Best Strategic Move
Season |
Winner |
Notes |
When Kelly seemed to be wavering in their alliance, Richard had a plan. He, Rudy and Sue knew that Sean used the controversial "Alphabetical Order" voting style, so they voted for Jenna, who was next on the list, making Sean their unknowing fourth and moving their numbers up more. |
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After the Merge, Ogakor and Kucha were even with five people each. Colby came up with a strategy to have his alliance "let slip" that Colby had received votes before, even though he didn't. This caused Kucha to vote for Colby at that Tribal, while Ogakor voted for Jeff, whom they knew had received at least one vote, which means that, due to the tiebreaker, Jeff went home, because he had more votes at former Tribal Councils. |
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The alliance of Lex, Tom and Ethan ran the game after the Merge. After the Merge, Kelly targeted Lex, so Lex and his alliance went to work, pulling in Brandon and surprising everybody by having him help them vote out Kelly. And, of course, Brandon didn't last too much longer before Ethan and Tom vetoed Lex and voted Brandon out, due to not trusting him. |
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Kathy, Neleh and Paschal read the signs from a Reward Challenge that was designed to reveal a pecking order. The three of them were out right after Sean and Vecepia, so Kathy, Neleh and Paschal decided to flip things around and turn against John, Tammy, Robert and Zoe, wanting the Final Five to be full of people who are honorable and don't manipulate their "friends". If they wouldn't have made this choice, they would have finished seven, six and five, instead of three, two and four. |
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When it came to the Final Five, with Brian, Ted, Helen, Jan and Clay, Brian voted his alliance out in perfect order and wound up in the end with Clay, who was hated by even his own alliance, which solidified Brian winning the game, even though he backstabbed everybody. |
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Rob wins this award after two great strategic moves during the season. First, he took his alliance of Alex, Jenna and Heidi and turned on Deena, his biggest strategic threat. Then, when he caught wind that he was on the bottom of his alliance, turned on Alex, Heidi and Jenna. |
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Jonny Fairplay is one of the most notorious villains in the game and he successfully pulled off the most hated, yet ingenious strategy play of all time. At a loved ones visit, Jon's best friend came to visit and they had already set something up. His best friend told Jon, in front of everyone, that his grandmother had passed away. This humanized him in his Tribe's eyes, after he had already showed himself to be a villain. It almost redeemed him in a lot of their eyes but still wasn't enough for him to be chosen to get to the Final Two. |
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When the Tribal Switch occurred, the Tribes remained almost the exactly the same. However, one key difference was that Amber was by herself on a Tribe with Lex, Kathy, Shii Ann and Jerri from the (formerly) opposing Tribe. However, after winning an Immunity Challenge, Boston Rob whispered to Lex that if he could take care of Amber, then Rob would take care of him after the Merge. Lex did save Amber and sacrificed Jerri in her stead. However, Rob immediately turned on Lex and Kathy and voted them off as the first two targets after the Merge. |
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After the girls took out Rory, Sarge and Chad, Chris seemed to be dead in the water. When he lost Immunity, his fate was seemingly solidified. However, Leann wanted to spare Chris and get rid of Eliza first. Twila took this opportunity to take Scout with her and pull in Chris and Eliza to blindside Leann. Chris jumped right on board but Eliza was more hesitant. In the end, they each made the strategic decision to go with the plan and Leann was voted out. |
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In the Final Six, it became obvious that Gregg, Jenn and Katie were going to turn on Tom and Ian, once Caryn was gone. Because of this, they came up with a plan. Both Tom and Ian excepted that they would force a tie and leave their fate in the game to chance. However, Ian let it slip to Katie what they were doing. Since she didn't want to draw rocks, she flopped on Gregg and voted him out with the others. |
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Though it might not be viewed as a "strategic" move, it was definitely a move worth noting. After Brandon was voted out, when Gary had Immunity, he knew that he would be the next target. Because of this, he went searching for the Hidden Immunity Idol. He used Judd's body language, as Judd had received a clue, to find a general location. He did find the Idol and played it, which actually bought him two more Tribal Councils, but he was eventually voted out. |
