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Characters / Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

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The Tribes

    Heroes 

    Villains 

  • A House Divided
  • Badass Crew: One of the most stacked tribes in Survivor history.
    • Of its ten members, four of them have won the game.
      • Sandra (in both this season and Pearl Islands, making her the first two-time winner in the show's run)
      • Parvati (Micronesia)
      • Boston Rob (Redemption Island)
      • Tyson (Blood vs. Water)
    • Six of them have finished in second place.
      • Parvati (in this season)
      • Boston Rob (All Stars)
      • Russell (Samoa)
      • Danielle (Panama)
      • Courtney (China)
      • Coach (South Pacific)
    • On top of that, Russell finished third place in this season and Jerri finished fourth. Randy is the only in the entire cast not to make a Top 4 placement in his Survivor career.
    • As far as this season went, the Villains dominated the early portions of the game, winning all but two challenges prior to Tyson's elimination. After Tyson's and Boston Rob's exits, they lost momentum to the Heroes and went into the merge tied in the numbers, but were quickly able to rebound with Parvati's double idol play that eliminated J.T. and kept them in control for the rest of the game.
  • The Bad Guys Win: The final four are all villains. This extends to the Blood vs. Water season where Tyson, the only returning villain ultimately winning that season. Villain Sixth Ranger Candice and designated Big Good Rupert both didn't made that season's merge, with the latter being the first boot. Downplayed though as the winner of the season was the Token Good Teammate who did not want to be with the villains and repeatedly tried to work with the heroes.
  • The Bus Came Back
  • Evil Versus Evil
  • Heel
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their Color Motif is red with black highlights and they're the designated bad guys.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Everybody's goal. Averted by Sandra and Parvati for being past winners, though both are in the finals again and respectively finished in the top 2. Played straight by Jerri for being a more competent player and placing her highest rank to date (4th) and coming short on being in the finals.
  • The Rival: To the Heroes.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
  • Women Are Wiser: The female members, especially Danielle, are more calm and collected than the males.

