J.T. Thomas, Jr.
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Born: June 23, 1984
Hometown: Samson, Alabama Occupation: Cattle Rancher Seasons: Tocantins; Heroes vs. Villains; Game Changers Placing: Winner (Tocantins); Tenth (Heroes vs. Villains); Sixteenth (Game Changers) Tribes: Jalapao; Forza; Heroes; Yin Yang; Nuku Total Challenge Wins: 24
Days Lasted: 79 Votes Against: 8 Awards: Challenge Beast (Tocantins); Strategy With A Smile (Tocantins); Social Butterfly (Tocantins); Meal Ticket (Tocantins); Best Strategic Move (Tocantins); Bamboozled (Tocantins); Super Hero (Tocantins); Worst Strategic Move (Heroes vs. Villains) |
Survivor: Tocantins
Assigned to the red Jalapao tribe, J.T. was popular and well-liked by all his tribe mates and his physical prowess in challenges made him very valuable to fellow tribe member Stephen Fishbach. As of Day 2, they created a rock-solid alliance and with the help of Taj Johnson-George became the power-players, eliminating Sandy Burgin, Spencer Duhm, and Sydney Wheeler back to back in Jalapao's three straight Tribal Councils.
Despite his persona and the various ways he benefited the tribe, J.T. was on the losing end when it came to tribal numbers. When Jalapao Merged with Timbira, Jalapao was down in numbers 4-6. It was Coach Wade who approached him and Stephen to create a new alliance, known as the Warrior Alliance. Due to the medical evacuation of Joe Dowdle and Timbira slowly self-destructing, J.T. was able to play up his social game and play hard when it came to individual challenges, earning the respect of those voted out.
In the final few rounds of the game, J.T. began winning consecutive individual Immunity Challenges sending strategies into a tailspin after he became a target. Despite all this, the original alliance he created with Stephen was honored when J.T. took him to the Final Two over Erinn Lobdell. In the end, he became the eighteenth Sole Survivor by a vote of 7-0, the series' second landslide unanimous vote and was the first Sole Survivor to play a "Perfect Fane" with no votes cast against him.
Despite his persona and the various ways he benefited the tribe, J.T. was on the losing end when it came to tribal numbers. When Jalapao Merged with Timbira, Jalapao was down in numbers 4-6. It was Coach Wade who approached him and Stephen to create a new alliance, known as the Warrior Alliance. Due to the medical evacuation of Joe Dowdle and Timbira slowly self-destructing, J.T. was able to play up his social game and play hard when it came to individual challenges, earning the respect of those voted out.
In the final few rounds of the game, J.T. began winning consecutive individual Immunity Challenges sending strategies into a tailspin after he became a target. Despite all this, the original alliance he created with Stephen was honored when J.T. took him to the Final Two over Erinn Lobdell. In the end, he became the eighteenth Sole Survivor by a vote of 7-0, the series' second landslide unanimous vote and was the first Sole Survivor to play a "Perfect Fane" with no votes cast against him.
Voting History
Episode |
J.T. Voted For |
Voted For J.T. |
1 |
Carolina Eastwood |
--- |
4 |
Sandy Burgin |
--- |
5 |
Spencer Duhm |
--- |
6 |
Sydney Wheeler |
--- |
8 |
Sierra Reed |
--- |
9 |
--- |
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10 |
Sierra Reed |
--- |
11 |
Debbie Beebe |
--- |
12 |
Individual Immunity |
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13 |
Taj Johnson-George |
Individual Immunity |
13 |
Individual Immunity |
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13 |
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Jury Vote: Brendan Synnott, Coach Wade, Debbie Beebe, Erinn Lobdell, Sierra Reed, Taj Johnson-George, Tyson Apostol |
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
J.T. was assigned to the Heroes tribe due to being beloved in Tocantins. It was here that the farmer employed a far different strategy than his original season, creating conflicting deals with James Clement and Tom Westman. In the opening days of the competition, he was relatively comfortable within the tribe and nobody had begun to notice his intentions. Most of the tribe began to see him as their leader and tried to remain on his good side.
