off topic from this comment but i find it funny when Dan from World's Apart compared Mike to Colby in immunity challenge dominance but Dan missed one thing Colby picked Tina not Kieth because he thought Tina was more deserving plus Colby completely bombed at final tribal. Dan also said that you need the right ppl to get to the end even though Dan was in the majority alliance vs Mike.
the problem with that speech was that it wasn’t actually anything. it was a bunch of gibberish that wasn’t even in her control. i wrote a 8 page report on the final proving maryanne had no control
Chris convincing Twila to be unapologetic at final tribal is one of my favorite moves of all time. I don't think anyone else has ever tried to manipulate how someone else acts at FTC
I would argue maybe Natalie from Samoa is a close second to Chris. She goaded Russell to be overconfident, arrogant, and stubborn. All qualities he already had, but she definitely baited him a little. Twila was already hardheaded so Chris did the same using their worst traits against them. Chris imo is better because he talked through it with her to take the bait, while Natalie was more subtle. If Natalie and Chris switched places, Chris’s strategy would’ve worked against Russel, but I don’t think Natalie’s would’ve goaded Twila.
@@Machinu5 in that season, maybe scout, but that’s very dependent on how she does in final tribal. But I agree, her and Phillip in his first season are the definition of goat
I didn’t realize this happened. Chris’s win is easily one the most entertaining wins to watch/best semi underdog stories. I have decided that best wins to watch (not best seasons) are based on a player that won by largely kicking butt in the game, but overcoming the odds stacked against them: like how did they pull this off? Or wow that was an entertaining finish. The seasons don’t have to be the best seasons, but they can’t be abysmal seasons. I also don’t think returning seasons don’t fit the “how did they pull this off” shock factor as much, because everyone already knows who they are and a lot of returning seasons are more likely to end with who the jury likes more or dislikes less as opposed to who played the best overall game. So my winners that are most entertaining to see pull off their win meeting my criteria right now are Chris D, Todd, Tony, and Natalie from SJDS. That’s my high tier at the moment
I'd argue Rob did something similar in RI, when he basically told Natalie that he was too apologetic at the All Stars FTC and that she needed to do the complete opposite
“I then delivered the perfect final tribal, exposing the problems of my 2 opponents. After I finished my final monologue, everyone on the jury stood up and clapped, Jeff shook my hand, and I was gifted the check on the spot”
@@OnceUponAnIsland whaaaaat?? finding this channel has been my first time diving back into the survivor world since i stopped watching after edge of extinction and i am so sad to hear this. no more live reunion?? wtf
Season 40 didn't have one because of covid and then they filmed Survivor 41 and 42's on the island to avoid covid potentially ruining it again, but then they did it for 43 and at that point it is just so they can save money. No other good reason.
@@OnceUponAnIslandreally sucks too cause there’s so much lack of context in the responses to Jeff’s questions without them being able to view the season or for the finalists to absorb a win/loss before they have the reunion.
Chris saying, "I brought you your hat" so thoughtfully and sympathetically in his jury performance will never not make me stand and clap! This man thought of *everything* and he comes off looking like he did the biggest final tribal heel turn in his character that I've ever seen in Survivor. Brilliant!
@@kingofthorns203 Speaking about under the radar, I think the cast of HvV not being able to have seen Samoa changed Survivor completely. No chance that JT ever gives Russell the idol if he gets to see Samoa, and we see him in a different light because if that move worked, he might have been the first 2 time winner. Then again, HvV might have been a worse season if that happened. I do love some good revisionist history
This really confused me when I watched it. JT took credit for many of the strategic decisions through the season, even when Stephen had them. Throughout the entire season he is happy to be the face of the pair, but suddenly in the finale everyone hates them for committing to blindsides, and even JT is now happy to say that none of the ideas were his, but they still believe that he was just as strategically strong as Stephen.
@@kevinmcgowan9200Yeah, once it's known that none of them even had a chance to see Russell's season it's much easier to understand why they all played the way they did. In another video it was stated that all they were told about Russell is that he's the biggest villain in Survivor.
My favourite FTCs are the ones where there is no clear winner going in. Part of the social aspect of the game in the end is being able to communicate strategy, not just execute it. You get to see so much of the game just by how the finalists try to present it.
I didn't like Maryanne as a player or TV personality, she was just annoying to me. but god damn. she sat these kids down and held class. I hoped she would get voted out for most of the game, but after her final tribal, I was finally swayed. she was one of the best final tribal performers of all time easy, I think she deserves to be higher on this list.
@@miragexl007 “fell into” implies someone did all the work for her. In reality, Mike and Jonathan backed out and she had to scramble to make it happen, while allowing Omar and Lindsay to be so comfortable in their safety that Lindsay wouldn’t give Omar her immunity. Give it up. Maryanne took the move into her own hands and made it happen, and she deserved winning it.
“the ability to make a jury laugh” (referring to Tony’s FTC performance) - that’s insane that you mentioned that literally the day before Gabler makes the jury crack up and he receives an almost unanimous vote. On point!!!
Earl in Fiji is the biggest omission. He had perfect answers for just about every juror and even managed Lisi about as well as he could have. Also, I love seeing Sandra get her credit in Pearl Islands, but her performance at the Final Tribal Council in Heroes v. Villains was also excellent.