The Sole Survivor

    Sandra Diaz-Twine - Pearl Islands 

Sandra will be returning for a third time on Game Changers.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_sandra_diaz_twine.jpg
"Last time I was mean, this time I'm meaner. You know I'll lie, I don't care. But I'll make up a good lie."
  • Anti-Villain: Combine Types I and III. Although some argue (even herself) that she's more of an Anti-Hero.
  • Anti-Villainous Friendship: With Courtney and Boston Rob.
  • Arch-Enemy: Russell's. And that extended to the reunion.
  • Badass Bookworm: Physically, she's the weakest. However, she is undoubtedly clever and knows how to read other people. Which is how she managed to make it to merge and win.
  • Badass Boast: When casting the fatal vote for Rupert:
    I'll write your name again, and if I'm up there in the final three you'll still give me the million dollar vote.
  • Born Winner: The first two-time winner.
  • The Cassandra: Fridge Brilliance at the very best!
  • Character Development: She's less Hot-Blooded and foul-mouthed compared to Pearl Islands.
  • Cool Big Sis: To Courtney.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Took every opportunity to mock and defy Russell, even in front of the Jury. The only reason it didn't turn Defiant to the End was because Russell mistakenly believed she was a perfect "goat".
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Saw all of her closest allies (Courtney, Boston Rob, Tyson) taken out in the pre-merge due to Russell's machinations. She then tried to convince the Heroes tribe to vote Russell out but her appeals largely fell on deaf ears, with several players (particularly JT and Candice) thinking they could get further by working with Russell only to get blindsided. She made it to the end in part because Russell disregarded her game enough to think of her as a goat, only for her to beat Parvati and him with a whopping majority of the votes.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The phlegmatic of the returning winners.
  • Forced into Evil: She hates being on the Villain Tribe, and despises everyone on it with the exception of Courtney, Boston Rob, and Parvati. She even lampshades it by complaining how she should be with the heroes, but they don't trust her since she's a "villain".
  • Friendly Enemy: She and Parvati seemed to get along pretty well, despite Parvati being Russell's ally. Still, given how Russell turned on her, it's not hard to see why.
  • Guile Anti-Villain: She was outright terrible in challenges, having had to sit out most of them, occasionally being the first to give up immunity because she knew she couldn't outlast the others. However, she managed to win by going under the radar.
  • The Good Guys Always Win: Sandra would go on to defeat Russell/Parvati in the final three after the pair (with Danielle and Jerri) systematically eliminated her entire alliance.
  • Happily Married
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Courtney.
  • History Repeats: Crowned as the Sole Survivor for the second time. This is also her second time playing with Rupert.
  • Idiot Houdini: At the reunion, Russell painted her as this.
  • Indy Ploy: When it became clear that her attempts to oust Russell wouldn't work, she turned it to her advantage by using him as a "goat", while also making him believe she would be his "goat".
    • That's also exactly why the others eventually stopped trying to get him out. It worked best for Sandra because she was the one who most openly opposed him and because she was the only person who opposed him that got to the final tribal council.
  • In-Series Nickname: "Rice" (based on an answer she gave in the Pearl Islands season: "arroz y gandules").
  • Ironic Echo: Her burning Russell's hat.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Abrasive and lippy - especially towards Russell. However, she did try to save Courtney and the heroes.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority
  • Little Miss Snarker: Very old compared to the usual examples, but nonetheless plays it straight if you take the trope by name.
  • Living Lie Detector
  • Manipulative Bitch: Tricking Russell into getting the girls to vote out Coach in an attempt to protect herself and Courtney for a while longer. While it did somewhat go in Russell's favor to make the heroes believe he was in danger of an all-girl alliance, it ultimately became his undoing as she told them the truth and he systematically backstabbed them - which gave her the five jury votes she needed to win.
  • Meaningful Name: Well...
  • The Napoleon
  • Noble Demon
  • Non-Action Snarker
  • Older and Wiser
  • Plucky Girl
  • Refuge in Audacity: In a game where most sensible players put on a friendly face and only trash talk other players in confessionals, Sandra will swear at people, throw people under the bus at tribal and even tell people she's working against them. Not only does she somehow get away with it, it actually works in her benefit by giving her a reputation for honesty which makes everyone willing to work with her. And then when she does lie or hide her emotions nobody sees it coming.
  • The Remnant: To the Villains tribe due to being the last remaining member of Boston Rob's alliance.
  • Rule of Seven: Won again after winning the seventh season seven years prior.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Russell
  • Sole Survivor: For the second time.
  • Sixth Ranger: Subverted. She attempted to be this numerous times to the Heroes, but they just didn't listen to her.
  • The Smart Guy
  • Spicy Latina
  • Talking Your Way Out
  • Time for Plan B: Her adaptability in the game is like this.
  • Token Good Teammate: Among the Villains, in addition to being The Smart Girl, considering she tried to save the Heroes in a repeated attempt to be their Sixth Ranger. This is what helped her win in the end.
    Sandra: I should not even be here! I should be with the Heroes!
  • True Neutral: Invoked like she did last time - she'd vote out anyone as long as it wasn't her (with the exception of Courtney, who she tried to save). And also because she never considered herself a villain, while also being rejected as a hero.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment: Her hiding place for the hidden immunity idol. When she played it, she even said, "I would hate to go home with the idol in my bra!" Also the place where she put her million dollar check after receiving it on The Early Show.
  • Worthy Opponent To Danielle and Parvati. The exact opposite to Russell.

