I have used a rating/grading system of the voting and social games played by the 14 Survivor Winners. The system allows the Survivor's to be ranked. The total anaylsis is very long and I don't really expect anybody to read every word. Therefore I will also post a shorter version of the analysis with just the grades each winner received and the overall ranking list. I know that nobody will agree with the entire list but I think it is the most accurate ranking system that has been developed.

I will address and answer any comments people do have.

And yes I am aware that I do need to get a life.

Current Winner Rankings

A-

1. Tina Wesson

2. Yul Kwon

3. Tom Westman

B+

4. Richard Hatch

5. Brian Heidik

6. Vecepia Towery

7. Earl Cole

B

8. Amber Brkich

9. Aras Baskauskas

10. Danni Boatwright

11. Ethan Zohn

B-

12. Jenna Morasca

13. Chris Daughtery

14. Sandra- Diaz Twine

Quick Glossary of Terms I use

Here is a glossary in case some people don't understand what I am saying.

AP-player

An aggressive but predictable player. These players understand the basic strategic principles of the game and will act accordingly more often than not.

AU-player

An aggressive and unpredictable player. These players are overaggressive to the point where they are a detriment to themselves and to their alliance mates.

D-players

In the opening phase, this is the group of no more than four players that are determining the strategic direction of the game. They will be the players with the most support lines coming towards them. In early and late-middle phases, they are the one or two players directly supporting the N-players. In the endgame, the D-player is the one the N-players plan to take out third.

Dominant Alliance

The N-players plus the D-players.

Dominant Pair

The two players that are at the top of the support lines in a tribe. Also called the N-players.

Early-middle

The phase of the game that runs from the end of the opening until the tribes are merged and one tribe is in the majority.

Endgame

The phase of the game that runs from when there are four players left to the end of the game.

I-tribe

A tribe who's members put most of their energy into positioning themselves within the tribe as opposed to building a team. This term is only appropriate during the opening and early-middle phases as once the merge hits, all tribes become I-tribes.

Isolated Player

A T-player without a second.

Late-middle

The phase of the game that runs from the end of the early-middle until there are four players left.

M-players

The members of a merged tribe, or tribe after a swap, that came from the tribe that is currently in the minority in the merged tribe. The term loses meaning in the endgame.

N-players

The two players that are at the top of the support lines in a tribe. Also called the dominant pair.

N-tribe

A tribe with but one leader who is recognized, and respected, by the other players in the tribe.

Opening

The phase of the game running from the beginning until one of the following three things happen: the tribe is down to six players, there is a player swap, the tribes merge.

PP-player

A passive and predictable player. These are players that follow the lead of the more dominant players in their tribes and will not make moves to improve their position until it is their turn to be voted out.

PU-player

A passive but unpredictable player. These players march to their own drummers. They tend not to make alliances and will vote as they individually see fit.

Second

The other half of a mutually supporting pair. For example, Tina was Colby's second, Neleh was Paschel's second and vice-versa.

Support

A term only used in reference to strategic support though, more often than not, emotional support will follow the same lines. Primary support goes to the player that another player would most like to come along with them further into the game.

T-leader

A T-player, usually isolated, not in the dominant alliance yet is leading the tribe around camp and in the challenges.

T-players

During the opening and early-middle phases, they are the players that are not in the dominant alliance. In the early middle the T-players are members of the majority tribe that are not in the dominant alliance. In the endgame, the T-player is the player the N-players plan on taking out fourth.

T-tribe

A tribe who's members put most of their energy into building a team to compete against the other tribe. This term is only appropriate during the opening and early-middle game phases.

Ranking System

STRATEGIC THINKING:

• One letter grade per game phase: opening, early-middle, late-middle, endgame
• Opening grade in each phase is B. Rating of each individual votes effect that grade as follows.
• • Good or Interesting: grade is unchanged
  • Great: grade is increased one point (ie. B to B+, B+ to A-)
  • Brilliant: grade increased whole grade (ie. B+ to A+)
  • Dubious: grade decreased one point (ie. B to B-, B- to C+)
  • Mistake: grade decreased whole grade (ie. B- to C-)
  • Blunder: grade decreased two whole grades (ie. B- to D-)
  • Phase of at least two votes with nothing less than good: one point increase
  • Phase of at least five votes with nothing less than good: two point increase
• Total strategic thinking grade is a mean (rounded to the nearest whole) of the four phase grades using the following equivalency tables.

F-	F	F+	D-	D	D+	C-	C	C+	B-	B	B+	A-	A	A+
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15

0.5-1.5	1.5-2.5	2.5-3.5	3.5-4.5	4.5-5.5	5.5-6.5	6.5-7.5	7.5-8.5	8.5-9.5	9.5-10.5	10.5-11.5	11.5-12.5	12.5-13.5	13.5-14.5	14.5-15.5
F-	F	F+	D-	D	D+	C-	C	C+	B-	B	B+	A-	A	A+

SOCIAL SKILLS:

• Two letter grades are assigned based upon the following rubric.
• An overall grade is found using the equivalency tables above.

	F	D	C	B	A
Social Skills	Player does not get along well with almost all players.	Player gets along well with few players.	Player gets along well with most players.	Player gets along well with almost all other players.	Player gets along well with virtually all other players
Leadership Skills	Player is not in the decision making group at any stage of the game.	Player is not leading but is part of the decision making group - no lower than D-player - within a tribe.	Player has one other player following their lead	Player can get some players to follow their lead.	Player has most players in their tribe following his/her lead.

Winner's Case Studies

Season 1: Richard Hatch

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

• Dirk: PU-player. Like so many in this first season of Survivor, Dirk did not go into this with any kind of firm strategy on how to win. He seemed to be forming a relationship with Sean
• Kelly: PU-player. Kelly formed an early relationship with Stacey. An athletic player but one that is going to vote to her own tune.
• Richard: AP-player. Aggressive player who came in with the mindset that this was a game and the object was to win. Smart and a natural leader though his confidence often drifts towards arrogance.
• Rudy: PP-player. Rudy is not interested in being anyone but himself around camp which immediately urks many of his tribe mates. Fantastically loyal to an alliance, though.
• Sean: PP-player. Fit and a doctor, Sean brings skills to the tribe that are more than useful but his game strategy chiefly revolves around getting everyone to like him.
• Sonja: PP-player. Personable but clearly lags behind the rest physically.
• Stacey: AP-player. The only other player bucking for a leadership position, Stacey formed an early relationship with Kelly and seems to want to pull Susan into that mix.
• Susan: PP-player. Susan is forming relationship with both Richard, Stacey and Kelly. Not a leader type but one that realizes there is a game going on.

D-players: Kelly, Richard, Rudy, Stacey
T-players: Dirk, Sean, Sonja, Susan

Tribal Council 1 - Day 3 - Boot: Sonja

Votes:
Dirk, Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Sonja
Kelly, Stacey & Sonja voted Rudy

Richard voted Stacey

I've never been a big fan of solo voting. It just isn't a solo game, but what is interesting is that Richard is already recognizing that Stacey represents his primary threat and that to have anywhere near a functional tribe, he or Stacey had to go.

Rating: Dubious - I suppose forecasting your attack like this at least alerts others, most notably potential allies, that there is a game afoot, but I still can't support going solo like this. It's just such a good way to single yourself out.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 9 - Boot: Stacey

Votes:
Dirk, Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Stacey
Kelly & Stacey voted Rudy

Richard voted Stacey

By this stage, Richard had formed a formal alliance with Rudy and Sue while Kelly was definitely in Stacey's camp. Rudy and Stacey were continually banging heads and it was effecting the functioning of the tribe. One had to go and obviously the removal of Stacey leaves Richard in charge of the tribe and the direction of the game.

Rating: Great - Stacey was the best person for Richard to remove at this stage..

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Dirk -> none
Kelly -> Sue
Richard -> Rudy
Rudy -> Richard
Sean -> none
Sue -> Richard

N-players: Richard & Rudy
D-Players: Sue
T-players: Dirk, Kelly & Sue

Richard's game play has changed the shape of this tribe and created a definite social hierarchy. Kelly's relationship with Sue will soon bring her into the Tagi alliance but Dirk and Sean will continue to play solo.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 15 - Boot: Dirk

Votes:
Kelly, Rudy & Sue voted Dirk
Dirk voted Susan
Sean voted Rudy

Richard voted Dirk

Usually, voting out an athletic player when you were down a player to the other tribe would not be a wise thing to do, but this being the first season things are a little different. Richard's biggest concern should be preserving his alliance of four as things at Pagong are still very individual. They could likely lose the next immunity challenge and still control the game after the merge. This makes this a choice between Dirk and Sean and it's really six of one and half a dozen of the other so you might as well vote for the player that is most isolated from the rest of the group, and that would be Dirk.

Rating: Good - Either Dirk or Sean would have been fine here..

Tribal Council 4 - Day 21 - Boot: Gretchen

The tribes merged and five new players have entered into Richard's game.

• Colleen: PU-player. Pagong was very much playing the solo game.
• Gervase: PU-player.
• Greg: PU-player.
• Gretchen: PU-player. If the tribe had a leader, it was Gretchen.
• Jenna: PU-player.

Votes:
Kelly, Rudy & Sue voted Gretchen
Colleen voted Richard
Gervase voted Sue
Greg voted Jenna
Gretchen voted Rudy
Jenna voted Gervase
Sean voted Colleen

Richard voted Gretchen.

Thanks to everyone else voting individually, Richard could choose whom to remove out and taking out the closest thing Pagong had to a leader was certainly his best move. Gretchen was respected by all her tribe mates and removing her really shook them up.
Rating: Great - Gretchen was easily the best choice.

Late Middle-game:

N-players: Richard, Rudy
D-players: Kelly, Susan
T-player: Sean
M-players: Colleen, Gervase, Greg, Jenna

Tribal Council 5 - Day 24 - Boot: Greg

Votes:
Kelly, Jenna, Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Greg
Colleen, Gervase & Greg voted Jenna

Richard voted Greg

With Gervase winning immunity, Greg becomes the obvious choice. Besides, it follows Sean's alphabetical voting pattern, meaning that Richard had an almost guaranteed majority in case the Pagongs woke up to what was going on, not that that was likely to happen.

There are a couple of other things to note. First, Sean's alphabetical voting strategy does not extend to his own tribe, making him more of a PP-player rather than a PU. More importantly, Kelly is showing herself as noncommittal to the Tagi 4 and is actually forming stronger relationships with Colleen and Jenna than with her own tribe members.

Rating: Good - An obvious call.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 27 - Boot: Jenna

Votes:
Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Jenna
Colleen, Gervase & Jenna voted Richard
Kelly voted Sean

Richard voted Jenna

If Richard could have really pulled together a solid foursome, it would have been great to get rid of Kelly at this stage, but obviously Sean couldn't really be counted on. Following his alphabetical lead and just taking out Jenna was the best course.

Rating: Good - With eight players still in the game Richard could still potentially need Sean's vote so following his alphabetical voting is the safest course.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 30 - Boot: Gervase

Votes:
Kelly, Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Gervase
Colleen and Gervase voted Sean

Richard voted Gervase

Despite Kelly's flipping loyalties, Sue still sees her as her ace in the hole for down the road, so a move on Kelly on Richard's part just wont work. The only vote he can truly rely on would be Rudy's. As such, the safe course is Gervase.

Rating: Good - It was really the only option open for Richard.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 33 - Boot: Colleen

Votes:
Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Colleen
Colleen & Kelly voted Sean

Richard voted Colleen

As his voting testimonial confirms, Richard definitely recognizes the threat represented by Kelly and would love to get rid of her. Unfortunately, Kelly wins immunity forcing the vote to either Sean or Colleen. Colleen represents the safer route and besides, Sean is beginning to show some signs of waking up and playing this game and may become a preferred fourth over Kelly.

Rating: Good - Kelly winning immunity basically forces this.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 36 - Boot: Sean

Votes:
Kelly, Rudy & Sue voted Sean
Sean voted Sue

Richard voted Sean

Kelly winning immunity once again makes this the only route to go. It would have been interesting to see if Kelly would have gone here had that option been available. I know I would have done it.

Rating: Good - The only real option available.

Endgame:

N-players: Richard & Rudy
D-player: Sue
T-player: Kelly

Tribal Council 10 - Day 37 - Boot: Sue

Votes:
Kelly & Rudy voted voted Sue
Sue voted Richard

Richard voted Sue

Richard's reign almost ended here with another untimely immunity win by Kelly. I have little doubt that if the immunity necklace had been on someone else, Sue wouldn't have hesitated voting out Kelly, but with the tables turned it appeared that Kelly was going to try and save Sue by voting Richard and forcing a tie. On the revote however, it appeared that Kelly didn't think having Sue in the mix was worth the effort and risk of a further tie and changed her vote, one of many mistakes she had made in voting in this game.

Rating: Good - Again, no real choice.

Tribal Council 11 - Day 38 - Boot: Rudy

Votes:
Kelly voted Sue

Neither Richard nor Rudy voted in this tribal council.

Kelly saved herself for likely the fourth time with yet another immunity challenge win. An interesting thing that Richard did do during the challenge was bow out absolutely convinced that either Kelly or Rudy would have taken him. He was right.

Tribal Council 12 - Day 39 - Boot: Kelly

Votes for winner:
Greg, Rudy, Sean & Sue voted Richard
Colleen, Gervase and Jenna voted Kelly

I don't think this vote would have been nearly so close in subsequent seasons as players went into this with their eyes a little more open as this being a game of strategy and deceit as well as one of social skills. That being said, the vote almost split along tribal lines with Pagong voting for the player that couldn't stay in an alliance while Tagi voted for the one that created theirs. Two different ideologies coming head to head, which was only broken by Greg believing Hatch, played the better game. It would be interesting to speculate if the game would have taken a different course in the future if the flip-flopping Kelly had been rewarded with the grand prize. I, for one, am glad we didn't have to find out.

Grades:

Opening: B
Early Middle-game: A-
Late Middle-game: A-
Endgame: B+

Overall Voting Strategy: B+

Overall Social Strategy: B+

Comments: Although Richard was the undisputed leader in his tribe his arrogant nature definitely rubbed many the wrong way. Many may argue that Rich deserved to be ranked lower for his social ability but the fact is with his fishing abilities he was able to make himself useful to the tribe.

Leadership: A, Social Ability: C+

Overall Rating: B+

Season 2- Tina Wesson

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Amber: PP-player. She is not a leader, but Amber has the ability to get herself into the dominant group. She formed a very early relationship with Jerri and was obviously putting her support there.

Colby: AP-player. Colby was most definitely looking to be a N-player by the endgame but, for now, was keeping a lower profile. As the most obvious alpha-male of the group, his support was being sought by the two rival factions and he was keeping his options open at this stage. Ironically, in the later seasons of the game, players like Colby are usually distanced from the tribe as being too threatening. He had formed an early relationship with Tina but was also expressing loyalty to Jerri and her posse. He likely saw Tina as his ace in the hole but was laying low and letting others take the spotlight until he saw how things shook down.

Jerri: AU-player. The early dominant personality of the tribe and the closest thing the tribe had to a leader at this stage. Jerri had formed a support group very early, led by Amber and Mitchell and rounded out, she hoped, with Colby. Jerri was an overly aggressive player who alienated many members of the tribe and didn't understand the importance of, or was incapable of creating, a solid tribal dynamic.

Keith: PP-player. A solid tribe supporter but not one to build his own alliance. He will ally with others that he respects and likes. Keith felt his skills around camp should be enough to carry him deep. I don't think he had a game plan beyond that.

Kel: PP-player. Another tribe player who felt the skills he feels he brings to camp, and his athleticism, should be enough to carry him on. He seemed to lack either the ability or the desire to make strong relationships and soon found himself the most isolated player in the tribe.

Maralyn: PP or AP-player. Tough to call the type as it was her lack of athleticism that saw her go, and we never got an opportunity to see whether there was a strategic game there. One thing for sure, she had tremendous social skills and demonstrated rock solid convictions. Personally, I think she would have been a gamer if given the opportunity.

Mitchell: AU-player. Mitchell seemed to enjoy playing the opposing forces within this tribe and, like Jerri, didn't understand the importance of building a team as opposed to playing it catty.

Tina: AP-player. Tina made an early partnership with Colby, but also seemed to have a very strong relationship with Maralyn, though it is difficult to tell whether this extended to a formal alliance. I suspect not.

D-players: Amber, Colby, Jerri, Mitchell

T-players: Keith, Kel, Maralyn, Tina

Tribal Council 1 - Day 6 - Boot: Kel

Votes:

Amber, Colby, Keith, Jerri, Maralyn & Mitchell voted Kel

Kel voted Jerri

Tina voted Kel

Despite winning two of the first three challenges, it was clear that Ogakor was tribe in trouble as Jerri took on more and more the mantle of leadership. Type-5 players are dangerous to the whole tribe, and Ogakor had two of them leading the show: Jerri and Mitchell. This was the tribe's central problem and it needed to be dealt with. Instead the tribe followed the path of least resistance and voted out Kel, compounding the problem by further supporting Jerri's hold on this tribe while getting rid of one of their most contributing players around camp and, more importantly, in the challenges. Moreover, Kel was showing no interest in building alliances and seemed not equipped to play the social game. He also appeared the loyal tribe player, making him an ideal T-player.

At first, it appears that Tina's vote would not have made a difference, but her opinion holds sway. She most likely could have gotten Keith and Maralyn on board. Colby would have been more of a problem as this would force his hand earlier than he would have liked, but if Tina, Keith, Kel and Maralyn all voted Jerri, it would have left Colby little choice. It may not have come to that as Colby may have seen how much better the tribe would have been with Jerri gone. A more natural structure would have fallen out of the booting of Jerri with type-4s, Colby and Tina, leading strategy aided by type-2s Keith and Kell around camp. Amber would have fallen in line and Mitchell could have made an easy second boot without costing the tribe much.

Rating: Dubious - Tina, along with Colby, Keith, Kel & Maralyn, should have voted out Jerri. However, as a weak female player getting past the early votes is huge for Tina. Therefore I rate this as a dubious rather than a mistake.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 9 - Boot: Maralyn

Votes:

Amber, Colby, Jerri & Mitchell voted Maralyn

Keith voted Mitchell

Maralyn voted Jerri

Tina voted Maralyn

After winning their first two challenges, Ogakor has now lost their last three and this boot was all about rectifying the situation by taking out their least athletic player. Although there is some logic in this, the evidence is abundantly clear that building a functional tribe with respected leaders plays a far greater role in winning challenges than the athleticism of the individual players. The source of the problem in this tribe is even more obvious than it was three days earlier. Again, the vote should have gone to Jerri or perhaps Mitchell if people were worried about him physically. You would have to decide whether dealing with Jerri after Mitchell is gone would be more of a detriment than carrying the ailing Mitchell. It's a tough call, but either will adjust the leadership to where it belongs.

