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1. Colby Donaldson
We all know he threw his game away on Day 38. But I stand by my opinion that such a decision can only be counted against him so much. He dominated in every aspect of the game from start to finish. He played both sides of the fence on Ogakor, and rallied his tribe for a crucial immunity win. He carried his tribe mates on his shoulders (and sometimes a long pole with buckets of water on it as well). He was one of the major contributors to Kucha's instant post-merge fall, convincing them that he had recieved prior votes. He went on the longest immunity run Survivor had ever seen (since being tied by Terry), ensuring him added safety week after week. He didn't vote for Amber when his alliance sent her packing, earning himself her vote on the jury. And when the time came to decide who to take to the Final 2, he didn't go for the easy win. Instead, he took the woman he felt truly deserved to make it that far, and he took the competition over the simple victory. He made a call not to win a million dollars, but to do exactly what he thought was right. And hell, the young, male Texan almost beat the older, female mother, a feat that is near impossible to accomplish. Colby owned Australia, and while Tina may have played the narrowly better strategic game, Colby singlehandedly determined how the season would play out, and definitely deserves the top spot on this list.

2. Kelly Wigglesworth
This is a tough call for me, but I have to say that Kelly earned the edge over the second place finishers below her on this list. Obviously, Kelly has her faults. She abandoned the Tagi alliance, causing them to turn against her and peg her as the boot for three tribal councils in a row. She turned on Sue at the F4, losing her vote, causing the most infamous jury speech in the history of Survivor, and making it almost absolutely necessary that she win the final IC. But she still played an amazing game, and she still deserves to be comended for it. Kelly recognized that the jury would consist of 4 Pagongs and 3 Tagis. She capitalized on this, and did what no other member of the Tagi alliance did; she bonded with Pagong. She left the "evil" alliance, and played both sides of the fence brilliantly. When it got to the endgame and Tagi realized she couldn't stick around, Kelly went on an immunity streak that kept her in the game through the Final 2. She almost beat the guy that organized the Tagi alliance and created the true premise of Survivor strategy. She managed to be human in a cut throat, social game, and it almost won her a million dollars. I've never been the biggest Kelly fan in the world, but I'll give credit where credit is due: Kelly is the second best runner-up Survivor has ever seen.

3. Rob Mariano
It really gets tricky here, but I think Rob probably deserves this spot. The Godfather of Marquesas came into ASS and employed the same exact strategy he did in his previous Survivor run; the difference is that this time, he made it work. He ran Chapera like puppets, and carried the tribe into challenge win after challenge win. He recognized the snake that could hurt him down the road, and cut off Cesternino's head before he had a chance to make trouble. Dominating every challenge from that point on, Rob set up Amber, Tom, and Alicia like dominos, later pulling Rupert and Jenna into the fold. In an amazing show of charisma and intimdation, Mariano managed to convince Lex to keep an ill-fated Amber around after a twist that otherwise would have screwed her over. Lex proceeded to sacrifice his shot at the merge, truly believing that Rob would never make such a solemn promise and then not keep to his word. Rob did just that. He was never underminded at any point by his alliance, even though it was clear that he was on an Easy Street to the Final 2. When dissension occured, he stopped it, instigating a fight between Rupert and Tom that prevented them from joining aginst him. Ultimately, his backstabbing and poor social game came back to bite him in the ass, as bitter juror after bitter juror gave their votes to Amber (not because they respected her, but because they refused to vote for Rob). He tried what he could to smoothe things over, but couldn't make up for hard feelings, and it cost him the game. With relationships on the line, he played a bit too ruthlessly, which is why Colby and Kelly truly played a better game than he did. Still, his domination commands respect, and Rob Mariano played a damn good game for second place.

4. Clay Jordan
Ah, the controversial Clay. The guy seemed to be a pawn throughout his stay in Thailand, and he certainly wasn't the most well-liked guy out there. But there's a reason he almost defeated the winner heralded by many as the best Survivor player ever. Clay played the goat, and he played the goat to the guy who could actually lose to him. While Brian called the shots, Clay let him play the Bad Cop and took the role of - well, slightly less Bad Cop. If Clay's social game had been a bit stronger, he likely would have won. The jury was almost bitter enough to hand him the million, and he would have gone down as one of those Amber-esque winners. Instead, he was too gruff of a personality, and lost out. You have to give him credit for making the exact right alliance, and consciously trying a strategy that hadn't quite been tried before. I think he did what he could with the kind of person he was, and he made the game work for him a lot better than I expected. Obviously, he didn't play well enough to earn the million. But he was pretty damn close, and that's pretty damn impressive.