Runners-Up

    Parvati Shallow - Cook Islands 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_parvati_shallow.jpg
"Why would you hand a Villain your heart? J.T. gave Russell his heart today, and Russell is just going to stab it a million times over, and hand it to me. And I’m going to eat it." *laughs*
  • The Ace: Not only is she charming, crafty, and manipulative, she also is great at challenges, which saves her many times post-merge. There's a reason why virtually everyone, from the Heroes and the Villains, thought she was a huge threat and needed to go. There's a reason why she made it to the top three, despite a huge target on her back.
  • Action Girl: Parvati won the most immunity challenges with 3.
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
  • Batman Gambit
  • Being Evil Sucks
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Despite her claim that Russell is her dragon, both of them are portrayed as the season's main villains. Rupert even lampshaded this in the final tribal calling them "a snake with two heads".
  • Brainy Brunette
  • Cassandra Truth: She tried to convince Russell to vote out Sandra during the final four, since she knew Sandra had more friends on the jury than Jerri did. Russell, of course, believed it was the other way around.
  • The Charmer: Definitely toward Russell.
  • The Chessmaster
  • The Dreaded: Parvati was one of the biggest targets going into the game because of her status as a winner and her game in Micronesia. Having four of her former allies on the Heroes didn't help either, as the Villains were worried she'd flip at the merge.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: She drew the line at Russell voting out Danielle.
  • Even the Girls Want Her
  • Evil Genius
  • Failure Is the Only Option: She already lost the game after Danielle was voted off, since the Heroes would never vote for her and Russell in the end, and the Villains (including herself) would never let even a single Hero make it to the final vote in fear of them winning instead.
  • Femme Fatale: Both Parvati and Jerri are this archetype. There is an interesting contrast between them in the season with Parvati being the new Femme Fatale and Jerri the original very first Femme Fatale. Parvati talks about Jerri being an old cougar, and Jerri says she wants to bottle up whatever Parvati has and use it in her real life.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The sanguine to the final four, the Micronesia returnees and the returning winners.
  • Friendly Enemies: With Amanda.
    • Sandra also could be considered a partial example as she wasn't a part of Parvati's alliance and Parvati knew that letting her into the finals would be handing her the win, but it was nonetheless clear that she enjoyed hanging out with Sandra a lot more than she did with Russell.
  • Gone Horribly Right: She knew that she had a target on her back going into the season, so she locked herself into an alliance with another dangerous player (Russell) as protection. It got her to the end, but by that time she'd grown so close to Russell that the Heroes on the jury saw the tight alliance as "a snake with two heads." And she ended up with none of their votes.
  • Greater Need Than Mine: Gave Sandra and Jerri the idols she had at the first tribal council of the merge.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: While she played a stronger game and won more immunity challenges than Sandra, Parvati's association with Russell cost her the win.
  • Hero Killer
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Danielle.
  • It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Sure, keeping the idol she found with Danielle from Russell had its perks, but it was what led to Russell's paranoia about Danielle and Parvati working against him, which in turn led to Russell voting Danielle out and taking an ideal Final Three partner from Parvati.
  • Large Ham: And how!
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Well, as long as she wasn't going after the Heroes' bananas; in that case, she was just an Alpha Bitch.
  • Male Gaze
  • Manipulative Bitch
  • Ms. Fanservice
  • Older and Wiser
  • Plucky Girl
  • The Runner-Up Takes It All: Subverted in a sense that she won in the past already. However a lot of people believe she should have won because she played the game in a style that more people are fond of.
  • Smug Super
  • The Tease: While Russel falls for her machinations, the other villains are startlingly aware of The Dulcinea Effect and quickly mark her as a target. When asked for why Tyson was a huge threat she notes that he has many connections but not before arbitrarily calling him charming and funny. You can see Tyson's face going "Why would you say that?"
  • Token Evil Teammate: Played with. She is the only villain of the Micronesia returnees, though none of them are clean-cut heroes.
  • Too Clever by Half
  • Villainous Friendship: Mainly with Danielle, but also with Russell - at first.
  • Worthy Opponent: The only person that Russell clearly considers in this season. He even said that she should have won (coming from Russell, that's really something!). However, he states that he also considers Tom and Stephenie this too judging by his reactions to their eliminations (And stated that he was afraid to face those two) and has also implied this to Boston Rob and Colby.
    • Jerri also had this reaction, wanting to get her out as a jury threat, and even voting for her to win.
    • Subverted with JT. He congratulates RUSSELL for HER blindside of him with his own idol.
    • If Parvati’s attitude towards Sandra is any indication, she had this reaction to her. When asked, she admits that had she gone to the jury instead of Jerri, she would have voted for Sandra to win.