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When it came to the Final 6, Aras, Cirie and Danielle finally had to turn on one of their own, as Terry had Immunity, and their alliance were the only ones left. Danielle let Terry and Courtney think that they were blindsiding Aras, while Aras let Shane believe that they were taking out Dainielle. However, the three tight members of the Casaya Alliance took out Courtney, who Shane and Terry both wanted to take to the Final Two, as they could have easily beaten her. By taking out Courtney, they virtually crippled Shane's gameplayed and threw a wrench in Terry's, while also keeping Shane around, for strength in trying to beat Terry in an Immunity Challenge. |
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After the Merge, Yul's alliance was down 5-4. However, when Ozzy won Immunity, Yul was the obvious target, as Sundra and Becky were not particularly threatening. Because of this, Yul showed Jonathan his Hidden Immunity Idol and told him that he was playing it. Jonathan got worried that Yul and his alliance would vote for him and he would go home because of the Idol. Jonathan would then switch alliances and allow Yul's alliance to get the numbers, which allowed them to dominate the rest of the game. |
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After the Merge, Earl took his alliance with Cassandra and Yau Man, pulling in Boo and Stacy to go against the "Four Horsemen" alliance of Alex, Dreamz, Mookie and Edgardo. Earl used Cassandra's relationship with Dreamz in order to get the information that Mookie had a Hidden Immunity Idol and gave it to Alex, who was their initial target. They told Dreamz that they were voting for Mookie but they all switched to Edgardo, in case Dreamz told his old alliance what their plan was. |
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The Best Strategic Move, by far. James had two Hidden Immunity Idols and was clearly the most powerful player in the game. Even though James wasn't great strategically, he had two Idols and three Tribals to use them at. Todd knew that it was his last chance to get James out. Todd, Amanda, Courtney and Denise decided to vote James and pulled in Erik so that Erik wouldn't join Peih-Gee in voting for Todd, just in case James played one of his Idols. |
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When Erik was the last remaining guy, he kept winning Immunity, forcing them to vote out one of their own Alexis. After winning Immunity again, Natalie was on the chopping block. However, Cirie had an idea and Natalie executed it. Natalie convinced Erik to give her his Immunity, saying that if he did, they would go to the end together. Of course, she was lying and as soon as Erik gave up Immunity, the Black Widow Brigade voted Erik out. |
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On Fang, it was down to Ken, Crystal, Sugar, Ace and Matty. Since Sugar, Ace and Matty were in an alliance and Ace had a Hidden Immunity Idol, Ken and Crystal weren't in a good place. However, Ken managed to manipulate Sugar into thinking that Ace was planning on blindsiding her, which caused Sugar to flop things around and help them vote Ace out. |
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The entire gameplay after the Merge was ingenious. First, J.T. and Stephen joined with Coach, Tyson and Debbie, while also developing a "Core 4" with Taj and Erinn. Then, after voting out Brendan, they used Brendan's ally Sierra to keep the numbers and vote out the biggest physical threat, Tyson. They then kept face with Coach and Debbie by voting out Sierra. Following that, they voted out Debbie, who was gunning for Coach. They then got rid of Coach. They then turned on Taj, as she was the biggest Jury threat. J.T. then got rid of Erinn to take Stephen to the Finals. There was no one move that stands out but the strategic game Post-Merge was flawless from the two young bucks. |
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When they made the Merge, the original Foa Foa was down 8-4 to the original Galu. However, first, Russell and his crew convinced Laura and the girls of Galu that Erik wanted them off, so they turned n Erik. Then, when Galu targeted Russell, but Russell played his Hidden Immunity Idol and got rid of Kelly, Laura's right-hand woman. They were still down in numbers though, so Russell pulled over Shambo and John and used them to blindside Laura, finally give them the numbers. |
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The Villains Tribe was split with Russell, Parvati and Danielle on one side, as Sandra, Jerri, Courtney, Coach, Boston Rob and Tyson were on the other. Russell's alliance soon found out that the majority alliance was splitting votes between him and Parvati in case of an Idol play. Jerri, Courtney and Coach were supposed to vote for Parvati, while Boston Rob, Tyson and Sandra were supposed to vote for Russell. However, Russell cleverly tricked Tyson into believing that there was no Idol and that he should vote for Parvati, as Tyson really wanted Parvati out and wanted to make it a done deal. However, Russell played his Hidden Immunity Idol on Parvati and since Tyson had switched his vote, and Russell's alliance threw all of their votes on Tyson, Tyson was the one who went home. |