Just as it seemed that their rivals had the upper hand, after losing two consecutive Immunity Challenges, where Sugar Kiper and Stephenie LaGrossa were voted off the Heroes bounced back and won immunity. However, their luck ran out when they lost the next three Immunity Challenges, where Cirie Fields, Tom Westman and James Clement were voted off. The now five-some were a force to be reckoned with and decided together that, after finding the Hidden Immunity Idol clue after winning a Reward Challenge, they would find the Idol together and use it to enable them to become the final five. J.T. upon returning to camp went looking for it alone and was caught by Amanda Kimmel, forcing him to reveal his find to the rest of the tribe. Some time later on, the Heroes began noticing that the men from the Villains were being systematically voted out, alluding to an all-female alliance. J.T. led his Heroes to the belief that if they were to give the idol to Russell Hantz and use it, they'll Merge with a Villain on their side and still keep their final five deal.
J.T. wrote a note, wrapped it with the Hidden Immunity Idol and during the Immunity Challenge he handed it to Russell. When the tribes eventually merged, Russell stayed with the Villains and J.T. was blindsided after two idols were played at the first post-merge Tribal Council. He was the second of the four previous winners to get voted out, and only previous winner to get voted out after the merge.
At Final Tribal Council, J.T. asked Russell whether he considered the jury votes while he was playing the game and told him getting to the end is only half of the game, and that the other half is getting the jury to vote for you, and he asked Parvati and Sandra Diaz-Twine to explain their own games. He gave his Jury vote to Sandra who won 6-3-0 vote, and became the first two-time winner in Survivor history.
During the Live Reunion Show, Russell showed everyone the letter he got from JT when he gave Russell the idol; in response, JT tried to burn the letter in a fire set up in front of the castaways and the audience, but Russell managed to retrieve it, and he won the award for the "Dumbest Move in Survivor History" for giving up his idol to Russell.
Just as it seemed that their rivals had the upper hand, after losing two consecutive Immunity Challenges, where Sugar Kiper and Stephenie LaGrossa were voted off the Heroes bounced back and won immunity. However, their luck ran out when they lost the next three Immunity Challenges, where Cirie Fields, Tom Westman and James Clement were voted off. The now five-some were a force to be reckoned with and decided together that, after finding the Hidden Immunity Idol clue after winning a Reward Challenge, they would find the Idol together and use it to enable them to become the final five. J.T. upon returning to camp went looking for it alone and was caught by Amanda Kimmel, forcing him to reveal his find to the rest of the tribe. Some time later on, the Heroes began noticing that the men from the Villains were being systematically voted out, alluding to an all-female alliance. J.T. led his Heroes to the belief that if they were to give the idol to Russell Hantz and use it, they'll Merge with a Villain on their side and still keep their final five deal.
J.T. wrote a note, wrapped it with the Hidden Immunity Idol and during the Immunity Challenge he handed it to Russell. When the tribes eventually merged, Russell stayed with the Villains and J.T. was blindsided after two idols were played at the first post-merge Tribal Council. He was the second of the four previous winners to get voted out, and only previous winner to get voted out after the merge.
At Final Tribal Council, J.T. asked Russell whether he considered the jury votes while he was playing the game and told him getting to the end is only half of the game, and that the other half is getting the jury to vote for you, and he asked Parvati and Sandra Diaz-Twine to explain their own games. He gave his Jury vote to Sandra who won 6-3-0 vote, and became the first two-time winner in Survivor history.
During the Live Reunion Show, Russell showed everyone the letter he got from JT when he gave Russell the idol; in response, JT tried to burn the letter in a fire set up in front of the castaways and the audience, but Russell managed to retrieve it, and he won the award for the "Dumbest Move in Survivor History" for giving up his idol to Russell.
Voting History
Episode |
J.T. Voted For |
Voted For J.T. |
1 |
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2 |
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4 |
--- |
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5 |
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6 |
--- |
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10 |
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14 |
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Survivor: Game Changers
JT started on Nuku which on the first two challenges. He was the only member on Nuku to remain on Nuku after the Tribal Switch. He was joined by Mana's Malcolm Freberg, Jeff Varner, Aubry Bracco, Michaela Bradshaw, and fellow Heroes vs. Villains castmate, Sandra Diaz-Twine. J.T. stranded his new tribemates out on the ocean while on a snorkeling trip in order to look for a Hidden Immunity Idol, but failed to find it.