    Russell Hantz - Samoa 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_russell_hantz.jpg
"I'm a villain. I think villains are smarter than heroes, because they don't mind stabbing someone in the back to get what they gotta get. It's a fact, it's a proven fact. Google it."
  • Always Second Best: Joins Amanda as the second person to become a two time finalist but not win.
  • Arch-Enemy: Sandra's all game long, and Rupert's for a while. Both of them have said they prefer Jonny Fairplay to him.
  • Bald of Evil
  • Batman Gambit
  • Beard of Evil
  • Being Evil Sucks: While he ultimately makes it to the finals, he loses by virtue of everyone on the jury hating his guts.
  • Big Bad
  • Big Eater
  • Card-Carrying Villain
  • The Chessmaster
  • Control Freak: Where even to start?!
  • The Don: Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano were the only two members of the Mafioso casting archetype at the time of filming (later Tony Vlachos, Rodney La Voie, Kyle Jason, Joe Mena, Domenick Abbate and Wardog would follow). The first clash of the two Dons takes place in this season with Russell outsmarting Boston Rob. Later, their war would be continued in season 22 Redemption Island where Russell would be second eliminated and Rob goes on to win the game.
  • Entitled Bastard: Insisted that his strategy was so good that the jury should vote for him, despite the jury consisting almost entirely of pissed-off Heroes and former allies whom Russell had personally sent there.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: His only real moment of decency in the season is admitting to being worried about Rob when he passes out.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: See Genre Blind and Insane Troll Logic, just for starters.
  • Evil Counterpart: To a few other competitors:
    • To Rupert, in terms of being each others' Foil in appearance and beliefs. Also, Rupert was the very first back-to-back player.
    • To Amanda, as both were able to reach back-to-back Final Tribal councils by winning the final immunity challenges of their seasons, but then lost due to poor jury performances.
    • To Colby. They were the last two men standing, both are previous runners-up to blond heroines, and both of them hail from the south.
  • Evil Genius
  • Evil Gloating
  • Fat Bastard
  • Faux Affably Evil
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: In a meta-sense, everyone has a good read on everyone else because they had previous seasons to base their assumptions on. None of them saw Russel's season, and they suffered for it. It's telling that his next tribe, Zapatera, would throw a challenge just to get rid of him.
  • Genre Blind: He believes the jury is obligated to vote for the most aggressive player and doesn't realize that betraying nearly everyone who would go on to make the jury is a bad idea. He also doesn't seem to know Sandra is a prior winner who won with the exact same strategy she's using now. And while being the one player in the game nobody else is familiar with is an advantage, it's an even bigger disadvantage because he assumes he won his season and is playing with the exact same "winning" strategy.
    • For that matter, he also doesn't seem to realize that Parvati is a former winner and has a bad habit of ignoring her sensible advice in favor of doing illogical things that only make it harder for him when it comes time for the jury vote.
  • He Just Doesn't Get It: Even after losing twice, Russell still can't comprehend that the jury isn't required to vote for him.
  • Hero Killer
  • History Repeats: Became a finalist through villainous means and ends up losing on account of being a giant scum bag.
  • Humiliation Conga: Samoa's Final Tribal was gentle by comparison.
  • Hypocrite: Criticized Sandra's social game, when his was his own undoing and hers catapulted her to the win.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Highlights include suddenly turning on members of his own alliance out of paranoia, believing lies told to him by people who openly hated him, and expecting a pissed-off jury of people he backstabbed to vote for him to win.
  • I Regret Nothing: Russell was asked multiple times by the jury if he felt any guilt over his degrading treatment of other people, and he admitted that he did not.
  • Jerkass: The reason why he lost.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Russel was an asshole who bullied, manipulated, and back stabbed his way into the final three. He then faced everyone's ire.
  • Last of His Kind/The One Guy: The last male on the Villains tribe, and later the last male in the competition.
  • Nothing Can Stop Me Now: Equally arrogant during this finale as he was during the Samoa finale. Equally surprised when he lost.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Not that he was going to win but he did gave even more crap answers to the jury.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: His polo shirt is red, while his hat and shoes are black.
  • The Second Runner Up Takes It All
  • Reality Show Genre Blindness: A scorched-earth strategy in a game about relationships and results is a losing strategy (also see The Scrappy).
  • Sanity Slippage: Several of his tribemates thought he was going through this near the end of the season, especially after Parvati whipped out a second immunity idol he didn't know about.
  • The Scrappy: In-Universe to the jury. Seriously, compared to what these guys had to say about him, Samoa was nothing.
  • Small Name, Big Ego
  • Smug Snake
  • Sore Loser: Even after everything that happened, Russell was still bitter about losing, going on a rant about how the game is "flawed".
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Though not as bad as in Samoa, since the other players this season are equally interesting fan favorites.
  • The Starscream: To Boston Rob.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: By the time the season was almost at an end, everyone hated Russell. Burning too many bridges and treating the only people who would side with him like crap will do this.
  • A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Burned Jaison's stuff last season. He doesn't know that Sandra did the same thing to his hat while he was gone.
  • Team Killer
  • Third Place Is For Losers
  • Took a Level in Badass: Became more competent in the physical game compared to Samoa, but...
  • Took a Level in Dumbass: Handled the other players even worse this time around.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Somehow it was possible.
  • Übermensch
  • Ungrateful Bastard: To J.T., Danielle, and Jerri.
  • Villain Protagonist
  • Villainous Breakdown: He starts melting down when Parvati plays two idols at the merge. The realization that she wasn't just his docile minion makes him increasingly paranoid and desperate to one-up her, which ultimately results in him burying his own game and dragging Parvati down with him.
  • Wrong Season Savvy: This video implies that he sided with Parvati and took Sandra to the final three because he figured he'd have to win since he's against past winners. Unfortunately for him, this isn't All-Stars.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: To everyone except Sandra.

