had her name written down seven times (and only once in the post-merge) and was only truly on the outs of the first Simon vote.

I think Pia played the greatest winning game in Australian Survivor history (my rankings go Pia, Jericho, Shane, Kristie) because she had much more agency than Kristie and Shane, and she didn’t try to make big moves just for the hell of it like Jericho did at times.

Pia excelled both socially and strategically, she played shrewdly and purposefully, and was a very deserving winner.

3. Tommy Sheehan (Island of the Idols, Winner)- In an era of US Survivor dominated by advantages, Tommy didn’t need any to win season 39.

Big Red relied on his social game rather than advantages or immunities, and he was able to have his hands in basically every vote.

He gained control at the merge by taking out Kellee and Jamal, then went back to his Vokai alliance, as five Larios were taken out in a row.

The only time Tommy was really vulnerable was at the split tribal, when Karishma voted out Missy instead of him.

When it came down to the fire-making challenge, Tommy was able to convince Noura to send Dean in instead of him, and helped Dean practice to take out Lauren.

Tommy made strong bonds with almost everyone, most notably Lauren, Janet, Dean, Elaine, Noura and Dan, and that earned him an 8–2 victory in the end.

Tommy and Pia rank right next to each other, and for good reason — they played incredibly similar games (the only reason I have Tommy ahead of Pia is because Tommy was more in control of the game, while Pia was more in the background and lost power when Simon and Janine went out).

They both didn’t rely on immunities (Pia won just one) or use any advantages, they hid behind bigger shields and were able to sit next to goats at the end.

Out of the final seven, it could be argued that Tommy was the fourth-biggest threat, but he was able to outlast Lauren, Janet and Elaine.

Tommy is one of the least flashy and most boring winners of all time, but it was nice to see an old school style thrive in season 39.

2. Luke Toki (Champions vs. Contenders, 4th place)- What a ride Champions vs. Contenders was this year, and while there were many reasons for it being a great season, I don’t think many would argue that the biggest reason was due to the presence of this bonafide Survivor legend.

As happy as I was to see Luke back on my TV screen, I was very worried about him going into the season, given that he was the only returnee on a cast of newbies, and he had a reputation as a huge schemer from his first season.

But Luke was able to play one of the greatest non-winning games in Survivor history (and the greatest game in Australian Survivor history, period), in large part because of how he changed up his game.

Luke doubled down on his biggest skill — his charm — and dialed back his scheming. Somehow, he found a number one ally who was an even bigger threat than he was in David.

Luke and Dave completely dominated the pre-merge, flipping the numbers to their side twice due to their likability.

Although Luke incorrectly played an idol at the Hannah boot, he was completely justified in thinking the vote would be split against him.

At the merge, Luke hooked back up with the Champions while keeping his relationships with the Contenders — namely Baden and John — strong.

Even when he was blindsided by the Dave vote at final 10, he was able to get right back into the good graces of the Champions, and together they took out John and Daisy.

Luke took control of the game when he, Abbey, Harry and Baden took out Simon, giving them the numbers.

At that point, Luke was far and away the biggest threat remaining in the game, but he did his best Locky impression and reeled off three consecutive immunity wins.

After taking out Janine, he blindsided his (arguably) number one ally in Abbey, sending Baden back to camp and linking up with Pia to take her out in a 2–1–1 vote.

But there was no way Luke was ever going to make it to the end without winning out in immunities, and when he lost at final four he couldn’t convince Pia to vote with him and let him go to a firemaking challenge against Baden.

Despite not coming away with the victory, Luke survived an incredible 17 tribals. Plus, he received the same amount of money from the GoFundMe created for him as he would have for winning the game (he donated the excess money he received to charity).

Originally I thought it was a bad decision for Luke to be put on a season as the only returnee, but in retrospect it was so much better for him to have his own season rather than be on a season with 23 other all stars.

Luke was by far my favorite Survivor player this season, and he also played one of the year’s best games.

1 Rob Bentele (Island of Secrets, 1st place)- To me, there’s not even really an argument of who should be number one on this list.

Rob wasn’t just the best player of 2019, there’s a legitimate argument that he played the best game in Survivor history.

There was never any point during Island of Secrets where Rob wasn’t in control. On Sa’ula, his Amigos alliance took out Lee-Anne and Paul, and the latter boot allowed him to take Paul’s idol. He might have been in some trouble on Ta’alo 2.0 if the tribe ever went to tribal, but they didn’t, and even if they had Rob still had an idol.

At Ta’alo 3.0, Rob spearheaded the vote to take out Rocco, who would have been his biggest threat in immunities. He then made the spit-shake seven alliance with the remaining Ta’alos, which helped him in the early part of the merge.

Although he was devastated to see his closest ally Nathan had been voted out before the merge, he was able to recover easily as the spit-shake seven took out Meryl and Geoff.

When Seipei told Rob that she was planning on getting rid of Nicole and Steffi, he orchestrated the blindside of the Amigos’ mother bear, taking out the most dangerous player remaining in the game.

After Seipei’s boot, he systematically took out everyone who wasn’t tight in his alliance, as Cobus, Mmaba and Jacques all went down.