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After the Merge, Brenda led her alliance to take out Alina and Marty, the biggest strategic threats. However, Holly, Naonka and Jane began to get weary of Brenda, as they thought she was acting "mad with power" and "like a villain". Because of this, they targeted her, pulling in Benry, Dan and Fabio from the minority alliance, which gave them the numbers. Eventually, Chase and Sash also flipped on Brenda and blindsided her. |
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After the Merge, Matt rejoined the game, giving the original Ometepe Tribe a numbers advantage of 7-5. However, Matt and Andrea considered flipping, because of Rob blindsiding Matt and sending him to Redemption Island earlier in the game. However, Matt came clean to Rob and told him that he was thinking about flipping but decided not to. This caused Rob to develop a new plan. He told Matt to vote for Steve, while the Zapatera alliance voted for Grant. Meanwhile, the 6 Ometepe voted for and blindsided Matt, taking out the anomaly of Matt potentially flipping in the future, while keeping the numbers for Ometepe. This strategic move is one of the main reasons that David lobbied so hard for Rob to win the game while he was on the Jury. |
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When it came to the Final Four, Coach had to put his "take the strongest to the end" philosophy to the test. He had the choice to either side with Sophie and Albert to finally take out Ozzy, or vote with Ozzy and force a tie, which Ozzy would have won and made it to the Final Three. Ultimately, Coach proved to be a fraud, but it was the better strategic decision, sending Ozzy home, as if Ozzy had gone, he'd have swept the Jury votes. |
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KIm was in the majority alliance with Troyzan and the two were the strategic leaders to take out the other alliance. Jonas was their first victim and Troyzan and Jay wanted to target a woman now, as to even up the numbers and avoid the women getting together. However, Kim and Chelsea wanted Mike out, which worried them. Kim managed to trick Troyzan into believing that Mike was targeting him so that Troyzan would vote with them to get Mike out, giving the women the numbers they needed to run the rest of the game. |
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In the Final Four, Denise quickly flopped on her closest ally, Malcolm and lobbied with Lisa and Michael to vote Malcolm off. This was a good move, as Malcolm could have beaten her in the finals. |
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After the Merge, Malcolm, Reynold and Eddie were immediate targets as their closest allies, Corinne and Michael, were the first taken out. However, when Reynold won Immunity, Malcolm, at Tribal Council, pulled out two Hidden Immunity Idols and handed one to Eddie. They also announced that they were voting for Phillip, getting out the leader of "Stealth R Us". |
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Most people might not call this the "best" strategic move of the season but we do. Ciera had the choice to either help vote out her own mom or stick with her mom and be seen as untrustworthy and an early target. When she chose to vote out her mom, it gained her more time in the game. |
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When it came down to Tony's alliance of Kass, Trish, Woo and Jefra against Spencer, Jeremiah, and Tasha, the thought of a Hidden Immunity Idol loomed over them. Kass had the idea to switch the vote from Spencer to Jeremiah, thinking that Spencer had the Idol. Spencer would play the Idol and received no votes as Jeremiah was sent home. |
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When it was down to the Final Five, Keith won Immunity, so Jaclyn was the target. Natalie began to get weary of the last remaining couple, Missy and Baylor, and their threat if they both made it to the Final Three with her, like had been planned. However, she didn't have the numbers to do it, as Keith was voting with Missy and Baylor to take out Jaclyn. Because of this, Natalie played her Hidden Immunity Idol for Jaclyn, saving her and allowing them to blindside Baylor. |
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When Carolyn played her Hidden Immunity Idol at the perfect time to blindside Dan. |
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After Joe lost Immunity for the first time, he seemed like the obvious target, but Kelley knew that this was the perfect time for a blindside, so she pulled in her allies Abi and Keith, as well as an old ally, Joe and his ally Spencer to blindside Stephen, a huge strategic threat and someone who was in Jeremy's back pocket. |