Jury Members

    Jerri Manthey - Australia 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_jerri_manthey.jpg
"I've been labeled things like, "She-Devil in a blue bikini", "The Wicked Witch of the West"...."Man Eater Manthey", that was my favorite one."
  • Affably Evil: Though she's on the Villains Tribe, she Took a Level in Kindness and was a Friendly Enemy to the Heroes.
  • Anti-Villain: Interestingly, she slid on every scale of this.
  • Appropriated Appellation: For years after The Australian Outback, Jerri railed her perception as a villainess by the Manipulative Editing. Yet during Heroes vs Villains, she seemed to finally accept it and even embrace being on the Villains tribe.
  • The Baroness: The original.
  • Being Evil Sucks: She confides to Coach that being a villain is hard because she doesn't really like betraying the people she'd formed alliances with.
  • The Brute: She's the only member of the villains tribe who was able to go toe-to-toe with the Big Bad Duumvirate in physical challenges.
  • Character Development: You can actually trace a character arc through her three seasons. In The Australian Outback she's the arrogant, aggressive villain. In All-Stars, she tries to be nicer but it doesn't really pan out, particularly because she's dead-set on getting revenge on Tina and Colby. In Heroes vs. Villains, she's ten years older than she was the first time and has calmed down considerably. And this season sees the resolution of the Jerri-Colby feud — Jerri cries and hugs him after he's voted out.
  • Distaff Counterpart: To Colby.
  • Dude Magnet: Considering the amount of ship tease she got with Colby and Coach...
  • Femme Fatale: Jerri's archetype. Both Parvati and Jerri are this archetype. There is an interesting contrast between them in the season with Parvati being the new Femme Fatale and Jerri the original very first Femme Fatale. Parvati talks about Jerri being an old cougar, and Jerri says she wants to bottle up whatever Parvati has and use it in her real life.
    Jeff Probst (in his cast assessment): Jerri is the poster child for the Black Widow. She is the ultimate female Femme Fatale.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Four Is Death
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The melancholic of the final four but the phlegmatic of the All-Stars returnees.
  • Friendly Enemies: Possibly to the Heroes as a whole, but especially Colby.
  • Ms. Fanservice
  • My Greatest Third Chance: This is her highest ranking in her three tries and is considered her best season.
  • Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Her reconciliation with Colby wasn't shown in favor of Russell.
  • Older and Wiser
  • Out of Focus: There seemed to be a lot going on with her this season that got obscured by the focus on other players, primarily Russell.
  • Plucky Girl
  • Red Baron: The Black Widow. Her first confessional of the season makes note of a couple of these. Her favorite? "Man-Eater Manthey."
  • Revenge: In All-Stars it was Boston Rob's deal with Lex that ended up costing Jerri the game. This time around, guess which player she plays a role in getting rid of?
  • Ship Tease: She and Coach had some light flirtation, with the ship tease becoming more prominent as the game unfolds because they heavily trusted each other. The merge brings her and Colby together, with an unseen reconciliation deleted from the final cut.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Of the All-Stars returnees.
  • Supreme Chef: At least among the contestants. A deleted scene shows that Jerri handled a lot of the cooking by herself, stating that she loves cooking for herself and others. The other tribe members enjoyed it and Parvati was especially amazed at how Jerri managed to cook such good food in their current living conditions. This goes along with the time she made homemade tortillas during the second season that everybody loved and came at a good time when they were all starved.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky
  • Third Time's The Charm: She still didn't win but this is her strongest season so far.
  • Took a Level in Badass: She won an individual immunity and ranked better compared to her first two seasons.
  • Took a Level in Kindness
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: During one Tribal Council, Russell named Danielle and Parvati as the only ones he trusted, leaving Jerri as the fourth man out. This appeared to Foreshadow Jerri flipping on Russell, note  but was never brought up again afterwards.
    • In the DVD interview, she notes that she doesn't want to be one of those players who gets bitter towards another player for beating them, and is thusly planning to vote for Russell to win. Then she found out why Russell voted her out and was completely disgusted by his utter lack of remorse at FTC, leaving her vacillating between voting for Sandra and Parvati before ultimately settling on the latter. She also admitted that she still didn't mind that Sandra won...because of how much Russell hated her.
  • When She Smiles

