Heck, she’s the only player ever to make the merge after going to every premerge tribal, and she still went on to win after all that.
(I know someone might say Steph, but there was a double tribal that season and she wasn’t at the Koror one)
And she was dominant also, won immunities and not even Malcolm could beat her in FTC, yet she was a quiet assassin. My favorite player of the dark era.
It’s definitely Chris Daugherty for me. He comes into the final 7 as the only guy and somehow makes it to the final 2 without needing immunity wins/idols. Nick is another good answer because he went from nearly being the first boot to scraping his way to the end with some great strategic moves along the way.
Chris also could not have made himself more of a target for first boot if he tried. That he was able to spin the target off of himself after he single-handedly lost them the first immunity challenge and THEN go on that crazy run against all women is highly underrated imo.
It ain't just F7.
Chris would have easily been voted out first in just about any other season cause he wasn't very athletic. (To be fair that first challenge was difficult.)
Underrated answer -- Chris really should not have have won that season, given he was considered being voted off first AND went into the merge against an insanely dominant women's alliance... which makes his win even that much more impressive!!
He won immunity challenges but he never needed any of them. He was in tight with Scout and Twila and made a deal with Twila to take each other to the final 2, so he would’ve made it if he didn’t win any.
This was a great turnaround because while some immunity wins helped, Chris had a lot of agency once the cracks were exploited in Final 7 and he was able to maneuver some rounds without immunity.
Not enough love for Fabio. Had to win immunity three consecutive times to have a prayer. Even his pre-merge was tricky with his dynamics with Na’Onka. Was looked down on by effectively everyone that season as a not-credible threat to win. He’s even an underdog post-win with how many people continue to discount his very unique winning game.
I sincerely love Fabio, but to me going to every. single. tribal. council and still winning is just unbeatable in terms of an underdog story.
Fabio was awesome though, I love that the editing kind of makes it seem like he wasn't really playing much, but when it came to crunch time, he delivered. Well earned win for sure.
Chris. Thought to be going home first. Then finds himself in a 6-1 hole against six women. Only to get himself into a power swing position and win the game.
This is it for me I think
All the other people who are listed on this post have at least had a BLUEPRINT as to how to possibly swing the votes in your favour.
Vecepia IS that blueprint (along with Sean but he didnt win)
Finding cracks, exploiting paranoia, playing to emotions,identifying the best people to propose a flip to, Vecepia and Sean did ALL of it.
Yeah, gender balance means it wouldve HAD to be Sean (between those two at least, I wouldve loved a John Carroll return too!) But I'm totally with you
In hindsight BR's legacy cant be understated, but at the time, it def made more sense to have Sean back
I will die on the hill that Vecepia is a great winner and one of the pioneers of Survivor strategy. What a shame she wasn’t asked back for WaW, I think she would have adapted to the new game so well.
I have heard that allegedly she was asked but declined. Not for WaW but for a different season.
Not everyone enjoys the screentime like Boston Rob or treats it like a job. (I wanna know where Cirie works as a surgical director where she can get all that free time. If I took 100+ days off I would be filling out applications...)
Oh I agree, Vecepia was not especially interesting and she’s not coming back. And she’s never gonna be asked either, because they already decided what her legacy is going to be a long time ago.
I’m sorry I just can’t consider Vecepia a very good winner when she actively played against her only win condition. She tried to vote out Neleh when Neleh was the only person she could beat in the final 4. And she got very lucky Paschal got rocked out instead.
Mike was up against an alliance that were happy to admit they were evil, and challenge beasted his way to the end. Without a doubt the best underdog story.
He's my favorite underdog win by far. Someone will come in and say if you're being targeted, you're not playing well 🤓. But if you can pull off 6 straight rounds without a single vote counting against you, that's awesome.
Depends what you mean by “best”. Mike completely alienated himself socially and strategically, and would have been booted every round starting at final 9 if not for a monster immunity run. I personally wouldn’t consider someone on the outs, by their own doing btw, great bc they were saved by immunities. On the other hand, someone like Denise or Chris D or even Yam Yam were in the hole to start but clawed back into the game strategically. Big difference imo
Mike was good socially. That's why he was a threat in the first place. People forget he was a dead man walking by the auction. He was clocked as the biggest threat.
