‘Survivor’ Seasons Ranked: Top 12 from Worst to Best

CBS
‘Survivor’ Seasons Ranked: Top 12

‘Survivor’ Seasons Ranked: Top 12
#12 — ‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’
#11 — ‘Survivor: The Amazon’
#10 — ‘Survivor: Samoa’
#9 — ‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’
#8 — ‘Survivor: Game Changers’
#7 — ‘Survivor: Palau’
#6 — ‘Survivor: Second Chance’
#5 — ‘Survivor: Cagayan’
#4 — ‘Survivor: Pearl Islands’
#3 — ‘Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites’
#2 — ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’
#1 — ‘Survivor: Borneo’

Is the current season of CBS’s long-running reality TV program good enough to be added into the Golden Dozen of Best “Survivor” Seasons ever? Check out our ranking of the Top 12 seasons — do you agree or disagree with our list?

-By Tom O’Brien

Season 33

I didn’t have much hope when this season started, expecting a lot of “millennials are just slackers” talk, and we got that a lot in the first few episodes. But then personalities emerged (Hannah, David, Zeke, Michaela), and most of these turned out to be real players.  They began to pull off blindside after surprising blindside, producing one of the best second halves of the series ever.

Season 6

Another blindside filled season.  Model Jenna Morasca was voted sole survivor, thanks to a strong late-season run of immunity challenge wins.  “Amazon” also introduced us to Rob Cesternino, one the best “Survivor” strategists ever to play the game, who later returned with Jenna for “Survivor: All Stars” in 2011

Season 19

“Samoa” introduced the world to the diabolical Russell Hantz, whose strategy was to sabotage his own team by dumping their water and burning their socks, then, once the team was weakened, step up to take power.  Even more impressively, Hantz’s team was down in numbers 8-4 at the merge, and he came back and almost took the whole thing, but for the most unfair vote in the history of Final Tribal Council.

Season 27

“Blood vs. Water” featured returning castaways, each playing against a loved one.  Once the novelty of seeing what the parents or siblings of these fan favorite castaways looked like, “Blood vs. Water” raised an interesting ethical question — what if the one person who is impeding your progress in the game turns out to be your loved one.  Do you vote them out?  The answers turned out to be fascinating. 

Season 34

“Game Changers” brought back former players who made the kind of bold moves that affected how the entire game game played out.  On paper, it promised a season out-of-the-box thinking, and the players really delivered.  However, their game play was overshadowed by an incident at one Tribal Council in which on-the-ropes player Jeff Varner outed fellow player Zeke Smith as a transgender man.  The shockwaves from that Tribal Council went viral worldwide.

Season 10

The only season that never had a traditional merge.  That’s because the Ulong tribe kept losing every immunity challenge, and castaway Stephenie LaGrossa saw her tribe picked off one by one so that eventually she became a tribe of one.  Sole Survivor Tom Westman had a pretty easy time of it, romping to victory, but when people think of “Palau,” their image is of Stephenie surviving all by herself.

Season 31

I love the concept of “Second Chance,” because there are some players who were excellent, but for some reason they never took the big prize.  And the idea of viewers picking the cast and announcing the results live at the “Worlds Apart” reunion was genius.  Plus it marked the return of colorful “Survivor” journalist Steven Fishback to the competition. Great stuff. 

Season 28

“Cagayan” was branded a “Brawn, Brains and Beauty” competition and had a few demi-celebrities in the tribe like Miami Marlins president David Samson and former NBA player Cliff Robinson, but the real star of the season was Jersey City cop Tony Vlachos.  Tony would do anything to win, even digging a trench in which to hide to spy on people, but he rode that strategy all the way to Final Tribal, where he won.

Season 7

This was the pirate season, remember?  So we had Rupert Boneham (back when he was actually a fresh face) stealing his rivals’ shoes.  And who can forget Jonny Fairplay at the loved ones’ reunion learning that his beloved grandmother, who was supposed to be there, had died.  His tears brought solace and understanding from his fellow contestants.  Total lie!  Completely made up!  But boy did he sell it! 

Season 16

A delightful season, pitting some of the best “Survivor” veterans against fans of the show, some of whom fancied themselves as “Survivor” experts.  Wow, were they schooled quickly by the likes of such beloved veterans as Cirie Fields, Jonathan Penner, Amanda Kimmel and Parvati Shallow.  Amanda & Parvati fought as the Final 2, with Parvati winning (of course). 

Season 20

Villain Parvati is back, along with super-villain Russell Hantz in one of the most fun seasons ever.  The piece de resistance moment of the season came when the Heroes had the votes to decimate the Villains tribe when Parvati (of course) pulled out not one but two Immunity Idols to protect the tribe’s two vulnerable women, and J.T. from the Heroes is sent home.  One of the most delicious “Survivor” moments ever. 

Season 1

Try as you may to trumpet other extremely worthwhile seasons, “Borneo” upended the rules of reality/competition shows forever.  Until then on competition shows, the most worthy contestant usually won in what had traditionally been a meritocracy.  But after the show’s very first merge of that season, lesser contestants for the first time formed an alliance to vote out the best players.  Yikes!  Plus characters Richard Hatch and Sue Hawk, with talk of rats and snakes.  Unforgettable.

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