In my opinion, here is the rankings from 18-1 of the gameplay in Survivor Cagayan with explanations. In such a huge strategic season it was difficult to do but I assessed the strategic, physical and social play of each person and my rankings are as followed:
18. LINDSEY
Perhaps due to her edit but we saw nothing from Lindsey in any components. Although she seemingly fulfilled her role as a 'brawn', she was always on the wrong side of the numbers, involved in arguments and had 0 social skills which was evident by how she was so easily intimidated into quitting.
17. DAVID
David made an enemy within the first five minutes of the game and it was a horrible strategic move. Socially he was only able to persuade Kass to work with him and the only challenge he was involved in he lost. He also said dumb things at his only tribal council such as stating that J'Tia would be voted out.
16. GARRETT
Garrett made an awful, awful move by trying to control the rest of the tribe and force them all not to strategize. Yes, he had a huge build but lost both challenges he was a part of. Socially, he made a friend in Spencer but even Spencer talked down upon Garrett's strategy.
15. JEREMIAH
Jeremiah seemed like an extremely likeable person however, strategically, he underperformed and made some heinous moves. When you are in a position to be in a 3 person majority or 4 person majority, you pick the 3 person majority i.e, he should have stuck with Brice and Morgan. He told lies and after his first tribal was never taken seriously by anyone else. The Beauty Tribe told the truth in how he couldn't be trusted and was a sitting duck.
14. J'TIA
J'Tia was one of my favourites this season due to her big personality and that she became an underdog. Her physical game was horrible but she was loyal and the others knew straight away they could count on her to help make moves which would move them up the hierarchy (i.e. Garrett using her to blindside David and Tasha/Kass using her to blindside Garrett). If it weren't for the rice incident I'd have her higher.
13. ALEXIS
Alexis didn't play a bad game, finding herself on the right side of the numbers during the beauty tribal council and was seemingly liked by both her tribes. She performed OK in most challenges but came across a bit too forceful in her approach to get rid of Jeremiah. If it weren't for Alexis the beauty members of New Solana would of had more of a chance of bonding and used Sarah as a swing vote.
12. CLIFF
Cliff really helped his tribe out physically. The fact that he was able to pretty much single handedly beat the entire brains tribe when his own brawns were trying to throw a challenge proves this. Cliff wanted to stay loyal to the brawns and socially seemed like he could deal with people to progress his game (i.e stating he wanted Trish to hobble back to the alliance, despite not liking her). I don't believe Cliff ever did anything wrong, he was just a victim of a great blindside.
11. BRICE
Brice had such potential to move forward. He was liked by his tribe, he put himself in a good position to have the numbers, performed well in challenges and was able to recognise what was going on at all times. He saw the guys were close and that the girls were close so solidified Morgan as soon as possible to make sure he too had an ally. Brice was the victim of Jeremiah's stupidity and Brice, Morgan and Jeremiah probably would have made it far together.
10. KASS
For her age, Kass had a good showing in challenges and was awesome in puzzles. Kass was very strategic and made moves but I have never seen a person with such terrible social skills. I don't even think I need to go into detail. Would not have received a single vote had she made it to the final.
9. SPENCER
Spencer's three challenge wins and likability were the only reason I had him this high. Spencer was always on the wrong side of the numbers and unable to find himself in a strategically good position. He was an underdog, but that does not make him a good player. If it weren't for his huge heroic edit, more people would realise how bad of a player he actually was (voted the wrong person on 6/12 occasions)
8. JEFRA
Not a bad player at all, Jefra identified moves that had to be made but never really made them. She knew Tony had to go but never did anything about it on several occasions. Jefra was OK in challenges and was a very likeable person who was on the right side of the numbers throughout the game, until she was viciously blindsided.
7. TASHA
Whether it was a fluke or not I'm not sure, but Tasha performed well in individual challenges and enjoyed a great pre-merge game. However I'm just not so sure about the 'goddess' status people attribute her with. I think a lot of her 'moves' were just for the sake of making moves, with little strategy behind them. Socially she came across as fake to me and played herself up to the cameras and other contestants noticed. However, there is no doubting she played hard to the end.
6. MORGAN
I compare Morgan's game to Parvati in Cook Islands. She won some people over with her charm and most people liked her but in the end it didn't stop them from voting her out. Unlike Parvati, however, Morgan was labelled as useless around camp. On the flip side, Morgan wasn't afraid to make moves early on in the game and really was controlling the vote until Jeremiah flipped on her and Brice. She was labelled weak early and proved people wrong. She wasn't afraid to vote out Alexis as Alexis had been against her in the past and was just the victim of arguably dumb moves by Jeremiah and Kass.
5. LJ
Up until his blindside, LJ was always in a power position. He was huge in challenges, he found an idol, was loyal to any alliance he was part of and was always tuned in strategically. Socially he always had allies to count on and was just a victim of Tony.
4. SARAH
Sarah had a flawless pre merge game. She won all but one immunity challenge, was in control at the Brawn tribe and seemed to of made friends with most castaways. She identified potential threats such as Cliff and planned to take them out. It wasn't really her indecisiveness that cost her the game, it was Kass' jealousy of her power. It became pretty clear that she was going to stick with New Solana after the merge but Kass perceived her as a threat and perhaps she was. Sarah was a great power player and deserved her strong edit.
3. WOO
Woo is one of the most loyal players the game has ever seen. He stayed true to Tony throughout the entire game, knowing Tony would do the same for him. When he received information that someone was against him, such as LJ, he had no problem in voting them out. His loyalty to Tony may have got the better of him in the end, which cost him the million. With huge performances in challenges, some showing of strategy and his likeableness, Woo would have received a much bigger edit had he of taken Kass instead of Tony.
2. TRISH
Extremely underrated player. Trish was critical in the outcome of Cagayan. She orchestrated the blindside of Cliff pre-merge and managed to convince Tony to do so and developed a friendship with LJ to allow herself the numbers. At the merge, Trish convinced Kass to vote with New Appari. When Kass said that it was too late to pull the Sarah vote together, Trish was quick with a white lie that her alliance were already going to vote Sarah. She made Kass feel important and played to her weaknesses and without Trish there is no way Kass would have flipped. She stayed loyal to New Appari + Kass throughout and reeled her allies back in when Tony was making them paranoid (i.e. Kass and Jefra). Her only flaw was the amount of trust she put into someone who I didn't even think would betray her. Trish ruled the game and was the only competition to beat Tony in the end, if she owned these moved. Oh, did I mention she manipulated an enemy into quitting?
1. TONY
Self explanatory. If you watched the season, there is no question why Tony is here. Played the game harder than anyone else and was a deserving winner and easily a top 10 player of all time. Wasn't my favourite, but you can't argue he owned the season.
that wasn't his fault, he happened to be up against a big alliance. He was smarter than Tony, and used Tony's combination of gullibility and influence to execute "tony's" blindsides.
Carter15 Voting for the right person in a sense doesn't really mean much. Spencer was setting himself up in a position where either he was voting for the wrong person and gaining jury favor from his allies (because he COULD have voted for them, but that would only piss them off), or making an attempt at a move.
Lol woo at number 3 he did nothing he had the strategic ability of Borneo players. Tony used Spencer as a pawn for his blindsides however i do believe that Spencer was a victim of circumstance and that had he been on the brawn's tribe that him and tony would have been the final 2.