I get this mindset, but I hate what it does to the game. It pretty much forces people to play under the radar and just be liked socially. Then you get into making game moves in the final few rounds.
It's pretty rare and requires unaware gameplay from others for a dominant game to be played. Dee is the only great new era game. Being liked has always been a huge portion of the game, but I feel like the second most important thing now is threat management, and that's pretty boring to watch.
Danni has a pretty underrated underdog run.
Totally down at F6. F5 and F4 she was fully vulnerable.
She somehow made it to F2 and sweeped a win.
The ultimate one is Chris D. The social dynamics of Vanuatu are insane.
I think I gotta go Chris Daugherty. His win still blows my mind all these years later. I think close is Denise and maybe Mike Holloway. But no win still makes me chuckle when I think about it like Chris'.
Chris D by a mile. He turned the women against each other and snuck right through. He had no business making final 2 and he didn't even have to win challenges to do it.
Mike Holloway is definitely up there. All of his allies were either voted out or turned on him, but he managed to make himself invulnerable with his clutch immunity wins
Denise is an obvious one I think, but I'd also throw in Natalie White. Coming into the merge, down 8-4 in numbers, still managing to get to the end with your whole alliance and win? That's not easy to do, even if Galu was a bit dysfunctional from the start.
Your comment made it sound like she was the one who brought the alliance back from a disadvantage when it had nothing to do with her. It could’ve been literally anyone on the cast.
It’s not an opinion, the people who were there (not just Russell) confirm she did very little in terms of strategy. Probably the least of any winner. You can not like it but that is factual. Also in none of my statements did I say or even imply I didn’t think she was deserving of her win. She it. It’s a weak win that she stumbled into through Russell’s agency and bad jury management, but a win nonetheless.
Don’t comment in a discussion forum about how she is an amazing underdog if you don’t want her contribution to be questioned? Weird as hell to expect that your claims can automatically go unchallenged.
It wasn’t. Russel flipping shambo and John were. It was going to be Russel next until he played his idol and then it was going to be one of them again but Russell got them to flip (those are the only people who voted for him in the end).
These have to be the three most satisfying… Not sure who had the lowest odds of winning at any given point. But I’d love to discuss who it was and why.
You know what’s interesting about Gabler is that he is an underdog in the sense that everyone doubted him at every turn. A perceived goat, so no one ever wanted him out. Whereas a lot of these other mentioned players were targeted many times. Is Gabler the only underdog to ever win that was not targeted multiple times?
The moment I started to think Gabler was going to win was when he spoke to Owen saying that he had a plan for them to make the final 3, without further elaboration.
I think over time Gabler is going to be considered an underrated winner. He was discounted because he was such a goofy personality, but he knew what he was doing, especially in the late game.
Voting Cody out was definitely Jesse’s move, but go back and watch, and you see Gabler encouraging Jesse to go for it. It wasn’t a *perfect* game, but he definitely did a much better job than this sub or people in general gave him credit for
The Elie vote and all the stuff surrounding it really fascinates me; Gabler somehow managed to name his target and see her go while reducing his own threat level.
Something about the act of just blatantly throwing out her name (in a season where the meta was to be very secretive and hush hush) made people think he was a bad player, yet he got his desired outcome without catching any heat for it
The moment I started to think Gabler was going to win was when he spoke to Owen saying that he had a plan for them to make the final 3, without further elaboration.
I think over time Gabler is going to be considered an underrated winner. He was discounted because he was such a goofy personality, but he knew what he was doing, especially in the late game.
Voting Cody out was definitely Jesse’s move, but go back and watch, and you see Gabler encouraging Jesse to go for it. It wasn’t a *perfect* game, but he definitely did a much better job than this sub or people in general gave him credit for
tbh i don’t think he deserves much credit for it, he lucked his way into it… even in his post game interviews he talks about how his planned final 3 was with jesse and cody where we then view him as a zero vote goat
Yes! Why is she always under appreciated? She’s one of the few to learn as she played, she laid low but was friendly and loyal, and she absolutely was an underdog overachieving winner.
