Top 10 Survivor Seasons

I've decided to put up a list of my favourite seasons of Survivor to give you some insight as to what I personally enjoy watching, to show which aspects of the game I like and dislike as well as who I think makes a deserving winner. I've decided not to rank all 22 seasons mainly because I haven't seen all of them and because there are a few not even worth mentioning (I will state for the record that Fiji is probably my least favourite season). As they're in the past I will say - SPOILER ALERT! Just in case you intend on watching past seasons without knowing who the winners are. So without any further adieu here they are...

10. Palau

Very rarely is the first half of the season i.e. pre-merge better than the second half. This is one of those occasions. It had a good cast and a stunning location. We had Stephenie emerge as a real hero of the game and someone you could root for. The same can be said about the eventual winner, Tom who remains one of the most likable and deserving winners in the shows history. It was highlighted by that unforgettable record-breaking 13-hour final challenge between Tom and Ian.

9. China

Probably one of the best casts to date with the emergence of some fan favourites in James, Peih-Gee and Amanda as well as the the game's most useless Survivor, Courtney. While the locations of the camps were horrible we did see China's beautiful side in some of the best rewards from reward challenges ever. In the end we saw Todd come out on top and despite the fact that a bitter jury nearly awarded Courtney a million dollars, I don't think there was any doubt that he was the only person to truly deserve it. He was brutally honest to the jury about his strategy (a performance some say Russell should have imitated for Samoa) and in the end it won him enough votes.

8. Australian Outback

A memorable season for many reasons. We were introduced to the game's first hero in Colby as well as the "black widow" Jerri both of whom will remain true "all-stars" of the Survivor. Then there was Michael who fell into a fire and became the first castaway to leave the game through an injury. Here's a fun fact: this is the first and only season to last for 42 days compared to the traditional 39. People say Colby made the biggest mistake in the shows history by taking Tina to the final and I agree but that's the type of person Colby is, further cementing his claim to being Survivor's ultimate hero.

7. Redemption Island

I personally like Redemption Island. It's not the cruel twist that Outcasts was and while it does make Probst's snuffing of the torch a little anti-climatic, it's a twist that has the potential to really shake the game up. While it didn't have an effect the first time around due to Matt becoming a permanent resident of RI, I'm optimistic. We all knew Russell wouldn't last long this season and it became apparent very early on that it was all about Boston Rob. He played a perfect game. There's no other way to describe it. He may have had it easy being the veteran up against a bunch of rookies but regardless, he had complete and utter control from Day 1. Along with Rob getting his redemption I was kept entertained on a weekly basis from start to finish thanks to "Special Agent" Phillip who emerged as the kookiest Survivor of all time

6. Pearl Islands

I think we all agree that the Outcasts twist sucked. It's probably the worst thing ever introduced to the game which really ended up impacting the way things unfolded in the end. That aside, this remains a standout season for the cast. Rupert has become a Survivor icon, Johnny Fairplay became a true villain of the game and we also had the game's first quitter in Osten. Sandra was the emphatic winner and I like to think she deserved it. I imagine I'd play a similar game to her if I was ever given the opportunity to be on Survivor.

5. Samoa

Go ahead and groan all you like, this is my number 5. Like him or loathe him, you can't argue that Russell dominated this season. Did he deserve to win? I think so but I may be bias and I also think Natalie didn't do nearly enough to deserve the cash. I loved watching him go out and find immunity idols instead of waiting around for a clue. I loved seeing him sabotage things around camp just to make things unpleasant. In the end, it was the combination of a bitter jury and a poor jury performance that cost him a million dollars. The rest of the cast may not have been that interesting but Russell single-handedly made this season one of the most entertaining in the shows history and will go down as one of the game's most villainous.

4. Cook Islands

As controversial as it may have been, this season gave us the most diverse cast to date by dividing the tribes by their ethnicity. It was an interesting idea that was abandoned much too early to produce any interesting results. Aside from that we were introduced to the likes of Parvati, Jonathan, Candice and Ozzy all who have since built up their own fan bases amongst the Survivor community. It was an entertaining season without the shocking blindsides but it did give us the mutiny which set up perhaps one of the most exciting comebacks in the game's history when Yul, Becky, Sundra defied the odds to make it to the final 4. Yul remains my favourite winner so far and I think he's often underrated. He played a strategically smart game without making enemies and like Todd, did a good job of convincing the jury to give him the million.

3. Micronesia

Yet another all-stars season with a bit of a twist. Fans vs. Favourites gave us some of the most exciting and unforgettable moments in the shows history and the season's winner Parvati can take most of the credit for that. Unlike so many of the attractive young women that play Survivor, Parvati actually played the game and played it extremely well. She lead an all-female alliance to the end and thanks to yet another horrible final jury performance from Amanda, clenched the victory. There was the odd and often hilarious coupling of Chet and Joel but who could forget Erik making the stupidest mistake in Survivor history by giving individual immunity to Natalie and getting blindsided. That was only one memorable tribal council out of many this season had to offer.

2. Heroes vs. Villains

The shows 20th season would be another all-star affair, this time splitting the tribes between good and evil. Despite a couple of questionable additions to the cast (Danielle?! Courtney?!) it was a battle between Survivor's greatest heroes and villains. This is probably the most wholly satisfying seasons of all time from beginning to end. While Russell again features prominently he met his match in Parvati who showed she wouldn't be his Natalie like in Samoa. We had some incredible blindsides which were genuinely shocking allowing the Villains to run all over the Heroes. I also think this was one of the most physical seasons of Survivor as far as challenges went. In the end, Russell played the exact same game he did in Samoa which in his mind was probably a winning formula (keep in mind he played this immediately after Samoa) and underestimated the way the jury would vote by taking Sandra to the end where she became the only person to win the game twice. I thought Parvati was terribly unlucky though and it may have been a case of another bitter jury taking their frustration out on both her and Russell. The whole season was just entertaining on a weekly basis and trumps the original all-stars seasons in every possible way.

1. Borneo

I often wonder whether or not to leave it out of my top 10 and put it into another list by itself but here it is, the first season of Survivor remains at number 1. I've only ever watched it once as a 12-year-old kid and still remember it clear as day. I remember being mesmerised by it. There was nothing else on TV like this at the time so I thought it was just the greatest thing ever. The cast did a good job considering they had no prior season to base their game plan on. Richard was always going to be the winner. He just seemed to know exactly what he was doing and what it would achieve. Sue paved the way for future bitter jury members with her unforgiving attack on Kelly which I remember thinking was so harsh and immediately decided she was the biggest bitch on the planet. Now I see it as pure entertainment. I have watched bits and pieces of it since then and it does look a little bit dated but I then remember that back then, it was an experiment. Not even CBS predicted how it would turn out. I bet they also didn't predict that it would still be on air more than 10 years later. If this season flopped we wouldn't have got another one so this is why Borneo will permanently be number 1 on this list regardless of how many more seasons there will be.

So there you have it. My top 10 seasons of Survivor. I'd love to know what you think. Do you agree? Do you disagree? What are your top seasons?

Until next time.