Tina claims that her vote for Maralyn was one of strategy, and I'm sure that was her reason, but the strategy was unsound. Likely she was still following Colby's lead and Colby's plan was to still play his relationship with both camps in this tribe keeping Tina as his ace in the hole. Tina doesn't have quite the hand she had with the Kel boot as, if Colby was set to voting with Jerri, Tina was left with little viable resource.

Rating: Dubious - Tina, along with Colby, Keith & Maralyn should have voted out Jerri or Mitchell.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Amber -> Jerri

Colby -> Tina

Jerri -> Amber

Keith -> Tina

Mitchell -> Jerri

Tina -> Colby

N-players: Amber & Jerri

D-Players: Colby & Mitchell

T-players: Keith & Tina

Ogakor has played a poor opening game, and Tina was no exception. Jerri's and Mitchell's determination to play the players in their own tribe rather than to play against the players in the Kucha tribe, coupled with Colby's desire to play both sides of the fence and not to step up to his natural leadership position, has left the tribe in a very bad state and the game very quickly slipping out of reach for each of its members. Their bad decisions in tribal council have played out in the challenges. After winning their first two, Ogakor has lost their next three and with Kucha gelling under Michael Skupin's leadership, it was starting to look like just surviving to the merge may be an accomplishment for Tina. But, by the end of the next stage, the tables will be completely turned.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 12 - Boot: Mitchell

Votes:

Colby & Keith voted Mitchell

Amber, Jerri & Mitchell voted Keith

Tina vote Mitchell and Mitchell went out because he had the most previous votes against.

Ogakor had now lost it's last five challenges and have gone to tribal council three consecutive times. They were now about to go down to five players, and the loss of either of the next two immunity challenges would mean almost certain death once the merge hit. Moreover, Colby was forced now to finally make a decision. If Keith were to go, he would be basically forced to ride fourth in the Jerri-Amber-Mitchell alliance and would no longer be able to protect his ace in Tina. More over, Keith going would remove yet another solid contributor to a team that is in desperate need of a win.

Something had to change and Colby finally realized what he would have been so better realizing a week earlier, Jerri or Mitchell had to go. Thanks to votes from exiting players, Colby could actually pick which one and it seems that Mitchell's failing health is what tipped the scales. It is interesting to note, though, that having Jerri still in the game keeps one extra card in Colby's hand. It would have been interesting to see how this vote would have gone if the health factor didn't factor in. Once Colby approached Tina and Keith with the plan to get rid of Mitchell, they would have been fools not to play along.

Rating: Great - Jerri's willingness to play hard for the tribe after this, despite being dethroned, showed that Mitchell was the right decision over Jerri.

New Tribal Structure:

N-players: Colby & Tina

D-player: Keith

T-players: Amber & Jerri

Tribal Council 4 - Day 21 - Boot: Jeff

The tribes merged and five new players have entered into Tina's game.

Alicia: PP-player. Despite an imposing persona, Alicia seemed satisfied riding several rungs down on the social ladder.

Elizabeth: PP-player. Loyal tribe player but not the type to climb to the top of the social structure.

Jeff: AU-player. Jeff seemed to enjoy playing the game but seemed to enjoy stirring dissention more than building a team.

Nick: PP-player. I saw Nick as one of the central players in Kucha but when Michael was taken out of the game, his game seemed to collapse around him.

Roger: PP-player. Very loyal to the tribe but likely unwilling to weigh strategic thinking ahead of voting on conscious.

Votes:

Amber, Colby, Jerri & Keith voted Jeff

Alicia, Elizabeth, Jeff, Nick & Roger voted Colby

Tina voted Jeff and Jeff went out because of previous votes against.

There were a couple of fortuitous events that aided Ogakor into going into the late middle-game on top of Kucha. One was Kucha losing their leader to an accident just before the merge, which, most certainly, took much of the fire out of them. The other was Kimmi, a member of the Kucha tribe that was later evicted, who flat out told Tina after their first tribal council that the outgoing Debb had put a vote on Jeff. Armed with this knowledge, Ogakor knew exactly whom to go for in the ensuing tie vote. Besides, as the only non-PP-player, Jeff was the one person that may have been willing to stir the pot and perhaps get Kucha into the game.

Having said that, one shouldn't underestimate the change that has occurred in Ogakor since their last tribal council. They were now behaving as a team, happier around camp, and have actually won two of the last three challenges. This sense of team continued after the merge right into the first individual immunity challenge where many of the Kuchas were the first to bail in an endurance challenge, including potential target Jeff, leaving only Alicia to outlast their target Keith, which she couldn't do. The final showing of team was, when they were the last two standing, Tina stepping down to allow the immunity necklace to go to Keith, foiling Kucha's primary target and leaving them scrambling.

Rating: Good - Tina voting any other way would have been foolish.

Late Middle-game:

N-players: Tina, Colby

D-player: Keith

T-players: Amber, Jerri

M-players: Alicia, Elizabeth, Nick, Roger

Tribal Council 5 - Day 24 - Boot: Alicia

Votes:

Amber, Colby, Jerri & Keith voted Alicia

Alicia, Elizabeth, Nick & Roger voted Jerri

Tina voted Alicia.

With Keith winning immunity once again, the door was wide open to remove either Alicia or Nick. It could have gone either way, but I agree with the Alicia call, mostly because she seemed to have her head more into the game then Nick who really had the wind taken out of his sails since Michael's departure before the merge.

Rating: Good - Either Alicia or Nick would have been fine calls.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 27 - Boot: Jerri

Votes:

Colby, Elizabeth, Keith, Nick & Roger voted Jerri

Amber & Jerri voted Elizabeth

Tina voted Jerri

Everything seemed to be shaping up for a continuation of the Pagonging until Nick won the immunity challenge. It appears that the vote was going towards Elizabeth when it suddenly shifted towards Jerri. Whether this was simply affection for Elizabeth, coupled with increasing annoyance with Jerri outweighing tribal loyalty, or an honest strategic move is difficult to say, but one cannot ignore the advantage of removing Jerri over Elizabeth, especially for Tina.

Ever since the Mitchell vote two weeks earlier, Colby had been leading Jerri along that they will keep her to the end. Jerri, having no allies anywhere else - including from the foolish Kuchas - continued to cling to this straw. Perhaps at the start, Colby was honestly keeping his options open, but it seemed that by this stage he was as tired of Jerri as anyone. The thing is, Jerri's support of Colby, which also tagged along Amber's support, gave Colby strength when it came to leading the tribe. The removal of Jerri subtly, but perceptively, shifted that strength to Tina.

As well, Jerri being an aggressive player, would likely have been willing had the Kucha's ever woke up and realized they were supporting the wrong Ogakor members. If Elizabeth were voted out, Nick's and Roger's best play would have been to team up Jerri and Amber and go after the tribal leaders in Tina and Colby. I'm not sure how likely this would have been, but removing Jerri now completely removes the possibility of a coup attempt.

That being said, it's not like going after Jerri was without risks as it required the support of the Kuchas and their best counter play would have been to vote Colby. The fun thing is, they wouldn't have even needed the help of Jerri and Amber. If the Kuchas pretended to play along with Colby and Tina, but then voted Colby instead, it would have been a tie: 3 Jerri, 3 Colby, 2 Elizabeth. After a tie, the two players that are tied don't vote and the remaining players revote and are only allowed to vote for one of the tied players, either Colby or Jerri. Keith and Tina would have voted Jerri but the three Kuchas would stick with Colby, leaving Amber to make a decision, force a tie by voting Jerri or voting out Colby. In a tie, it would have been Jerri that would have gone due to previous votes against but it's hard to imagine Amber voting out an ally from the very early stages of the game over someone who just turned on a tribe mate. Colby almost certainly would have been gone and Amber and Jerri would likely have no remaining feelings of loyalty to Tina and Keith. It would be a whole new ball game.

Rating: Great - Despite the possible counter play by the Kuchas, the situation was read right (turning on Colby never even occurred to them) and the removal of Jerri was the best outcome from Tina's perspective.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 30 - Boot: Nick

Votes:

Amber, Colby, Keith voted Nick

Elizabeth & Roger voted Amber

Nick voted Keith

Tina voted Nick

A Kucha had to go and Nick was the obvious choice. There is no way it could have gone any other way and the Kuchas should have looked ahead and realized that removing Jerri three days earlier gained them nothing.

Rating: Good - A completely obvious vote.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 33 - Boot: Amber

Votes:

Elizabeth, Keith & Roger voted Amber

Amber & Colby voted Roger

Tina voted Amber

Many people love to dump at Amber because she didn't see this coming, but I don't think Colby saw it coming either as I am sure he was her in the final four with him. The problem was, he wasn't running this game anymore, Tina was. Colby apparently knew Amber was going but didn't vote for her knowing that Tina didn't need his support and he was thinking about her jury vote down the road. All this is fine, but it seems clear to me that if Colby were to make the call, it wouldn't have been Amber going.

Like the Jerri boot, this wasn't without an obvious counter play from Kucha, especially with the very dangerous stray vote that Colby threw out. This time, however, they would have needed Amber's support and whether she would have given it or not is unclear. In fact, approaching Amber runs the risk of her going to Colby and Tina for verification which may cause the vote to shift entirely to Roger, but frankly, I think it's a risk worth taking because playing along with Tina and Colby just drags out Kucha's death. It does not increase a Kucha's chance of winning.

The thing is, Tina once again called the situation right and the Kuchas were pleased as punch to play along. Removing Amber is one of the most subtle power plays this game has ever seen. It is not a struggle between rival tribes or alliances, but a quieter struggle between the dominant duo.

Rating: Great - Tina is now firmly in control of this game.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 36 - Boot: Roger

Votes:

Colby & Keith voted Roger

Elizabeth & Roger voted Keith

Tina voted Roger

Once again, it is obvious a Kucha had to go and if one went with both popularity and with strength in the challenges, the choice leans to Elizabeth, but not by a whole lot. What is interesting about the decision going to Roger is that Tina now goes into the endgame with three other players, all of which support her over Colby. She has just about guaranteed her position into the final two no matter how the immunity challenges play out. Was this deliberate on her part? I like to think so.

Rating: Interesting - Roger represents the last of the Colby supporters.

Endgame:

N-players: Colby, Tina

D-player: Keith

T-player: Elizabeth

Tribal Council 10 - Day 37 - Boot: Elizabeth

Votes:

Colby & Keith voted Elizabeth

Elizabeth voted Keith

Tina voted Elizabeth

No real choice here. It interesting to note that the counter of Keith and Elizabeth voting Tina (Colby won immunity) to force a tie doesn't work because of the previous votes on Elizabeth, not that either of these two players would have even thought of playing that aggressively.

Rating: Good - An easy vote.

Tribal Council 11 - Day 38 - Boot: Keith

Votes:

Colby voted Keith

Neither Keith nor Tina voted in this tribal council.

If Tina was destined to lose this game, it would have happened here. Clearly Colby's better play would have been to vote out Tina and go into the final two with the less popular Keith who did little more strategically than ride on Colby's and Tina's coattails throughout this game. Tina's investment in loyalty and support paid off, though, when Colby kept his loyalty to her.

Tribal Council 12 - Day 39 - Boot: Colby

Votes for winner:

Alicia, Elizabeth, Jerri & Keith voted Tina

Amber, Nick & Roger voted Colby

This is really a tough call on the part of the jury, but if I were there I would have voted Tina as well. It was clear that as the game progressed, it was her running the show, not Colby.

Grades:

Opening: C-

Early Middle-game: A

Late Middle-game: A+

Endgame: B

Overall Voting Strategy: B+

Overall Social Strategy: A

Comments: Tina was very well liked and respected by everyone that played with her. Though she let players like Jerri and Colby lead during most of the game, she was definitely controlling the votes in the later stages. Leadership: A-, Social Ability: A+

Overall Rating: A-

Season 3- Ethan Zohn

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

• Clarence: PP-player. A loyal but non-aggressive player. Though strong and athletic, Clarence was isolated from the get go.
• Diane: AP-player. Diane definitely acted as one of the leaders very early on, though it didn't seem too many people were following. Though not around long, she seemed to not be timid when it came to game play.
• Ethan: AP-player. Easily likeable but definitely there to play. Always involved in any decision-making process but prefers to let others lead the discussions. Formed an early relationship with Lex and Tom
• Jesse: PP-player. Jesse was became ill at an early stage and showed no signs of having her head in the game.
• Kelly: PP-player. A very social player who's tactical aggression is difficult to read. Definitely someone to be a little wary of if she isn't in your alliance. Formed an early relationship with Kim J.
• Kim J: PP-player. An older and physically weaker member, Kim formed an early relationship with Kelly though wasn't the type to make bold moves.
• Lex: AU-player. An athletic and fairly charismatic team leader, Lex was somewhat of a control freak. Formed and early relationship with Ethan and Tom
• Tom: PP-player. A loyal tribe member who most folks found entertaining as well. Formed an early relationship with Ethan and Lex.

D-players: Ethan, Lex, Tom
T-players: Clarence, Diane, Jesse, Kelly, Kim J

Tribal Council 1 - Day 3 - Boot: Diane

Votes:
Clarence, Jesse, Kelly, Kim J & Lex voted Diane
Diane & Tom voted Clarence

Ethan voted Diane

When Diane collapsed during the immunity challenge, this became an easy choice. What made work even better is that she may have been the only other AP-player that was not in the dominant alliance. Easily the best choice all round.

Rating: Good - An aggressive player who collapsed during the challenge; it doesn't get much easier.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 6 - Boot: Jesse

Votes:
Clarence, Kelly, Kim J & Lex voted Jesse
Tom voted Clarence

Ethan voted Jesse

By this stage the boys were firmly in control of this tribe and could really take out who they choose. Jesse, who had been ill most of the time and not making strong relationships with anyone, represents a path of least resistance boot. At this early stage, that is not entirely a bad thing but even ill, Jesse could run circles around Kim at the challenges and with them losing their second immunity challenge in a row they really needed to be thinking about tribe strength. Certainly Kim was popular but I think the tribe could have been sold on her need to go. The one decentring voice may have come from Kelly, but I think she just would have put her energy into getting close with Jesse. I think the tribe would have been better off but they lucked out through the complete collapse of the Samburu tribe on the other side of the island.

By the way, don't fooled by Tom's vote. This is him just keeping Clarence in his place. Yup, way to build tribe moral, Tom.

Rating: Dubious - I think strengthen the tribe by taking out Kim would have been the better move.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Clarence -> Tom
Ethan -> Lex
Kelly -> Kim J
Kim J -> Kelly
Lex -> Ethan
Tom -> Lex

N-players: Ethan & Lex
D-Players: Tom
T-players: Clarence, Kelly & Kim J

The Ethan-Lex-Tom trio completely running the show with Lex as the undisputed leader. Clarence is playing the loyal soldier and Kelly and Kim J, though building a relationship between the two, are not making any moves at changing the leadership structure.

One day 13 a surprise swap saw Kelly, Lex and Tom sent over to Samburu and three new players entered Ethan's game.

• Frank: AU-player: Frank was co-leader of the Samburu tribe until his second, Carl, lost in a tie vote and was gone. Frank and Teresa are the only ones left of their alliance and both of them are furious with the other alliance in their tribe, especially Silas.
• Silas: AP-player: Silas was leader of the "mall-rat" alliance back in Samburu. He had made a deal with Carl and Frank but went back on it, incidentally the right move for his part. Silas is a gamer but underestimated the anger that his lazier alliance would generate from the older members of his tribe.
• Teresa: PU-player: A tough player to categorize. By no stretch a leader, she is loyal to those players she feels that deserve it but willing to turn her back on her tribemates that don't. For now, she's following Frank's lead.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 15 - Boot: Silas

Votes:
Clarence, Frank, Kelly & Teresa voted Silas
Silas voted Frank

Ethan voted Silas

Frank and Teresa wasted absolutely no time handing Silas's head over on a platter and they even helped Ethan and company throw the immunity challenge, a good move for Ethan as Lex and company were looking at a three-three tie at the Samburu camp as well. For his part, Silas continued to battle right to the end and recognized Clarence as the only potential weak link in the Samburu camp. He tried to rustle together anything he could with Clarence but Clarence was just not nearly an aggressive enough player to take advantage of opportunities to come his way.

Things could have easily gone wrong for Ethan here if there were better players in the mix. Clarence should have explored options with their new tribe mates and if Frank and Teresa were smart (unfortunately, none of these three were) they would have made Clarence a final three deal and with Silas's help - Silas would have been there - voted out Ethan. This would have improved the situation for all four of these players, unfortunately they had all put blinders on and were on a one way track. There was even the opportunity for a truly brilliant play on the part of the Samburus if they could have just managed to put their past differences behind them. Silas and Clarence did hit is off and Silas learned that Clarence had four previous votes on him (half thanks to Tom's bonehead voting) while Silas had only three (thanks to Frank's and Teresa's bonehead voting). Frank, Teresa and Silas could have double-crossed Ethan by all voting Clarence and Clarence would have gone in the resulting tie. Now that would have been sweet.

Rating: Good - It's hard to look a gift horse in the mouth. Though the possibility of counterplay existed, Ethan had the situation read right.

Late Middle-game:

Tribal Council 4 - Day 21 - Boot: Clarence

The tribes merged and the remaining Samburus entered Ethan's game.

• Brandon: AU-player. An aggressive player with little loyalties and now in the minority. His actions are tough to predict.
• Kim P: PP-player. A complete follower but the only Samburu player left who really wants the tribe to hang together. Though loyal to Brandon, she also has a good relationship with Frank and Teresa.

N-players: Ethan, Lex
D-players: Kim J, Tom
T-players: Clarence, Kelly
M-players: Brandon, Frank, Kim P, Teresa

Votes:
Brandon, Frank, Kelly, Kim J, Kim P, Lex & Tom voted Clarence
Clarence & Teresa voted Lex

Ethan voted Clarence.

The argument to remove Clarence was on of strength in the immunity challenges, but it is a weak one. With the number of strong players and the variety of challenges, the likelihood of Clarence putting together any kind of meaningful winning streak is exceedingly remote. In the meantime he is just floating along happy to be there. What made this vote particularly risky was Lex telling Clarence his time had come. A cornered animal, even the most passive of animals, is capable of almost anything and considering that there was fellow T-player Kelly, who even has options with Kim J, in the mix, the two of them would have certainly been better off going over to the Samburus. What makes Samburu attractive is their disdain for each other giving a reasonable chance of a real final four deal with one of the pairs. Alas, it wasn't to be as players rolled over waiting for their number to come up.

By the way Kim J is now a D-player as the Boran alliance has extended a final four deal to her by this stage. Actually, it was likely well before this, likely shortly after the Jesse boot.

