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RavuRules wrote:

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I didn't do an in-depth analysis like I used to for the newer seasons, but I thought I'd go ahead and update this based on my general intuition about the new crop of winners:
1. James "J.T." Thomas, Jr.
2. Parvati Shallow
3. Yul Kwon

4. Todd Herzog
5. Earl Cole
6. Danni Boatwright
7. Chris Daughtery

8. Jenna Morasca
9. Tom Westman

10. Aras Baskauskas
11. Robert "Bob" Crowley
12. Sandra-Diaz Twine
13. Vecepia Towery
14. Amber (Brkich) Mariano

15. Ethan Zohn
16. Brian Heidik
17. Richard Hatch
18. Tina Wesson



I ranked JT first not just because he won unanimously and without a vote cast against him, but because he played a solid game all the way through. The only potential blunders he made in the game were: (1) Being too alpha which could've blown up in his face at the merge
(2) Letting Stephen have the most control both pre-merge and post-merge
(3) Taking the calculated risk of being able to win the final 3 challenge against 2 other people in the final 3
Obviously none of those potential mistakes ever manifested and in the scheme of questionable moves that ALL players make (it's unavoidable), these are clearly not major. Other then that, I saw excellent floating and under the radar abilities from him as well as the necessary game focus that all the winners have had The biggest luck he had in the game was definitely Coach's and even Brendan's philosophies of empowering and rewarding the physically strong or deserving. However, this is mitigated by the fact that JT definitely demonstrated great social skills and charismatic charm, and the perks of being an alpha male which do often result in a certain level of trust and respect acquisition

I ranked Parvati 2nd, because like all the winners in the 1st tier, she overcame tremendous odds and showed she could thrive even in adverse situations. She came into Micronesia with a target, because of her past reputation and as a social threat, and managed to acquire enough of the necessary number of allies to save herself. Did she need luck like having a malleable seducing target like James on her tribe, or a infilitration strategist like Cirie who could see the potential in allying with Parvati? Yes. But did she also make those alliances happen with both social and her patented seductive techniques? Absolutely. If people doubted her social game in Cook Islands, at the least she quite clearly demonstrated she's the real deal in Micronesia after not only demonstrating considerable sway over newly met males like James (but we knew she could do this back in Cook Islands), but also over even females. She also demonstrated more than ever her strategic game. Careful observers could see she was in control of Raro back in Cook Islands, but Micronesia demonstrated she could also take an overt leadership position, and organize allies and complicated plans. Now did she benefit tremendously from incredibly capable allies like Black Widow Brigade? Of course, and that has been taken into account. But more than perhaps any other winner, even JT, Parvati perhaps has 1 of the largest skill sets, due to her particular command of the seduction skill, which very few Survivors have, let alone can pull off successfully. One might question why Parvati would be ranked above Yul, considering that he already beat her in Cook Islands. Well it's possible Yul is a better player than Parvati, given the information at hand, Parvati has demonstrated twice now how capable of a player she is in 2 very different circumstances, and also Micronesia Parvati counts as a different individual than Cook Islands Parvati, much the same way I separated Outback Amber and All-Stars Amber (or the other multiple time playing winners). Maybe more than some of the other winners though, Parvati made some clear mistakes which might warrant a lower placement. If there was no F2 twist, Parvati would probably have been in bad shape and that was her original strategy. Additionally, I remember her telling Amanda that they deserved to be in the final 2 more than Cirie had final 3. She should be telling Amanda that she's a lesser threat in the final 2 not a bigger one.

Todd was a tough one to judge. On the one hand, I believe he demonstrated perhaps the most thorough knowledge of the game than any other winner. Maybe more than the top 3. However, he also overcame much less adversity and underdog situations than any of the other winners in the top 7. So it's difficult to know just how well he'd do in situations where the luck is against him. I believe the strategy he displayed merits him higher placement than Danni, because she was never able to articulate any kind of deep strategy even if she had one. Todd is comparable to Chris, but Todd made less mistakes and was better in challenges. Chris, however, overcame more, but overall I feel Todd was a more complete player. I'm not sure who is a better player between Todd and Earl. Earl was in more of an underdog situation, but had a lot of luck factors that mitigated them. I gave the edge to Todd because he probably knows the game better than Earl, and performed better in challenges

Bob falls in the category of winners who won by playing under the radar but stepping up at key moments and letting the strategic leaders pave the way for their victory. In his case, the majority of his good luck comes from Sugar obviously who thought it was a good idea to let the sole underdog from Kota into the final 3 with a Kota-packed jury. Obviously that's huge good luck but nothing any different from other types of opponent blunder-luck of other winners like Colby thinking it was alright to let Tina into the finals over a clear goat like Keith or Lill making the mistake of taking Sandra to the end instead of Fairplay. At least Bob made things happen like winning immunity or creating fake (and very convincing) immunity idols. That's 1 skill set none of the other winners (or players in Survivor history) have over Bob