5. Twila Tanner
I don't know that much about Vanuatu, as I haven't seen it since it originally aired. But I do know that Twila lost for her social game, when she played exactly the numbers game she needed to to make it to the end. She didn't execute the swing at 7, but she was definitely a factor in toppling the ruling female alliance that would have given her 6th or 5th place at best. She played her cards well after she was switched to a minority tribe prior to the merge, promising the guys her vote when two tribes became one. She helped play Julie and Eliza, and she was all but guarenteed a ride to the F2, where she hoped she could make a case for her game. Alas, Chris gave one of the best jury speeches ever, and Twila's lies came back to get her. She couldn't beat a terrible winner, and that says something about her own play. But she did more with what she had than a lot of people, and had she been a bit more personable, a million bucks could have been hers.

6. Stephenie LaGrossa
We're into the "bad" losers half of the list, now. Stephenie played a powerful game, but ultimately made huge blunders when taking out members of her own alliance. She eliminated the people she should have been trying to take to the end, and she was completely oblivious to the game Rafe was playing right under her nose. She didn't earn peoples' respect, a feat that I assumed would be easy considering her Palau reputation. Stephenie deserved to lose for the mistakes she made, and her game is a pretty nice lead-in to:

7. Danielle DiLorenzo
Danielle made the same types of mistakes Stephenie did. She cut the people she should have been trying to take to the end, and put herself in a F4 with 3 players that could all beat her in the F2. She was never in control like Stephenie was, and probably had even less respect than Steph did. And while there are things that you have to like her for (taking out Bog Dawg was wise), her game was not strong at all. She was cocky, and she tried to play too over-the-top. It worked out even worse for her than it did for Stephenie.

8. Matthew Von Ertfelda
I'm getting bored. Anyway, Mateo's game had tons of faults, and there's a reason he lost 6-1 to an "evil stepsister." He didn't make any wise moves until very late in the game, and no one respected his play enough to hand him a million dollars. He was strange, he was quirky, and he was ignorant to how to play Survivor. He was not the kind of guy that can win the game, and he made it as far as I think he possible could.

9. Neleh Dennis
Neleh was all set up to be a sweetheart, but she managed to make people hate her. Yes, she deserves a ton of credit for being the biggest contributor to the fall of the Rotu 4 (besides the Rotu 4 themselves). But beyond that, Neleh didn't do a single good thing for her game. In the F4, there was no one she could beat in the F2. Hell, there was probably no one she could beat in the F7. The purple rock taking out Paschal was the best thing that could have happened to her, yet she still couldn't overcome the odds and lost to an under-the-radar Vecepia.

10. Lillian Morris
Lill's social game was terrible. Lill screwed people over. Lill was an outcast, and Lill was voted out of the game once. Lill did everything wrong, and yet, she played exactly the game she had to to make the F2. She couldn't win, and everyone knew it. The fact that she managed to make it so far shows that she was a stronger player than people realized. Unfortunately, a player that can't win didn't play a very good game.

11. Katie Gallagher
Katie was playing for second, and it's as simple as that. She wanted to be taken to the F2 by one of the dominant males, and she wanted to see if she could pull off a couple of bitter jury votes. She actually ended up being lucky to make it as far as she did (Tom would have taken Ian had there been no big F4 blow-up). In the end, she was a terrible player, and she deserves the flak she got at the F2. Cirie showed that you can have no physical ability and play an amazing game. Katie showed that you can have no physical ability and then whine about it being the reason you lost.

12. Kim Johnson
Kim was despised by everyone on her tribe, and ultimately took Ethan to the F2 just because she wanted to give him a million dollars over Lex. Her surprising immunity wins were both the by-products of luck and production error (Lex's piercing question, Ethan's cameraman throwing up, Lex's dysentary). She played a terrible game, and is extremely lucky to have made it as far as she did. She doesn't deserve respect as a Survivor player, and I can feel just fine coining her the worst runner-up ever.