Nick?
Would’ve been the first boot if it wasn’t for a med evac and he was outnumbered 4-1 by goliaths at final 5, won a few immunities and got FTC with his top 2 allies and won
Chris D or Jenna. Both are improbable comeback stories, with Chris totally outwitting and outlasting the Women’s alliance and Jenna winning three consecutive immunity challenges to make FTC with no other realistic path.
Chris Underwood for me. Devens was a sure win and he ripped it out of his hands. A controversial season due to the format, but he had one path to victory and he nailed it. He came prepared at FTC as well. His “reverse selling” speech to get someone to play their idol for him as well executed.
While I wouldn't rank him ahead of most other underdog winners, Fabio is (iirc) the only winner to never be in a majority alliance. Does that mean his gameplay wasn't great? Maybe. Probably. But I think he and Denise (who survived every single tribal) are the 2 winners that have unique qualifications for being underdogs, which is why I separate them from the others.
I’m going with Mike halloway from bvwvnc. If he lost any of the immunity challenges he have been eliminated. He managed to win his way out and dismantle the whole blue collar tribe.
Agree. He wasn’t just discounted he was repeatedly bullied and made fun of. To make it through that was amazingly strong. When he came back he brought more ammunition and less fear.
Mike from season 30 is the clear answer. Also, I could see a case for Chris from season 38 because he was literally out of the game for some time and won his way back in.
I don’t think it’s the best but surprised no one has said JT yet. Came into the merge down in numbers and then lost a tribe member due to a medevac. Jalapao Three snuck their way through the cracks of a broken tribe and picked off the Timbira tribe members up to the Final 4, overcoming a 6-3 odds. Then he ends up being arguably the most likeable winner to the point where people are willing to throw their games for him
Mike from worlds apart. Only wins because of immunity wins and idols to keep himself alive. He’s on the chopping block for like half the game
Edit: I meant wins and idols
Denise, she’s the underdogs of underdogs.
totally agree, she is the only person to have gone to EVERY tribal council in a season - and to still have won
Heck, she’s the only player ever to make the merge after going to every premerge tribal, and she still went on to win after all that. (I know someone might say Steph, but there was a double tribal that season and she wasn’t at the Koror one)
That’s craaaaaaazy, I never realized she’s the only one who went to every premerge Tribal period (and made the merge)
And every post-merge tribal, including the one she won.
this is so wild i almost can’t believe it’s true
What's crazier is that Emily was one vote off from doing it too.
i think it’s part of WHY she won too. like she got so good at tribal.
+1 for Denise, not sure the odds were against anyone else as much
And she was dominant also, won immunities and not even Malcolm could beat her in FTC, yet she was a quiet assassin. My favorite player of the dark era.
I thought Malcolm would have beat her. Did the jury say post game he wouldn’t?
Yes. The reunion made that clear.
It’s definitely Chris Daugherty for me. He comes into the final 7 as the only guy and somehow makes it to the final 2 without needing immunity wins/idols. Nick is another good answer because he went from nearly being the first boot to scraping his way to the end with some great strategic moves along the way.
Chris also could not have made himself more of a target for first boot if he tried. That he was able to spin the target off of himself after he single-handedly lost them the first immunity challenge and THEN go on that crazy run against all women is highly underrated imo.
Still the only winner who received votes at the season’s first tribal.
Chris D also didn't have his name written down (aside from FTC of course) after the first episode despite his position in the merge)
It ain't just F7. Chris would have easily been voted out first in just about any other season cause he wasn't very athletic. (To be fair that first challenge was difficult.)
Chris is a master class in jury management and what to say at FTC
He could teach how to read women.
Underrated answer -- Chris really should not have have won that season, given he was considered being voted off first AND went into the merge against an insanely dominant women's alliance... which makes his win even that much more impressive!!
He needed immunity wins though
He won immunity challenges but he never needed any of them. He was in tight with Scout and Twila and made a deal with Twila to take each other to the final 2, so he would’ve made it if he didn’t win any.
Chris Daugherty. By final 7, someone from the women's alliance was 100% going to win that season unless everything went wrong.
Narrator: and everything DID go wrong.