Rating: Dubious - Although with the players left, the risk was minimal I think waiting a bit (say when there are eight players left) to get rid of Clarence is safer.

Tribal Council 5 - Day 24 - Boot: Kelly

Votes:
Brandon, Kim J, Lex & Tom voted Kelly
Kelly, Frank, Kim P & Teresa voted Lex

Ethan voted Kelly

First is to realize the obvious, this is very bad for Ethan and company as both Boran and Samburu are tied in numbers, meaning if Samburu vote together the best Boran can hope for is a tie in the next immunity council. Lex has the most previous votes against and Tom is second, so Samburu can take control of this game regardless of who wins immunity.

That being said, Ethan as an individual was in a tough spot. Ethan has been letting Lex run the show but now those birds have come home to roust. Lex went uber-paranoid trying to find who put the extra vote on him (it was Teresa who felt some loyality to Clarence after Clarence dropped the immunity challenge for her). He interigated everyone and then Brandon put the bug in his ear that it was Kelly. Lex insisted that she goes and offered Brandon an immediate final five spot. Lex had both Tom and Kim J firmly on board so Ethan, a vocal opponent of the plan, had little choice but to follow along.

Lex, of course, is incapable of keeping anything under his hat and Kelly soon has caught wind of the situation. She approaches Teresa and Kim P with her support and they, along with Frank, hatch the natural plan to go after Lex. Brandon is left in an interesting position as Samburu can take control whether it is Lex that goes or Kelly.

Rating: Blunder - Deluxe brain cramp, but at least Ethan manages to safe the situation in the next tribal council.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 27 - Boot: Brandon

Votes:
Frank, Kim J, Kim P, Teresa & Tom voted Brandon
Brandon & Lex voed Frank

Ethan voted Brandon

Samburu seemed to patch up their differences with Brandon and seemed to be on track to take out Lex. In the meantime, Ethan convinced Kim J and Tom that Brandon could not be trusted and that he had to go. It looked like we were heading for Lex's demise but then he won the immunity challenge and instead of doing the obvious and shifting the vote to Tom, Samburu's uneasy truce completely crumbled and the turned on their own with Brandon.

Rating: Great - Not only does Boran regain control of the game, but Ethan has gotten rid of a player that was supporting Lex while stepping up as the more natural leader within his own tribe. This vote likely represents the beginning of Lex's process of throwing this game away.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 30 - Boot: Frank

Votes:
Kim J, Kim P, Lex, Teresa & Tom voted Frank
Frank voted Kim J

Ethan voted Frank

With the silliness apparently behind them, Boran settles into pagonging mode starting with the natural boot of taking out Samburu's leader and strongest immunity contender.

Rating: Good - Easy vote.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 33 - Boot: Kim P

Votes:
Kim J, Lex & Tom voted Kim P
Kim P & Teresa voted Lex

Ethan voted Kim P

Rating: Good - Kim P and Teresa, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 36 - Boot: Teresa

Votes:
Kim J, Lex & Tom voted Teresa
Teresa voted Tom

Ethan voted Teresa

If the two D-players, Tom and Kim J, were tight there is a real risk of a coup here but with the players left in this game that just wasn't going to happen. Never-the-less, Teresa wasn't about to go out without swinging and, taking a page from Brandon's book, approached Lex saying that Tom was thinking about removing him. Again, Lex's paranoia almost got the better of him when he approached Tom with this. Tom was angered and if Ethan wasn't already in control of this game before this point, he was now.

Rating: Good - Another easy vote.

Endgame:

N-players: Ethan & Lex
D-player: Tom
T-player: Kim J

Tribal Council 10 - Day 37 - Boot: Tom

Votes:
Kim J & Lex voted Tom
Tom voted Lex

Ethan voted Tom

The thing to realize here is that despite Kim J winning immunity and throwing the order of the boots out of wack, Ethan has already won this game. Lex has a final two deal with Ethan and he is of the personality that he would stick to it. Tom's swan song vote shows where his loyality lies and Kim J will show in the next immunity council that she is an Ethan supporter as well. Ethan's easy nature and leadership skills coupled with Lex paranoid behaviour pretty much insures a final two win against any of them.

Rating: Good - No choice, really.

Tribal Council 11 - Day 38 - Boot: Lex

Votes:
Kim J voted Lex

Neither Ethan nor Lex voted in this tribal council.

Mama Kim figured she would have lost to either so she picked the one that she felt deserved to win. Personally, I think she was selling herself a bit short as both Brandon and Kim P voted for her anyway and it would have been interesting if she could have squeeked a couple of more votes if she was against Lex - Kelly? Teresa?

Tribal Council 12 - Day 39 - Boot: Kim J

Votes for winner:
Frank, Kelly, Kim P, Lex, Teresa & Tom voted Ethan
Brandon & Kim P voted Kim J

I've always considered Ethan a bit of a under-rated player. He was easily the best there was to offer this season and I think his biggest mistake really cantered around his trust in Lex's stability than in anything else. Though not as strong as our previous two winner, Ethan more than deserves his seat amongst the winners, especially considering what many of the future winners will be like.

Grades:

Opening: B-
Early Middle-game: B
Late Middle-game: D
Endgame: B

Overall Voting Strategy: C+

Overall Social Strategy: A

Comments: Ethan was extremely well liked and respected by almost all the players that he worked with. He certainly stepped behind Lex when it came to leadership, which almost cost him the game, but by the end it was him that was the more respected. Leadership: B, Social Ability: A+

Overall Rating: B

Season Four- Vecepia Towery

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Gina: PP-player. Loyal and non-aggressive player whom immediately formed a bond with Hunter.

Hunter: AP-player. Athletic and charismatic as well as the tribe's obvious leader, Hunter was playing the tribe strength game, but when backed up by both Gina and Patricia, it is also obvious that he is the early game leader as well.

Patricia: PP-player. As a non-athletic, middle-aged, woman, Patricia is immediately in a vulnerable position on this tribe. Early support is obviously going to Hunter.

Peter: AP-player. A talkative and quirky player who formed an immediate bond with Sean.

Rob: AU-player. In a tribe full of early pairings, Rob's was with Sarah. Rob is always at the centre of any tribe activity but he is fully capable of making dramatic moves if he feels it is to his advantage.

Sarah: PP-player. Rob's other half and blind follower.

Sean: AP-player. Very vocal player who has difficulty keeping his opinions to himself. However, Sean is also observant and aggressive. He formed an early bond with Peter

Vecepia: AP-player. A quiet but very observant player, Vecepia was keeping her options open. Her support drifted to Sean almost by default.

D-players: Gina, Hunter, Patricia

T-players: Peter, Rob, Sarah, Sean, Vecepia

Tribal Council 1 - Day 3 - Boot: Peter

Votes:

Gina, Hunter, Patricia, Rob & Sarah voted Peter

Sean voted Sarah

Peter voted Patricia

Vecepia voted Sarah

This tribe was complicated from the get go when the players immediately split into three distinct groups. Gina and Hunter with support from Patricia, Sean and Peter backed up by Vecepia, and Rob and Sarah. After loosing the first immunity challenge, the consensus seemed to be drifting towards booting Sarah who offered zero around camp and little in the immunity challenges. If that is the way it would have happened, it likely would have saved this tribe a lot of misery. Vecepia, Sean and Peter could have easily slipped behind Hunter's leadership and, with support from now free agent Rob, could have disposed or de powered Hunter when the situation warranted.

Unfortunately Peter couldn't leave well enough alone and openly suggested booting Patricia, in the interest tribal strength. This naturally raised the ire of Hunter and company and, with Sarah no longer the target, Rob was all over booting Peter.

Rating: Good - Sarah was the right call from Vecepia's perspective.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 6 - Boot: Patricia

Votes:

Rob, Sarah & Sean voted Patricia

Gina, Hunter & Patricia voted Sarah

Vecepia voted Patricia

The door opened for Vecepia with Hunter's and Gina's blunder of wanting to vote out Sarah. Rob immediately switched loyalties to Sean and Vecepia and suddenly these four became the new tribal leaders. The problem was that no matter how they voted the tribe was likely to be left a mess as Hunter and Gina could not appreciate that folks are trying to play a game here and this coup was bound to leave the tribe bitter and divided. Removing the leader in Hunter may not have been a bad idea but, of course, has the problem of removing his strength from the challenges. Leaving this bitter player in the game is hardly more attractive but Patricia and Gina were likely to match him in that department anyway, so voting out Patricia was probably their best option.

Rating: Great - The coup was the way to go and Patricia was likely the best option.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Gina -> Hunter

Hunter -> Gina

Rob -> Sarah

Sarah -> Rob

Sean -> Vecepia

Vecepia -> Sean

N-players: Rob & Sarah

D-Players: Sean & Vecepia

T-players: Hunter & Gina

It's tough to separate Rob-Sarah and Sean-Vecepia into N and D-players as they are essentially equal pairs, but I do suspect the Rob-Sarah bond to be a tad stronger. This tribe is still ugly as hell as it essentially has three leaders and it makes one wonder if the best call would have been to boot Hunter or Sean right from the beginning just to simplify the leadership structure, but it would have been very tough to support such a move. If only Sarah had gone first, Hunter could have been set up as a T-leader and this tribe may have come out competitive. As it was, the loses just kept on coming.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 9 - Boot: Hunter

Votes:

Rob, Sarah & Sean voted Hunter

Gina & Hunter voted Sarah

Vecepia voted Hunter

This episode's editing portrayed this as a bit of a "knuckle-head" move but I agree with it. This tribe was not losing challenges because of its lack of strength. It was losing challenges because it couldn't work together and the only hope of improving that was in simplifying its leadership structure.

Rating: Good - Hunter was the best call in a bad situation.

On day 11 a surprise swap saw Rob, Sean and Vecepia over to Rotu in exchange for Kathy, Neleh and Paschel. Five new players entered Vecepia's game.

Gabriel: PU-player: A very likable and laidback type of player playing day by day.

John: AP-player: The tribe's leader, paired with Tammy and apparently backed up by Gabriel.

Robert: PP-player: Loyal, passive and isolated.

Tammy: AP-player: John's other half.

Zoe: PP-player: Certainly a T-player in this tribe but one with friends. Unfortunately for Zoe, they all went over to Marramu in the swap

Tribal Council 4 - Day 15 - Boot: Gabriel

Votes:

John, Rob, Robert, Sean, Tammy & Zoe voted Gabriel

Gabriel voted Rob

Vecepia vote Gabriel

In the minority on both sides of the island, it's obvious the old Marramu is in trouble. Vecepia finally got a taste of winning when the new Rotu won its first immunity challenge leaving the new Marramu to, not surprisingly vote out Sarah. The one important thing to recognize about Rotu is that it has never lost a challenge, meaning that alliances were never put to the test. When they finally did lose one, the boot drifted to the most vocal of the old-Marramu triple, Rob. There was a wrench in John's plan though, Gabriel. When he was approached about how to vote he said that he was going to vote the way his conscience felt. John immediately felt something was afoot (there wasn't, Gabriel was foolishly being straight up and probably would have voted Rob anyway) and decided to shift to Gabriel, a very risky move. Here Rob, Sean and Vecepia did the right thing and approached Gabriel about forcing a tie in hope of shaking things up. Unfortunately, Gabriel wasn't there to play that type of game (or any kind of game at all) and he allowed himself to be removed without a fight

Rating: Good - Once Gabriel said he didn't want to force a tie, Vecepia's and company's vote became inconsequential. It's too bad their move didn't pay off, it might have inspired more aggressive play from M-players in future seasons instead of the constant sucking up we see.

Late Middle-game:

The tribes merged and the remaining player's entered Vecepia's game.

Kathy: AU-player. An aggressive player but with little skills to play the game, either socially or strategically.

Neleh: AP-player. Neleh perhaps has the strongest pairing in the game with Paschel, and backed up by Kathy, she obviously becomes a player with options.

Paschel: AP-player. The other half of the Neleh pair backed up by Kathy

N-players: John & Tammy

D-players: Robert & Zoe

T-players: Kathy, Neleh & Paschel

M-players: Rob, Sean & Vecepia

Tribal Council 5 - Day 21 - Boot: Rob

Votes:

John, Neleh, Paschel, Robert, Tammy & Zoe voted Rob

Rob & Sean voted John

Kathy voted Zoe

Vecepia voted Rob.

The M-players, lead by Rob, immediately began looking for ways in which to dispose N-players, and with the dynamics if this tribe it didn't look like it would be too tough. Kathy, Neleh and Paschel had formed a tight bond and even Zoe, in the past, had been tighter with this group than with John and Tammy though Kathy became disillusioned with Zoe once she realized that there was actually a game going on. Rob correctly targeted Kathy as the player that may actually swing their way but his efforts were not successful and Rob was voted out, though he would have been the target anyway.

Rating: Good - Vecepia was offered the fifth spot in John's alliance. Once it was clear that John was, for the moment, untouchable, her best play was to continue to be the good soldier.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 24 - Boot: John

Votes:

Kathy, Neleh, Paschel, Sean & Zoe voted John

John, Robert & Tammy voted Sean

Vecepia voted John

John and company, obviously not seeing the vicariousness of their position, made it abundantly clear to Neleh and Paschel that they stood sixth and fifth respectively in the game. Neleh persuaded Paschel that they should team up with Kathy, Sean and Vecepia and take out John. As obvious as this move seems, it should be recognized that it likely would never have happened had the tension not been raised in the game through Rob's and Sean's continual pot stirring.

Rating: Good - Once all their efforts paid off, this vote became pretty much a obvious move.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 27 - Boot: Zoe

Votes:

Kathy, Neleh, Paschel, Robert, Sean & Tammy voted Zoe

Zoe voted Robert

Vecepia voted Zoe

This vote was actually precipitated by Kathy's anger towards someone she viewed as a friend but in the end removing Zoe only limits Kathy's own options down the road.

Rating: Great - Limiting Kathy's options is exactly what works to the other player's advantage. They need her as a stooge.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 30 - Boot: Tammy

Votes:

Kathy, Neleh, Paschel & Sean voted Tammy

Robert & Tammy voted Vecepia

Vecepia vote Tammy

Perhaps some might have had the temptation of approaching Robert and Tammy with the plan of voting out Neleh, but it would never have worked as the original Rotus would have simply banded together over the stab attempt and take out Sean and Vecepia. Neleh and Paschel are running the show and Sean and Vecepia are only there due to their good faith.

Rating: Good - Once Robert won immunity, this was an obvious choice.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 33 - Boot: Robert

Votes:

Kathy, Neleh, Paschel & Sean voted Robert

Robert voted Sean

Vecepia voted Robert

Again, a stab attempt through using Robert to force a tie wouldn't have worked because Robert would have finked in a second and Neleh and Paschel would have turned on Sean and Vecepia in half a second. In fact, if he had it in him, faking that Sean and Vee had approached him with such a deal would have been a decent counter play on Robert's part.

Rating: Good - Again, there really is little other choice.

Tribal Council 10 - Day 36 - Boot: Sean

Votes:

Kathy, Neleh & Paschel voted Sean

Sean voted Neleh

Vecepia voted Neleh

Sean and Vecepia did their best to woo over Kathy, Sean even offering her a final two deal (and I think he would have stuck to it), but it was no use and the inevitable finally happened.

Rating: Good - There was no sense in hiding where her game was. Neleh was the right target.

Endgame:

N-players: Neleh & Paschel

D-player: Kathy

T-player: Vecepia

Tribal Council 11 - Day 37 - Boot: Paschel

Votes:

Kathy voted Neleh

Neleh & Paschel voted Kathy

Vecepia voted Neleh. The tie was resolved by having the three players without immunity reach into a bag and draw stones. Paschel drew the purple stone and was out of the game.

Although always providing support to the right people, Vecepia was never out front in any of the alliances she was in. Here she showed she could play this game. If Vecepia hadn't won immunity, there is little doubt that the three original Rotus would have voted her out but once the necklace was around her neck the vote shifted to Kathy. Kathy voted Neleh and Vecepia did the absolute right thing by forcing a tie. With the necklace around her neck she had nothing to lose and everything to gain if the right person picked the purple stone, and pick the purple stone he did.

Rating: Great - What's sad is how few other players in the same situation in other seasons, did the same thing.

Tribal Council 12 - Day 38 - Boot: Kathy

Votes:

Neleh voted Kathy

Neither Kathy nor Vecepia voted in this tribal council.

Once Kathy dropped out of the immunity challenge the deal making began, but it was pretty obvious no-one wanted to be opposite the perpetual underdog Kathy who hadn't turned her back on any deals because no one bothered (other than Sean and Rob) to try and make deals with her.

Tribal Council 13 - Day 39 - Boot: Neleh

Votes for winner:

John, Robert, Sean & Tammy voted Vecepia.

Kathy, Paschel & Zoe voted Neleh

The fact that most of the people voting for Vecepia did so simply because they were sore losers, personally I was happy simply because Kathy hadn't won. In my opinion, both Neleh and Vecepia are as deserving as at least half of the other winners of this game.

Grades:

Opening: A-

Early Middle-game: B+

Late Middle-game: A-

Endgame: B+

Overall Voting Strategy: A-

Overall Social Strategy: B

Comments: Vecepia was well liked by everyone but she tended to keep a low profile leaving others to lead the charge. Despite that, she always backed the right horse and was able to step up and manipulate events when needed. Leadership: C-, Social Ability: A

Overall Rating: B+

Season 5- Brian Heidk

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

• Jan: PP-player. An older and physically weaker member, Jan was pretty much the prototype PP player. Was able to get herself into an alliance but unable to climb the ladder.
• Helen: AU-player Helen did show some ability to lead but at times her emotion got in the way of making the right move.
• Brian: AP-player. A Strong and aggressive player. Brian formed an early alliance with the guys and never let up. However, had the tendency to overplay his hand and had difficulty doing anything but lie.
• Tanya: PP-player. Tanya became ill at an early stage and showed no signs of having her head in the game.
• Ghandia: PU-player. A very weak player in both challenges and strategy. Seemed to believe that causing trouble would help her tribe.
• Clay: AP-player. A player with decent strategic thinking but poor socially. Bonded early with Ted and Brian
• Ted: AP-player. An athletic wannabe leader, Ted bonded early with Clay and Brian.
• John: AP-player. A player who wanted to lead from the start but didn't have the charisma to do it effectively.

D-players: Brian, Clay, Ted
T-players: Jan, Helen, Ghandia, Tanya, John

Tribal Council 1 - Day 3 - Boot: John

Votes:

Clay, Ghandia, Jan, Ted & Tanya voted John

Helen voted Clay

John voted Ghandia

Brian Voted John

Brian, Clay and Ted formed a very early alliance and at the time seemed to bring in Jan as a fourth. John was a smart player but who just did not have the charisma to be able to lead the tribe effectively. Taking him out removes the possibility of a leadership tussle. However, Chuay Guan was a weak tribe and removing a strong person like John over Jan or Ghandia may have hurt.