On Day 10, he tried to convince Malcolm to target Sandra. On Day 11, Tavua won immunity, but the losing tribes, Nuku and Mana, had to go to a Joint Tribal Council and vote out one member instead of two. JT wanted Tai Trang out for being sneaky, but Sandra wanted Sierra Dawn-Thomas out. At Tribal Council, JT leaked to Mana member Brad Culpepper that Sierra was the target and they should vote for Sandra. However, this backfired when Tai played his Hidden Immunity Idol on Sierra and Mana's votes sent Malcolm out of the game.
After returning from Tribal Council, JT was confronted of leaking their plan to Brad, but he denied it. The next day he managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol. After the Reward Challenge, J.T. and Michaela squabbled over the latter's consumption of the sugar they had previously won. In order to keep the two fighting, Sandra ate the rest of the sugar, causing J.T. to accuse Michaela of the act.
Nuku lost the Immunity Challenge. JT talked to Aubry, Jeff, and Sandra about voting out Michaela. Aubry sided with him while Sandra plotted with Michaela to blindside JT, so Jeff was the swing vote. JT decided not to bring his idol to Tribal Council. However, this backfired as Jeff sided with Sandra and Michaela, so JT was blindsided.
On Day 10, he tried to convince Malcolm to target Sandra. On Day 11, Tavua won immunity, but the losing tribes, Nuku and Mana, had to go to a Joint Tribal Council and vote out one member instead of two. JT wanted Tai Trang out for being sneaky, but Sandra wanted Sierra Dawn-Thomas out. At Tribal Council, JT leaked to Mana member Brad Culpepper that Sierra was the target and they should vote for Sandra. However, this backfired when Tai played his Hidden Immunity Idol on Sierra and Mana's votes sent Malcolm out of the game.
After returning from Tribal Council, JT was confronted of leaking their plan to Brad, but he denied it. The next day he managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol. After the Reward Challenge, J.T. and Michaela squabbled over the latter's consumption of the sugar they had previously won. In order to keep the two fighting, Sandra ate the rest of the sugar, causing J.T. to accuse Michaela of the act.
Nuku lost the Immunity Challenge. JT talked to Aubry, Jeff, and Sandra about voting out Michaela. Aubry sided with him while Sandra plotted with Michaela to blindside JT, so Jeff was the swing vote. JT decided not to bring his idol to Tribal Council. However, this backfired as Jeff sided with Sandra and Michaela, so JT was blindsided.
Voting History
Episode |
J.T. Voted For |
Voted For J.T. |
3 |
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4 |
Trivia
- J.T. became the second winner to receive all Jury votes in a season, following Survivor: Fiji's Earl Cole, and was the first contestant to have played a "Perfect Gave", having had no votes cast against him during Tribal Council while receiving every jury vote.
- J.T. was part of every individual reward in Tocantins. He had won three of four post-Merge Reward Challenges, and he was picked by Stephen Fishback to join him on his reward.
- Among all winners from seasons with Exile Island as a season-long twist, J.T. is the only winner to never be exiled.
- J.T. lost 16 lbs. (7.2 kg) during his time in Tocantins.
- J.T. is the only Hero to vote with the majority at all five Tribal Councils the tribe attended.
- J.T. lost 13 lbs. during his time in Heroes vs. Villains.
- J.T. is the first of three winners to be a jury member in a subsequent attempt of Survivor, followed by Aras Baskauskas and Tina Wesson.
- J.T. was the only member of the original Nuku tribe to remain on Nuku after the Tribal Switch.
- At both of the Tribal Councils in J.T.'s Survivor career where he received votes against him, Sandra Diaz-Twine. was one of them.
- J.T. was the only member of the original Nuku tribe not to make the Merge.
- J.T. is the fifth castaway to finish the game as a finalist, a juror, and pre-jury boot in their Survivor career, following Stephenie LaGrossa, Colby Donaldson, Tina Wesson, and Tyson Apostol.