Survivor: The 10 Biggest Blindsides In The Show’s History

Reality TV is often looked “down” upon – a lesser form of entertainment, especially in the age of peak TV. But reality TV can give us just as much entertainment as any great TV show. Just look at Survivor.

Survivor has contained a ton of great characters throughout its forty seasons, and it has featured many dramatic blindsides that have shattered alliances and friendships. The best blindsides make for fantastic TV, both in terms of unpredictability and emotional character moments. Put simply, when it comes to reality TV, there is nothing better than a great Survivor blindside. These are ten of the biggest blindsides in the show’s history.

10 Samoa: Laura

Russell Hantz is arguably the master of the blindside, and one of his masterpieces has to be the elimination of Laura Morett. Laura was a member of the dominant Galu tribe, but Galu was systematically eliminated at the merge at the hands of Russell and his Foa Foa members.

Guaranteeing that he would eliminate one of his own tribe members at the following Tribal, Russell convinced John to flip against Galu and vote against Laura, resulting in a 5-3 elimination.

9 Samoa: John

Laura’s blindside was impeccably executed, but John Fincher made one fatal mistake – trusting Russell Hantz. The deal was that John would vote against Laura, and in exchange, Russell would eliminate one of the members of Foa Foa.

Naturally, Russell went back on his word. Not only that, but the members of Galu now hated John for betraying them, resulting in a near-unanimous 7-1-1 vote.

8 Micronesia: Erik

When it comes to stupid Survivor plays, none match the sheer stupidity of Erik Reichenbach giving up his immunity.

The infamous Black Widow Brigade tricked Erik into giving Natalie his immunity necklace, promising him votes and redemption in the eyes of the jury. Erik fell for the ruse, and the Black Widow Brigade promptly voted him out in a unanimous 4-1 vote. He’s never going to live it down.

7 Heroes Vs. Villains: J.T.

If the Dumbest Survivor Play Ever award doesn’t go to Erik, then it goes to J.T. Thomas.

J.T. fell for a ruse once again concocted by Russell Hantz and Parvati Shallow (of the Black Widow Brigade). J.T. believed that the Villain women were systematically eliminating the men and gave Russell his idol as an act of goodwill. However, Russell and Parv were actually running the Villains, and J.T. was voted out with his own immunity idol.

6 Heroes Vs. Villains: Tyson Apostol

And if the award doesn’t go to either of them, it goes to Tyson Apostol. Tyson infamously “voted himself out” in Heroes vs. Villains by going against his tribe and paying the price for it. Rob told the Villains to split their votes to ensure a Russell or Parvati elimination.

Tyson was told to vote Russell, but he was played by Hantz and manipulated into voting for Parvati. However, Russell played his immunity idol for Parv, and Tyson was eliminated in a 3-2-0 vote.

5 Marquesas: John

The Rotu Four alliance is a great lesson in arrogance. After eliminating Boston Rob, the Rotu Four got big heads and began acting hubristic.

They confidently took over the game and told everyone in the camp the exact order in which they’d be eliminated. Sensing their power and cockiness, the outsiders banded together to form the Outsiders Alliance and promptly voted out the Rotu Four’s leader, John Carroll.

4 Fiji: Edgardo

Edgardo Rivera dominated the early part of Fiji thanks to his challenge performance and strong alliance, ensuring his place in the majority.

However, things quickly fell apart at the merge. Edgardo and his alliance planned to blindside Cassandra using an idol. However, Dreamz Herd found out about the plot and the idol, betrayed Edgardo, and told the Syndicate Alliance, resulting in a masterful 5-3-1 elimination.

3 Panama: Courtney

Panama isn’t one of Survivor‘s better seasons, but it’s notable for one thing – the character arc of Cirie Fields. Cirie went from begrudging participant upset over leaving her couch to Survivor mastermind with this play.

Courtney allied herself with underdog Terry and believed she had Danielle and Cirie as well. The plan was to vote out Aras. Instead, Cirie flipped on her and voted her out in a stellar 3-2-1 vote. It’s one of Survivor‘s greatest blindsides.

2 Micronesia: Ozzy

Another great blindside from Micronesia is that of Ozzy Lusth. Ozzy was in close with Amanda Kimmel and believed himself part of the end-game alliance.

However, he was the victim of yet another brilliant Cirie blindside. Every female minus Amanda banded together and voted Ozzy out with a hidden immunity idol in his pocket. That’s always embarrassing.

1 Winners At War: Sandra

To be honest, we don’t know if Sandra’s heart was in Winners at War. Not only did she immediately leave the Edge of Extinction, but she played one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history. And that’s not like Sandra.

She decided to sell her immunity idol to Denise in exchange for two fire tokens in exchange for Denise’s vote. Denise played the idol, nullified all the votes cast against her, and voted for Sandra – eliminating her in a rare 1-0 vote. And with that, Denise had officially taken out the Queen.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
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Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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