Idk about her HvV performance. She constantly brought up how she tried to get Russell out of the game even though he’s right next to her That was always weird to me
@@Quetzal00358It may seem weird but it was undeniably perfect for that jury. Russell was enemy number 1 by the end of the season. Sandra throughout the endgame and final tribal council presented herself as the Anti Russell candidate- the villain who wasn’t a villain. For that jury at that time, it was excellent management.
@@Quetzal00358 It may have been weird to someone who wasn't in the game, but to the people she was addressing, it worked perfectly. Think of it this way...if you were one of the Heroes on the jury, how would you have responded to her essentially saying "I tried to help you by warning you about Russell, and if you'd listened to what I had to say and worked with me, it could've been you at the end instead of me." I know for me, I'd be more inclined to vote for her after hearing that, especially if Russell treated me like he treated everyone else on that jury
So glad you had Chris as number one. He was the one winner that wasn’t on WAW that I was really bummed not to see her a second chance. I feel like he would have adapted the best from the old school
@@Quetzal00358 I wouldn’t really consider todd an “old school winner”, his season kinda feels like the first in the golden age of survivor, so he fits more in the “middle school” kinda lane
My favorite moment from Chris is when Scout called him out on his BS, everybody started to laugh, and Chris gave Scout this smug look. This look translates to, "You are right, Scout. I am up to my ears in BS. But I am not going to say it, but just know that we know that I am BSing the jury."
Sandra DEFINITELY knew Rupert was going to get voted out at the final 8 she voted for Johnny as strategy I guarantee it. She's so much smarter than she lets on, and she showed it finally in game changers, but Sandra 1.0 was excellent even then.
I just finished pearl islands and I must say Sandra and her gameplay if you want to call it that was very underwhelming. Her alliance gets smeared out, she finally gets Tijuana on her side and then votes her out because jon and Burton make her, Dara and Lil came up with the idea of the girls and then lil brings her. She almost did nothing all game, she was up against the person who most people disliked, who was voted off for 9 days or so and Sandra had guaranteed votes on the jury. It's very lackluster and oddly familiar to heroes vs villains. She is way outplayed. She is poor at convincing people to vote anyone out, fairplay made it to the final 3, Russell made it to the final 3. Both her targets, absolutely the biggest coat tail rider. She was outworked and out strategized by Lil...... That said, she definitely was better then Lil because lil was out of the game. HvH isnt the case
@@OnceUponAnIsland tbh I just watched the Pearl Island Season and I must say Sandra played it strategically, she is TONY even before tony sneaky move become a thing and she moved seamlessly too just like after Rupert is eliminated her sabotage there is just TOP NOTCH she might be weak in challenges but she played it PSYCHOLOGICALLY and slayed it thru the finals.
I think what makes JT's and Chris' FTCs better is their country twang accents. Like someone like Yul who's well spoken and intelligent wouldn't be able to pull off an "aww shucks everyone I'm sorry I voted you all out" FTC.
Todd and Sophie should be the top 2 in my opinion. Unlike most of the other winners on the list they did not won coming in to the final tribal council but earned that through their performance. JT for example had a great performance but he already won the game before tribal council. By the way if we are including Australian survivor the winner of season 1 (2016) is number 1 by a lot
Was gonna say the same thing. Todd, Sophie and maybe Maryanne are the best FTC for that reason imo. If someone is gonna win anyway and thus we don't see how it swayed people's minds, then I don't find it as impressive.
@@4Tom4lepus4 I'd add Mike to that grouping, because he did have to do a lot at FTC to convince the majority of the jury to vote for him as the winner, since if he'd messed up slightly more/not been as humble in admitting his flaws, it's entirely possible Carolyn would've been the season 30 winner instead
If we bring Australian Survivor, I have to mention David, aka Golden God. His performance was phenomenal, especially given the attempted rigs against him
My favourite part about Mike's apology to Dan, is when you see Jen and Shirin's expression. They know he's talk shit, but then Dan eats it up. It's hilarious.
Damn! I was hoping to see Jeremy in Cambodia here! I think Jeremy and Spencer walked into final tribal on almost equal footing. He made the most emotionally directed final tribal speech between pleading to Kimmy that he felt betrayed by her to talking about his family.
The performance that Chris gave in Vanuatu is the perfect finish to an absolutely incredible post merge. He is undoubtedly #1 and I can’t imagine any player ever unseats him. Great video I loved your analysis on these!
19:47 Maybe I should more impressed by JT's win or his final tribal council. JT obviously doesn't win or get there without Stephen in my opinion, but the fact that he was able to sell the idea that he could have done it alone to the jurors was pretty impressive.
Chris D’s FTC performance was a thing of beauty. I mean while Twila isn’t the biggest competition to have next to you in the F2, it could’ve very easily have gone just as bad for Chris. The jury was full of women who let him slip on by and it would’ve been very easy for them to vote for Twila and be Yasur strong even if they didn’t like her. Chris knew when to be vulnerable with Julie, be bros with Sarge, and knew to accept Scout was never going to vote for him without being bitter and burning other bridges. He’s an excellent actor.
Chris's performance here is like Clint Eastwood in The Beguiled. He had all the women eating out of the palm of his hand, but instead of punishing him, they rewarded him b/c they wanted to believe that they had power in the jury. They saw Chris as an underdog all the while he was playing Twila b/c he knew she was the meat shield for Scout.
