Happy 5,000th post to me!
Okay, so this is something I've wanted to do for a while. I even considered doing it for my 1k post, but now is when I'm going to do it. As the title suggests, I will be ranking the 50 smartest moves/decisions in Survivor history. These moves may include people taking advantage of others' stupidity, making other people do stupid things, pulling off something great, undetected, or something else. Each entry can involve as many or as few people as were involved in the incident. They don't even have to be just one moment, so there can be one (or more) people accomplishing something over time.
However, with hundreds of episodes of Survivor out there, I'm probably going to forget some of the more brilliant moments in Survivor's history, so I'm calling on all of you for help. Give me ideas: blindsides, double dealings, lies, counter-alliance formations, etc. Anything, even obscure-ish stuff. Post whatever you can think of, and I'll get this list up soon.
UPDATE: Here is a complete list of the semi-finalists. Of these, 50 will be chosen.
LIST OF SEMI-FINALISTS:
Borneo:
The Tagi alliance is formed successfully
Tagi 4 use Sean's ridiculous strategy to pagong Pagong
Richard gets Kelly to switch her vote at the final four
Richard propels himself into the F2 against Kelly by throwing the F3IC
Australia:
Tina, Colby, and Keith form an alliance and squash out all potential intra-tribal opposition
Rodger gets Kimmi to vote for Jeff over any of the Christian Coalition
The Ogakors have a decoy target at the merge
Colby votes for Rodger instead of Amber
Tina convinces the eventual F5 to band together so the "deserving" people would win, meaning herself
Tina plays Colby to the point where he votes out Keith
Africa:
Boran throws the first post swap IC to get rid of Silas
Teresa convinces Clarence to give up immunity after losing to her in Rock-Paper-Scissors
Teresa indirectly causes the Boran alliance to implode by casting the mystery vote and keeping quiet about it
Marquesas:
Kathy and Rob make a secret alliance
Kathy leads the overthrow of the Rotu 4
Kathy scrambles at the F4
Vecepia breaks her F2 deal with Kathy to ensure Neleh takes her to the F2
Vecepia plays a very successful UTR game, and she even makes Neleh look like the floater in front of the jury
Thailand:
Brian makes F2 deals with Helen and Ted, which helped save his goat Clay over Ghandia
Clay befriends the Sook Jais
Brian befriends Jake
Brian makes fake alliances to save his goat, Clay.
Brian makes it to the end with Clay.
Amazon:
Jenna, Heidi, and Deena preserve their alliance when Shawna wants to quit by temporarily bringing in Christy
Heidi temporarily joins up with the men after the swap to vote off her biggest threat (and keep herself in the game)
Rob invents "The Chain"
The girls of the post-merge majority insist of voting off Roger before Dave because of the fear that he would never vote for a woman on the jury
The post-merge majority alliance convinces Roger he is safe, causing him to quickly jump off of the perch in the IC
Jenna blindsides Deena
Rob leads a counter-alliance to turn on Jenna, Heidi, and Alex
Rob gets Jenna and Heidi to boot Christy
Jenna protects Heidi at TC, ensuring herself another round in the game
Jenna and Matt form a secret F2 alliance
Pearl Islands:
Lill tattles on Nicole after she bitches about Tijuana
Sandra, Rupert, and Christa convince Shawn to turn on Trish
The Drakes befriend Burton after the Outcast twist
The Drakes convince Lill to vote with them after the Outcast twist
Jon and Burton lead a counter-alliance to blindside Rupert
Jon convinces the tribe his grandmother died
Jon convinces Sandra and Christa to save Burton and blindside Tijuana
Jon makes a F2 alliance with Darrah, ensuring that she won't side with Sandra and Christa
Sandra, Lill, and Darrah unite to take out Burton
Jon sets up a fight between Darrah and Lill at the F4, removing himself from the chopping block
Sandra convinces Lill that Jon is undeserving of 1 million dollars.
