#10: Stephen Fishbach
Stephen is one of the greatest players to never win Survivor, and his gameplay on Tocantins was far superior to J.T.'s. While J.T. had nothing to do around camp--everyone loved him--Stephen worked hard to ensure that he was with J.T. to the end, and also ingratiated himself with Debbie, Coach, and Erinn. Sure, J.T. did some strategizing and helped the "Warriors Alliance" but look how long it took for that to crumble. Three tribals after the merge.
Stephen was the brains of the operation, and without him, J.T. would have never gotten to the end. And although Stephen never turned on J.T., which he needed to do to win, J.T. went on an immunity run and was safe for the last 3 tribal councils of the game; Stephen couldn't touch him. Since Tocantins, however, Stephen has admitted that he planned to go after J.T. if he could. You'll have to take Stephen's word for it, but I certainly do.
It's a shame that Stephen has never been brought back for another season; I hope we see him soon on Heroes vs. Villains 2 or whatever they do for Season 30. His sneakiness and intelligence would most likely make him a target, but he's loyal, and I think Stephen could go far again.
#9: Russell Hantz
Ok, before you yell at me, let me explain. I spent a long time moving Russell and the other non-winners in the top 10 around on my list, and this is where he ended up. Originally I had Russell as high as 6, but I realized that having such a poor social game lowers him to just barely above Stephen (because Russell did it twice, Stephen only did it once!).
I do, however, believe that his strategic acumen and his challenge prowess (which is something no one ever thinks about, but he is very good physically) makes up for his weak social gameplay, on this list at least. Even a Russell hater would have to agree with me that some of the moves he's made have been incredible, like voting out Tyson. There are also some more subtle (if that word can be applied to Russell) moves he made, like breaking up Parvati and Danielle. Yes, it made Danielle mad, and yes, he should have handled it better, but quite correctly he recognized a tight pair and got rid of one of them before it was too late for him, something that players like Cirie have failed to do in time.
I'm not the biggest Russell fan, but I do consider him to be a great player, although it's clear there's no way he'll ever win. He treats people horribly and so they hate him, and then he wonders why they don't vote for him. It's a shame, because if this list was "Top Strategic Players," he would probably be in the top 5.
#8: Tyson Apostol
Ok, here's someone a little less controversial, and a little more recently. Tyson played a superb game last season, and I'm sure everyone will agree he absolutely deserved the win. I'll point out the obvious first: he's very athletic, having won 4 immunity challenges in 3 seasons (although don't count HvV). He's strategic, something that might not have been attributed to Tyson before Blood vs. Water. He definitely is, though; getting out Aras was a very smart move, as were some of his other plays. And most importantly, Tyson is a very good social player. Convincing Ciera that she was going to the final 3 so well that she didn't even flip at final 7 was a great example of impeccable social gameplay. So was getting Monica to stay so loyal.
If you look back at the season, Tyson was a very dominant winner. So much so that I have a feeling that we need a little time to go by before we can truly rank him. I have him at 8 right now, but Blood vs. Water was only last year. A year or two from now, we might look back and say, "Wow, Tyson really was good!" I think he may end up being as good as Boston Rob or Kim. And I wouldn't say that about most people.
Here's why: Tyson had to contend with not only wily veterans like Tina, Aras, and Laura, but also faced off against some pretty smart, capable players. Vytas wasn't going to lie down and get sent home meekly. And he's just the tip of the iceberg; Ciera and Hayden (oh sure, Katie too) fought and scrambled as hard as they could to stay, and to take Tyson and his alliance out. Now compare that against Matt Elrod, Natalie White, and Phillip Sheppard 1.0. How does Ciera match up against Kat, or Hayden against Tarzan? Tyson fought good players, and he still won. That's why I think Tyson could be one of the best...ever.
I don't know when part 5 of my rankings will be, because we have some big news tomorrow. Check back soon!
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