I think Nick Wilson was by far the biggest omission from this list. He gives every question a very articulate, satisfying answer, relates all the general concepts of his game to specific moves and highlights those moves in the process, and ties it all into the theme of the season as well as his own life story. Something which the jury clearly valued. On top of that he shuts Angelina down when she tires to tell Alison that giving her the fake idol "wasnt personal" making Angelina look even worse than she already did and boosting himself in the process as it paints him in a more heroic light
@@enderdude13 I can't prove any of this, but I feel that Mike was already very successful in his Hollywood career that he didn't even try at FTC. I think he wins DvG if he gave 100%
I also include Erika to this. Her FTC let Naseer sway his vote to her favor. Also she really articulate her case almost like surgical as if she knew all the questions before even asked.
Jeremy is such a tough one to go up against because he is so passionate about providing for his family. You'd feel compelled to just give him the million because of his raw emotions and you know the money will be used for good things, to make his family's dreams come true.
Pia from Australian Survivor gave, in my opinion, THE best final tribal performance Ive ever seen. She completely dominated and spoke with efficiency. Then swept the votes.
Proof that black people literally have to be geniuses to be recognized. Look at how everyone judged and underrated MaryAnn until she proved herself. Cheers to her ❤
The stars aligned for her and she took the opportunity and ate them all up. Mike trying to pass his game as righteous and honorable was exactly the hole Maryanne needed to win.
18:09 I feel like Tocantins was somewhat unique in being a 16 person season in a stretch of 18-20 person seasons. I don't want to discredit JT's win but a part of it does come down to him being able to fool the jury into thinking Stephen wasn't pulling his weight. I ultimately think the jury is missing what Stephen did, and some of this is Stephen's fault for not articulating it better, but some of it is the juries shortcoming for not seeing Stephen's role more clearly.
After Wednesday night, gabler had one of the best final tribal performances in my opinion. He literally won the entire jury over Cassidy. He grabbed their attention with his first statement, and kept developing that.
In the edit, yeah. According to players, he waffled and talked in circles and made confusing metaphors a lot. At one point he went on so long that Jeff had to tell him to stop talking.
I hated the fact that Maryanne was in the finals, until she started giving her reasons on why she should win, and then when she pulled out the idol. I didn't think she deserved the win until then.
i think this video explains a reason why you are so surprised by Gabler's win. Tom was asked if he just used her in the game or did they have a genuine connection and basically said you have the answer in your heart. It's not a non-answer it is a beautiful heartfelt answer. it's not jury management as much as it is managing the relationships you built with people you had to vote out in a game.
Maryanne's ftc kind of reminds me of Kristie. Both of them played up their neurotic tendencies a bit, and then at etc they came on cool, calm, and collected.
YOu missed Sophie's burning punch on actually playing with Coach's fickleness to her advantage. That for me made it all apparent that Sophie is the ACTUAL BRAWN AND MASTERMIND OF THE OPERATION.
I understand you don't deal with international but imo Kristie Bennett from Australian Survivor had the greatest Final Tribal Council ever. Much better than any tribal from the U.S. (and I guess Canada too) Survivor. Pia Miranda is a close 2nd
I would put people like Todd, Sophie, and Maryanne higher than J.T. and Cochran. Todd would probably be my number 1 or 2. Unlike J.T. and Cochran, those winners were likely not winning coming into FTC and literally had to have a great tribal council to pull out a win.
Well I have a love&hate relationship with final tribal because i love how your choice for winner can make a case to win to the jury or the jury can pick someone else but I don't like the recent twists that affect final tribal in my eyes
Colby isn't really a good example to explain why 'winning immunities isn't a way to win survivor'..... the dude sabataged himself with who he brought to the end, and cheered when he lost. I get what he means, with the second half of his lines, about caring about the jury and not scorning them. But Colby didn't scorn anyone either, he was the most liked guy on the season.... he just chose the one person who could beat him instead of an easy win.
@@OnceUponAnIsland In those days it was seen as noble. It's not like the Woo situation where you had 27 seasons that established that you don't take the biggest threat. That was season 2 and Colby was beloved because of his decision. If he would have gotten rid of Tina it would have made him look like a fake.
i feel like nick didn’t make this list because of his controversies, but he blows all but Chris out of the water. Nick Wilson without a doubt had the best FTC speech
I honestly feel bad for Brandon, sure he cam be short tempered at times but he tries to be nice and the look on his face when sophie explain what really happened with the idol you can tell he felt betrayed
Tom in Palau has 💯 the win the bag even with Ian. People DID not wanted Katie to win. Mike winning versus Carolyn and dead fish… come on everyone saw that coming. Cochran winning was obvious as well. Like even if he stayed at camp would’ve won. Instead of these I would put: Danni in Guatemala - Ștefannie was a popular person and had the number in the bag, even if the jury was pitty. Danni was calm and knew to scam the jury and apology for everything. Plus she puts Steff down every time she has the chance while steff can’t do that. Vecepia- Literally like Danni. A under the radar player that did not had the jury prior to final tribal. I wanted V to win but I 💯 thought Neleah would win. And I was shocked by how she managed to calm the jury with her answers. Everyone forgets Danni and Vecepia. Another amazing example was the Australian survivor where Kristy hurried her opponent and nobody saw that coming.
After seeing the end of this most recent season, do you think Yam Yam deserves consideration for this list? I thought his answer about how he could tell when people were lying was great and very comparable to the feeling I felt when watching Maryanne give her speech you included - it just felt like that answer was what gave her the win.
