Top 10 Blindsides In Survivor History

If you're a casual fan of "Survivor" — or maybe you're just discovering the long-running reality competition show that strands strangers in a remote location so they can fight over $1 million — you might not be familiar with the term "blindside." Here's a quick explainer. At the end of every episode of "Survivor," there's a tribal council; before the show's initial tribes merge, they compete for tribal immunity, and the losing tribe votes out a member, but after numbers dwindle and the tribes combine, individual immunity is conferred upon the winner of the challenge. From there, the group has to decide who's least valuable, who's too strong and needs to head home (or, as is usually the case, Ponderosa, the resort where eliminated contestants are sequestered until the whole game is over). So what happens when the person who gets voted out and their torch snuffed isn't expecting it at all?! Folks, that's a good old-fashioned blindside.

Physical strength is obviously important in the game of "Survivor," as evidenced in its 49 seasons thus far, but even the brawniest player can fall if they're not playing a shrewd and strategic social game; after all, "outwit" is the first command of sorts in the game's outwit-outplay-outlast motto. So, which blindsides are the most fun to watch and re-watch? There are many great blindsides throughout "Survivor" history, and here are 10 of the very best. (Also, this should go without saying, but spoilers ahead!)

After his alliance turned on him during "Survivor: Pearl Islands," the show's seventh season, Andrew Savage took his second chance seriously in the series' 31st season, "Survivor: Cambodia," which brought returning non-winners back for, well, their second chances. Savage was a formidable physical and social threat, taking out previous players like Peih-Gee Law (from "Survivor: China") and Kass McQuillen ("Survivor: Cagayan") with apparent ease. Sometimes the best blindsides happen on "Survivor," though, thanks to a hidden immunity idol ... which is precisely what took Savage down in the season's eighth episode.

Tribal swaps ended up turning this particular game on its head, leaving Savage in a potentially precarious position — although he seemed pretty confident going into tribal council with the post-merge tribe Orkun, largely because he felt certain that Kelley Wentworth didn't have an immunity idol. Unfortunately for Savage, she did, and the majority alliance all ended up casting their votes for her, only for them not to count when Wentworth played her idol at tribal council. The minority alliance, which cast its votes for Savage, ultimately bested him, sending him packing.

Savage had a pretty good attitude about it in a postmortem interview with People, when all was said and done. "It was unbelievably frustrating, but at the same time, it was the most exhilarating experience of my life," he said. "One of the best things about 'Survivor' are the twists, the unexpected, the blindsides." That's all well and good, but nobody wants to be blindsided, least of all Savage, who only made it through eight episodes in both of his seasons.

Sarah Lacina eventually went on to win the chaotic 34th season of "Survivor," aptly titled "Game Changers," but during her debut season on "Survivor: Cagayan," the show's 28th season, she ended up voted off in the sixth episode. (At the very least, she made it 19 days into the game and became the first member of the jury.) After being placed on the "Brawn" tribe with fellow future "Survivor" winner Tony Vlachos — he did go on to win "Cagayan" — Lacina, a police officer, correctly clocked that Vlachos was also a cop, and the two formed an alliance. Unfortunately for Lacina, this alliance would serve her much better in future games, when the two competed together on "Game Changers" and "Winners at War" together.

After the merge, Lacina, one of the surviving members of the original Aparri tribe, felt unsafe and tried to turn everyone's attention to Vlachos by asking fellow Aparri veterans like Kass McQuillen to have her back. Unfortunately for Lacina, Vlachos didn't necessarily know or believe that she was in danger and uselessly played his hidden immunity idol on LJ McKanas to protect him, but McKanas wasn't in the line of fire: Lacina was, thanks solely to the fact that McQuillen flipped and blindsided her. She went home and returned with a vengeance for "Game Changers," but the whole situation definitely sucked.

Having a single hidden immunity idol on "Survivor" is pretty great. Having two is obviously even better, which is why, during "Survivor: China," James Clement found himself in a deeply enviable position 30 days into the game. (This was also a notably tough game, for what it's worth; the conditions in China were pretty muddy and rough, and it's largely considered one of the toughest terrains in "Survivor" history.) After tracking down two hidden idols, it seemed as if Clement had a clear path to the final tribal council, except for the fact that his fellow players blindsided him so badly that he left the game with both idols in his pocket.

After the season's eventual winner, Todd Herzog — who helped Clement find one of his two idols — started feeling miffed that Clement hadn't gifted the idol to him, Herzog started suggesting a blindside, but the plan didn't come to fruition until the season's 11th episode. Erik Huffman won the individual immunity challenge, giving Clement's other competitors, like Amanda Kimmel and Courtney Yates, the chance to take out a seriously powerful physical player. Thanks to Kimmel's machinations behind the scenes and Herzog and Denise Martin joining in on her scheme, Clement was voted off without playing either idol, taking both idols and Clement himself out of the game.