    Colby Donaldson - Australia 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_colby_donaldson.jpg
"I'm almost a decade older than I was first time. So to me, this is a test to see if I still got it."
  • The Ace: Though he is close to being a mild example of a broken one.
  • Badass in Distress
  • Being Good Sucks
  • Broken Pedestal/Fan Disillusionment: For Survivor as a whole. Colby loves Survivor, but he admits that he misses the simpler times when everyone would get to know each other and explore the land, instead of the constant strategy and double-dealings. Compare him in The Australian Outback to Heroes Vs. Villains, he doesn't appear to have his heart fully in it anymore.
  • Character Development: This season sees the resolution of his feud with Jerri. And he also developed a respect for under-the-radar players, where as in All-Stars he had lectured and berated Shii-Ann for her under-the-radar gameplay. He even voted for Sandra, whose game play revolved around being under-the-radar.
  • Chick Magnet: As seen here. The final three lampshades it.
  • De-power: James says of Colby after he botched many challenges, "It's like Superman in a fat suit. My Superman sucks." Colby is the paradigm of the Survivor Captain America archetype, and in Heroes vs. Villains, the edit portrayed him as like a superhero who had lost is powers.
  • Face Elimination with Dignity: Has had two farewell elimination speeches because he knew he was on the outside, being part of the wrong alliance and being a hero. The former, however, didn't take because the tribe members chose to vote out their injured party.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The melancholic of the All-Stars returnees.
  • Friendly Enemies: With Jerri.
  • Honor Before Reason: He told Amanda to give the clue back to Danielle, despite knowing the advantages that it would have given their tribe. However, post-game interviews mention that it was production's decision since it technically counts as Danielle's possession.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Became the first ever hero by sheer physical prowess in the very first season, setting a record for immunity challenge wins that have been tied but yet to be surpassed. His third survivor season ends with him being a pathetic loser that only becomes the last hero because they don't consider him a threat.
  • Hunk
  • Hypocrite: Berated Sugar for not having her heart fully in the game after she cried because she felt she blew the immunity challenge. Throughout the rest of the season, Colby and his tribe outright said he had practically given up.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: Admits in post-game interviews that he intentionally sandbagged some challenges so that he would lower his threat level. There's a slight improvement as their numbers start dwindling, but he still isn't able to reach his former glory.
  • Irony: Accepted that he would be the next elimination after Tom's removal and the failure of another challenge. James' injury suggested otherwise. In the end, he would be the final hero.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Claimed in after game interviews that he never enjoyed the game like he used to.
    • Subverted in his interview immediately following his elimination. While he states that his pre-merge game was rather unenjoyable, once the merge happened, he began to have fun. Overall he was happy he participated.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Everyone's.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: When he loses the second-to-last immunity challenge to Parvati, he admits to the rest of the tribe that he knows he's done, since he's now up against four Villains with no immunity and none of them want to risk having a Hero in the final three. In his confessional afterward, though, he admits that he just can't bring himself to completely give up, and makes one last attempt to stay in the game by trying to convince Russell to vote for Sandra instead of him. It doesn't work, but he did try.
  • The Lancer: Initially was this for Tom, who called the shots all the shots prior to his elimination. After J.T's elimination, he became this for Rupert. Being the second in-command made him safer compared to both of his leaders.
  • The Last DJ
  • The Last Dance: He gave Sandra the single (his last before elimination) vote which prevented her from having a No-Damage Run victory, though he's one of the jurors who voted for her in the end.
  • Last of His Kind: The last Hero left.
  • Magnetic Hero
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • My Greatest Third Chance: Subverted compared to Australia, Played straight compared to All-Stars.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: Amanda and Danielle are having a fight over the HII clue. He pretty much ignores it until they drag him along.
    I didn't see anything. I was watching Treasure Island.
  • Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: His reconciliation with Jerri wasn't shown in favor of Russell.
  • Older and Wiser
  • Perma-Stubble
  • Ship Tease: With Jerri. And in the secret scenes, Danielle.
  • Sour Supporter: Thinks JT's plan is ludicrous but goes along with it anyway. Best case scenario is that Russell does indeed flip and become one of their numbers. Worst case scenario is that the idol is flushed out and JT leaves the game, which was great because they didn't trust him.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome
  • Worthy Opponent: He's the last fallen castaway to be honored in the rights-of-passage, and the final four gave a heartfelt speech to him.
    Jerri: "Colby, my favorite cowboy." (Note: Jerri was his Arch-Enemy)
    Russell: "Colby, I believe, is the greatest hero of them all." (Note: Yes, this is Russell speaking)