I just made Yam Yam's story video and posted it, so it is still fresh in my brain. I think he did a great job and with how much he made the jury laugh while Heidi and Carolyn blew it, I think he could crack this list if I updated it.
I recently watched Vanuatu, and I have to ask: Why wasn't Chris asked to come back for Winners at War? Was it because Jeff hates him for voting off his girlfriend? I gotta know!
3:46 Um survivor fan here Colby would have won if he apologizes to jerry and actually tries. He clearly wasn’t trying and even says he didn’t play a good game for some reason . Like Colby just had a bad final tribal performance
Honestly when you’re an asshole in the game and open up at final tribal the jury L O V E S it. You have to be smart to turn that resentment into respect
We love Kristie and were hooting and hollering at her perfect impassioned responses to their questions and their shocked faces at how she was winning them over. I think that magicician even said he couldn't believe he was voting for but he did.
I would love to see a best tribal counsels by the runners up. Chase Rice would be an easy lock for that list.
That would be cool!
I would guess that Dom would have to be there too by virtue of tying with initial votes.
Chase's Final Tribal Council came out of nowhere compared to the rest of his game. The damage was already done, though.
off topic from this comment but i find it funny when Dan from World's Apart compared Mike to Colby in immunity challenge dominance but Dan missed one thing Colby picked Tina not Kieth because he thought Tina was more deserving plus Colby completely bombed at final tribal. Dan also said that you need the right ppl to get to the end even though Dan was in the majority alliance vs Mike.
Hannah's was very strong too! She obviously had no chance, but she did the best she could with the situation she was in.
Maryanne laying out her guaranteed spot in the final three gives me chills everytime I hear it, I thought Mike might win until that moment
I agree. I was shocked at how she brought it! It was a #1 for me.
I am still shock how she managed to lay it out like that. Very impressive 👏
Since the beginning of 42, Maryanne was my favorite.
the problem with that speech was that it wasn’t actually anything. it was a bunch of gibberish that wasn’t even in her control. i wrote a 8 page report on the final proving maryanne had no control
Still can't stand that she won no matter what. no matter what little move that stood out. Ridiculous. You each their own
Chris convincing Twila to be unapologetic at final tribal is one of my favorite moves of all time. I don't think anyone else has ever tried to manipulate how someone else acts at FTC
I would argue maybe Natalie from Samoa is a close second to Chris. She goaded Russell to be overconfident, arrogant, and stubborn. All qualities he already had, but she definitely baited him a little. Twila was already hardheaded so Chris did the same using their worst traits against them. Chris imo is better because he talked through it with her to take the bait, while Natalie was more subtle. If Natalie and Chris switched places, Chris’s strategy would’ve worked against Russel, but I don’t think Natalie’s would’ve goaded Twila.
Yeah but Twila's also a moron. Could you imagine losing Survivor to this person?
@@Machinu5 in that season, maybe scout, but that’s very dependent on how she does in final tribal. But I agree, her and Phillip in his first season are the definition of goat
I didn’t realize this happened. Chris’s win is easily one the most entertaining wins to watch/best semi underdog stories.
I have decided that best wins to watch (not best seasons) are based on a player that won by largely kicking butt in the game, but overcoming the odds stacked against them: like how did they pull this off? Or wow that was an entertaining finish. The seasons don’t have to be the best seasons, but they can’t be abysmal seasons. I also don’t think returning seasons don’t fit the “how did they pull this off” shock factor as much, because everyone already knows who they are and a lot of returning seasons are more likely to end with who the jury likes more or dislikes less as opposed to who played the best overall game.
So my winners that are most entertaining to see pull off their win meeting my criteria right now are Chris D, Todd, Tony, and Natalie from SJDS. That’s my high tier at the moment
I'd argue Rob did something similar in RI, when he basically told Natalie that he was too apologetic at the All Stars FTC and that she needed to do the complete opposite
Still get chills when I hear Maryanne describe all of her paths to the end by voting out Omar. So well stated
Touché indeed!
i mean it was really good but THAT SHIT GAVE YOU CHILLS????
When she did that, I knew she was winning even if Mike doesn't fumble FTC. Nothing he could have said would have overcome that.
“I then delivered the perfect final tribal, exposing the problems of my 2 opponents. After I finished my final monologue, everyone on the jury stood up and clapped, Jeff shook my hand, and I was gifted the check on the spot”
HAHA that's how it feels with no more live reunions.
@@OnceUponAnIsland whaaaaat?? finding this channel has been my first time diving back into the survivor world since i stopped watching after edge of extinction and i am so sad to hear this. no more live reunion?? wtf
Season 40 didn't have one because of covid and then they filmed Survivor 41 and 42's on the island to avoid covid potentially ruining it again, but then they did it for 43 and at that point it is just so they can save money. No other good reason.
@@OnceUponAnIslandreally sucks too cause there’s so much lack of context in the responses to Jeff’s questions without them being able to view the season or for the finalists to absorb a win/loss before they have the reunion.
Chris saying, "I brought you your hat" so thoughtfully and sympathetically in his jury performance will never not make me stand and clap! This man thought of *everything* and he comes off looking like he did the biggest final tribal heel turn in his character that I've ever seen in Survivor. Brilliant!
Hey, Russell, _that's_ how you win Survivor!