ASS:
Ethan convinces Jenna L. and Jerri to vote out Rudy
Romber convinces Twatwaffle and Kathy to vote out Jerri
Romber prevents the formation of a counter-alliance after Shii Ann wins immunity
Rob starts a fight between Big Tom and Rupert at the F5
Rob convinces Jenna L. to vote for Rupert at the F4
Vanuatu:
Chris leads the formation of the Fat Five alliance, and thus, saves himself
Ami gets Eliza to vote for Dolly in Yasur's first TC and her alliance takes control of the game
John K. exposes the various alliances on Yasur and gives Ami immunity
Julie lies to Twila about what the guys have promised her
Ami leads her tribe to vote out Lisa over Rory
Ami, Eliza, Scout, and Leann convince Twila and Julie to flip on then men
Ami convinces Julie and Leann that they shouldn't vote out Eliza at the F8
Chris exposes Scout and Twila as liars after Chad is booted
Chris, Twila, Scout, and Eliza form a counter-alliance against the women
Chris sets himself up as the swing vote at the F5 and proceeds to take Scout and Twila to the F3
Chris' bullshit jury performance wins him the game
Palau:
After Janu quits, Tom convinces Steph that she was not going anywhere
Tom befriends Caryn and uses her as a way to break up the girl power alliance
The Koror 5 gets rid of Steph relatively early into the "merge"
Tom, Ian, and Caryn blindside Greg and avoid a PROD when Ian brings in Katie
Jenn blabs to Tom about Ian wanting to vote him out
Tom causes Ian to implode
Guatemala:
Rafe makes Steph his F2 partner from very early on and leads her to take the fall for all of their betrayals
Brian gets Morgan/Brianna booted over Lydia
Steph, Jamie, Rafe, and Lydia convince Judd to flip on his old tribe
Bait Blake
Danni sides with the top of the pecking order at the F6
Danni convinces Rafe and Steph to vote off Lydia at the F4 instead of her
Exile Island:
Cirie gets Ruth Marie and Melinda to vote off Tina
Cirie, Danielle, and Courtney unite to vote off Bobdawg
Casaya gives Sally immunity by sending her to exile
Austin fakes weakness in the immunity challenge so Casaya will vote off Nick
Cirie, Aras, and Danielle triple play Courtney
Cirie gets Shane back on her side and then blindsides him after he gets too close to Terry
Danielle makes an alliance with Terry
Aras makes the F4 largely by convincing his tribe that he is a threat and thus the only one who can stop Terry
Aras convinces Danielle to take him to the F2 over Terry
Cook Islands:
Yul and Jonathan convince Cao Boi and Flicka to vote for Cecelia over Becky
Jenny and Rebecca orchestrate J.P.'s blindside
Yul swings Jonathan back against the Raros
Yul votes out Jonathan in exchange for Adam's jury vote
Fiji:
Alex sets up Michelle to be voted out at the discussion in her TC
Dreamz flips on the Four Horsemen alliance (the one smart thing he did)
Stacy gets her alliance (sans Dreamz) to vote for Edgardo to avoid the issue of the HII
Alex votes for Mookie at the F8, thus spoiling the majority's plan to weed out a potential HII (and then himself)
Yau-Man puts Dreamz in a situation where he either has to give him immunity at the F4 or look like a douchebag in front of the jury
Earl goes with the African American alliance
China:
Todd makes Aaron the "leader" of Fei Long
Jaime forms a bond with Leslie which causes Leslie to get kidnapped and give Jaime the HII clues
Todd votes out Leslie leaving him as the only Fei Long with HII clues
Peih Gee and Jaime throw the first post swap IC and vote out Aaron
Todd and Amanda prevent Frosti from getting the HII
Frosti makes strong enough relationships so that he's in no danger after Fei Long loses the eating IC
Amanda convinces Todd and the rest of her tribe to vote out Sherea instead of Jean-Robert
Amanda makes strong relationships with the members of Zhan Hu (who would have voted for her had she not miserably fucked up the FTC)
Amanda leads her tribe to blindside James and knock the HIIs out of the game
Peih Gee votes for Todd to protect herself if James were to use one of his HIIs
Todd convinces Amanda and Courtney that they wouldn't be able to beat Denise in a jury vote
Micronesia:
The Fourgy plus Cirie takes control of Malakal
Tracy convinces Joel to vote out Mikey thus saving her alliance
Cirie blindsides Joel when he decides to put her in the "weak" category
Parvati works Alexis and Natalie into her alliance
Parvati convinces Jason to give her immunity so he can "make friends"
Cirie, Parvati, Natalie and Alexis turn on Ozzy, removing the HII from the game, and begin the formation of the Black Widow Brigade
The Black Widow Brigade blindsides Jason, eliminating the next HII
Amanda helps the favorites prevent a fan coup from the F6 through the F5
The Black Widow Brigade, led by Cirie and Natalie, mindfucks Erik into giving Natalie immunity and proceeds to blindside him
Gabon:
Ace sets up Paloma to lose the RC so she gets voted out over Sugar
ClusterFang adds Kelly to their alliance and gets rid of Jacquie
The Onions add Randy to their alliance
Kenny and Crystal get Sugar to blindside Ace
Kenny and Crystal work with Susie to blindside Marcus
Bob's second fake HII causes Kenny to vote against his alliance, leading the alliance to implode
I'll put an index here...