Rob then won the final three immunities (and played his idol at final five for Nicole), as he was able to take out Mike, Steffi and Laetita, who were all gunning for him at various points in the game.

The only real flaw in Rob’s game was his mediocre final tribal performance, in which he didn’t do a great job of owning up to his game. That made what was expected to be a blowout turn into a 6–4 vote, but Rob was still crowned the Sole Survivor.

Rob completely controlled the game socially, strategically and physically (winning five immunities). He came up with the genius idea to make up a fake advantage that he could look at two players’ votes during tribal, which caused Mike to be back off his plan to blindside him at final eight.

Rob played an absolutely masterful game, and to me it’s between him and Kim Spradlin for best games by a newbie in Survivor history.

Final Rankings

83. Reem Daly (Edge of Extinction)

82. Lee-Anne van Renen (Island of Secrets)

81. Ronnie Bardah (Island of the Idols)

80. Anastasia Woolmer (Champions vs. Contenders)

79. Laura Choong (Champions vs. Contenders)

78. Keith Sowell (Edge of Extinction)

77. Wendy Diaz (Edge of Extinction)

76. Susie Maroney (Champions vs. Contenders)

75. Paul Smulders (Island of Secrets)

74. Felix Godlo (Island of Secrets)

73. Vince Moua (Island of the Idols)

72. Steven Bradbury (Champions vs. Contenders)

71. Tania Copeland (Island of Secrets)

70. Ting Ting Wong (Island of Secrets)

69. Rose-Lee Smith (Island of Secrets)

68. Samantha Schoers (Champions vs. Contenders)

67. Molly Byman (Island of the Idols)

66. Casey Hawkins (Champions vs. Contenders)

65. Sarah Ayles (Champions vs. Contenders)

64. Chelsea Walker (Island of the Idols)

63. Tom Laidlaw (Island of the Idols)

62. Jason Linden (Island of the Idols)

61. Julia Carter (Edge of Extinction)

60. Andrew “ET” Ettingshausen (Champions vs. Contenders)

59. Hannah Pentreath (Champions vs. Contenders)

58. Rocco van Rooyen (Island of Secrets)

57. Nova Peris (Champions vs. Contenders)

56. Danté de Villiers (Island of Secrets)

55. Matt Farrelly (Champions vs. Contenders)

54. Jack Nichting (Island of the Idols)

53. Jamal Shipman (Island of the Idols)

52. Aubry Bracco (Edge of Extinction)

51. Joe Anglim (Edge of Extinction)

50. Andy Meldrum (Champions vs. Contenders)

49. Eric Hafemann (Edge of Extinction)

48. Meryl Szolkiewicz (Island of Secrets)

47. Kellee Kim (Island of the Idols)

46. Missy Byrd (Island of the Idols)

45. Aaron Meredith (Island of the Idols)

44. Elizabeth Beisel (Island of the Idols)

43. Dan Spillo (Island of the Idols)

42. Simon Black (Champions vs. Contenders)

41. Nathan Castle (Island of Secrets)

40. Geoffrey Cooke-Tonnesen (Island of Secrets)

39. Cobus Hugo (Island of Secrets)

38. Mmaba Molefe (Island of Secrets)

37. Ross Clarke-Jones (Champions vs. Contenders)

36. John Eastoe (Champions vs. Contenders)

35. Daisy Richardson (Champions vs. Contenders)

34. Karishma Patel- (Island of the Idols)

33. Aurora McCreary- (Edge of Extinction)

32. Noura Salman (Island of the Idols)

31. Shaun Hampson (Champions vs. Contenders)

30. Steffi Brink (Island of Secrets)

29. Julie Rosenberg (Edge of Extinction)

28. Durao Mariano (Island of Secrets)

27. Baden Gilbert (Champions vs. Contenders)

26. Laetitia le Roux (Island of Secrets)

25. Jacques Burger (Island of Secrets)

24. Lauren O’Connell (Edge of Extinction)

23. Ron Clark (Edge of Extinction)

22. Elaine Stott (Island of the Idols)

21. Janet Carbin (Island of the Idols)

20. Seipei Mashugane (Island of Secrets)

19. Mike Venter (Island of Secrets)

18. Gavin Whitson (Edge of Extinction)

17. Chris Underwood (Edge of Extinction)

16. David Wright (Edge of Extinction)

15. Kelley Wentworth (Edge of Extinction)

14. Rick Devens (Edge of Extinction)

13. Dean Kowalski (Island of the Idols)

12. Abbey Holmes (Champions vs. Contenders)

11. Dan “Wardog” DaSilva (Edge of Extinction)

10. David Genat (Champions vs. Contenders)

9. Nicole Capper (Island of Secrets)

8. Victoria Baamonde (Edge of Extinction)

7. Lauren Beck (Island of the Idols)

6. Harry Hills (Champions vs. Contenders)

5. Janine Allis (Champions vs. Contenders)

4. Pia Miranda (Champions vs. Contenders)

3. Tommy Sheehan (Island of the Idols)

2. Luke Toki (Champions vs. Contenders)

1 Rob Bentele (Island of Secrets)