Rating: Dubious - Although removing a contributor like John is always a risky move this early, especially considering the weakness of this tribe, it is not without its advantages. Removing a smart player likes John removes the three-man alliances only significant opponent.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 6 - Boot: Tanya

Votes:
Clay, Helen, Jan and Ted voted Tanya
Ghandia and Tanya voted Helen

Brian voted Tanya

The best move Brian could have made at the time. Tanya was weak and the entire tribe was struggling to match it to Sook Jai in the challenges.

Rating: Good - Brian and co needed to beef up the tribe if they wanted to compete.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Council 3- Day 12- Boot: Ghandia

Clay, Helen and Ted voted Ghandia

Jan and Ghandia voted Ted

Brian voted Ghandia

For Brian, Clay and Ted there really was no choice here. Ghandia was their weakest immunity player and, by her own admission, was playing games trying to get control of the tribe.

Evidence in subsequent episodes seems to indicate that something else happened here as well though. I suspect that this was the time when Brian made a final two deal with Helen for her loyalty. Although playing to Brian's ego would be a good plan from Helen's perspective, she should have recognized this as a promise of convenience that he never intended to keep. None the less, this gave Brian support of Clay, Helen and Ted and Ted with support of Jan. Brian is certainly the one with the most options in front of him though he seems to have made final two promises with three different people (Clay, Ted and Helen).

Rating: Good- Ghandia was causing trouble and was physically weak.

• Late Middle Game
  
  Tribal Structure:
  
  Brian -> Clay
  Clay -> Brian
  Ted-> Brian
  Helen -> Brian
  Jan-> Helen
  
  N-players: Brian and Clay
  D-Players: Helen
  T-players: Ted and Jan
  
  From this point Chuay went on a run of immunities and a fake merge occurred. The actual merge did not occur the final 8. This introduced 3 new players to Brian's game

Jake: AU -The number 2 behind Penny on Sook Jai.

Penny: AU-The main reason Sook Jai fell in a heap. She turned members of the tribe against each other and was a lead in wanting to throw a challenge. Still managed to hold the support of her tribe

Ken: PP-The strongest of the players remaining but really showed he didn't have much of a clue on how to play Survivor properly.

Late Middle Game

Tribal Council 4 - Boot: Ken

Votes:
Clay, Helen, Jan and Ted vote Ken

Ken, Jake and Penny vote Ted

Brian voted Ken

By this stage Brian was really in control of the game and by now we could see that his future lied with Clay and not with Ted. Ted should have started realising from here that he was a sitting and needed to make a move. He did not see that.

The fact that Sook Jai were such weak players played into Brian's hands here as they could never really figure out where the power structure of the tribe really was.

Rating: Good- With the delayed merge, it is already fairly late in the game and the last thing the dominant tribe needs is an immunity run. Ken is the biggest threat in that regard.

Tribal Council 5- Boot: Penny

Votes:

Helen, Jan, Ted and vote Penny

Penny and Clay voted Jake

Jake voted Jan

Brian voted Penny

This was a vote where a move against Brian and Clay by either Ted or Helen with Jan's help may have payed off. However, Brian had them wrapped around his finger and they weren't intelligent enough to see otherwise.

Rating: Good- Taking out Penny was the right move.

N Players: Brian and Clay

D Players: Helen and Jan

T Players: Ted and Jake

Tribal Council 6- Boot: Jake

Votes:

Helen, Jan, Clay and Ted vote Jake

Jake votes Jan

Brian voted Jake

The obvious move for all involved. This gave Ted, Helen and Jan the perfect position to get rid of Clay next vote. However, they weren't smart enough to see this. By this stage Brian's bullshit was becoming worse and worse. At tribal council especially it was clear to pretty much everybody except those left in the game that everything he was saying was crap. That was a main flaw of Brian's game. However, once again his competition was not able to pick up on this and make a move.

Rating: Good- Jake was an obvious boot for Brian.

Tribal Council 7- Boot: Ted

Votes:

Helen, Jan, Clay vote Ted

Ted votes Jan

Brian voted Ted

This was the tribal council that was probably the most dangerous for Brian. Really the obvious play for Ted, Helen and Jan was to get rid of Clay and rapidly reduce Brian's options. Again they weren't smart enough to see that and Helen obviously still believed that Brian would take her to the end. It is hard to tell whether this is all great play by Brian or just incompetent play by those around him.

Rating: Good- Easy choice again as the others let Brian and Clay cake walk to the end.

End Game

Tribal Council 8- Boot: Helen

Votes:

Jan and Clay vote Helen

Helen votes Jan

Brian voted Helen

The no-brainer vote by Brian and except for an unlikely Jan immunity win he basically has the game won.

Rating: Good- Brian took out the strongest immunity contender and a popular player with the jury in Helen.

Tribal Council 9- Boot: Jan

Rating: A Complete no brainier on Brian's part. Clay is the least popular with the jury.

Brian wins 4 - 3.

Helen, Jake, Jan & Ted voted Brian.

Erin, Ken & Penny voted Clay.

The most interesting thing about the final outcome of this game was how close the vote was and one has to ask oneself, how could Brian have come so close to losing this thing? Clay rode in Brian's shadow throughout this game and was considered by many to be the laziest player out there when it came to working around the camp. Meanwhile Brian worked as hard as anyone (amongst the males anyway) and seemed to get along with most everyone, especially those within his own tribe.

One should also not discount Brian's hand in making this game so close, as Helen and Ted both seemed very close to voting the other way. Brian appeared to be playing an excellent game, but as we wound down towards the end, it became clear that Brian only knew how to lie, not how to use the truth or to leave well enough alone. While most of the players laid back and did little to nothing as far as strategy, Brian over schemed and nearly played himself out of the game, especially during tribal council when it should have been apparent to everyone that Brian's behavior was compulsive and he was incapable of turning it off. A stronger and, more importantly, less gullible group of players should have been able to see through this guy easily and dealt with him. His plays were obvious, but in the end he was the only one playing.

Ratings:

Opening: B-

Early Middle:B

Late- Middle: A

End Game: B+

Overall Voting Strategy: B+

Overall Social Strategy: B+

Leadership: A+

Brian had everybody wrapped around his finger from the word go. He was never challenged.

Social Game: C+

Brian was well liked in his own tribe but based on the Sook Jai's votes it is obvious they didn't like him that much especially considering he was up against a person like Clay.

Overall Grade: B+

Season Six- Jenna Morasca

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Jenna: AP-Player. An aggressive player that had a personality that spilt opinion. Formed an early relationship with Shawna and Heidi.

Deena: AP-Player. The leader of the tribe and a fairly strong and smart player. Formed an early bond with Christy

Joanna: PU-Player. A player who voted based on personal conflicts rather than the good of the tribe or her alliance. Bonded early with Jeanne.

Christy- PU-Player. Being deaf Christy was isolated from the get-go. Had trouble making her own decisions.

Heidi: AP-Player. Jenna's second and what I said about Jenna bodes with her as well.

Shawna: PU-Player. Shawna started well but the conditions took a great tole on her.

Jeanne: PP-Player. Workhorse of the tribe but formed an early bond with Joanna.

Janet- PP-Player. The physically weakest player was isolated from the get go.

D-Players: Heidi, Shawna, Jenna, Denna

T- Players: Jeanne, Janet, Joanna, Christy

Tribal Council One- Day Six- Boot: Janet

Votes:

Deena, Heidi, Jeanne and Shawna voted Janet

Christy voted Jenna

Janet voted Jeanne

Joanna voted Christy

Jenna voted Janet

Jenna had a solid bond/alliance with Heidi and Shawna by this point. The tribal lines were basically drawn by age lines with Deena and Christy in the middle. However, the two factions did not go to battle just yet. They made the correct call by putting their tension aside and targeting the physical weak Janet.

Rating: Good- Janet was the physically weakest and removing an older player worked well for Jenna and co.

Tribal Council Two- Day 12- Boot: Joanna

Votes:

Christy, Deena and Heidi voted Joanna

Jeanne & Joanna voted Shawna

Shawna voted Christy

Jenna voted Joanna

By this stage Shawna wanted to go home and Jeanne and Joanna felt obliged to comply. Jenna and Heidi knew that they still needed Shawna and made the move to Deena for an alliance. This move gave Jenna and Heidi firm control of the tribe and not really needing Shawna anymore.

Rating: Great- By removing Joanna, Jenna took control of the tribe.

Early- Middle

On day 13/14 a twist occurred that allowed Jenna and Dave to pick the new tribes. The evening before Jenna made the stupid decision to discuss the power structure of her tribe with Jenna. Although, this didn't end up costing Jenna it really should have.

3 new men came into Jenna's game at this point.

Rob: AP-Player. A very smart player who had a decent relationship with both Matt and Alex.

Matt: PP- Player. An athletic but very poor social player. Matt basically followed Rob's lead.

Alex: AP- Player. A athletic and good social player that was prone to strategic mistakes.

Tribal Council Three- Boot: Shawna

Votes:

Deena, Matt, Rob vote Shawna

Alex and Shawna vote Matt

Jenna voted Shawna

With the introduction of testosterone to the tribe Shawna appeared to find her second wind. She bonded with Alex. The isolated player Rob made the great move of approaching Deena for an alliance bringing Matt along for the ride. This move took a lot of the power away from Jenna with her riding in at best 3^rd in the alliance rather then sitting at the top. Jenna's vote is a tough one to judge as it is never a good move to vote off one of your close allies. However, it is difficult to see what counter move Jenna had. Her best move was probably to try and convince Deena that targeting Matt with Alex and Shawna was the best move.

Rating: Dubious- Despite Shawna fawning over Matt and Alex, she was still likely close ally of Jenna's. Jenna should have been tried to send the vote towards Matt. On the other hand it would have been stupid to force a tie without Deena's support so this can't be classified as a mistake.

The tribes were merged bring three new players into Jenna's game.

Dave: AU-Player. A likeable guy that played himself out of a majority thanks to poor play.

Roger: AU-Player. An abrasive person who managed to rub almost everybody up the wrong way.

Butch: PP-Player. A very passive player who just went with the flow.

Tribal Council Four- Boot: Roger

Votes: Heidi, Deena, Rob, Matt, Alex, Christy vote Roger

Dave, Butch and Roger voted Christy

Jenna voted Roger

Matt, Rob and Alex went with the girls to turn on their men allies. The initial thinking was to go with Dave- the better choice but the girls allowed their dislike of Roger to get in the way of making the correct decision.

Rating- Dubious: Dave is more of the threat, not only because of his athleticism but also because he has the ability to draw support if he ever figures out how this game works. He should have been the target.

Late- Middle

Dominant Alliance: Alex, Heidi & Jenna

Weaker Alliance: Christy, Deena, Matt & Rob

Weaker Tribe: Butch & Dave

Tribal Council Five- Boot: Dave

Alex, Butch, Christy, Deena, Heidi, Matt, Rob voted Dave

Dave voted Matt

Jenna voted Dave

The right call for everybody Dave had a potential to be a big threat if he worked out how to play properly.

Rating: Good- A vote too late but it's better late than never.

Tribal Council Six- Boot: Deena

Alex, Butch, Heidi, Matt and Rob voted Deena

Christy and Deena voted Alex

Jenna voted Deena

Deena wanted to target Alex and Jenna and Heidi wasted no time telling Alex this leading to Deena becoming the target. They then convinced Rob to go along with him, the one mistake that he made in this game. This move certifies that Jenna and Heidi are one and two with Alex riding third and Rob fourth.

Rating: Great- This move gives all the power to Heidi and Jenna.

N Players: Jenna and Heidi

D Players: Alex and Rob

T Player: Matt

M Players: Butch and Christy

Tribal Council Seven- Boot: Alex

Butch, Rob, Christy and Matt voted Alex

Heidi and Alex voted Matt

Jenna voted Matt

Rob made the move he should have one episode though but it was still a great move. Alex's decision remains one of the most boneheaded moves that the game has seen. Although, not Jenna and Heidi's fault they could have done more to make it seem that Rob was still apart of their plans

Rating: Good- Matt was a fine choice but they were beaten by great play

N Players: Rob and Matt

D Players: Christy and Butch

M Players: Jenna and Heidi

Tribal Council Eight- Boot: Christy

Rob, Heidi, Matt voted Christy

Butch and Christy voted Jenna

Jenna voted Christy

Christy's wavering turned her from the swing vote into the target. Although, it may appear as if this was a good move on Jenna and Heidi's part I disagree. They should have used this opportunity to take out Rob. Many will argue that Christy would never align with those two but if they told her directly that Rob had come to them with the plan to vote her off and then put Rob on the spot I think Christy would have seen sense. By taking out Christy all Jenna and Heidi have done is delay the inevitable.

Rating- Mistake- Jenna should have stirred the pot some more and pulled a coup on Rob. If it wasn't for immunity victories this would have been the move that ended Jenna's game.

Tribal Council Nine- Boot: Heidi

Rob, Matt and Butch voted Heidi

Heidi voted Rob

Jenna voted Rob

By helping remove Christy Jenna and Heidi put themselves in a position where they were still down 3-2. The guys did the right thing and broke up the pair getting rid of Heidi. At this point Jenna had enough of the game and wanted to be voted off.

Rating- Good: Voting Rob was as good as any for Jenna

End Game

N Players- Rob and Matt

D- Player-Butch

M- Player-Jenna

Tribal Council Ten- Boot: Butch

Rob and Matt voted Butch

Butch voted Rob

Jenna voted Butch

Another mistake by Jenna here as well as Matt. Matt and Jenna should have joined with Butch and got rid of Rob. Rob was easily the most popular player with the jury and was more of a challenge threat then Butch. Some will argue that without Matt's help this move would have been pointless but Jenna still should have forced the tie and Butch showed that he was pretty good with fire.

Rating- Mistake: Voting out Rob would have left Jenna with two people she would have beaten in the final vote. Butch was not a threat challenge wise or jury wise.

Tribal Council Eleven- Boot: Rob

Jenna voted Rob

The easy vote here Rob would have beaten Jenna in a final vote handily.

Rating- Good: The obvious call. Rob was the most popular player with the jury.

Jenna wins 6 - 1.

Alex, Christy, Dave, Deena, Heidi & Rob voted Jenna

Butch voted Matt.

Jenna won because juries don't like floaters and Matt never showed any willingness to stick his neck out and take control of this game despite being in that position of control from the moment Alex was voted out. Besides the very first tribal council, Matt voted with Rob every single time. If Matt showed once that he could think on his own as to whose name to write down he likely would have won this thing. Jenna on the other hand was out there, openly as part of the dominant alliance for much of the game with Heidi and Alex, but more importantly she showed that she made the decision as to where her vote goes. I don't consider either of these two players head and shoulders above the other, but the lopsided nature of this vote shows clearly that winning survivor has nothing to do with working around the camp or even getting people to like you. It has everything to do with giving the perception that you are in the final two because of what you have between your ears.

Grades

Strategic Thinking

Opening: A-

Early-Middle: C+

Late-Middle: B-

End Game: C

Overall Voting Strategy: B-

Social Skills: C+

Jenna got along well with a number of people but did have large personality issues with Christy, the older woman on Jacare and Rob. Yes, Jenna won based on her social skill but these were only better than Matt who was won of the worst social players in the history of the game

Leadership Skills: B

While not an outward dominant leader Jenna showed examples of being able to get people to follow her.

Overall Social Strategy: B-

Overall Rating: B-

Season Seven- Sandra Diaz Twine

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Burton: AU-Player. An athletic jock like player played far too aggressively early on and formed a clique alliance. Early bond with Michelle and Shawn

Christa: AP-Player. Player who got on the nerves on most on her tribe but still found herself apart of the dominant pair. Bonded early with Sandra and Rupert

Jonny Fairplay: AP-Player. Possibly the most disliked player in Survivor History a smart player but one who often over-played his hand.

Michelle: PP-Player. Player who was part of the clique alliance that formed in this tribe. Physically weakest except for maybe Sandra. Bonded early with Shawn and Burton

Rupert: AP-Player. A strong competitor was the leader of the tribe challenge wise but was only 3^rd on the totem pole in terms of voting. Seen as a huge threat by everybody.

Shawn: PU- Player. A player who formed and dropped allegiances at the drop of a hat. Early bond with Burton and Michelle

Sandra: AU/PU- Player. A very hard player to categorize Sandra had the fairly unique strategy of as long as it isn't me I don't care. Started off in the dominant alliance with Rupert and Christa

Trish: AP-Player. Trish was an aggressive player who could have gone very far if she had not made her move too early.

D-Players: Rupert, Sandra, Christa, Trish

T-Players: Burton, Shawn, Michelle, Jonny

Tribal Council One- Boot: Burton

Rupert, Christa, Jonny, Shawn, Trish voted Burton

Burton and Michelle voted Christa

Sandra voted Burton

This tribe started brilliantly dominating the early challenges and winning the first three immunity challenges. However, at that point Burton decided that the tribe should throw the challenge and get rid of Christa. His reason for this was lame at best and wasn't agreed on by the majority of the tribe who instead decided to target him. The move on Burton by Sandra and her alliance had it's pro's and cons. Firstly, Burton was the leader of the opposition alliance and it is always best to aim for the head. However, Burton was incredibly strong and athletic I think more so then even Rupert and they suffered directly from the loss of that strength. I think voting out the weaker Michelle would have been the better move and would have given Burton the ego check that he needed. We saw that once Burton was voted out and returned he returned as more of a team player.

Rating: Dubious- Although Burton was the leader of the opposite alliance the tribe needed his strength and were greatly affected by the loss of it.

Tribal Council Two- Boot: Michelle

Christa, Jonny, Rupert, Trish and Shawn voted Michelle

Michelle voted Shawn

Sandra voted Michelle

The easy vote for Sandra and co. Michelle was the physically weakest out of those not in the dominant alliance and had shown she was not much of a team player.

Rating: Good- An easy vote for Sandra.

Early Middle Game

Tribal Structure

Christa-> Sandra

Sandra-> Christa

Rupert-> Christa

Jonny-> Trish

Trish-> Jonny

Shawn-> None

After throwing the challenge and voting off Burton Drake had lost all momentum and were going downhill fast. Let this be another lesson that throwing challenges before a swap is never a good idea. Sandra was currently sitting very comfortably as one part of the dominant pair at this stage. As a physically weaker competitor it was vital for Sandra to get past these early votes.