Stephen: finally takes a shot at J.T. after being slandered the whole time
Everyone else: "How dare you insult the golden boy JT"
Stephen has been vindicated and then some, given JT’s performance on later seasons 😂
@@kingofthorns203 Speaking about under the radar, I think the cast of HvV not being able to have seen Samoa changed Survivor completely. No chance that JT ever gives Russell the idol if he gets to see Samoa, and we see him in a different light because if that move worked, he might have been the first 2 time winner. Then again, HvV might have been a worse season if that happened. I do love some good revisionist history
This really confused me when I watched it. JT took credit for many of the strategic decisions through the season, even when Stephen had them. Throughout the entire season he is happy to be the face of the pair, but suddenly in the finale everyone hates them for committing to blindsides, and even JT is now happy to say that none of the ideas were his, but they still believe that he was just as strategically strong as Stephen.
@@kevinmcgowan9200Yeah, once it's known that none of them even had a chance to see Russell's season it's much easier to understand why they all played the way they did. In another video it was stated that all they were told about Russell is that he's the biggest villain in Survivor.
Yes Maryanne 👏 I was blown away by her final tribal. Spoken with confidence, elegance, and intelligence. I almost stood and applauded her myself.
It's very clear how bad JT needs Stephen when you see how he plays on his own in HvV. JT is the gambler, Stephen is the rational one
JT being a gambler is the perfect description of his last 2 games
Let’s not forget Game Changers where he screwed up and got Malcolm voted out, then Sandra tricked him into leaving his idol at camp.
My favourite FTCs are the ones where there is no clear winner going in. Part of the social aspect of the game in the end is being able to communicate strategy, not just execute it. You get to see so much of the game just by how the finalists try to present it.
I didn't like Maryanne as a player or TV personality, she was just annoying to me. but god damn. she sat these kids down and held class. I hoped she would get voted out for most of the game, but after her final tribal, I was finally swayed. she was one of the best final tribal performers of all time easy, I think she deserves to be higher on this list.
Nope still don't like her. Despite the move she fell into
Exact same, i was so annoyed by her until that moment, where i just sat there with this face😳
@@miragexl007 “fell into” implies someone did all the work for her. In reality, Mike and Jonathan backed out and she had to scramble to make it happen, while allowing Omar and Lindsay to be so comfortable in their safety that Lindsay wouldn’t give Omar her immunity. Give it up. Maryanne took the move into her own hands and made it happen, and she deserved winning it.
I think Maryanne agrees that she’s annoying to be fair
She used race to progress her game, stop supporting her
“the ability to make a jury laugh” (referring to Tony’s FTC performance) - that’s insane that you mentioned that literally the day before Gabler makes the jury crack up and he receives an almost unanimous vote. On point!!!
Earl in Fiji is the biggest omission. He had perfect answers for just about every juror and even managed Lisi about as well as he could have. Also, I love seeing Sandra get her credit in Pearl Islands, but her performance at the Final Tribal Council in Heroes v. Villains was also excellent.
Idk about her HvV performance. She constantly brought up how she tried to get Russell out of the game even though he’s right next to her
That was always weird to me
@@Quetzal00358It may seem weird but it was undeniably perfect for that jury. Russell was enemy number 1 by the end of the season. Sandra throughout the endgame and final tribal council presented herself as the Anti Russell candidate- the villain who wasn’t a villain. For that jury at that time, it was excellent management.
@@Quetzal00358 It may have been weird to someone who wasn't in the game, but to the people she was addressing, it worked perfectly. Think of it this way...if you were one of the Heroes on the jury, how would you have responded to her essentially saying "I tried to help you by warning you about Russell, and if you'd listened to what I had to say and worked with me, it could've been you at the end instead of me." I know for me, I'd be more inclined to vote for her after hearing that, especially if Russell treated me like he treated everyone else on that jury
So glad you had Chris as number one. He was the one winner that wasn’t on WAW that I was really bummed not to see her a second chance. I feel like he would have adapted the best from the old school
I haven’t seen Vanuatu but I feel like Todd would have been the best at adapting
@@Quetzal00358 I wouldn’t really consider todd an “old school winner”, his season kinda feels like the first in the golden age of survivor, so he fits more in the “middle school” kinda lane
My favorite moment from Chris is when Scout called him out on his BS, everybody started to laugh, and Chris gave Scout this smug look. This look translates to, "You are right, Scout. I am up to my ears in BS. But I am not going to say it, but just know that we know that I am BSing the jury."
I love that Cochran's final tribal went so well but I still feel so bad about Dawn getting destroyed like that :(
Sandra DEFINITELY knew Rupert was going to get voted out at the final 8 she voted for Johnny as strategy I guarantee it. She's so much smarter than she lets on, and she showed it finally in game changers, but Sandra 1.0 was excellent even then.
Parvati is still better though
I just finished pearl islands and I must say Sandra and her gameplay if you want to call it that was very underwhelming. Her alliance gets smeared out, she finally gets Tijuana on her side and then votes her out because jon and Burton make her, Dara and Lil came up with the idea of the girls and then lil brings her. She almost did nothing all game, she was up against the person who most people disliked, who was voted off for 9 days or so and Sandra had guaranteed votes on the jury. It's very lackluster and oddly familiar to heroes vs villains. She is way outplayed. She is poor at convincing people to vote anyone out, fairplay made it to the final 3, Russell made it to the final 3. Both her targets, absolutely the biggest coat tail rider. She was outworked and out strategized by Lil...... That said, she definitely was better then Lil because lil was out of the game. HvH isnt the case
@@tonyseal4992 Sandra only became an icon because of Lillians aerobics 😂
After Rupert is gone then Sandra plays her own game.