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Even though the alliance of Jason, Scot and Tai, being aided by Julia, was way down in numbers, they were very dangerous, as both Tai and Jason had Hidden Immunity Idols and even though the others didn't know, if the two combined their Idols, they could play it after the vote. Because of this, the women couldn't get a foot-hold to vote them off. However, Aubry fastened into the foot hold when she managed to flip Tai, who helped them vote Scot, Julia and Jason out in succession. |
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Two in one: First, as Adam and David were in the minority, they accepted Will's help when he was prepared to jump ship to blindside Zeke, which they did flawlessly. Then, realizing that Will was getting a big head and was trying to control the game and flip back and forth until the end, they targeted him and voted him out next. |
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The alliances were very back-and-forth during the entire season and from the Merge, Andrea and Zeke had bashed heads. Zeke had planned to take Andrea out and blindside her a little later but Andrea and Cirie had the forethought to realize this and voted him out first. |
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After the Merge, the "Roundtable" alliance emerged, which consisted of the Heroes and Hustlers, who quickly picked off the Healers' Jessica, Desi and Cole. After that, Ben, Devon, Ashley and Lauren formed a tight four-person alliance. They pulled in the remaining Healers, Joe and Mike and used them to turn against their allies, Chrissy, Ryan and JP by blindsiding JP. The brilliant thing was that Ben played like he didn't know that it was going to happen and played up like he was on the outs with Ryan and Chrissy, using that information to gather information for his alliance. |
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When they got down to the Final Six, Dom had one Hidden Immunity Idol and a fake Idol, so he was safe at one of the next two Tribal Councils. He discovered that Sebastian and Donathan were targeting him with Sebastian's Extra Vote Advantage. Dom didn't want to play his Idol early, wanting to use it at the latest possible opportunity. At Tribal, Dom pulled out all the stops and flustered Sebastian enough to make him vote for Donathan instead, while Dom didn't play his real Idol and Sebastian was blindsided. |
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After voting out Elizabeth, the Davids were severely down in numbers to the Goliaths and even though some of them had appeared willing to work with the Davids, they weren't so sure. The Davids pulled off two back-to-back amazing strategic move. First, David played his Hidden Immunity Idol to save Christian, while the Davids split the minority vote for the first time in Survivor history, so that, even though Dan played his Idol for Angelina, John still went home. Then, at the next Tribal Council, Nick played his Steal-A-Vote to grab Alison's vote and Carl played his Idol Nullifier to nullify Dan's Idol play on himself, so they could blindside Dan, which evened up the numbers and ultimately saw the Goliath Alliance fall apart. |
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When it came down to the Final Four, Chris won the last Immunity, meaning that he could choose one person to join him in the Final Three, while the other two faced in a Fire-Making Challenge to see who joins them. However, Chris desperately needed Rick out of the game, and knew that Gavin and Julie couldn't beat him. Because of this, Chris took a risky gamble, giving Julie Immunity and facing off with Rick himself. Chris was victorious and wound up winning the game that way. |
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In the Final Five, Dean found out that Janet had a Hidden Immunity Idol that she was planning on playing and found that he could get her out by playing his Idol Nullfiier, or could choose to let her play it and get Lauren out, who he saw as his biggest threat. In the end, he chose to play the Idol Nullifier and oust Janet, which showed to be a great move, as he beat Lauren in the Firemaking Challenge and he probably wouldn't have beaten Janet. |
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After the Tribal Switch, Denise and Jeremy found themselves on the bottom of their Tribe against Sandra, Tony and Kim. Denise was the clear target and Sandra took pity on her. Sandra gave her a Hidden Immunity Idol and told her to use it to vote out either Tony or Jeremy, her choice, in return for one Fire Token before and one Fire Token after Tribal Council. Things didn't quite work out that way. Denise played Sandra's Idol on herself and her own Idol on Jeremy and used her one solo vote to vote out Sandra, the "Queen" and only two time Winner of Survivor up to that point. This will probably go down as one of the best Strategic moves of all time. |