Tribal Council Three- Boot: Trish

Christa, Shawn and Rupert voted Trish

Trish and Jonny voted Rupert

Sandra voted Trish

Trish and Jonny Fairplay decided that Rupert had too much power and wanted him out. This was way too early to hatch this plan. Their first problem was they didn't have the numbers. Shawn had proved himself to be unreliable and Christa and Sandra were not going to turn on Rupert just yet. The better play would have been to bide their time and wait till the merge when it would be easy to get support to get rid of Rupert.

However, the counter-play by Christa, Rupert and Sandra was excellent. They pulled in the isolated Shawn and switched the target to Trish without Jonny and Trish finding out.

Rating- Great: The Counter play was very well done and keeping Rupert around is a great move for Sandra.

Tribal Council Four- Boot: Shawn

Christa, Rupert and Jonny voted Shawn

Shawn voted Jonny

Sandra voted Shawn

At this point the tribes competed with an outcast tribe and Burton and Lil were both allowed back into the game. Knowing of Burton and Shawn's previous bond they wanted to limit Burton's options once he rejoined the game and targeted Shawn. Although, Jonny Fairplay would later team up with Burton to take the other three down I still think this was a great forward-thinking move. Shawn was closer to Burton then Fairplay was and Shawn was a more likeable individual who would be able to drum up support easier pull a coup.

Rating- Great: Great forward thinking by Sandra to limit the dangerous Burton's options once he rejoined the game.

At this point the tribes were merged including Burton and Lil. 5 New players entered Sandra's game.

Andrew: AU- Player. The leader of the dysfunctional Morgan tribe was quiet a poor leader who formed a clique alliance that never really saw the tribe come together until they were three challenges down.

Darrah: PP-Player. Went along with the flow and wasn't a great forward thinker.

Ryan: PP-Player. Tight with Andrew Ryan was another fairly passive player who was apart of the dominant alliance.

Tijuana: AU-Player. Probably the player most responsible for the chaos in the Morgan tribe but still had the support of Darrah.

Lil: PP-Player. Treated incredibly poorly by the Morgan tribe Lil couldn't wait to turn on them.

Tribal Council Five- Boot: Andrew

Burton, Rupert, Christa, Lil and Jonny voted Andrew

Tijuana, Darrah, Ryan and Andrew voted Jonny

Sandra voted Andrew

The Drake tribe handled the return of the Outcasts far better than Morgan and welcomed Burton back graciously. Meanwhile on Morgan Andrew Savage went into a diatribe about how unfair it was and continued to treat Lil poorly. Therefore, Lil wasted no time joining up with the Drake's and getting rid of Andrew. This was the right call for Sandra and Drake targeting the opposition leader.

Rating: Good- Voting out the opposition alliance was a good move.

Late- Middle Game

N Players- Sandra and Christa

D Players- Rupert and Lill

T-Players- Jonny and Burton

M-Players- Tijuana and Darrah

Tribal Council Six- Boot: Ryan

Christa, Tijuana, Darrah, Burton, Rupert, Lil and Jonny voted Ryan

Ryan voted Christa

Sandra voted Ryan

The obvious move for the Drake alliance Ryan was the strongest out of the remaining Morgan players.

In was at this stage that the alliance of Lil, Burton and Jonny Fairplay was formed.

Rating: Good- The obvious choice

Tribal Council Seven- Boot: Rupert

Burton, Lil, Jonny, Tijuana and Darrah voted Rupert

Christa and Rupert vote Darrah

Sandra voted Jonny

Burton and Rupert made their power-play here but they did it one vote early. They should have voted off Darrah restricting Tijuana's options and then made their move next tribal. By moving this early they've left two dangerous pairs in the game that should have joined up to form the majority next vote. Alas, it didn't happen but it should have.

Sandra and co's counter-play was terrible also. They knew that something was being cooked up and should have targeted and should have made a move on either Burton or Jon by approaching Tijuana and Darrah and promising whatever it took. It may have worked or it may not have. It's not like Burton wasn't the immunity threat and I'm sure they are enjoying the fish Rupert is catching. It certainly is a better option than just going according to plan. Sandra's vote on Jon was incredibly stupid and she would have looked like a real idiot if Lil had bailed on the move.

Rating: Mistake- Terrible vote she should have at least attempted a counter-play.

Tribal Council Eight- Boot: Tijuana

Burton, Lil, Jonny and Christa voted Tijuana

Darrah and Tijuana voted Burton

Sandra voted Tijuana

Terrible, terrible play by Sandra here a mistake that really should have ended her game. Her and Christa had the perfect opportunity to team with Tijuana and Darrah and become the dominant four instead they threw the game right on back to Burton and Fairplay. Sandra and Christa could have gotten to five and with the help of Lill disposed of Tijuana and Darrah. By voting Tijuana Sandra should have sealed her own demise.

Rating: Blunder- Sandra threw away the opportunity to once again be the dominant pair.

Tribal Council Nine- Boot: Christa

Burton, Lil, Jonny and Darrah voted Christa

Christa voted Lil

Sandra voted Lil

Burton and Fairplay made the right choice here. Christa and Sandra's vote is a weak one Lil isn't running things.

Rating: Dubious- They should have been trying to woo Lil to their side not voting for her.

Tribal Council Ten- Boot: Burton

Darrah and Lil voted Burton

Jonny and Burton voted Lil

Sandra voted Burton

After building himself just about the perfect alliance with annoying Jon as a second and marshmallows Lillian and Darrah bringing up the rear, Burton had to mess with it. If Lillian wakes up, you know you're playing too hard. Burton did look like he learned from his earlier dismissal, at least for a while, but it didn't take him too long to fall into the exact same behaviours that saw him go the last time - cliquing with a small group of people while isolating everyone else and thinking they're dumb as posts. Well guess what Burton? It takes more than two people to make an alliance. You got what you deserve.

Sandra had the most to gain from this move and she made the right choice. Getting rid of Burton removes the physical threat and put her in the final four with three other people that did not get along at all. After throwing away the game earlier she has gotten the ball thrown right back to her.

Rating- Great- Sandra was now in the number one position in the tribe with a number of options up her sleeve.

End Game

Tribal Council Eleven- Boot: Darrah

Jonny and Lil voted Darrah

Darrah voted Lil

Sandra voted Darrah

This is the moment where Sandra won the game. Removing Darrah removes the only person that would have a chance of beating her in the final vote and a player who was very unlikely to take her to the final two.

Rating: Great- Darrah was the only person who may have beaten Sandra in the jury vote.

Tribal Council Twelve- Boot: Jonny

Lil voted Jonny

Sandra did not vote at this tribal council

Lil made the incorrect choice here bringing the person she most wanted to win when I think that she had a decent and much better chance against Fairplay

Final Vote

Burton, Jonny, Ryan, Rupert, Christa and Darrah voted Sandra

Tijuana voted Lill

Definitely a strange game characterized more by it's mistakes than anything else. Burton continually seizing control but then fumbling the ball but Sandra not wanting to pick it up and throwing it right back to him. In the end Burton fumbled one to many times and Sandra picked it up and held on for the win. Good stuff.

Sandra's unique strategy worked very well in a season like Pearl Islands where coups were almost a weekly event. With such aggressive play sometimes just surviving is the best strategy.

Overall Grades

Opening: B-

Early Middle: A

Late Middle: E

End Game: A-

Overall voting Strategy: B-

Social Skills: C

Sandra was an abrasive personality that was prone to great expletive filled blow-ups at fellow castaways. Her fights with Jonny Fairplay are stuff of legend. However, none of that particularly helped her game.

Leadership: B-

Along with Christa Sandra was the early voting leader of Drake and in the end game she showed she could get people to follow her lead.

Overall Social Strategy: C+

Overall Grade B-

Season Eight- Amber Brkich

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Alicia: AP-Player. An athletic and hard-working player sometimes comes off as too aggressive and abrasive.

Amber: PP-Player. A passive player who attaches herself as the second to a stronger player. Bonded early with Boston Rob

Rob C: AP-Player. Aggressive player who has problems getting people to support him. Isolated from the start.

Boston Rob: AP-Player. Aggressive but personable had the ability in the past to be a short-sighted player. Changed this in All Stars by creating the strongest tribe in the game.

Susan: PP-Player. A strong player like other in her tribe struggles sometimes with the social aspects of the game.

Tom: PP-Player. A very loyal player who shows no inclination to climb the strategic rung. Was number three in this tribe from the get go.

Boston Rob with Amber as a second, supported by Tom and Alicia were in control of this tribe early and were easily the strongest tribe in the challenges. While the other tribes targeted leaders and tore themselves apart Chapera formed a very solid tribe despite some internal bickering.

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Boston Rob and Amber

D-Players: Tom and Alicia

T-Players: Sue and Rob C

Tribal Council One: Boot- Rob C

Boston Rob, Alicia, Sue and Tom voted Rob C

Rob C voted Alicia

Amber voted Rob C

Boston Rob offered Cesternino a deal to keep him off the scent and really duped him. By this stage the alliance between Boston Rob, Amber and Tom was very tight and quiet obvious. Knowing that a swap or a twist is coming voting out the unreliable Rob C was the best move for all of Chapera. Rob C counter-play was lame he should have pointed out how dangerous a pair like Rob and Amber could be.

Rating: Good- Rob C is the most likely to jump ship come a merge or a swap.

Before the next vote the Saboga tribe was dissolved and two players joined Amber on Chapera. Sue also quit the game.

Rupert: PP-Player. In this game Rupert was taking more of a back-seat role and playing the loyal work-horse. Was fairly tight with Jenna.

Jenna: AP-Player. A player who's aggressive play early affected the morale of the Saboga tribe. Very keen to target previous winners.

Early-Middle

Tribe Structure:

N-Players: Boston Rob and Amber

D-Players: Jenna and Rupert

T-Players: Tom and Alicia

Amber-> Boston Rob

Boston Rob-> Amber

Rupert-> Jenna

Tom-> Boston Rob

Alicia-> Boston Rob

Jenna-> Rupert

Boston Rob and Amber worried by Tom's relationship with a certain player on the opposition tribe approached Jenna and Rupert with a final four deal.

While Mogo-Mogo self-destructed Chapera thrived going on a huge immunity streak.

However, a swap saw Amber's game change completely. While everybody else swapped tribes she remained where she was. This saw four new players enter her game.

Jerri: AP-Player. An aggressive player who struggled with the social aspect of the game.

Lex: AU-Player. His poor play in All-Stars was unbelievable

Kathy: AU-Player. Lex's partner in crime and I do mean crime.

Shi Ann: AU-Player. The third member of the three stooges.

Tribal Council Two: Boot- Jerri

Kathy, Lex & Shii Ann voted Jerri.
Jerri voted Amber.

Amber voted Jerri

Possibly the biggest blunder in Survivor history. After spending the last few episodes digging themselves a nice hole Lex and co, decided to jump in with both feet. This should have been a no brainer. Amber was second on Chapera and needed to go. The only way this could have worked out better for Mogo Mogo was to have the opportunity to take out Rob himself. Instead they decided to try and buy Rob's favour by keeping Amber and voting out Jerri. With Amber out of the picture, Lex, Shii-Ann and Kathy would have stood a real chance of pulling the weaker players (Jenna and Rupert or Alicia) over from Chapera and dispose of Rob and his little empire. Jerri may have even provided the link and the carrot to sweeten the deal for Rupert and Jenna. In the end, this likely represents the most foolish group of votes in the history of this game, beating out the Kelly Goldsmith boot in Africa. Oh yeah, that was Lex's idea too.

Amber went with the most logical option and targeted the abrasive Jerri. This was a good choice.

Rating: Good- Jerri was the logical choice.

The tribes then merged.

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Boston Rob and Amber

D-Players: Jenna and Rupert

T-Players: Tom and Alicia

M-Players: Shii Ann, Lex and Kathy

Late Middle Game

Tribal Council Three: Boot- Lex

Alicia, Jenna L, Rob M, Rupert, Shii Ann & Tom voted Lex
Kathy & Lex voted Amber

Amber voted Lex

The easy play for Romber. Lex was the leader of the opposition and if you let him get any further he could use his relationship with Tom to pull a coup.

Rating: Good- Any other decision would have been a mistake.

Tribal Council Four: Boot- Kathy

Alicia, Jenna L, Rob M, Rupert & Tom voted Kathy
Kathy & Shii Ann voted Amber

Amber voted Kathy

Another simple and easy move. Kathy and Shii Ann is a wash in challenges and you'd probably think that Kathy would be more likely to garner support.

Rating: Good- Another obvious boot

Tribal Council Five: Boot- Alicia

Jenna L, Rob M, Rupert, Shii Ann & Tom voted Alicia
Alicia voted Rupert.

Amber voted Alicia

Shii Ann won immunity forcing Chapera to attack itself one vote earlier. This really should have been the vote when Rupert, Tom, Shii Ann and Alicia made a move. Instead they continued sucking up to the dominant players.

Amber and Rob made a great choice here. Keeping Jenna loyal in turn keeps Rupert loyal and takes out any chance there is of a coup here.

Rating: Great- Taking out Alicia shows loyalty to Jenna and Rupert and removes the challenge threat that Alicia could pose.

Tribal Council Six: Boot- Shi Ann

Jenna L, Rob M, Rupert & Tom voted Shii Ann
Shii Ann voted Amber,

Amber voted Shii Ann.

The easy choice for all the Chaperans. Nobody needs her vote anymore.

Rating: Good- The obvious vote

Tribal Council Seven: Boot- Tom

Jenna L, Rob M & Rupert voted Tom
Tom voted Jenna L

Amber voted Tom.

While some may argue that Romber should have spilt up the Rupert and Jenna pair I disagree. I think it's fairly obvious that Jenna was always pretty much playing for third and was a Romber supporter. Another ideal opportunity for a coup here that wasn't taken. Boston Rob said on the show himself that he or Amber should have gone this episode .

Rating: Good- Voting Tom keeps Jenna loyal and allows the sleeping dogs on Rupert and Jenna to stay that way.

End Game

N-Players: Boston Rob and Amber

D-Player: Jenna

T-Player: Rupert

Tribal Council Eight: Boot- Rupert

Amber, Jenna L & Rob M voted Rupert
Rupert voted Rob

Another easy and obvious call for Amber. Rupert is much more of a jury and challenge threat then Jenna and would never turn on his ally. Again poor play by Jenna she should have forced the tie.

Rating: Good- As long as Jenna doesn't win the next challenge Amber has the game won.

Tribal Council Nine: Boot- Jenna

Rob voted Jenna

Amber wins 4 - 3
Alicia, Lex, Shii Ann & Tom voted Amber
Jenna L, Kathy & Rupert voted Rob M

It's pretty easy to see that Boston Rob deserved to win the game but Amber did not play a bad game and certainly is the not the worst winner.

Opening: B

Early-Middle: B+

Late-Middle: A-

End Game: B

Overall Voting Strategy: B+

Social Skills: B

Amber's passive personality means she got on well with most other players.

Leadership: C

The part of the game that really let Amber down and one of the reasons she is looked on so poorly by the "critics". It was obvious that Rob was running the show.

Overall Social Strategy: C+

Overall Rating: B

Season Nine- Chris Daughterty

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Brady: PP-player. An athletic player who formed an early friendship with Brook and the two John's but didn't seem to recognize that the game was on in this tribe until it was too late.

Brook: AP-player. Another young, athletic player, Brook's type is tough to call as he was the very first boot of the season. I've got him as an AP-player only because it is my assumption that he formed a very early final two pact with John P. From what little we saw, he seemed like a team kinda guy.

Chad: PP-player. Chad formed a very early relationship with Chris, Rory, Lea and Travis though from the early going it was obvious he was riding no higher than third in this alliance (there's a very good chance he was riding lower than that). I see him as a follower and not one to do anything to up his place on the tribal totem.

Chris: AU-player. Chris formed an early alliance with Travis as his second and backed up Chad, Lea and Rory. Chris was most certainly the leader and obviously had the numbers but he didn't understand the importance of tribal moral and of keeping up tribe strength. His alliance was dubbed the Fat Five by the other members of the tribe.

John K: PP-player. In with Brook and the other John, John K was clearly a follower and didn't do much of anything even when it was clear his number was coming up.

John P: AP-player. The leader of the young guys alliance, I think John P was much better equipped to lead this tribe and I suspect their fortunes would have been better if he had the numbers of Chris. In my opinion, he was the strongest player in this tribe.

Lea: PP-player. Lea most certainly was playing back-up to the Chris/Travis pair and, like Chad, I can't see that he would have done anything to up that position.

Rory: PP-player. Although in with the Fat Five, Rory appeared to be the fifth wheel in this group, though it is possible that Chris and Travis had higher aspirations for him - they certainly were aggressive enough to be playing stunts down the road. Even so, Rory seemed to try his best to keep his options open.

Travis: AU-player. Teamed with Chris, and just like Chris, Travis played this game too hard too early directly resulting in Lopevi tribe ending up on the short end of the stick come the merge.

D-players: Chad, Chris, Lea, Travis

T-players: Brady, Brook, John K, John P, Rory

Tribal Council 1 - Day 2 - Boot: Brook

Votes:

Chad, Lea, Travis & Rory voted Brook

Brook, John K & John P voted Chris

Brady voted Rory

Chris voted Brook

I can't get down on Chris too much for booting Brook - don't worry, I have plenty to dump on him about down the road. The reason for this is that, after a truly pitiful display during the immunity challenge, the vote immediately drifted his way. Obviously, steering the vote in any other direction was the way to go. The thing is, I think Chris was the right call and the tribe - including players like Chad and Lea who had other options to explore - would have been better off with the aggressive Chris out of the picture.

The other thing I don't like about this boot is that, if you are going to take control of the tribe, you go all out and take out the other leader and that would be John P. Removing Brook is a half measure that only serves to guarantee the tribe remains split.

Rating: Dubious - Chris should have gone after the leader of the other alliance and taken out John P.

Tribal Council 2 - Day 7 - Boot: John P

Votes:

Chad, Lea, Travis & Rory voted John P

Brady, John K & John P voted Chris

Chris voted John P

Well, a boot to late but Chris got it right this time.

Rating: Good.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 9 - Boot: Brady

Votes:

Chad, Lea, Travis & Rory voted Brady

Brady & John K voted Chris

Chris voted Brady

By this stage of the game, the Lopevi tribe was disintegrating fast. Brady and John K, their two most athletic players, have been completely written off as far as the dominant alliance goes and Lea and Rory appear at each other's throats. Chris is ignoring this at his peril and it was time to throw Brady and John K a bone by booting Rory or perhaps even Lea. Though the later may have a detrimental effect on the dominant alliance, booting Rory would have been a piece of cake and would have significantly improved the moral, and strength, of this tribe

Rating: Mistake - This tribe is sliding fast and Chris is just ignoring it.