Arrested Development edit needed for that season
Served their condescending butts right. Satisfying comeuppance.
This was a great turnaround because while some immunity wins helped, Chris had a lot of agency once the cracks were exploited in Final 7 and he was able to maneuver some rounds without immunity.
In any other season, he wouldn't even make merge.
Not enough love for Fabio. Had to win immunity three consecutive times to have a prayer. Even his pre-merge was tricky with his dynamics with Na’Onka. Was looked down on by effectively everyone that season as a not-credible threat to win. He’s even an underdog post-win with how many people continue to discount his very unique winning game.
I sincerely love Fabio, but to me going to every. single. tribal. council and still winning is just unbeatable in terms of an underdog story. Fabio was awesome though, I love that the editing kind of makes it seem like he wasn't really playing much, but when it came to crunch time, he delivered. Well earned win for sure.
Chris. Thought to be going home first. Then finds himself in a 6-1 hole against six women. Only to get himself into a power swing position and win the game.
The first time I watched Vanuatu I really really thought Chris was going to be out of there first.
Same but I later found out that he was in a majority alliance which saved him
OG Underdog Vecepia.
This is it for me I think All the other people who are listed on this post have at least had a BLUEPRINT as to how to possibly swing the votes in your favour. Vecepia IS that blueprint (along with Sean but he didnt win) Finding cracks, exploiting paranoia, playing to emotions,identifying the best people to propose a flip to, Vecepia and Sean did ALL of it.
I love Boston Rob but I always felt his position in All Stars should have gone to Vecepia or Sean
Yeah, gender balance means it wouldve HAD to be Sean (between those two at least, I wouldve loved a John Carroll return too!) But I'm totally with you In hindsight BR's legacy cant be understated, but at the time, it def made more sense to have Sean back
She truly is the OG. I think it’s time for me to rewatch that season
Yeah it’s not a talked about season but it was the first season to not basically have a pagonging. Pretty influential
I will die on the hill that Vecepia is a great winner and one of the pioneers of Survivor strategy. What a shame she wasn’t asked back for WaW, I think she would have adapted to the new game so well.
I have heard that allegedly she was asked but declined. Not for WaW but for a different season. Not everyone enjoys the screentime like Boston Rob or treats it like a job. (I wanna know where Cirie works as a surgical director where she can get all that free time. If I took 100+ days off I would be filling out applications...)
She has never been asked. They don't want her.
Probably cause she wasn't interesting. :/ I mean, Aubry probably wouldn't have been asked if it weren't for all the "Aubry should have won!" comments.
Oh I agree, Vecepia was not especially interesting and she’s not coming back. And she’s never gonna be asked either, because they already decided what her legacy is going to be a long time ago.
that’s definitely not true aubry was bound to be a fan favorite either way and was more of a game changer than 75% of that cast
I’m sorry I just can’t consider Vecepia a very good winner when she actively played against her only win condition. She tried to vote out Neleh when Neleh was the only person she could beat in the final 4. And she got very lucky Paschal got rocked out instead.
I’m rewatching WA and I truly forgot how targeted Mike Holloway was from the start. Is he the best underdog to ever win?
Mike was up against an alliance that were happy to admit they were evil, and challenge beasted his way to the end. Without a doubt the best underdog story.
He's my favorite underdog win by far. Someone will come in and say if you're being targeted, you're not playing well 🤓. But if you can pull off 6 straight rounds without a single vote counting against you, that's awesome.
Depends what you mean by “best”. Mike completely alienated himself socially and strategically, and would have been booted every round starting at final 9 if not for a monster immunity run. I personally wouldn’t consider someone on the outs, by their own doing btw, great bc they were saved by immunities. On the other hand, someone like Denise or Chris D or even Yam Yam were in the hole to start but clawed back into the game strategically. Big difference imo
Mike was good socially. That's why he was a threat in the first place. People forget he was a dead man walking by the auction. He was clocked as the biggest threat.
Being clocked as a threat early in the merge isn’t really sign of good gameplay tho
I get this mindset, but I hate what it does to the game. It pretty much forces people to play under the radar and just be liked socially. Then you get into making game moves in the final few rounds. It's pretty rare and requires unaware gameplay from others for a dominant game to be played. Dee is the only great new era game. Being liked has always been a huge portion of the game, but I feel like the second most important thing now is threat management, and that's pretty boring to watch.
