I feel that Bob is often hugely underestimated, partially because of his season. Gabon, although it is generally thought of as one of the poorer seasons, is actually really great; the cast is hilarious, the location is unique, and the challenges were awesome. It just had the unlucky position of airing right after Micronesia, widely considered one of (if not the) best seasons ever.
But on to Bob. The oldest winner, and the oldest player on Gabon (I think he's older than Gillian), it seemed like Bob wouldn't stick around too long at first, since he wasn't really involved in the strategy of the other Kota members, but with all the tribe swaps, he became invaluable both in terms of a number against the Fang, and to help win challenges.
At the merge, Kota was picked off one by one until only Bob was left (and Susie, but she was basically Fang). However, Bob had an incredible 5-challenge win streak (3 immunities), and combined with his two incredibly realistic fake idols (who can forget them?)...
...along with a great social game, which ingratiated him with Sugar, Matty, and Susie, he was able to make it to the Final Four, where he was savvy enough to convince Sugar to force a tie, even though he was such a huge threat to win the game...which he eventually did. Definitely a smart player and I wouldn't mind seeing him back, although I doubt that will happen.
#12: Malcolm Freberg
Malcolm is definitely my favorite Survivor (very close between him, Penner, and Courtney, though), and although he certainly has flaws, he's a great player. On Philippines, he was able to create a strong alliance with Denise (and Russell) that saw him safely through four successive tribal councils. Once on Tandang, he was a huge force in the challenges that kept the tribe from going to tribal until the merge.
At the merge, Malcolm joined with the alliance of Denise, Penner, Skupin, Lisa, and Cater (that's a simplified version) to take out/flip the rest of Tandang. Even though he was a huge threat, he was able to get out the other threats before him (like Carter and Penner), and he lasted till the final 4. If Denise wasn't as good at Survivor as she is, he would have won Philippines, hands down; everyone likes him, he's strategic, he's athletic...perfect, no?
Well, not quite. He's a huge threat. People like him tend to be taken out right after the merge, which is why it's a miracle he made it so far. In Caramoan, we saw the rigors of Survivor taking their toll on Malcolm. Too eager for action, he quickly scooped up a group of fans and tried to make a big power play that really only ended up getting Phillip out. Don't get me wrong, he was fun to watch, but he probably made his move too soon. I feel like Malcolm is also lacking just a bit strategically; someone like Penner or Russell could have worked wonders with the triple immunity deal, but for Malcolm it only saved him for 3 more days.
However, he did one incredibly smart, awesome thing: Hold Up Bro!
#11: Denise Stapley
If Malcolm is good, then I truly believe Denise is better. Just look at some of her statistics--the only person to ever go to every single tribal council, and she was never voted out! She only had six votes against her out of 14 tribals, and she only had individual immunity once!
This just shows her impeccable social game; everyone liked her, she was rarely targeted (and when she was, she had the numbers), and she wasn't as threatening as Malcolm. She stayed behind him, making a majority of the strategic decisions, and then when the time came, she cut him loose.
It sounds cutthroat, but this is how you win Survivor! On my list, I have her as the 4th best female winner of all time, and the 5th best woman to ever play the game. She is definitely underrated, and I would certainly not be opposed to seeing her return...where, dare I say it, I think she could win again!
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