Ranking eighteen of Survivor's twenty-four winners based on the likelihood that they would win in a random season as a first-time player. See the Intro blog for more info.
Our next winner is...
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12. JENNA MORASCA, The Amazon
(Won 6-1*; 3 votes against)
*should have been 5-2 but lol christy
Next to Natalie White, Jenna Morasca just might be the most underrated player to ever win the game of Survivor. She basically has a ghoulishly inaccurate image of a stuck-up brat who didn't do anything strategically, lucked into a win by winning the last few challenges, and robbed Cesternino of the title. This depiction, however, is VERY inaccurate, and Jenna Morasca is actually one of the very few players to exhibit dominance in all three of the traditional categories of Survivor gameplay - physically, she is one of the greatest female players ever; strategically, she pulled off an unprecedented move that is one of the most underrated ever; socially, she was safer than almost any other player in the history of Survivor up until her alliance imploded due to unforeseeable circumstances.
Clearly, Jenna is very unlikely to be a pre-merge boot. Despite seeming to be a physically weak player, she never once hurt her tribe in a pre-merge challenge and won multiple Immunity Challenges over seemingly stronger competitors. She's no Ozzy, but she can DEFINITELY hold her own enough that she wouldn't be a very early boot, and she would exceed a lot of people's expectations later on by being likely to win a few Individual Immunity Challenges while still appearing weak enough that she wouldn't be targeted for it as a threat.
Because Jenna is strong, she wouldn't be a huge standout for an early boot, which would give her a chance to implement her fantastic social skills. The biggest reason why I hate the traditional "physical/social/strategic" split is because, when it implies that those three facets of Survivor are all totally separate entities, it ignores the fact that strong social skills are a valid strategy in their own right without any additional "strategy" being necessary (or, indeed, wise.) Jenna is a prime example of this, and in The Amazon, she was in a fantastic strategic position simply by virtue of being well-liked: she had a final four alliance with Heidi, Rob, and Alex. Within that, Jenna/Heidi/Alex were the predestined final three, which leaves Jenna with a very good chance of beating Heidi and also leaves open the possibility of her beating Alex. Alex ended up being one of the stupidest fucking players in the history of the show, which Jenna could have neither prevented nor predicted, but if the game had gone as she had every reason to assume it would, then she likely would have won. Were Jenna with the right group of people, this could easily happen again - people gravitate towards her, and that leaves her with a lot of endgame connections and a lot of jurors who are totally happy to vote for her. These social skills are often overlooked, but they are what create alliances more often than not, and Jenna is impeccable in that regard.
Even so, her ability to play the "strategic" side of the game in the colloquial sense proved itself at the final six when she gave up Immunity to Heidi. That was a FANTASTIC move. Not only did it make her look better in the eyes of the jury - no player had ever given up Immunity before, and Jenna made it look like she was doing it out of loyalty to a friend in a time when that was still a thing tons of people cared about - but it also covered her bases. See, Rob had told Jenna that he wouldn't vote her out, but he had made no such promise to Heidi, Jenna's #1. Rob's vote was going to dictate who went home that round, so Jenna did the best thing possible: she gave Immunity to Heidi. Jenna had an automatic sense of Immunity with the most important voter guaranteeing her she would not receive his vote, so she gave official Immunity to Heidi, locking down with absolute, 100% certainty that her duo would survive to the final five. She does not get nearly enough credit for this. It was something nobody had ever done before and it was not a coincidence that it made her so safe.
Based on everything we've seen so far, Jenna should be much higher - she basically played the game Brett Clouser was one challenge away from playing, in that she was at the center of a powerful alliance, watched that alliance fall apart due to other people's mistakes, and then adapted, going on an Immunity Run to a landslide victory. However, I couldn't put her higher, because when you get down to it, she's still a 21-year-old girl, and that means a lot. First of all, The Amazon had a very young cast, which leads me to believe Jenna might not get along well with as many people in most seasons, and getting along with people was the core of her strategy. (The idea that most people in the game viewed her as lazy or bitchy is a fabrication.) More importantly, though, she broke down at the end of the game and seriously considered quitting, much later than other players have these sorts of breakdowns. While I don't blame her for this by any means (her mom, who was her best friend in the world, was DYING OF CANCER.. come on, people!), the fact is that her will to win is in question more than that of anyone else remaining in the ranking. Her breakdown didn't hurt her at all there, but in another season, she very easily could go home due to.. well, wanting to go home. Furthermore, she might end up spilling crucial info, as we saw her do once to Dave at the swap. Her young age relative to the other winners brings with it an open mouth and a greater vulnerability to the harsh reality of Survivor than perhaps any other winner has, and for that reason, she gets knocked down to #12 despite playing one of the most all-around solid games ever out in The Amazon.
REMAINING:
Tina Wesson
Vecepia Towery
Brian Heidik
Sandra Diaz-Twine
Chris Daugherty
Tom Westman
Danni Boatwright
Earl Cole
James "J.T." Thomas, Jr.
Judson Birza
Kim Spradlin
zimdelinvasor ok i cant be that upset with jenna's spot cuz its not incredibly high but i probably still wouldve had her lower after reading your blog. i personally have a problem with people giving up immunity cuz i know wat rob told her, but if rob had more trust in christy, jenna wouldve been sent home. we've seen rob backstab people before, i dont think a few words wouldve stopped him from doing it to jenna IF he thought christy was with him 100%. her wanting to quit also hurts her for me cuz it makes me think she lacks some will to be out there and like u said, that wouldve sent her home in a lot of scenarios.
but aside from that i need to ask u cuz i dont remember wat jenna did differently from heidi, wat seperates jenna from heidi if they made f2 together?
yankeeman311 "If Rob had more trust in Christy" is literally irrelevant. If I had wheels, I'd be a wagon. It means nothing. It wasn't the case and Jenna knew it wasn't the case. There was NO risk in giving up Immunity.
As for your Heidi question, well.. people liked Jenna and took her seriously. I mean, that's about it, and that's all that she would need to beat Heidi in a final two. Heidi was looked at as a joke, and Jenna was someone who almost everyone really liked.
mmm I might be wrong her but I know you will probably have Danni at the top of this list, but I'd hope to see Tom there too. Although i could understand why you'd cut him out halfway down this list.
And I'mma vomit if JT tops the list because honestly, if I were on a season with him I'd want him out immediately just because I wouldn't want someone that everyone will look at and be like "OK YA LET'S HAND HIM THE WIN"
Ranking eighteen of Survivor's twenty-four winners based on the likelihood that they would win in a random season as a first-time player. See the Intro blog for more info.