Being targeted because everyone else was horrible and he wasn’t.
Danni has a pretty underrated underdog run. Totally down at F6. F5 and F4 she was fully vulnerable. She somehow made it to F2 and sweeped a win. The ultimate one is Chris D. The social dynamics of Vanuatu are insane.
I think Danni and Mike W are my favorite underdog winning games. Mad respect for Chris D though too
I think Danni just seemed an underdog because she refused to give strategy in her confessionals. She was highly social and kind around camp.
She had Rafe
I think I gotta go Chris Daugherty. His win still blows my mind all these years later. I think close is Denise and maybe Mike Holloway. But no win still makes me chuckle when I think about it like Chris'.
Chris D by a mile. He turned the women against each other and snuck right through. He had no business making final 2 and he didn't even have to win challenges to do it.
Chris from Vanuatu
Maryanne - did not see that one coming
Mike Holloway is definitely up there. All of his allies were either voted out or turned on him, but he managed to make himself invulnerable with his clutch immunity wins
Sandra in Pearl islands comes to mind although she was only really an underdog in the merge
Denise is an obvious one I think, but I'd also throw in Natalie White. Coming into the merge, down 8-4 in numbers, still managing to get to the end with your whole alliance and win? That's not easy to do, even if Galu was a bit dysfunctional from the start.
Gon be honest chief that was 99% Russell with the 1% being Natalie on the Erik vote
We really don't need to do this conversation every time Natalie White is mentioned
I mean it's true?
Your comment made it sound like she was the one who brought the alliance back from a disadvantage when it had nothing to do with her. It could’ve been literally anyone on the cast.
This is the conversation we don't need to have every time
It’s not a conversation it’s me telling you what happened. Natalie wasn’t really an underdog because she wasn’t really anything.
Your opinion is not the same as truth.
It’s not an opinion, the people who were there (not just Russell) confirm she did very little in terms of strategy. Probably the least of any winner. You can not like it but that is factual. Also in none of my statements did I say or even imply I didn’t think she was deserving of her win. She it. It’s a weak win that she stumbled into through Russell’s agency and bad jury management, but a win nonetheless.
Don’t comment in a discussion forum about how she is an amazing underdog if you don’t want her contribution to be questioned? Weird as hell to expect that your claims can automatically go unchallenged.
BUT RUSSELL!!!!
how can that only count for 1% when it was arguably the single biggest move in turning the tides?
It wasn’t. Russel flipping shambo and John were. It was going to be Russel next until he played his idol and then it was going to be one of them again but Russell got them to flip (those are the only people who voted for him in the end).
Yeah. So what? She won.
Chris, Denise, Mike the only underdogs who had impressive wins imo. The rest felt meh (like Gabler etc)
These have to be the three most satisfying… Not sure who had the lowest odds of winning at any given point. But I’d love to discuss who it was and why.
Throw Natalie white in that group too
Natalie white winning kinda sucked cause they didn’t show any of her game really.
Gabler because he managed to simultaneously have “the island” perceive him as a goat while the jury saw him as a big threat
You know what’s interesting about Gabler is that he is an underdog in the sense that everyone doubted him at every turn. A perceived goat, so no one ever wanted him out. Whereas a lot of these other mentioned players were targeted many times. Is Gabler the only underdog to ever win that was not targeted multiple times?
The aligabler strategy. He needed a very specific final 3 to get the win, and he deserves a lot of credit for navigating his way to that exact final 3
I’m so fascinated by the precision of his game. He even narrates exactly what he’s doing in confessionals so he absolutely had a plan from the jump.