50. Crystal, Kenny, and Susie blindside Marcus.
49. Jenn blabs to Tom about Ian wanting to vote him out.
48. Jenny and Rebecca orchestrate J.P.'s blindside.
47. Julie lies to Twila about what the guys have promised her.
46. Jenna and Matt make a secret F2 alliance.
45. The Ogakors have a decoy target at the merge.
44. Bait Blake.
43. Jenna blindsides Deena.
42. Jonny Fairplay convinces Sandra and Christa to save Burton and blindside Tijuana.
41. Kathy scrambles at the F4.
40. Clay befriends the Sook Jais.
39. Cirie blindsides Joel.
38. Danni sideswith the top of the pecking order at the F6.
37. Jenna gives Heidi the Immunity Necklace at the F6 to ensure that Rob would vote out Christy.
36. Cirie successfully saves herself and makes Tina the first boot of Survivor: Exile Island.
35. Yul votes out Jonathan in exchange for Adam's jury vote.
34. Colby essentially buys Amber's jury vote by not voting for her when everyone else does.
33a. Boran throws the first post-swap challenge to boot Silas.
33b. Zhan Hu throws the first post-swap challenge to boot Aaron.
32. Aras leads the Casay tribe and stays alive by convincing them that he is a threat.
31. Boston Rob sets up a fight between Rupert and Tom.
30. Tracy convinces Joel to set up her alliance and boot Mikey.
29. Sandra, Darrah, and Lill unite to blindside Burton.
28. Brian uses Helen and Ted as decoy alliances to get to the end with his goat, Clay.
27. Chris takes control of the game at the F5 and eliminates two threats and likely jury votes for him at the same time.
26. Jenna, Heidi, and Deena recruit Christy to vote off Joanna.
25. Brian gets to the end with his goat, Clay.
24. The Black Widow Brigade successfully blindsides Jason and knocks the HII out of the game...again.
23. After costing his tribe immunity, Chris forms the Fat Five alliance and takes control of his tribe.
22. Kenny and Crystal convince Sugar to blindside her closest ally, Ace.
21. Amanda blindsides James.
20. Tom forms a "friendship" with Caryn.
19. Rafe befriends Stephenie and makes her his goat by having her fall for their blindsides.
18. Jonny Fairplay and Burton team up and blindside Rupert.
17. Jonny Fairplay sets up a fight between Darrah and Lill, thus removing himself from the chopping blcok.
16. Assisted by Cirie and Courtney, Danielle blindsides Bobby.
15. Tom and Ian use Caryn and Katie to blindside Gregg.
14. Rob rounds up the outcasts on Jacare and blindsides Alex.
13. The Black Widow Brigade (minus Amanda) blindsides Ozzy while using Jason.
12. Amand Ownage.
11. Tina, Colby, and Keith take control of Ogakor by booting Mitchell.
10. Rob blindsides Christy while simultaneously gaining Jenna and Heidi's friendship back.
9. Vecepia makes a final two alliance with Kathy at the F4...and breaks it less than 24 hours later.
8. Chris, Twila, Scout, and Eliza unite to overthrow the women's alliance.
7. Ami blindsides Dolly and her alliance proceeds to take control of Yasur.
6. Cirie blindsides Courtney.
5. Kathy leads Vecepia, Sean, Neleh, and Paschal as they all overthrow the Rotu Four.
4. Richard leads the formation of the Tagi Four, and the first successful Survivor alliance is born.
3. The Black Widow Brigade blindsides Erik...after he wins immunity.
2. Tina Wesson convinces the others that the "Good People" should go to the end, and in doing so, leads Colby to pick her to go to the F2 over an obvious goat.
1. Richard Hatch throws the final immunity challenge and assures himself a spot in the F2 and that the final vote for him is on the jury.