Early Middle-game:

Tribal Structure:

Chad -> Chris

Lea -> Chris

Travis -> Chris

Chris -> Travis

Rory -> Chris

John K - isolated

N-players: Chris & Travis

D-Players: Chad & Lea

T-players: John K & John K

Under Chris' leadership, Lopevi is faultering. They lost two of the three immunity challenges, but thanks to the twist are only one player down when compared Yasur across the island. They were handed another break in a swap that allowed Chris to still maintain control his own tribe. Chris lost Rory as well as his second in Travis in the swap, but gained two players from Yasur.

Julie: AP-player. Julie was actually the leader of a young girls alliance over at Yasur that fell apart to the superior staying power of Ami's alliance. Julie is young and attractive and looking for opportunities to improve her position in the game.

Twila: AP-player. A smart but a brutally honest player that saw her at odds with a number of players in her home tribe. Never the less, she has a strong, and smart, second in Scout back at Yasur and is well positioned for a coup over the tribal leader, Ami.

Tribal Council 4 - Day 18 - Boot: John K

Votes:

Chad, Julie, Lea & Twila voted John K

John K voted Chad

Chris voted John K

The new Lopevi was actually more functional than the old. John K, along with Julie and Twila, were sucking up to the dominant players and with Rory gone, everyone was getting along very well. The tribe went on to win the next two immunity challenges. Yasur wisely booted Chris' second in Travis, a blow, but then made the mistake of removing one of their own rather than getting rid of Rory and reducing the Lopevi tribe down to four. With five Lopevis left, the tribe was still alive and what Chris should be thinking is throwing the next challenge, boot a Yasur and take your chances with a tied merge. The right boot would have been Twila. They should have recognized that she had more commitments at Yasur while Julie was a bit more of a free agent who may have swung their way rather than risk a tie vote.

Instead, Chris promised Twila a final four spot and booted John K. This was a colossally foolish decision. John K most certainly stood a better chance to stick with Chris than Twila. You just can't trust the deal with Twila as she really had no choice but to accept. John, in the meantime, would likely have been thrilled at a final four, or five, promise. He simply had no better options. Twila did.

Rating: Blunder - The most foolish decision ever made by a player who went on to win.

Late Middle-game:

N-players: Ami, Leann

D-player: Scout, Twila

T-players: Eliza, Julie

M-players: Chad, Chris, Lea, Rory

Tribal Council 5 - Day 21 - Boot: Rory

The tribes merged and four new players have entered into Chris's game.

Ami: AP-player. The undisputed leader of Yasur with a very solid second in Leann.

Eliza: PU-player. A rather catty player who just can't understand why everyone doesn't like her. Out of touch as far as game play goes and has been all over the place with her voting.

Leann: PP-player. Second to Ami, but not much of a player herself who would just fall into the background without her leader.

Scout: AP-player. Physically, Scout is well behind all the other players in this game, but she is smart, well liked, and a gamer.

Votes:

Ami, Eliza, Julie, Leann, Scout & Twila voted Rory

Chad, Lea & Rory voted Ami

Chris voted Ami

A laughingly predictable turn of events. It was truly sad that Chris and company were so blindsided by it.

Rating: Good - At least they targeted the right player in leader Ami.

Tribal Council 6 - Day 24 - Boot: Lea

Votes:

Ami, Eliza, Julie, Leann, Scout & Twila voted Lea

Chad voted Julie

Lea vote Eliza

Chris voted Lea

What's up with all the Lopevis voting different? And really, does Chris think he is fooling anyone voting with the girls?

Rating: Dubious - Chris should not be sucking up to the dominant women. He should be stirring the pot and trying to create dissension. He has material to work with in aggressive players like Scout and Twila and unpredictable players like Eliza.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 27 - Boot: Chad

Votes:

Ami, Eliza, Julie, Leann, Scout & Twila voted Chad

Chad voted Eliza

Chris voted Eliza

Sorry Chris, but Eliza is exactly the type of player you should be sucking up to. She is the weak link in Yasur chain.

Rating: Dubious.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 30 - Boot: Leann

Votes:

Eliza, Scout & Twila voted Leann

Ami, Julie & Leann voted Eliza

Chris voted Leann

I loved this episode but was eventually disappointed that the brilliant way in which Scout and Twila played Chris didn't pay off for them. Oh well. Ami and crew - by this stage Julie had wormed her way into the three spot in this alliance, demoting Twila - targeted Eliza but Eliza so hated Scout and Twila that they knew if they approached her that she would not believe them. With Ami winning immunity, Leann became the obvious target for the coup. Twila went to Chris and the resulting conversation was hysterical.

Twila: You know what player is the key in this?

Chris: Ami?

Twila shakes her head.

Chris: Julie?

Twila is starting to get frustrated.

Chris (doubtfully): Eliza?

Twila nods

Yup, a real rocket scientist.

Rating: Good - Chris was essentially the swing vote here and although it took some prodding to get him moving in the right direction, at least he recognized that continuing to suck up to the dominant players was not the way to go.

Tribal Council 9 - Day 33 - Boot: Ami

Votes:

Eliza, Scout & Twila voted Ami

Ami & Julie voted Scout

Chris voted Ami

Rating: Good - It's pretty obvious the former Yasur leader had to go as soon as possible.

Tribal Council 10 - Day 36 - Boot: Julie

Votes:

Scout & Twila voted Julie

Eliza & Julie voted Twila

Chris voted Julie

With Eliza thinking that it was once again flipping time, Chris found himself the swing vote again. No matter how he voted he would have still been sitting third or fourth in the alliance, so he's better off sticking with what he's got.

Rating: Good - You don't flip on people simply to make a lateral move.

Endgame:

N-players: Scout, Twila

D-player: Chris

T-player: Eliza

Tribal Council 11 - Day 37 - Boot: Eliza

Votes:

Scout & Twila voted Eliza

Eliza voted Twila

Chris voted Eliza

You know, if Chris didn't win this immunity challenge, and I were Scout and Twila, I would have sent his bags packing at this stage. His usefulness is over but his popularity is dangerous. He's an N-player and you never want to be against them in the final two. Eliza on the other hand occupied the lowest social rung on the Yasur ladder for quite some time. She would have been easier to beat. Either way, Chris won immunity and I don't think Scout and Twila were thinking that way anyway.

So let's get to what Chris did wrong this time. Scout and Twila have been a pair since the very early stages of this game and there is no way that one won't take the other if they happened to win the final challenge. On the other hand, Eliza has never had a real ally and Chris saving her skin might be enough for her to take him to the final two should she win the final challenge. This would especially be the case if Scout happened to be the one to go in the resulting tie. Eliza stood a very good chance not to take Twila with her, despite it being the right way for her to go. With the immunity necklace around his neck, Chris had nothing to lose in forcing a tie and a reasonable amount to gain.

Rating: Mistake - Having won immunity, Chris should have forced a tie in hopes of seeing either Scout or Twila go.

Tribal Council 12 - Day 38 - Boot: Scout

Votes:

Chris voted Scout

Chris won the final immunity challenge and booted out the more popular Scout.

Rating: Good - The easy and right call.

Tribal Council 13 - Day 39 - Boot: Twila

Votes for winner:

Eliza, Chad, Julie, Lea & Leann voted Chris

Ami & Scout voted Twila

This was a very interesting final two as Chris and Twila were such opposite players. Chris had great skills socially and could get almost anyone to like him but strategically he was dumb as mud. Twila played one of the best games ever on the voting front but didn't have the patience to deal with players that she didn't like. In the end it really wasn't that surprising who won out.

Grades:

Opening: C-

Early Middle-game: D

Late Middle-game: C+

Endgame: C

Overall Voting Strategy: C-

Overall Social Strategy: B+

Comments: Socially Chris could make a lot of players like him though he severely alienated a large portion of his tribe, players that he needed. Players that liked him would follow his lead but those that didn't couldn't stand him. Leadership: B+, Social Ability: B

Overall Rating: B-

Season 10- Tom Westman

HOME

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Caryn: PP-player. Classic PP-player sitting in the wings and complaining about her inevitable demise later. Caryn formed an early relationship with Janu.

Coby: AP-player. A smart and aggressive player but lacking in support. Formed an early relationship with Willard and Janu.

Gregg: AP-player. An athletic and smart player. Formed an obvious and solid partnership with Jennifer but also with Ian, Tom and Katie.

Ian: AP-player. Another smart and athletic player with leadership skills. Formed a strong relationship with Tom and Katie but also with Gregg and Jennifer.

Janu: PP-player. Another PP and even less aggressive than Caryn. Janu formed a relationship with Coby and Willard but really seemed out of her element in this tribe.

Jennifer: PP-player. Fromed an early relationship with Gregg and Katie but also with Ian and Tom. I find her a little tougher to rate because it was hard to tell whether she was just following Gregg's and Katie's lead or taking initiative herself.

Katie: AP-player. A stratigically a strong player though she can't compete with the three males when it comes to leadership and working around the camp.

Tom: AP-player. Yet another type four in an incredibly strong tribe, Tom formed a strong relationship with Ian but also with Katie, Gregg and Jennifer. Tom was the dominant personality from the get go and set the tone for the tribe which more than happy to follow his lead.

Willard: PP-player. Very tough to rate because Willard never really factored into this game.

D-players: Ian, Katie, Tom

T-players: Caryn, Coby, Gregg, Janu, Jennifer, Willard

The Koror tribe is likely the strategically strongest tribe to ever play the game. A likely source of this was that the players picked their own tribes in this season and strong players tend to be attracted to other strong players. Unfortunately, the reverse of this seems to work as well as Ulong, the tribe across the island, easily became one of the saddest tribes ever. It was not surprising to see Koror kick their butts. Koror went on to win ever single immunity challenge until the merge.

Tribal Council 1 - Day 12 - Boot: Willard

Votes:

Caryn, Coby, Gregg, Ian, Janu, Jennifer & Katie voted Willard

Willard voted Katie

Tom voted Willard

No immunity challenge loss here. This time both tribe went to tribal council. By the time this vote came down things were pretty much set in this tribe with a dominant five of Gregg, Ian, Jennifer, Katie and Tom completely calling the shots. Willard accomplishes two things: it sacrifices little as far as tribe strength and takes away Coby's closest ally. Coby is most certainly the biggest threat to the dominant players in this tribe but he's a popular one. An attack on him now would have been premature and likely to adversely effect tribe moral.

Rating: Good - Willard was Tom's best choice.

Early Middle-game:

With no immunity challenge losses and no swap, this tribe never went through this phase of the game.

Tribal Structure:

Caryn -> Janu

Coby -> Janu

Ian -> Katie

Katie -> Ian

Tom -> Ian

Janu -> Coby

Gregg -> Jennifer

Jennifer -> Gregg

N-players: Katie, Ian

D-Players: Tom

T-players: Caryn, Coby, Gregg, Janu & Jennifer

Watching this season it was so easy to just think of the fivesome of Katie, Ian, Tom, Gregg and Jennifer as just one group, but these were five aggressive players, five players that could each be contending to win given a different season. Here, they were not only all in one tribe, but all in one alliance and certainly each was trying to earn the upper hand over their mates. Understanding the later developments in this season really hinges on understanding this complicated quintet.

The core group is really Katie, Ian and Tom. They formed extremely early. It seems to me that Tom made the deal with Ian and then brought Katie in as the third. Ian, though making the deal with Tom, was also entertaining a deal with Katie and I really do believe that his plan from fairly early on was to be sitting opposite her in the final two. But it doesn't stop there, as I believe Katie also had a deal with Jennifer and Jennifer a deal with Greg. From Greg's and Jen's perspective, I think they say Tom as the fifth in this alliance but whether Jen saw herself opposite to Greg in the end or opposite Katie is completely unclear. Katie on the other hand showed by her later actions to always be planning to be opposite to Ian.

Circles inside circles and it was great to see so many players using their heads.

Late Middle-game:

Tribal Council 2 - Day 24 - Boot: Coby

In a sense the tribes merged though only one more player made her way into Tom's game from the former Ulong tribe.

Stephanie: AU-player. Stephanie was a shoot from the dark type of player. She positioned herself within the dominant group within this tribe but didn't want to step forward as leader. Instead she and her group targeted leadership candidates within the tribe. Is there any wonder the tribe fell apart?

Tribal Structure:

I would say by this stage the plan by at least Katie, Jenn and Gregg was to get rid of Tom at five. Whether Ian was going to support this or not - it sure seems he did in a later episode - is irrelevant as at five, three vote was all that was needed. Ian would be forced to follow suit. This pushes Tom down to a T-player, perhaps he always was.

N-players: Katie, Ian

D-player: Jenn, Gregg

T-players: Tom, Caryn, Coby, Janu

M-player: Stephanie

Votes:

Caryn, Gregg, Ian, Jennifer, Katie & Stephanie voted Coby

Janu voted Stephanie

Coby voted Janu

Tom voted Coby

I think by this stage, Tom began to worry he was on shaky ground as he told Stephanie that he would protect her as long as he could. He was certainly looking forward further backup and I can only assume that he felt he wasn't getting it from enough members of his own alliance. The one T-player he wasn't going to get that support from, though, was Coby who was a solid player and would have turned on Tom as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Coby was easily the most dangerous player left in this game outside of the dominant five.

Rating: Good - Other than Tom, the only solid T-player left. Removing him simplifies the game and leaves players like Caryn, Janu and Stephanie to draw support from.

Tribal Council 3 - Day 30 - Boot: Stephanie

Votes:

Caryn, Gregg, Ian, Jennifer & Katie voted Stephanie

Stephanie voted Caryn

Tom voted Stephanie

There was no vote in the previous tribal council as Janu quit. With Gregg, Ian, Katie and Jennifer wanting to remove the tenacious Stephanie Tom is left with little choice but to follow suit.

Rating: Good - Time for Stephanie to go.

Tribal Council 4 - Day 33 - Boot: Gregg

Votes:

Caryn, Ian & Katie voted Gregg

Gregg & Jennifer voted Caryn

Tom voted Gregg.

Gregg made a fatal when he chose Katie and Jenn to come with him on a reward . Ian began to suspect Katie was closer to Jenn and Gregg than to himself and went to Tom for support. They came up with the plan to use Caryn to force a tie. Ian then did the very fine move of letting Katie know they were fully prepared to go to picking stones to determine who goes and she, very predictably - and understandably - decided to avoid the tie and help vote out Gregg outright. Afterall, she still had both Ian and Jennifer to draw from.

Rating: Brilliant - I love Tom's and Ian's willingness to calculate the risk and roll the dice. Wonderfully done.

Tribal Council 5 - Day 36 - Boot: Caryn

Votes:

Ian, Jennifer & Ian voted Caryn

Caryn voted Ian

Tom voted Caryn

Katie and Jennifer campaigned aggressively to get rid of Tom and brought Caryn into a female alliance - one a doubt would have held after Tom was gone - to vote Tom with the backup plan of voting Ian. Tom, however, won the immunity challenge and it was obvious that Katie was not prepared to throw away Ian's support and the vote shifted to Caryn

Rating: Good - Tom had little chance of turning this vote in another direction.

Endgame:

N-players: Ian & Katie

D-player: Jennifer

T-player: Tom

Tribal Council 6 - Day 37 - Boot: Jennifer

Votes:

Ian & Katie voted Jennifer

Jennifer voted Ian

Tom voted Ian

Tom won immunity a found out through a slip from Ian that was the one scheduled to go fourth. Tom decided to change his mind and vote Ian creating a tie. All the votes held in the revote - showing Katie was devoted to Ian afterall - and in a fire starting sudden death challenge between Jennifer and Ian, Jennifer lost and was gone.

Rating: Great - With no one left in the game that would take him into the final two Tom's best plan was to remove his greatest competition in Ian.

Tribal Council 7 - Day 38 - Boot: Ian

Votes:

Tom voted Ian

I very unique final immunity challenge took place here. As is typical, it was an endurance type challenge. Katie fell out early and Ian and Tom looked no where near giving in soon when Ian, obviously wracked with guilt having lied to both Tom and Katie, offered to step down if Tom would take Katie to the final two with him. Tom agreed.

Rating: Good - Easy vote.

Tribal Council 8 - Day 39 - Boot: Katie

Caryn, Gregg, Ian, Jennifer, Katie & Stephanie voted Coby

Janu voted Stephanie

Coby voted Janu

Votes for winner:

Caryn, Gregg, Ian, Janu, Jennifer & Stephanie voted Tom

Coby voted Katie

I really find Tom an interesting player. For one, he's the first T-player to pull out a win, by no stretch a small accomplishment. He did this by being objective and observant when it came to evaluating his position within the tribe. He judged people by their actions instead of their words and he reacted appropriately when it was called for, though certainly winning the final three immunity challenges was an integral component to his victory. What I especially found refreshing was the gamesmanship shown by the dominant five in this game. They were friends, but they didn't let that stop them from playing this game as hard as they could.

Grades:

Opening: B

Early Middle-game: NA

Late Middle-game: A

Endgame: A-

Overall Voting Strategy: A-

Overall Social Strategy: B+

Comments: Tom was very highly respected by almost everyone to the point of intimidation. So much so that he had great difficulty getting other players to work with him when it came to voting strategy. Towards the end, his attempts to lead the voting verged on bullying. Leadership: B-, Social Ability: A

Overall Rating: A-

Season 11- Danni Boatwright

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Danni was on Nakum the tribe that won the initial reward challenge to give you the better living quarters and flint. This is an excellent start for a tribe having fire very early on.

Blake: AP-Player. Jock-like player suffered early from illness and annoyed other players with his arrogance.

Brooke: PP-Player. A fairly passive player formed an early relationship with Margaret.

Margaret: PP-Player. Became the early leader of the tribe but soon slipped in importance. Made a solid alliance member.

Brandon: PP-Player. An honorable guy and very strong.

Jim: ? Took on the leadership role early but got badly hurt and had to for the good of the tribe.

Danni: AP-Player. A great social player Danni seemed to get on well with the majority of her tribe. Part of the group controlling the boots on Nakum.

Judd: AU-Player. A player who somehow got himself in a dominant position in the tribes he was on. Very difficult to deal with and not the best person for tribe morale.

Cindy: PP-Player. A passive player willing to sit at 4^th in an alliance without making a move.

Bobby-Jon: PP-Player. In Palua was more of a PU but I think got just a little smarter here. A bit of a loose cannon voting wise who seems to struggle with decisions when put in front of him. Never really seems to commit to an alliance.

Tribal Council One: Boot - Jim

Blake, Brooke, Margaret, Brandon, Judd, Cindy and Bobby Jon voted Jim

Jim voted Margaret

Danni voted Jim

Jim snapped a muscle in his arm during the immunity challenge and was obviously in a lot of pain. He would have been no help in any future challenges as his arm was still in a sling when he appeared on the early show. Sadly, he had to go. At this stage no real definite alliances appeared to be forming on Nakum.

