3. Kathy Vavrick - O'Brien (Survivor: Marquesas)

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In 16 seasons of Survivor, a Survivor has never changed in one season as much as Kathy did in Marquesas. She began the game as the annoying old hag on Rotu, and an easy early boot had Rotu ever lost a challenge. But towards the end of the game, she was one of the most respected players in the game. Kathy is credited for many new strategies that emerged during Marquesas, making it to the F3 without a solid alliance and being partially responsible for the biggest power shift in Survivor history. It all began at the merge summit, where Boston Rob told Kathy about the dynamics of the Rotu 4, following the tribe switch, telling her that she would be the next to go. Luckily for her, she won the F10 immunity challenge and confronted Zoe about it, where Zoe continued to lie, causing Kathy to target her former tribemates. At the final 9, the infamous 'coconut chop' challenge was introduced and the arrogant Rotu 4 alliance systematically eliminated players from the game in the order that they would be voted out - Sean, Vecepia, Kathy, Paschal and Neleh. However, Sean talked it over with Kathy, and Kathy used her pre-existing bonds with Paschal and Neleh to overthrow the Rotu 4 and eliminate John, propelling herself, Sean, Vecepia, Paschal and Neleh to the final 5. At the final 4, Kathy also had another critical move. After Vecepia won individual immunity, Kathy and Vecepia formed an alliance at tribal council to force a tie, since Kathy would be out anyways and Vecepia would face no consequences. Kathy risked herself, but had little to lose and Paschal was eliminated by the purple rock. However, Vecepia indirectly caused Kathy's elimination at the final 3, so Kathy could not win the title of sole survivor. To this date, Kathy is one of the greatest strategists and she had a powerful alliance in All-Stars too, but because of a series of betrayals, Kathy only made it to the final 8 in her second run. For a 50 year old woman, Kathy played a strong mental, physical and strategic game and very few other survivors have come up with new strategies since then...


Clue for the next women:

#2 and #1 share much in common... played two seasons, are both mothers, had similar roles in their original seasons.