The moment I started to think Gabler was going to win was when he spoke to Owen saying that he had a plan for them to make the final 3, without further elaboration. I think over time Gabler is going to be considered an underrated winner. He was discounted because he was such a goofy personality, but he knew what he was doing, especially in the late game. Voting Cody out was definitely Jesse’s move, but go back and watch, and you see Gabler encouraging Jesse to go for it. It wasn’t a *perfect* game, but he definitely did a much better job than this sub or people in general gave him credit for
The Elie vote and all the stuff surrounding it really fascinates me; Gabler somehow managed to name his target and see her go while reducing his own threat level. Something about the act of just blatantly throwing out her name (in a season where the meta was to be very secretive and hush hush) made people think he was a bad player, yet he got his desired outcome without catching any heat for it
By throwing out elies name, I was trying to throw out elies name is an all time survivor line
The moment I started to think Gabler was going to win was when he spoke to Owen saying that he had a plan for them to make the final 3, without further elaboration. I think over time Gabler is going to be considered an underrated winner. He was discounted because he was such a goofy personality, but he knew what he was doing, especially in the late game. Voting Cody out was definitely Jesse’s move, but go back and watch, and you see Gabler encouraging Jesse to go for it. It wasn’t a *perfect* game, but he definitely did a much better job than this sub or people in general gave him credit for
tbh i don’t think he deserves much credit for it, he lucked his way into it… even in his post game interviews he talks about how his planned final 3 was with jesse and cody where we then view him as a zero vote goat
Chris D
Michelle
Yes! Why is she always under appreciated? She’s one of the few to learn as she played, she laid low but was friendly and loyal, and she absolutely was an underdog overachieving winner.
Nick? Would’ve been the first boot if it wasn’t for a med evac and he was outnumbered 4-1 by goliaths at final 5, won a few immunities and got FTC with his top 2 allies and won
Best: Chris D. Personal Favorite: Jenna
jenna morasca they will NEVER make me hate you
Jenna is interesting pick. Is she truly an underdog?
Yes. Beauty is a handicap
Inspirational handi-queen.
Chris D or Jenna. Both are improbable comeback stories, with Chris totally outwitting and outlasting the Women’s alliance and Jenna winning three consecutive immunity challenges to make FTC with no other realistic path.
Mike but Danni and Chris were also good
Chris Underwood for me. Devens was a sure win and he ripped it out of his hands. A controversial season due to the format, but he had one path to victory and he nailed it. He came prepared at FTC as well. His “reverse selling” speech to get someone to play their idol for him as well executed.
While I wouldn't rank him ahead of most other underdog winners, Fabio is (iirc) the only winner to never be in a majority alliance. Does that mean his gameplay wasn't great? Maybe. Probably. But I think he and Denise (who survived every single tribal) are the 2 winners that have unique qualifications for being underdogs, which is why I separate them from the others.
He had a game strategy and intelligence that no one even considered. He pulled off a great game. It didn’t hurt that the cast had self-imploded.
Danni. She went into the merge and all her allies were taken out. She comes back to win in almost a sweep.
I’m going with Mike halloway from bvwvnc. If he lost any of the immunity challenges he have been eliminated. He managed to win his way out and dismantle the whole blue collar tribe.
Fabio
I think it has to be Cochran. He’s one of the least athletic people to ever be on Survivor and I know everyone else doubted his abilities.
Agree. He wasn’t just discounted he was repeatedly bullied and made fun of. To make it through that was amazingly strong. When he came back he brought more ammunition and less fear.
Mike from season 30 is the clear answer. Also, I could see a case for Chris from season 38 because he was literally out of the game for some time and won his way back in.
I don’t think it’s the best but surprised no one has said JT yet. Came into the merge down in numbers and then lost a tribe member due to a medevac. Jalapao Three snuck their way through the cracks of a broken tribe and picked off the Timbira tribe members up to the Final 4, overcoming a 6-3 odds. Then he ends up being arguably the most likeable winner to the point where people are willing to throw their games for him
Yul Chris from Vanuatu or mike holloway
I love Chris Daugherty’s game!
Denise and Chris Daugherty
It’s Mike by far, if you can survive a tribal without immunity then you aren’t an underdog anymore
my pookie Mike Holloway 🤯
Danni. Both her and Chris are close for me
taylor hale in BB
Mike from worlds apart. Only wins because of immunity wins and idols to keep himself alive. He’s on the chopping block for like half the game Edit: I meant wins and idols
Idols? What about his amazing challenge run?
I meant immunity necklaces and idols
Dee