@@OnceUponAnIsland tbh I just watched the Pearl Island Season and I must say Sandra played it strategically, she is TONY even before tony sneaky move become a thing and she moved seamlessly too just like after Rupert is eliminated her sabotage there is just TOP NOTCH she might be weak in challenges but she played it PSYCHOLOGICALLY and slayed it thru the finals.
I think what makes JT's and Chris' FTCs better is their country twang accents. Like someone like Yul who's well spoken and intelligent wouldn't be able to pull off an "aww shucks everyone I'm sorry I voted you all out" FTC.
People thought Becky was worthless and thought Ozzy was an airhead. Simple as that.
At 4:54 you can see Dan sitting behind Tyler when Dan is supposed to standing responding to Mikes apology.
Todd and Sophie should be the top 2 in my opinion. Unlike most of the other winners on the list they did not won coming in to the final tribal council but earned that through their performance. JT for example had a great performance but he already won the game before tribal council. By the way if we are including Australian survivor the winner of season 1 (2016) is number 1 by a lot
I agree, Todd had such a good final!
Was gonna say the same thing. Todd, Sophie and maybe Maryanne are the best FTC for that reason imo. If someone is gonna win anyway and thus we don't see how it swayed people's minds, then I don't find it as impressive.
@@4Tom4lepus4 I'd add Mike to that grouping, because he did have to do a lot at FTC to convince the majority of the jury to vote for him as the winner, since if he'd messed up slightly more/not been as humble in admitting his flaws, it's entirely possible Carolyn would've been the season 30 winner instead
If we bring Australian Survivor, I have to mention David, aka Golden God. His performance was phenomenal, especially given the attempted rigs against him
My favourite part about Mike's apology to Dan, is when you see Jen and Shirin's expression. They know he's talk shit, but then Dan eats it up. It's hilarious.
Maryanne deserves to be higher up that list. That speech was KO 👏
Maybe a spot or 2 higher imo, but 7th is appropriate
I do love that you’re an apologist for Vanuatu. It’s one of my favorite seasons and one I find criminally underrated.
Damn! I was hoping to see Jeremy in Cambodia here!
I think Jeremy and Spencer walked into final tribal on almost equal footing. He made the most emotionally directed final tribal speech between pleading to Kimmy that he felt betrayed by her to talking about his family.
The performance that Chris gave in Vanuatu is the perfect finish to an absolutely incredible post merge. He is undoubtedly #1 and I can’t imagine any player ever unseats him. Great video I loved your analysis on these!
19:47 Maybe I should more impressed by JT's win or his final tribal council. JT obviously doesn't win or get there without Stephen in my opinion, but the fact that he was able to sell the idea that he could have done it alone to the jurors was pretty impressive.
went to the same church as maryanne and her family. fantastic girl and what you see is what you get. she's super hyper, super sweet and very smart!
Chris D’s FTC performance was a thing of beauty. I mean while Twila isn’t the biggest competition to have next to you in the F2, it could’ve very easily have gone just as bad for Chris. The jury was full of women who let him slip on by and it would’ve been very easy for them to vote for Twila and be Yasur strong even if they didn’t like her. Chris knew when to be vulnerable with Julie, be bros with Sarge, and knew to accept Scout was never going to vote for him without being bitter and burning other bridges. He’s an excellent actor.
Chris's performance here is like Clint Eastwood in The Beguiled. He had all the women eating out of the palm of his hand, but instead of punishing him, they rewarded him b/c they wanted to believe that they had power in the jury. They saw Chris as an underdog all the while he was playing Twila b/c he knew she was the meat shield for Scout.
Sophie's FTC performance is a masterpiece
I think Nick Wilson was by far the biggest omission from this list. He gives every question a very articulate, satisfying answer, relates all the general concepts of his game to specific moves and highlights those moves in the process, and ties it all into the theme of the season as well as his own life story. Something which the jury clearly valued. On top of that he shuts Angelina down when she tires to tell Alison that giving her the fake idol "wasnt personal" making Angelina look even worse than she already did and boosting himself in the process as it paints him in a more heroic light
He does well, but Angelina and Mike were not competition to win.
@@OnceUponAnIsland Fair enough. I do feel like Mike was decent competition tho
@@enderdude13 I can't prove any of this, but I feel that Mike was already very successful in his Hollywood career that he didn't even try at FTC. I think he wins DvG if he gave 100%
It really came through that he was a lawyer and knew how to convince people to see things his way.
@@OnceUponAnIslandhighly disagree, it’s said mike was the consensus by the jury going into the FTC until nick delivered
I also include Erika to this. Her FTC let Naseer sway his vote to her favor. Also she really articulate her case almost like surgical as if she knew all the questions before even asked.
I was also expecting her on this list. Naseer most probably would have voted for Xander if it weren't for her answers at ftc.
PLEASE make a worst final tribal. Great to see the goats be the goats they were meant to be
Great idea! The patrons pick what videos I make, like this one!