Rating: Good- Jim was hurt and would be no help around camp or in challenges.

Early-Middle

Nakum won the next two challenges and then in episode four the tribes were switched. Three new players entered Danni's game.

Gary: AU-Player. A player who was more worried about the superficial aspects of Survivor. Didn't want to step up into the leader role that was a natural fit for him.

Brian: AP-Player. A smart player who was probably too smart for the players around him.

Amy: PP-Player. An opinionated player but one who just went with the flow in terms of voting.

None of the original tribes seem to form any solid alliances. Poor play on all players part as if any tribe had their act together here they could have easily taken control of the game.

Tribal Council Two: Boot - Blake

Bobby Jon, Gary, Brian and Amy voted Blake

Brandon and Bobby Jon voted Brian

Old Nakum members had the numbers here so Brian took it upon himself to stir it up. He played on the fact that many of the players thought that Blake was arrogant and his scheming paid off. Great move by him. Danni made a mistake here. By voting out Blake she even the numbers on the tribe to 3 a piece. Secondly, Blake was very strong while Brian was not and they still needed to win immunity challenges at this stage. Thirdy, Blake being unpopular and an athletic threat means that he won't be able to garner support to pull a coup come merge time. However, on the other hand we saw that the bond between original tribemates was never really sealed and unlike almost every-other season up to this point players were not loyal to their original tribe but to their twist tribe. But, if you use that argument it still isn't a great vote as Blake's strength could have been used.

Rating: Mistake- Danni should have stayed loyal to her old tribe and voted off Brian.

Tribal Council Three: Boot - Brian

Brandon, Bobby Jon, Amy, Gary voted Brian

Brian voted Bobby Jon

Danni voted Brian

Danni and old Nakum played it much better here. They stayed strong, which is important in a tie situation and approached the most likely to flop - Gary. Whether it was Amy or Brian was not too significant, in my mind. Making sure Gary voted with them was the most important play. With that said, Brian was a better boot if given the option as he appeared to be a very dangerous player, and one who looked to unite old Yaxha. Brian was Nakum's biggest threat. However, the fact that Danni went right back to her old Nakum tribemates makes her decision to boot Blake even more puzzling.

Rating: Good- Brian was the right target and Danni and co. played it well.

Tribal Council Four: Boot- Amy

Brandon, Bobby Jon and Gary voted Amy

Amy voted Bobby Jon

Danni voted Amy

Danni seriously considered voting off Bobby Jon and it really makes me wonder what was going through her head at this point. Thankfully, she made the right choice and remained loyal and voted off Amy. This put her in a position were she could attempt to swing Cindy over to her side come merge.

Rating: Good- Danni needed to stay loyal to her old Nakum tribe mates.

At this stage the tribes merged and four new players entered Danni's game.

Stephanie: AP-Player. Stephanie had improved her play from Palua but was still too much of a short-sighted player.

Rafe: AP-Player. A smart player who was appeared to be Stephanie's second but was really the one in charge of the boots.

Jamie: AU-Player. Another strange personality whose social game affected his strategic play greatly. Was too hot-headed to be a good player of thise game.

Lydia: PP-Player. Another standard PP-Player.

Late-Middle

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Stephanie and Rafe

D-Players: Judd and Lydia

T-Players: Cindy and Jamie

M-Players: Danni, Bobby Jon, Brandon and Gary

The dominant alliance was a very difficult one to unwrap.

Tribal Council Five: Boot- Brandon

Stephanie, Rafe, Jamie, Lydia, Cindy and Judd voted Brandon

Bobby Jon, Gary and Brandon voted Jamie

Danni voted Jamie

I think this was a good call by all players involved. Brandon was the right choice as I think he was smarter then Bobby Jon and in challenges I think they were a wash. Jamie was a good target for Danni and co. His abrasive behavior is clearly annoying a number of his competitors and being the most loyal on that alliance he is less likely to flop.

Rating: Good- Jamie was the right choice.

Tribal Council Six: Boot- Jamie

Stephanie, Rafe, Jamie, Lydia, Cindy and Judd voted Bobby Jon

Bobby Jon voted Stephanie

Gary voted Cindy

Danni voted Stephanie

At this stage cracks were beginning to show in the dominant alliance but with so many PP's behind Rafe and Stephanie were never really in trouble of a coup being pulled on them. Danni and Gary needed to keep stirring the pot, which they did, but then they kind of just gave up. Targeting the leader in Stephanie was a good choice though.

Rating: Good- Targeting a leader is the best option they had here.

Tribal Council Seven: Boot- Jamie

Stephanie, Rafe, Lydia, Cindy and Gary voted Jamie

Jamie and Judd voted Gary

Danni voted Jamie

Jamie was creeping the majority of the dominant alliance out so they decided to get rid of him. Danni and Gary eagerly jumped on board with this which was a mistake. Actively pursuing an alliance of four with Jamie and Judd would have been there best option. Even with Judd's support next vote they are still down 4-3. This was the time for them to chance the tie and make a move on Stephanie. If it pays off they now have the numbers if it doesn't they are pretty much in the same position unless they drew the rock. Another option would have been to target Lydia or Cindy. In that situation I could easily see Stephanie making the short-sighted move of breaking the tie.

Rating: Mistake- Minority players should never help those in the dominant alliance remove players.

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Stephanie and Rafe

D-Players: Cindy and Judd

T-Players: Lydia

M-Players: Gary and Danni

Tribal Council Eight: Boot- Gary

Stephanie, Rafe, Lydia, Judd and Cindy voted Gary

Gary voted Cindy

Danni voted Gary

The dominant alliance had to get rid of one of the New Yahxa and chose Gary based on immunity challenge strength. Danni get's a dubious here I think she still needs to be rocking the boat here. Voting off her only alliance mate doesn't do this.

Rating: Dubious- Danni should be stirring the pot here.

Tribal Council Nine: Boot- Judd

Stephanie, Rafe and Lydia voted Judd

Judd and Cindy voted Lydia

Danni voted Judd.

This was a good move by Danni here. By getting rid of Judd she now has the perfect opportunity to bring in Cindy and Lydia and take out Stephanie. The other possible play was to try and pull in Judd, Cindy and Lydia here but keeping Judd quiet would have been close to impossible. The better move was biding her time.

Rating: Good- This puts Danni in the perfect position to pull a coup.

Tribal Council Ten: Boot- Cindy

Stephanie, Rafe and Lydia voted Cindy

Cindy voted Rafe

Danni voted Cindy

At this point Rafe and Stephanie made the incredibly bad move of offering Danni a final three deal. Danni didn't make the best choice here but she still has options. She should have joined up with Cindy and Lydia and voted Rafe out of there. With Rafe out of the way Danni could beat the other three in the final vote and has two PP-Players to pretty much choose between.

Rating: Interesting- I've put in up to an interesting because Danni still had a lot of options to play with.

Tribal Council Eleven: Boot- Lydia

Stephanie and Rafe voted Lydia

Lydia voted Danni

Danni voted Lydia

Danni should have voted with Lydia for Stephanie. Removing Stephanie removes the biggest immunity threat and means that Rafe has to rely on Danni. If Danni thought that Rafe was going to take her over Stephanie she was crazy.

Rating: Dubious- Voting out Lydia means that Danni has to win the final immunity challenge.

Tribal Council Twelve: Boot- Rafe

Danni voted Rafe.

Rafe stupidly let Danni get out of a promise of final two that she made to him. Danni made the right choice in taking Stephanie pretty much ensuring her the win.

Rating: Good- Danni wins the game here.

Final vote

Danni wins 6-1

Gary, Bobby Jon, Jamie, Judd, Cindy and Lydia voted Danni

Rafe voted Stephanie

A very strange game with a very strange and at the time under whelming ending. The season was dominated by an alliance that came together mainly through chance and one where few strong bonds and loyalty were ever built allowing Danni to slide to the end. The game was Rafe's to lose and like Ian before him lose it he did.

Grades

Opening: B

Early Middle: C+

Late-Middle: C+

Endgame: B-

Overall voting strategy: B-

Social Skills: A

The area were Danni won the game. She got on well with everybody and was easily the most well-liked winner since Ethan.

Leadership: B

Danni showed at times that she had what it took to be a very solid leader. However, at other times she didn't take the initiative to work on others and get them to support her

Overall Social Strategy: A-

Overall Rating: B

Season 12- Aras Baskauskas

Aras started on the young men's tribe Viveros. As this tribe lasted only one episode and didn't attend a tribal council I don't think there is a point in analyzing it's composition.

In episode two new tribes were chosen and Aras was picked on the Casaya tribe.

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Shane: AU-Player. One of the biggest nutcase players the game has ever seen. He began as the leader of the dysfunctional Casaya alliance.

Courtney: AU-Player. Another crazy player formed an early bond with Danielle and was part of the original four alliance.

Cirie: AP-Player. A smart player began at the very bottom of Casaya but worked her way up through shrewd play.

Danielle: PP-Player. Began in the four person alliance but was ostracized by the alliance.

Aras: AP-Player. Began playing the game way too aggressively but eventually cooled down.

Bruce: PP-Player. Always at the bottom of the social rung and never made a move to get higher.

Bobby: PP-Player. Same as Bruce was always very low.

Melinda: PP-Player. Was targeted by the Casaya alliance from the get go.

Tribal Structure:

D-Players: Shane, Aras, Courtney, Danielle

T-Players: Bruce, Melinda, Cirie, Bobby

Tribal Council 1: Boot- Melinda

Danielle, Courtney, Shane and Bobby voted Melinda

Cirie and Melinda voted Shane

Aras voted Melinda

Shane and Aras pretty much started this tribe's life by saying that they along with Courtney and Danielle were in control and there was nothing that anybody else could do about it. There actually is and by drawing the alliances lines so clearly Aras has formed a clique alliance that has been the downfall of so many tribes in the past. They decided that they were going to boot Melinda and then Cirie to make the tribe stronger. This isn't a bad strategy but to say it so openly just draw the lines for everybody. The much better move here would have been to get rid of Shane. Shane was changing his mind everyday as to if he wanted to be there, he wasn't a particularly hard worker and his abrasive personality was a killer for tribe morale. Taking him out would have solidified the tribe. Really at this stage it looked like Casaya was heading to a Ulonging.

Rating: Dubious- Although voting out an ally is a bad move in most cases this was an exception. Shane should have gone for the good of the tribe.

Tribal Council 2: Boot- Bobby

Courtney, Cirie and Danielle voted Bobby

Bobby voted Bruce

Bruce voted Courtney

Shane voted Aras

Aras voted Bruce

By this stage this tribe was possibly the most dysfunctional in Survivor history but was somehow still winning challenges. This was the first tribal council since Gretchen's boot in the original Survivor that a person has been voted out with less than 50% of the votes. This tribal council was just like old Pagong use to vote except these guys here were actually trying to use strategy. By this stage Cirie has weaseled her way in a loose three way alliance with the other girls which left Shane and Aras looking at 4^th and 5^th. At this stage I think that Shane and Aras should have gone along with the girls and voted Bobby. They should have offered Bruce a final 3 deal to keep him loyal. It's better than the 6^th position that Shane offered Bobby and Bruce is the type of PP-Player that would stay loyal to that sort of deal. By targeting Bruce all Aras has done is fracture the tribe some more and show to Bruce that he is on the outs.

Rating: Dubious- Going along with the girls and keeping the tribe solid was the better call.

Tribal Structure:

N-players : Courtney, Danielle
D-players : Aras, Shane
T-players : Bruce, Cirie
M-players : Austin, Nick, Sally, Terry.

Early-Middle

The tribes merge with Casaya in the majority. Four new players joined Aras's game.

Terry: AP-Player. The leader of the La Mina tribe and a great competitor but strategically not great.

Nick: PP-Player. Another strong athletic player was targeted for being a threat.

Austin: PP-Player. Probably the smartest of the La Mina player's but wasn't aggressive enough in trying to pull a coup.

Sally: PP-Player. A likeable yet passive player.

Tribal Council 3: Boot- Nick

Courtney, Danielle, Shane, Bruce and Cirie voted Nick

Austin, Nick, Sally and Terry voted Shane

Aras voted Nick

At this stage Terry had the immunity idol and really should have used it here. This makes it 5-4 and gives a player like Bruce great motivation to flop. However, Terry and co. weren't the greatest players and their attempts to sway a Casaya player over to their side were lame. By this stage Aras had drifted away from Shane and was tighter with Cirie and the Danielle and Courtney bond was not as strong as it once was. With Terry winning immunity Nick was the right choice here.

Rating: Good- Once Terry won immunity this was the best vote.

Late-Middle

Tribal Council 4: Boot- Austin

Courtney, Danielle, Shane, Bruce and Cirie voted Austin

Austin, Sally and Terry voted Aras

Aras voted Austin

Another fairly simple vote for Casaya and Aras. Their only problem lied with the fact that Terry had the immunity idol and how they would get the idol out without sacrificing any of the dominant alliance. However, as Terry kept winning immunity they were never able to put any plan into place. This was a good thing for Aras as I could see Courtney and Danielle selling him out.

Rating: Good- With Terry once again immune this was another easy vote.

Tribal Council 5: Boot- Sally

Courtney, Danielle, Shane, Bruce and Cirie voted Sally

Sally and Terry voted Aras

Aras voted Sally

A complete no-brainer for the Casayas. The vote is almost forced

Rating: Good- The obvious vote

Before the next tribal council Bruce was sick and was evacuated out of the game. Seeing as he was probably going anyway it did not effect the game at all.

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Cirie and Aras

D-Players: Danielle and Courtney

T-Players: Shane

M-Player: Terry

Tribal Council 6: Boot- Courtney

Danielle and Cirie voted Courtney

Terry voted Aras

Shane voted Danielle

Aras voted Courtney

A fantastic play here by Cirie and one of my favourite's ever.

Terry and Shane had their own separate plans to take Courtney to the Final Two - which made her a threat. Cirie created two dummy alliances, one with Terry and Courtney and another with Shane, and told them separate strategies they would be using at Tribal Council. She told the Terry-Courtney alliance that the tribe was voting Aras out that night, while she told Shane that Danielle would be the one to go. Both dummy alliances voted accordingly. With the votes split, Cirie, Aras, and Danielle, voted out the real target: Courtney. Cirie played it perfectly and it was a shame that it didn't end up working out for her. What I particularly liked was how she realized that there was no need to bring Terry or Shane into the vote and risk it blowing up in her face.

Onto Aras this was a great move on his behalf as well. By taking out Courtney he removes Shane only other option which means that Shane has to come to Aras for support. Aras had to know that he could only take Cirie as far as final three because she would have beaten him handily in a jury vote. Carrying on with Cirie and Danielle is not that bad of a play either because both would take him to the final two and he is the most athletic of the bunch. This move really gave him a variety of options.

Rating: Great- Removing Courtney gives Aras a variety of options to work his way to the end of the game.

Tribal Structure

N-Players: Cirie and Aras

D-Players: Danielle

T-Player: Shane

M-Player: Terry

Tribal Council 7: Boot- Shane

Danielle and Cirie voted Shane

Shane voted Danielle

Terry voted Aras

Aras voted Shane

A very interesting vote here. The choice between Danielle and Shane was a tough one for Aras. I think for him voting Danielle would have been the better choice. Firstly, Danielle was closer to Terry making it more likely that she would jump over to him at 4. Secondly, Aras can't take Cirie to the final two and needs another partner. Shane could have been that partner. I don't think Aras ever though of this because he was deadset of getting rid Shane.

Rating: Dubious- Removing Danielle would have given Aras more endgame options.

End Game

Tribal Council 8: Boot- Cirie

Danielle and Terry voted Cirie

Cirie voted Danielle

Aras voted Danielle

Cirie was eliminated on tiebreaker.

Aras made the right choice here. Cirie, although a huge jury threat, was not a challenge threat in the slightest and there was no way she was winning the final challenge giving Aras the option of taking Terry. Terry vs Aras would have been a very hard one to pick but I'd give the slight edge to Terry.

Rating: Good- A tough one but this was the right call

Tribal Council 9: Boot- Terry

Danielle voted Terry

Aras did not vote at this tribal council.

Aras won 5-2

Cirie, Courtney, Terry, Austin and Sally voted Aras

Shane and Bruce voted Danielle

A game that I think was ruined by Terry's immunity streak which coloured the way that everybody had to play. Aras was always at the forefront of his tribe and played a good strategic game and out of the final 3 easily deserved to win. I'd say Cirie deserved it more than Aras but only just.

Opening: C+

Early-Middle: B

Late-Middle: B+

End Game: B

Overall voting Strategy: B

Social Skills: B

Aras was a fairly likeable guy but his outright decision to draw the tribal alliance lines early annoyed a few people and was not a smart social decision.

Leadership: B

A hard one to judge because it was difficult to decide whether it was just Cirie making the decisions, towards the end of the age, or Aras was heavily involved as well. After reading a few interviews with both I think it's fair to say that while Cirie did most of the strategising that Aras still played a key role. Aras was also the early leader of the successful Casaya tribe so he showed there that he was a capable leader.

Overall Grade: B

Season 13- Yul Kwan

Yul started on the Puka Puka tribe all Asian tribe. Under Yul's leadership the tribe was very successful and did not attend a tribal council. In episode 3 the four tribes became two.

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Becky: AP-Player. Another smart but UTR player who was very tight with Yul from the beginning.

Candice: AP-Player. An aggressive player who was in the dominant alliance early but made the wrong decision in mutinying on her tribe.

Jonathan: AP-Player. Another smart and aggressive player who's social game really let him down.

Ozzy: PP-Player. Made some mistakes early as an AU-Player but once he was on this tribe he settled down and played the workhorse.

Sundra: PP-Player. A very passive player was happy to be sitting 4^th in her alliance.

Cao Boi: AU-Player. A very strange man and player who had the chance to be in the majority but pretty much threw it away.

Cecilla: PP-Player. A passive player targeted very early.

Yul: AP-Player. A very smart player formed a very early tight bond with Becky.

Flicka: PU-Player. A player who really wasn't there to play the alliance game.

Tribal Structure:

D-Players: Yul, Becky, Candice, Jonathan

T-Players: Ozzy, Cecilla, Cao Boi, Flicka, Sundra

In episode two Yul found the Hidden Immunity Idol.

Tribal Council 1- Boot: Cecilla

Becky, Jonathan, Cao Boi and Flicka voted Cecilla

Ozzy, Sundra and Cecilla voted Becky

Yul voted Cecilla

With the Puka Puka and Raro people in charge they made the right decision in targeting the weak Cecilla. Ozzy led a counter-attack on Becky and attempted to swing Flicka and Cao Boi over to his side. Yul and Jonathan did some last minute negotiation, which ended up working. For Yul, Cecilla was the best choice as out of the T-Players she was the weakest and removing her takes out Ozzy's support.

