The 32nd Season of "Survivor" is set to premiere on Wednesday, February 17, so it seems like a pretty good time to take a look back at some of the best seasons of Survivor that have aired up until now.
10. Survivor Samoa
What really makes this season so interesting is Russell Hantz. For the first time, you had somebody who was purposely making life worse for his own tribe, finding immunity idols without clues, and manipulating the game in a way that had not been seen before.
9. Survivor Panama
This game started initially with a division of tribes based on age and gender. The season is widely remembered for the differences in strategies between Terry Dietz, the "challenge beast," and Aras Baskauskas who was playing a strong social game. Another interesting thing in this season was that the final four players of the season consisted of one member from each of the original four tribes.
8. Survivor Cook Islands
Survivor's decision to split the tribes based on race, White-American, African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic-American, which was definitely questionable and controversial. Another aspect of the game that made this season stand out was when the contestants were given the option of "mutiny"—they could choose to change tribes. The mutiny resulted in uneven tribes—one tribe of eight versus one of four.
7. Survivor San Juan del Sur
This season was the second season of "Blood Vs. Water" where each player also has a loved one playing the game - giving the game an interesting dynamic. Ironically enough, the winner of the game was the person whose loved one was the first to be voted out.
6. Survivor China
What made this season interesting was a tribe's ability to "kidnap" a member of the other tribe after they won a reward challenge. The player would remain with the tribe until the next immunity challenge. The player would receive a clue to where the immunity idol was hidden but that clue had to be given to a member of the tribe they were staying with temporarily. Definitely added an interesting twist and created alliance suspicions!
5. Survivor Cagayan
This season featured three tribes divided by "brains, brawn, and beauty", which are essentially the three characteristics you need to win the game.
Additionally, this season put into play an immunity idol with "special powers". The powers were that you could use it after the votes were revealed. Unfortunately, this special idol that was meant to be a game changer instead secured one player's victory.
4. Survivor Heroes Vs. Villains
As the title suggests, this season featured previous players and divided them based on their status in their previous game as either a Hero or a Villain. This game had a number of memorable events such as when Tyson Apostle, arguably, blindsided himself. Russell Hantz was given an idol that backfired against the people who gave it to him when Parvati Shallow played two idols at one tribal council.
3. Survivor Micronesia
In this season, a tribe of "fans" competed against a tribe of "favorites". This season ultimately ended in a strong all-girls alliance (consisting of both fans and favorites).
The girls' alliance blindsided Ozzy Lusth while he had an immunity idol in his pocket. The girls also convinced Erik Reichenbach to give up his individual immunity, costing him his entire game.
2. Survivor Blood Vs. Water
Yes, there have been two seasons of "Blood Vs. Water". This was the first of the two. However, in this season, half of the members were returning players and the other half of the contestants were the "loved ones" of the former players.
Most notably in this season was the tribal council where Ciera Eastin voted out her mom.
1. Finally, the best season thus far has been Survivor Cambodia "Survivor Second Chance."
With all returning players who had never won the game and who had each only played one time before, the game was played harder than it has ever been played before. Each player felt the pressure of having a "second chance" and was determined to win.
The game evolved and shifted constantly. In this season, for the first time in survivor history, two players used a hidden immunity idol at tribal, negating all votes.
The countdown starts to Season 32 where they once again have divided teams based on "brains, brawn, and beauty." This will definitely be an interesting season!