Fishbach in Tocantins too. Hard to watch
Jeremy is such a tough one to go up against because he is so passionate about providing for his family. You'd feel compelled to just give him the million because of his raw emotions and you know the money will be used for good things, to make his family's dreams come true.
South Pacific was when I started watching so the season has a lot of nostalgia for me. Was happy to see it mentioned
I still love maryannes final tribal
Just watching that last clip with her got me so hyped, it was so good
Her speech about wanting to take Lindsay to final 4 was amazing
PG’s laugh also makes the China ftc classic. It’s so infectious!!
4:10 just realized when Dan makes that speech you can see the camera switch and him in the background
Pia from Australian Survivor gave, in my opinion, THE best final tribal performance Ive ever seen. She completely dominated and spoke with efficiency. Then swept the votes.
Another quality video. Thank you for the hours of entertainment.
Glad you enjoyed it
Tony’s WAW FTC performance is very impressive, especially considering the fact that his Cagayan FTC Performance wasn’t that good
A new contender has entered the arena
Chris gave me chills the first time I saw the final tribal
I think you need to reshuffle this list to add Gabler. His FTC performance was incredible!
Chris is underrated as hell, it's great to see him get a shout
Chris D, up to this day, my favorite winner. An underdog and a villain at the same time.
Better than Tony? I bet if you were Tony's rival he would win you over. He's so goofy and loveable. The ultimate definition of rascal.
@@kimcapri9178Someone’s favorite isn’t something you debate about. They never said that he was better than Tony, just that he was their favorite.
in survivor china, i lived for courtney and james' commentaries.
Proof that black people literally have to be geniuses to be recognized. Look at how everyone judged and underrated MaryAnn until she proved herself. Cheers to her ❤
I know you didn’t include international seasons, but if you did, Kristie Bennett would be the most deserving of the gold medal.
Love her final words
The stars aligned for her and she took the opportunity and ate them all up.
Mike trying to pass his game as righteous and honorable was exactly the hole Maryanne needed to win.
I 100% agree with your #1 pick!
not sure Chris will ever get dethroned from the top spot #goat
The spy nest/bunker whatever was the funniest thing on survivor ever
18:09 I feel like Tocantins was somewhat unique in being a 16 person season in a stretch of 18-20 person seasons. I don't want to discredit JT's win but a part of it does come down to him being able to fool the jury into thinking Stephen wasn't pulling his weight. I ultimately think the jury is missing what Stephen did, and some of this is Stephen's fault for not articulating it better, but some of it is the juries shortcoming for not seeing Stephen's role more clearly.
23:15 low key genius move gaslighting your opponent into giving a bad final tribal
After Wednesday night, gabler had one of the best final tribal performances in my opinion. He literally won the entire jury over Cassidy. He grabbed their attention with his first statement, and kept developing that.
In the edit, yeah. According to players, he waffled and talked in circles and made confusing metaphors a lot. At one point he went on so long that Jeff had to tell him to stop talking.
I hated the fact that Maryanne was in the finals, until she started giving her reasons on why she should win, and then when she pulled out the idol. I didn't think she deserved the win until then.
16:28 what gets me rolling here is the Jury isn't looking at Todd while he's speaking, they're staring dead at JR lmao
4:12 dan sitting in the jury while giving a speech 😂. Editing mistake
DAN HAS LEARNED HOW TO CLONE HIMSELF!
On a serious note, avoiding copyright on these clips requires a lot of editing.
@@OnceUponAnIsland bro I thought cbs made that mistake.. huge respect to you man
The tom non answer is so goated
All great picks!
i think this video explains a reason why you are so surprised by Gabler's win. Tom was asked if he just used her in the game or did they have a genuine connection and basically said you have the answer in your heart. It's not a non-answer it is a beautiful heartfelt answer. it's not jury management as much as it is managing the relationships you built with people you had to vote out in a game.
You say this as if the majority of the Survivor fanbase was not also surprised by Gabler's win.
4:35 Shirin is seeing through Mike 🤣🤣🤣 She knows he’s really fighting lol
Kristie Bennett - Australian Survivor 2016 ... definitely worth checking out
Maryanne's ftc kind of reminds me of Kristie. Both of them played up their neurotic tendencies a bit, and then at etc they came on cool, calm, and collected.
Chris is basically Saul Goodman
YOu missed Sophie's burning punch on actually playing with Coach's fickleness to her advantage. That for me made it all apparent that Sophie is the ACTUAL BRAWN AND MASTERMIND OF THE OPERATION.
I understand you don't deal with international but imo Kristie Bennett from Australian Survivor had the greatest Final Tribal Council ever. Much better than any tribal from the U.S. (and I guess Canada too) Survivor. Pia Miranda is a close 2nd
Kristie went from someone who slipped to the end to Tony Vlachos on that final day lol
Honorable mention: Kristie from Survivor Australia. She flipped almost the WHOLE jury to vote for her lmao
OMG, yes! So glad this was brought up, an absolute master class!
Yeah thats amazing. ❤
Pia from Australian Survivor was even better imo.
@@rogerdodger1984 Pia was such a goat i wanted Harry to win that season he deserved it most😭
Yes 😍
I would put people like Todd, Sophie, and Maryanne higher than J.T. and Cochran. Todd would probably be my number 1 or 2. Unlike J.T. and Cochran, those winners were likely not winning coming into FTC and literally had to have a great tribal council to pull out a win.