The returning cast of all-star "Survivor" players who returned for the show's now-beloved 20th outing should have known what they were getting into based solely on the title: "Heroes vs. Villains." Apparently, James "J.T." Thomas Jr. didn't enter the game with that awareness. To be fair, Thomas remained in the game for 27 days and became the third member of the jury, but still, the way that Villains Russell Hantz and Parvati Shallow played the noble "hero" was unbelievably masterful ... and the entire situation was caused by Thomas himself.

After the Heroes incorrectly assumed there would be a merge and took that wrong belief further by assuming that, as in previous seasons, female Villains like Shallow were quietly running the show with an all-female alliance, Thomas made a seriously misguided gesture towards Hantz. In the aftermath of a challenge in the season's ninth episode, Thomas slipped Hantz a hidden immunity idol and a note, hoping to form a pre-merge alliance with one of the show's most famously devious players. 

Hantz, unaware that Shallow had a hidden immunity idol of her own, gave her Thomas' gifted idol, and when the Heroes and Villains did merge, a smirking Shallow played both idols during a single tribal council for two of her allies, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Jerri Manthey. (Diaz-Twine, Hantz, and Shallow ended up in the final tribal, and Diaz-Twine won her second "Survivor" journey.) To say Thomas was hoisted on his own petard is putting it lightly; he was literally voted out because of his own immunity idol.

One of the funniest openings in "Survivor" history is found in its 37th season, "David vs. Goliath," where the underdog Davids absolutely trounced the powerful and overachieving Goliaths in the first challenge. With a more even playing field than they initially anticipated, the Goliaths fought valiantly until the two tribes finally merged together. But what original Goliath John Hennigan, who's a professional wrestler known as "Johnny TV" (among many other ring names), didn't know was that after that merge, he'd become a massive target of the Davids and ultimately get voted out on the 22nd day, becoming the second member of the jury.

Post-merge, the Davids and Goliaths started mingling, and with two hidden immunity idols belonging to Dan Rengering and Davie Rickenbacker floating around, power players like Angelina Keeley started making moves. Rickenbacker played his idol for Christian Hubicki, who had a target on his back for being unbelievably good at puzzle challenges, and Rengering gave his idol to Keeley; the only remaining valid votes cast went to Hennigan, who was blindsided by vote-splitting Davids who cast votes against Hennigan and Keeley (with all Goliath votes against Hubicki nullified by Rickenbacker's idol play). The icing on the cake here? Hubicki and Hennigan were in an alliance dubbed "the Brochachos."

In a post-game chat with Entertainment Weekly, Hennigan took the whole thing in stride. "I guess when you play 'Survivor,' almost everyone gets got," he remarked. "I was completely shocked and was truly blindsided by what happened. But it was also some really savvy gameplay by Davie, and Nick [Wilson, the season's eventual winner], and they brought Christian in." Again, it sucks for Hennigan, but at least he appreciates some good scheming.

Being voted off of "Survivor" once is bad enough. Being voted off of "Survivor" twice is worse. Just ask Matt Elrod, who managed to get voted out twice in the same season. After joining returning players like Russell Hantz and bona fide legend "Boston" Rob Mariano for the show's 22nd season, "Redemption Island," Elrod got voted off second as a part of the Ometepe tribe, although he was voted off as part of an alliance ruse by Mariano. (The season's conceit involved the titular Redemption Island; you got sent there after being voted out and could earn your way back onto the show via a series of challenges.)

Elrod won multiple duels on Redemption Island, even defeating Hantz and permanently eliminating the fedora-sporting "Survivor" villain from the game, and after the merge, Elrod was able to return to the main game and join Mariano on the merged tribe of Murlonio. Unfortunately for Elrod, he underestimated Mariano, a scheming and seriously smart social player who was gunning for a long-awaited "Survivor" win after competing multiple times without winning the title — and after word spread that Elrod might turn on Mariano, the latter ensured that he was banished to Redemption Island for a second time, blindsiding the guy. Elrod eventually lost a duel on the island and was officially voted out, and he had Mariano to thank for that.

Longtime "Survivor" favorite Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth might be able to swim like a fish and endure ridiculous trials during physical challenges, but even he couldn't overcome the alliance known as the Black Widow Brigade. (We'll be circling back to this group shortly, so keep them in mind.) Throughout the 16th season of "Survivor" — subtitled "Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites," which means the cast composition was a mix of fervent fans and beloved former players — Lusth dominated the physical challenges and dabbled in scheming, even carving and hiding a fake idol during a trip to Exile Island. (Yes, this means he also found an idol out there. Put a pin in that too.)

In the 10th episode of the season, Lusth won the reward challenge but sacrificed a shot at immunity for some snacks while others competed, presumably because he felt comfortable and was in possession of a hidden immunity idol. Too bad it didn't end up saving him! Cirie Fields, one of "Survivor's" all-time best masterminds, conspired with Lusth's former "Cook Islands" competitor Parvati Shallow and "fans" Alexis Jones, Jason Siska, and Natalie Bolton to blindside Lusth, who was genuinely shocked and furious over his ouster, especially when he revealed he was complacent enough that he didn't even bring his physical immunity idol to the tribal council. 