    Rupert Boneham - Pearl Islands 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_rupert_boneham.jpg
"In my world, I've always tried to show that good will win."
  • Batman Gambit: He's unable to find the hidden immunity idol, but pretends to have it in his pocket so that Russell and his alliance would split the vote the flush it out. He was guaranteed to be one of the votes, but his plan hinged on Candice being the other. With the split vote, plus his and Colby's votes, Candice was eliminated.
  • Big Good: He's presented as "the ultimate hero," being Russell's number one adversary post merge due to refusing to stoop to his level.
  • The Big Guy
  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Breakout Character
  • Call-Back: He made a lot of references in Pearl Islands such as comparing Johnny Fairplay to Russell and mentioning that he's honored to write Sandra's name for the victory once again.
  • The Cassandra: One of the only Heroes that does listen to Sandra when she's trying to warn him about how Russell can't be trusted.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Death Glare: Gave one to Russell after being voted out; several fans found it reminiscent of Big Tom's Death Glare at Rob in All-Stars.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Subverted. He initially believed that Sandra betrayed their friendship and was very upset with her. It wasn't until he got to Ponderosa that he found out Sandra was actually going to flip to his side until Candice screwed it up, and that he had unwittingly turned his back on her.
  • Four Is Death: At the top 6, he and Colby voted for Sandra. Sandra uses the hidden immunity idol leading to Rupert's eviction in a 4-0 vote. There's also the fourth time he plays, but let's not go there.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The sanguine of the All-Stars returnees.
  • Gentle Giant
  • Good Is Not Nice: Of the remaining five heroes, he was not afraid to call Russell out on his duplicitous, scummy actions despite not being safe. You could feel outright enmity with every breath and every glare, but he is still unambiguously a hero. By the time he gave his speech to the final jury, he pretty much outright called Russell human garbage and made him aware that no one would vote for him.
  • Happily Married: Celebrates his twelfth anniversary on the day he was eliminated.
  • The Hero Dies
  • Handicapped Badass: He plays the entire game with his toe broken in three places, including challenges where he's forced to run or fight. He ends up being in the final six.
  • History Repeats: Plays with Sandra once again, and also ended up voting for her once more (which he lampshaded).
  • Intergenerational Friendship: With James and Amanda.
  • Large and in Charge
  • Large Ham
  • My Greatest Third Chance: Played straight compared to Pearl Islands rank wise, subverted compared to All-Stars.
  • Older and Wiser
  • Only Sane Man Once the merge hits, he's easily the smartest Hero left
    • He's the only Hero who realizes that trying to vote out Sandra over Jerri or Russell is a terrible idea.
    • He the only Hero who even listens to Sandra's advice at first
    • This becomes especially obvious once J.T. and Candice make boneheaded moves that cost the heroes (including themselves) the game.
  • Red Baron: The Pirate.
  • Supporting Leader: After Tom's boot.
  • Team Dad: To the Heroes.

    Danielle DiLorenzo - Exile Island 

    Candice Woodcock - Cook Islands 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_candice_woodcock.jpg
"Momma always said, if you got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."
  • Alliterative Name: Once married, she became Candice Cody.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: Her elimination was one for the last heroes.
  • Byronic Hero: Arguably, Candice fits this to a T. She's beautiful, sensitive, and intelligent - but she has trouble fitting in with the heroes, feels she's not a hero herself, and has a Fatal Flaw of betraying her tribe for one reason or another.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Deja vu.
  • Didn't Think This Through: She flipped on her alliance to better her position but all it did was put her on the bottom of a lower alliance and make every Hero despise her, ensuring she could never win a jury vote.
  • Face–Heel Turn: She allies herself with the villains and gets Amanda eliminated. This action basically signed her death warrant because it means that her former heroic comrades have it out against her.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: with Amanda, who was the only person who could actually stomach her.
  • Her Story Repeats Itself: Betrays her tribe again and ends up in eighth place again.
  • Hospital Hottie
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Russell turns on her immediately after she flips on the Heroes.
  • Male Gaze
  • Morton's Fork: Either she falls victim to the Pagonging of the heroes or she angers all the heroes in a last-ditch effort to save herself, ensuring she doesn't win a jury vote.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Enforced by production rejecting her chosen bathing suit in favor of a more revealing one. Certainly didn't harm her any.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Subverted. She finishes in the exact same place for a very similar reason as last time.
  • Nominal Hero: Her first showing has her betraying her original tribe members for no strategic value, causing them to head into challenges with literally half the man power. Betrayed Penner, who thought he was close with her, and spends a lot of time being a major league hypocrite. She then turns on the Heroes despite making her hated by both tribes. There's a reason "Why was Candice a Hero? is a meme.
  • Plucky Girl
  • The Quisling: Let's just say she did not learn her lesson from Cook Islands.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To Russell: "You told dirty lies, lies you didn't need to tell, and you hurt people doing it."
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Assumes that if she flips to the Villains and gives them a majority that she'll be taken further.
  • Sixth Ranger: To the Villains, albeit for only an episode.
  • Token Evil Teammate: She was the most questionable Hero in the cast. Later in the game she demonstrates why when she betrays her tribe again.
  • True Blue Femininity: Justified as it is the Heroes' Color Motif.
  • Turn Coat: Some things never change.