Nothing beats Chris. Hey, even Jeff Probst almost cried 🤭
Well I have a love&hate relationship with final tribal because i love how your choice for winner can make a case to win to the jury or the jury can pick someone else but I don't like the recent twists that affect final tribal in my eyes
If Jesse makes it to the final 3 (which I think he does) he very easily could have the best
If they don't vote Jesse out tonight he is gonna win.
I also thought making the jury laugh helped Tony!
It helped the 43 winner as well.
Chris's win was f'ing hilarious.
Gabler must be on here
Todd will always be one of my favorite winners.
Nice to see JTs FTC getting props, he buried Fish six feet under
Colby isn't really a good example to explain why 'winning immunities isn't a way to win survivor'..... the dude sabataged himself with who he brought to the end, and cheered when he lost. I get what he means, with the second half of his lines, about caring about the jury and not scorning them. But Colby didn't scorn anyone either, he was the most liked guy on the season.... he just chose the one person who could beat him instead of an easy win.
It really says a lot when even casual audiences knew right away that Colby picking Tina over Keith was a mistake. It was that obvious.
@@OnceUponAnIsland In those days it was seen as noble. It's not like the Woo situation where you had 27 seasons that established that you don't take the biggest threat. That was season 2 and Colby was beloved because of his decision. If he would have gotten rid of Tina it would have made him look like a fake.
I remember when I first watched Maryanne’s speech I reminded it 3x😂she did not come to play!
"Infamous" doesn't mean what you think it means. But your ranking was great.
Tony is one of a kind, but then again…so is Russell!
i feel like nick didn’t make this list because of his controversies, but he blows all but Chris out of the water. Nick Wilson without a doubt had the best FTC speech
That's not at all it. I felt like Angelina never had a chance, Mike didn't give his best, and the jury was mostly David's.
Maryanne was on fire! And I love Sophie just 2 amazing winners!
I honestly feel bad for Brandon, sure he cam be short tempered at times but he tries to be nice and the look on his face when sophie explain what really happened with the idol you can tell he felt betrayed
Yam Yam is up there now, too!
It's true. He put on a masterful performance. They screwed up letting him go to the end and talk to the jury.
Romeo has an excellent ftc. His game was awful but the ftc was amazing
My favorites:
Todd
Denise
Parvati
JT
Boston Rob
Fabio
Tom in Palau has 💯 the win the bag even with Ian. People DID not wanted Katie to win.
Mike winning versus Carolyn and dead fish… come on everyone saw that coming.
Cochran winning was obvious as well. Like even if he stayed at camp would’ve won.
Instead of these I would put:
Danni in Guatemala - Ștefannie was a popular person and had the number in the bag, even if the jury was pitty. Danni was calm and knew to scam the jury and apology for everything. Plus she puts Steff down every time she has the chance while steff can’t do that.
Vecepia- Literally like Danni. A under the radar player that did not had the jury prior to final tribal. I wanted V to win but I 💯 thought Neleah would win. And I was shocked by how she managed to calm the jury with her answers.
Everyone forgets Danni and Vecepia.
Another amazing example was the Australian survivor where Kristy hurried her opponent and nobody saw that coming.
After seeing the end of this most recent season, do you think Yam Yam deserves consideration for this list? I thought his answer about how he could tell when people were lying was great and very comparable to the feeling I felt when watching Maryanne give her speech you included - it just felt like that answer was what gave her the win.
I just made Yam Yam's story video and posted it, so it is still fresh in my brain. I think he did a great job and with how much he made the jury laugh while Heidi and Carolyn blew it, I think he could crack this list if I updated it.
I recently watched Vanuatu, and I have to ask: Why wasn't Chris asked to come back for Winners at War? Was it because Jeff hates him for voting off his girlfriend? I gotta know!
I address this in my secrets of Winners at War video.
Kristie Bennet from Survivor AU also has a great FTC performance.
Yes. If he included international seasons, she would hopefully have been number one.
WHY DID THEY CHANGE IT TO 26 DAYS >:(
Maryanne’s is my favorite tribal council if all the seasons 😊
3:46 Um survivor fan here Colby would have won if he apologizes to jerry and actually tries. He clearly wasn’t trying and even says he didn’t play a good game for some reason . Like Colby just had a bad final tribal performance
A humble Colby wins season 2. Agreed.
Michele should be on this list. Her tribal is at least top 10 if not top 3.
Honestly when you’re an asshole in the game and open up at final tribal the jury L O V E S it. You have to be smart to turn that resentment into respect
at 4:55, the guy who is supposed to be standing up and talking is sitting in the audience... am i the first to catch that mistake??
Kristie in Australian Survivor has THE best final tribal performance ever.
We love Kristie and were hooting and hollering at her perfect impassioned responses to their questions and their shocked faces at how she was winning them over. I think that magicician even said he couldn't believe he was voting for but he did.
@4:07 Dan is standing up making his speech AND is siting down listening to his own speech? Was that a real editing mistake on the show? Haha
SAME THING HAPPENS AT @4:50
10 final tribals that I didn’t get up and clap for is what this is aka All of them lol
No Nick Wilson and how he used the theme "David vs Goliath" as an analogy in his FTC speech??? And no Earl???
Earl's FTC was really just watching the other 2 get crapped on lol
@@OnceUponAnIsland and Nick?
He was next to Angelina, who was delusional about her game, and Mike who is already a multi-millionaire.