Another thing that came up in this vote was the HII. Yul said that he would give it to Becky. This would be a good move on Yul's part as with Becky gone he has no second and his game is pretty much up.

Rating- Good. As the physically weakest Cecilla was the best choice.

Tribal Council 2- Boot: Cao Boi

Becky, Jonathan, Candice, Ozzy and Sundra voted Cao Boi

Cao Boi voted Candice

Flicka voted Jonathan

Yul voted Cao Boi

An interesting vote were Cao Boi put the option on the table of removing Jonathan or Candice because he thought one of them had the HII. Even though neither of them did it still pointed out the danger that Raro had to Yul at the time. At this stage Raro still had all 5 people left in the game and removing Cao Boi would leave Puka Puka with only 4. You've got to assume Adam and Parvita are not going anywhere, leaving the dirty work up to Aitu. The plan would still leave five former Puka Puka's in the game (Yul-Becky-Cao Boi-Brad-Jenny). Throwing Jessica into that mix because of her solid relationship with Cao Boi gives Yul and Becky ample material to build an alliance which likely won't have a potential Brutus like Candice.

Here are the negatives: Aitu was working well and would likely continue to beat Raro, giving them the majority come the merge. Ousting Jonathan or Candice would upset the social structure in this tribe and could easily send them into a loosing spin. Yul and Becky are dominant players in the tribe and conventional wisdom is that someone in Yul's or Becky's position shouldn't be rocking the boat. They had a respectable alliance. Yes Candice may jump ship immediately after a swap or merge and Jon probably is planning on a late game stab, but if Raro keeps losing Candice's options may not be as great as she thinks and the post merge target on Jon will probably be bigger then Yul's.

That leads to one more important asset Yul has - his hidden immunity. Going with Cao Boi's plan would have left him the only person in the tribe that may have it. Yul and Becky had obviously been doing a good job keeping their secret so they shouldn't be too willing to blow that now. Especially considering that if Candice does jump ship, her, Adam's and Parvita's likely first target would be Yul. If players began to suspect that Yul has hidden immunity, they could devise a strategy to deal with it.

All in all, Yul and Becky made the right call.

Rating: Good- For tribal stability removing Cao Boi was the right call.

Tribal Council 3- Boot: Flicka

Becky, Candice, Jonathan, Ozzy and Sundra voted Flicka

Flicka voted Jonathan

Yul voted Flicka

An easy vote. Removing Flicka evens old Raro and Puka Puka in numbers. At this stage Aitu still needed Ozzy for challenges and showed as this stage he was willing to play along for the tribe.

Rating: Good- The obvious vote. Any other move would have been a mistake.

Early Middle Game

After the Flica tribal council all tribe members were offered the opportunity to switch tribes. Jonathan and Candice stupidly made the decision to do so. This left Aitu with just four people and Yul needing to re-make his game.

Aitu won the next two immunity challenges and with the help of the producers were only one person down going into the merge. The bond between the four Aitu's was very strong at this point.

The tribes merged and 3 new players entered Yul's game.

Parvati: AP-Player. A hard player to judge but was in a good position with support from Candice and Adam.

Adam: AP-Player. Very tight with Candice and Parvati was partly responsible in the poor challenge record that Raro had.

Nate: PP-Player. Another leader of the Raro tribe in challenges but socially was probably down at 5^th.

Tribal Council 4- Boot: Nate

Becky, Jonathan, Sundra and Ozzy voted Nate

Nate, Parvati, Candice and Adam voted Yul

Yul voted Nate.

As soon as the tribes merged Yul began working on Jonathan, hinting very strongly that he had hidden immunity and that, if Jonathan didn't vote his way, Yul's tribe would be voting Jonathan out. Jonathan talked to his tribe about voting Ozzy but they were split on the issue, half still wanting to vote Yul. After Ozzy wins immunity, Yul shows Jon his hidden immunity, offered Jon final two (a weak promise if I ever heard one) and tells Jon he can pick whom to vote for. Jon pics Nathan.

Yul played the situation here perfectly. The brilliant thing is he showed us the power that hidden immunity has without even having to play it! He didn't let hurt feelings get in the way of doing what was strategically right and recognized that Jonathan was the key to him getting control of this game. Yul's game is diametrically opposite to Adam's. While Yul builds an alliance upon mutual self interest (thus one that is likely to hold - at least for a while), Adam builds one based upon who he likes to hang with. Where Yul assumes a thinking opponent and structures his strategies based upon how he expects them to play, Adam assumes everyone is dumb as mud and just expects them to help him win.

Rating: Great- Yul played Jonathan fabulously and showed how the Hidden Immunity Idol should be used.

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Yul and Becky

D-Players: Sundra and Ozzy

T-Player: Jonathan

M-Players: Adam, Candice, Parvati

Late Middle Game

Tribal Council 5- Boot: Candice

Becky, Jonathan, Sundra and Ozzy voted Candice

Adam, Parvati and Candice voted Jonathan

Yul voted Candice

This is were the Raro's started trying to black-mail Yul with their jury votes. However, voting out Jonathan before Candice would have been hypocritical as Candice was a mutineer too. Removing Candice also makes a move by Ozzy even less likely.

Rating: Good- The easy vote here.

Tribal Council 6- Boot: Jonathan

Becky, Jonathan, Sundra, Ozzy, Parvati and Adam voted Jonathan

Jonathan voted Adam

Yul voted Jonathan

Leaving a pair (Adam-Parvita) in the game in favour of an isolated player (Jonathan) is, perhaps, not the strategically right move, but this seems to have more to do with making camp life more pleasant than anything else. It's hard not to notice how much more comfortable things are when the tension between Jonathan and Adam-Parvita isn't there. Getting rid of Jonathan is the simplest way to relieve this.

The interesting part of the vote was that Yul seemed to do it to win the jury vote of Adam. This is a concept that has never really happened in the game before and it the end actually turned out to be the vote that won the game for Yul.

Rating: Interesting- Voting somebody out to get the jury vote of another is an interesting concept that is highly unique to this vote.

Tribal Council 7- Boot: Parvati

Becky, Ozzy and Sundra voted Parvati

Adam and Parvati voted Sundra

Yul voted Parvati

The call of Parvati over Adam was a good one. In terms of immunity threat I would say they are both about even but I'd give the edge to Parvati in terms of who could pull the most support.

Rating: Good- The right choice.

Tribal Council 8- Boot: Adam

Becky, Ozzy and Sundra voted Adam

Adam voted Yul

Yul voted Adam

Adam suggested to Ozzy that he and Sundra vote Yul with him. Yul would have been forced to play the idol, Adam would still have gone (so I'm not exactly sure what difference it would have made it him) but Ozzy and Sundra would have then have had more options come the final four. Ozzy seemed to really consider this (I can't blame him), but Sundra appears to have bailed on the idea. I guess she didn't want to make waves, but she and Ozzy should have voted Yul. At four, they could have forced a tie that would have seen Yul have to face off against Sundra in the fire making challenge.

Then again, given the lack of skills in that department that Sundra displayed, it's likely the outcome would have been the same anyway. Though, it would be interesting to speculate on how more aggressive play on their part may have influenced Adam's jury vote.

Rating: Good- The only real choice that Yul had

End Game

Tribal Council 9- Boot: Sundra

Becky voted Sundra

Ozzy and Sundra voted Becky

Yul voted Sundra

Sundra lost the tie-breaker challenge.

The interesting part here was Yul offering to give Becky's his HII. This wasn't a good move for Yul. If Becky loses the tiebreaker and is on the jury Yul would get her vote. If Yul gives Becky the HII and Sundra goes he stands a good chance of losing her vote at the end. Thankfully, Becky helped him make the right call here.

Rating: Good- Turning on an ally this late would have been a bad look.

Yul beat Ozzy and Becky 5-4-0

Overall Yul played a fantastic game and deserved to beat Ozzy. Ozzy was lucky to find himself in an alliance in the first place and the only reason he made it that far was his challenge ability. I have far more respect for Yul's game. The thing that effects how a number of people see the game Yul played is the presence of the immunity idol. A number of people criticize his game because he had the idol. I think this criticisms is unfair as he found the idol thanks to his brains and as Terry showed last season having the HII does not guarantee you a win.

Opening: B+

Early-Middle: B+

Late-Middle: A

Endgame: B

Overall Voting Strategy: B+

Social Skills: B+

Yul was quiet well-liked but his analytical nature and his ability to "spin" his words annoyed a few people.

Leadership: A

Yul was undoubtedly the leader of his tribe and his alliance.

Overall Social Strategy: A-

Overall Grade: A-

Season 14- Earl Cole

Opening:

Voting strategy is dependent upon the social dynamics and relative strength of the individual players in the tribe. This is as much true at the beginning of the game as it is at the end and any discussion of strategy has to begin with a summary of the individual players in the tribe.

Earl: AP-Player. A quiet but smart player who learnt about the game on the run. Formed an early bond with Yau-Man.

Rocky: AU-Player. An abrasive and aggressive player who I believe was the main reason why this tribe flopped.

Michelle: PP-Player. A very social player never seemed in trouble on Ravu

Anthony: PP-Player. A quiet and unassuming player that went along with the flow.

Mookie: AU-Player. An aggressive player that never really seemed to understand the game.

Yau-Man: AP-Player. A smart player bonded early with Earl

Rita: PP-Player. Like most of the females on this tribe a passive player that was targeted early

Jessica: PP-Player. Another passive female player

Sylvia: PP-Player. A player who's tried to take leadership but was not charismatic enough to do so successfully.

Erica: PP-Player. Tried to strategize early but was very unsuccessful.

Tribal Council 1- Boot: Jessica

Anthony, Michelle, Mookie, Rita & Yau-Man voted Jessica
Erica voted Yau-Man
Rocky voted Mookie
Jessica voted Rita

Earl voted Jessica

Erica and Jessica had an early bond along with Rocky in their corner but they didn't seem to realise that 3 people wasn't going to be enough to control the tribe. Jessica performed poorly in the challenge and the she then became the target. This was a good move for Earl and the rest of the majority. Tribal harmony is key this early on and removing Jessica represents the path of least-resistance. At this early stage nobody stood out as bringing the tribe down so she made an easy first boot.

Rating: Good- Jessica struggled in the challenge and removing her doesn't affect the tribe morale.

In episode 2 Earl was sent to Exile Island and missed the tribal council in which Erica was voted out.

Tribal Council 2- Boot: Sylvia

Anthony, Michelle & Yau-Man voted Sylvia
Rocky, Sylvia and Mookie voted Anthony
Rita voted Earl

Earl voted Sylvia

By this stage Ravu was a tribe in trouble and something had to be done. Part of the tribes problem was that tribe morale was always very low with Rocky continually sprouting his mouth off about this and that and calling out members of the tribe. Many may argue that Ravu needed Rocky's strength but if you look at how they performed Rocky was never a standout. Sylvia was a passive player that could have easily been brought under Earl's wing and be a loyal vote while the hot-headed Rocky was more likely to vote with his emotions.

Rating: Dubious- Sylvia wasn't a bad choice but Rocky would have been a better one.

Tribal Council 3- Boot: Rita

Anthony, James, Mookie & Yau-man voted Rita
Rita & Michelle voted Anthony

Earl voted Rita

By this time the Ravu losing streak was rivalling that of Ulong's. Rita was hardly a great contributor in the challenges but the main reason she seemed to go home was because Rocky didn't like her. Once again Rocky is ostracising members of the tribe and taking him out would be the better option. Earl would have to assume that a swap was coming at some point and it would be better to have a passive predictable player like Rita around rather than the aggressive unpredictable Rocky.

Rating: Dubious- Again Rocky would have been the better choice here.

In episode 6 the tribes were swapped and 3 new players entered Earl's game.

Early-Middle

Cassandra: PP-Player. Was the outsider on her original tribe but when the tribes swapped became the swing vote and attached herself to Earl and Yau-Man.

Boo: PP-Player. A Passive player in the dominate Moto alliance but seemed to be disliked by almost everybody.

Stacy: PP-Player. Another Moto alliance member didn't seem to understand that 5 votes wasn't enough to take control of the game come merge time. A poor social player.

The Moto tribe went on an immunity streak and did not attend a tribal council. However, with Cassandra's support Early and Yau-Man should have thrown some challenges.

Tribal Structure

N-Players: Earl and Yau-Man

D-Players: Michelle and Cassandra

T-Players: Boo and Stacey

In episode 9 the tribes were merged and 3 new players entered Earl's game.

Alex: AP-Player. Probably the smartest player on Moto but that isn't saying much.

Eduardo- AP-Player. Second to Alex on the old Moto and the most well-liked.

Dreamz- AU-Player. Possibly the most crazy voting player in Survivor history. Played both sides of the fence but didn't seem to tell either group what he was doing in the other side.

Tribal Council 4- Boot: Edguardo

Boo, Cassandra, Stacy & Yau-man voted Eduardo
Alex, Edguardo & Mookie voted Cassandra
Dreamz voted Mookie

Earl voted Eduardo

Cassandra, Earl and Yau-man pulled Boo and Stacey over to their camp with the plan of voting out Alex, while the Four Horsemen (Alex, Dre, Edguardo & Mookie) were going to vote Earl. Dreamz, trying to play both camps through Cassandra, was told by Earl and company to vote Alex. Dreamz told Alex and company what was happening so the decision was made for Mookie to give Alex the hidden immunity idol he carried. Dreamz then promptly told Earl's group what Mookie had done causing them to switch the target to Mookie. However, they later decided that Edguardo was a better idea. The five of them (Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Stacey & Yau-man) agreed on voting Edguardo, but also agreed that Dreamz was to be left out of the loop. In the meantime, Alex, Edguardo & Mookie decided to shift their vote to Cassandra in an attempt to split that alliance in two. When Dreamz heard about this plan, he was less than enthused.

Earl and Yau-Man played this perfectly. They worked on Stacey and Boo to bring them over to their side and managed to extract the information they need out of Dreamz. Voting Edguardo was the right call because if you can't take out the number 1 (Alex) you take out the number 2. After being screwed by the twist in the previous episode Earl played this wonderfully to get the numbers back on his side and take control of the game.

Rating: Great- A move that got the numbers back on Earl's side. However, he was helped by poor play by the opposition thus this is not a brilliant.

Late-Middle

Tribal Structure:

N-Players: Earl and Yau-Man

D-Players: Cassandra and Dreamz

T-Players: Boo and Stacey

M-Players: Alex and Mookie

Tribal Council 5- Boot: Mookie

Alex, Boo, Cassandra & Dreamz voted Mookie
Stacey & Yau-man voted Alex
Mookie voted Boo

Earl voted Alex

The original plan of Earl's group was to vote out Alex, but Boo came up with this idea that they should create a tie just in case either Alex or Mookie has hidden immunity (even though they have no clues as to it's location). Earl agreed, figuring he'd let Boo think he values his input and figured Alex would be the one to go anyway. However, Alex voted Mookie - to buy himself another few days. Again, Earl played this well. He could have ruffled feathers by demanding that they all vote Alex but he made the wise move of letting Boo take the lead. Either way whoever survived was going to go next so it was really 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

Rating: Good- There was no need to ruffle feathers here.

Tribal Council 6- Boot: Alex

Boos, Cassandra, Dreamz, Stacey and Yau-Man voted Alex

Alex voted Yau-Man

Earl voted Alex

The right move for Earl here. If any of the original Moto members was going to pull a coup it was Alex. Removing him leaves Earl and Yau-Man with three PP-Players left in the game. However, the potential was still there for a coup so Earl's and Yau's primary objective at this point had to be keeping Cassandra loyal.

Rating: Good- The right choice

Tribal Council 7- Boot: Stacey

Votes:
Boo, Cassandra, Dreamz & Stacey voted Yau-man
Yau-man voted Stacey

Earl voted Stacey

Yau-Man played his hidden immunity idol and none of the votes for him counted.

Ideally, for Yau and Earl they should have gotten rid of Dreamz here. He was the closest to Cassandra, the biggest immunity threat and showed his loyalty was dubious. However, at this point they still needed Cassandra's vote so taking the path of least-resistance was their best move. However, this vote showed that Earl was not in complete control of the game like a number of previous winners. The coup was the right option here for Cassandra and co. as it still should have been in the final 5. However, I believe that the coup attempt would not have been made if Yau-Man did not have the HII. I think without the HII in the game Cassandra would have rode it out to final four with Earl and Yau.

Rating: Good- Stacey represented the path that would still keep Cassandra happy.

Tribal Council 8- Boot: Boo

Votes:
Cassandra, Dreamz & Yau-man voted Boo
Boo voted Dreamz

Earl voted Boo

Earl and Yau should have taken out Dreamz here. At this point Earl had no idea that it would be a final three instead of a final two. Voting off Boo means that there would be a tie, at the very best, at the next tribal council. Because it ended up being final three this worked out very well for him but if this game is final two he puts the pressure on himself to win the final immunity challenge. This is a position you never want to be in. With Boo in the final four they have the choice between Cassandra and Boo. Even if Cassandra went to Boo about forcing a tie I can see Earl and Yau being able to convince Boo that voting Cassandra is the best move for him.

The Yau-Man deal with Dreamz is another factor but I don't think that Cassandra would have turned on Dreamz at final four anyway.

Rating: Dubious- Dreamz should have gone at this point.

End Game

Tribal Council 9- Boot: Yau-Man

Cassandra and Dreamz voted Yau-Man

Yau-Man voted Cassandra

Earl voted Yau-Man.

In a normal final 2 game this would have been a mistake but with final 3 in effect this was the right choice for Earl.

Rating: Good- Yau Man was the biggest jury threat.

Earl beat Cassandra and Dreamz 9-0-0

Rocky, Lisi, Michelle, Edguardo, Mookie, Alex, Stacey, Boo and Yau-Man voted for Earl.

Earl was the best player in this game and the deserved winner. However, he was not the dominant male winner that we have seen in the past and with some better play by his oppositions really should have been stopped. If you look purely at the numbers Cassandra had them most the Late-Middle and End Games but never used them. Her game was really ruined by the final 3 twist.

Grades:

Opening: C+

Early-Middle: B+

Late-Middle: B+

End Game: B

Overall Voting Grade: B

Social Skills: A

Earl was well-liked by pretty much everybody in the game. Even Rocky seemed to like him.

Leadership: B

Earl was not the all-controlling leader like Hatch, Brian, Yul etc but was able to get the support when it really mattered.

Overall Social Game: A-

Overall Grade: B+

Note:

I would just like to add that I welcome all critque but I would not like to be accused of bias. Chris is one of my favourite Survivor characters of all time and I througly enjoyed his win and that of Sandra's. However, although they were great characters they were not great players and thus had to be ranked accordingly.