Lusth ultimately blamed Shallow for his exit and told her, in no uncertain terms, during the final tribal council, that he also blamed her for separating him from Amanda Kimmel, a "Survivor: China" veteran whom he briefly went on to date. Unfortunately for Lusth, the damage was done, and Shallow took home the million dollars that season. Too bad!

One constant of "Survivor" is that players bond with each other while they're stranded in remote jungles, making it really hard to ruthlessly vote each other off as the game progresses. This apparently wasn't an issue for Ciera Eastin, who voted out her own mother, Laura Morett, a returning player from "Survivor: Samoa" who returned for the 27th season, "Blood vs. Water." The name of the season is self-explanatory, and as far as Eastin goes, it looks like water — and the lure of $1 million — turned out to be thicker than blood.

Initially, the returning contestants and their loved ones were split into separate tribes and pitted against one another, but after the merge, Eastin and Morett reunited ... and Morett, at that point, probably had no idea that her days were numbered. In the season's 10th episode, Eastin made it clear to her alliance that she would vote against her mother if push came to shove, and unfortunately for both mother and daughter, that's precisely what happened by the end of that very same episode. 

After Tyson Apostol convinced Eastin to stick with the plan and not save Morett, she ended up on Redemption Island — now a part of the game outside of its debut season — and though Morett fought valiantly throughout several challenges on the island, she was ultimately defeated by "The Australian Outback" and "All-Stars" player Tina Wesson, and Morett went to the jury. Ultimately, so did Eastin, who was voted out on the 37th day, so betraying her mother didn't even win her a million bucks.

Cirie Fields is, as of this writing, the best "Survivor" player to never win; she is competing in the 50th season, which could provide her with the title of Sole Survivor, but she hasn't reached that milestone yet. Unfortunately, during Fields' fourth outing — "Game Changers," following "Survivor: Panama," "Survivor: Micronesia," and "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" — she fell short yet again, and became the first "Survivor" player in the show's history to get voted out without receiving any actual votes.

Here's how it went down. During "Game Changers," Fields, whose social game is one of the best "Survivor" has ever seen, made it to the final episode and seemed poised to, perhaps, win it all this time. Only five other players remained: Sarah Lacina, Brad Culpepper ("Survivor: Blood vs. Water"), Tai Trang and Aubry Bracco (both from "Survivor: Kaôh Rōng"), and Troy "Troyzan" Robertson ("Survivor: One World"). And with that in mind, Fields' path was potentially clear.

Sadly, that wasn't in the cards. In the third-to-last immunity challenge, Culpepper won the immunity idol, and at the tribal council that followed, everybody but Fields was protected in some fashion; Lacina played a legacy advantage, Culpepper had the challenge idol, and Trang, Robertson, and Bracco all possessed hidden immunity idols. Not knowing about all of the other idols or Lacina's advantage previously, Fields was understandably stunned to leave without receiving a single vote, as she was the only option. "It was so epic, and being a 'Survivor' fan, I didn't even recognize the brutality of it, honestly," Fields told Entertainment Weekly in the aftermath. "I was so shocked as a fan that it took me a while to consider like, 'Wow, wait a minute, calm down, you're out.'" 

"My mind is still blown," she continued. "So it wasn't really brutal for me this time." That's fair! At least Fields took home the final prize during the first season of "The Traitors US" as a consolation.

Any "Survivor" fan worth their salt knows about the Black Widow Brigade and their outright assassination of poor, sweet Erik Reichenbach in "Survivor: Micronesia." After the all-female alliance known as the Black Widow Brigade — now made up of Natalie Bolton, Parvati Shallow, Amanda Kimmel, and Cirie Fields — mowed through every male player in their path to the finish line (and some of their female allies like Alexis Jones as well), they were stymied when, with just five total competitors left in the game, Reichenbach won the individual immunity challenge for the third time in a row. Thankfully, Reichenbach had been scheming with each of the women in turn, and when they united against him, Fields came up with a truly insane idea: "I wonder if he would give Nat his necklace. Probably not, huh? You think you could talk him into giving you the necklace?"

Bolton, somehow, convinced Reichenbach to give her the necklace during tribal council; though he obviously resisted at first, she sold Reichenbach on the belief that he could earn their trust by doing so, and the women would align with him and vote out Kimmel. According to an oral history of the scene in Entertainment Weekly, even host Jeff Probst was flabbergasted that Reichenbach believed this plan. "As a producer, all you're thinking is, 'I cannot believe this is happening. This is the greatest moment that's ever happened on Survivor!'" Probst recalled. "And I stood up to start the voting and all I'm thinking is 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. This is happening. This is happening. He's going to be voted out. He has no idea. How does he not see this?!'"

Obviously, that's exactly what happened: The women unanimously voted out a foolish Reichenbach, and Shallow eventually won the game. This remains, for its sheer audacity and unlikely success, the greatest blindside in "Survivor" history. The entire series is streaming on Paramount+ now.