The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:
- Vytas (Ta Keo/Blood vs. Water) Exhibiting far less savvy than the last time he played, Vytas unwittingly began the season's "new school" vibe of trying way too hard with too little gameplay to show for it. Also, apparently the latest Survivor chauvinist pig...
- Shirin (Ta Keo/Worlds Apart) Didn't have nearly the opportunity to annoy me (and every other sane person watching). Just anotha victim of voting strategies this time.
- Peih-Gee (Ta Keo/China) Another victim of Ta Keo's general implosion. This whole tribe was a preview for the season to come, and it just got uglier and uglier...She deserved better.
- Jeff Varner (Ta Keo/Australian Outback) All these years hoping to see him come back, and...Varner turns out to be absolutely terrible at strategizing, so desperate to stay in the game that he constantly sabotages himself. The first would-be power player to shoot himself in the foot this season.
- Monica (Bayon/Samoa) A necessary victim in Jeremy's path to victory. Especially this early in the game, you want to be reliable.
- Terry (Ta Keo/Panama) And so a good one goes home early through no fault of his own, to be there for his son. We'll never know where he could've gone, or further impacted the game.
- Woo (Ta Keo/Cagayan) A great player with no real sense of strategy, alas.
- Kass (Bayon/Cagayan) Convinced herself that she had changed. But quickly reverted to nonsensical "Chaos Kass" mode...
- Andrew Savage (Bayon/Pearl Islands) Too seldom do players come with actual dignity in this game, and still manage to control their fate, for at least a little while. Savage remains one of the great players to not win.
- Kelly Wigglesworth (Ta Keo/Borneo) Didn't learn a thing about taking her position for granted, alas. But had one of the great final tribal council moments when she evoked Sean's voting, er, strategy...
- Ciera (Bayon/Blood vs. Water) More mature this time, but still needs seasoning in order to think clearly, which is something she always seems to realize too late.
- Stephen Fishbach (Bayon/Tocantins) The would-be conqueror who would have epitomized that role this season, if he hadn't had such an obnoxious competitor in Spencer...
- Joe (Bayon/Worlds Apart) Tremendous competitor, probably the main victim of someone like Terry's departure, which tipped the scales toward seedier gameplay.
- Abi-Maria (Ta Keo/Philippines) So spectacularly delusional it's almost funny.
- Kimmi (Bayon/Australian Outback) The comparatively withdrawn Kimmi who showed up this time was far less interesting to watch, but she found herself in a comfortable position...which she inexplicably obliterated with a misguided attempt to maneuver herself into a more favorable position. Big moves only count for something if they count for something other than timid desperation...
- Keith Nale (Bayon/San Juan del Sur) If only he were as surprising a strategist as he is a challenge threat...
- Kelley Wentworth (Ta Keo/San Juan del Sur) One of the best players in one of the worst positions imaginable, having as her greatest allies at one point the unpredictable Abi and the overly ambitious Ciera. Very easy to root for despite knowing she had no shot at making the finals.
- Spencer (Ta Keo/Cagayan) So convinced he'd gotten his ego under control he had no idea all his desperate maneuvering was easy to follow, and the only reason he made it as far as he did was because he finally aligned with Jeremy and Tasha...He quickly became thoroughly unlikable...
- Tasha (Bayon/Cagayan) Surprising how much she faded into the background after solidifying an alliance with Jeremy. Classic coattail rider whose only chances to make it without such a strategy she didn't take, and wouldn't have helped her anyway despite the ensuing chaos...
- Jeremy (Bayon/San Juan del Sur) Easily one of the feel-good stories of winners in Survivor history, making it out of a very messy season with his dignity intact and making good on the promise he exhibited in his first season. Never mind the gooey emotions he evoked in the final tribal council, Jeremy absolutely deserved his unanimous win (which speaks well for the jury, too), and probably the winner of such distinction to have most earned it, against the toughest odds (Earl in Fiji and J.T. in Tocantins being the others).