    Amanda Kimmel - China 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_amanda_kimmel.jpg
"I'm nervous, and I'm excited, and you like before you bungee jump or something you get that knot in your stomach, and it makes you want to throw, kinda? That's how I feel right now."

    James "J.T." Thomas Jr. - Tocantins 
J.T. will be returning for Game Changers
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_jt_thomas.jpg
"The Heroes are definitely the people I would rather play the game with. The villains are the people I've always been against. So this is perfect for me to be on the heroes' side and battle it out against these people I don't like anyway."

    Courtney Yates - China 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_courtney_yates.jpg
"It's no secret that Russell has a little boy crush on Parvati. Because he's, I mean, let's face it. He's like a bandy legged little troll. Who, you know, sort of like, scampers around with his tooth missing, and, you know, is in and out of the bushes, and never washes. And she pays attention to him, and she has, like, no problem flirting with... clearly... anything that walks."

    Benjamin "Coach" Wade - Tocantins 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_coach_wade.jpg
"This time I slay everyone, trust no one. This is my chance for redemption."

Voted Out

    "Boston" Rob Mariano - Marquesas 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_rob_mariano.jpg
"If these people are smart they'll get rid of me right away. It's the smartest thing they can do. But they won't. They never do."
  • The Ace: In addition to being one of the most dangerous strategists in the season, Rob is the physically strongest Villain, the best puzzle solver and is the first player in history of the show to start a fire without tools.
  • Anti-Villain: Combine Types I and III. Rob actually knows that this is a social game.
  • Anti-Villainous Friendship: With Sandra.
  • Being Good Sucks: Said this in his Elimination Statement.
  • Bittersweet Ending: He got taken out of the game just before the jury phase, but this allowed him to go on the pre-jury trip with Tyson, cementing a friendship that had already been building during their time together on the season.
  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Character Development: Although still ruthless in his strategy and indulgent in trash-talking, Rob seemed to put on a mellower persona this time around compared to his brasher performance in All-Stars. At the very least, he appeared to have an easygoing friendship with Sandra, Courtney, and Tyson and was warm to Jerri even as he knew she was likely to vote him out of the game.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Decapitated Army: Takes over as the de facto leader because of his excellence in challenges, whether it be physical or mental. Once he's removed from the equation, there is a noticeable power change between tribes as the villains keep failing.
  • Diabolus ex Machina: Rob was the leader of his tribe, an essential provider, one of the key contributors to the Villains' challenge dominance in the early portion of the game, and was part of a majority alliance. So it seemed like there was almost nothing stopping him from at least making the merge. Even Russell finding the Immunity Idol was something he could counter, organizing a vote-split that would protect whomever Russell and Parvati targeted by forcing a revote. Unfortunately, Tyson deviating from the plan not only saved Russell from elimination, it got Rob's closest ally sent home and fractured his alliance, leaving him vulnerable for the next vote when Jerri joined Russell's ranks and Coach (who was torn between Rob and Russell) ultimately decided to target Courtney instead. The result was Boston Rob getting voted out as the last pre-jury elimination for the second time in his Survivor tenure.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: To Russell.
  • The Don: Boston Rob and Russell Hantz were the only two members of the Mafioso casting archetype at the time of filming (later Tony Vlachos, Rodney La Voie, Kyle Jason, Joe Mena, Domenick Abbate and Wardog would follow). The first clash of the two Dons takes place in this season with Russell outsmarting Boston Rob. Later, their war would be continued in season 22 Redemption Island where Russell would be second eliminated and Rob goes on to win the game.
  • The Dreaded: His notorious legacy in All-Stars caused his tribe to blindside him.
  • Evil Genius
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The choleric of the All-Stars returnees.
  • Happily Married: The last time Boston Rob was on the show, he and Amber were falling in love and displaying their proposal live on camera. Six years later, and they were still going strong and were revealed to have had their first child.
  • Iconic Outfit: His legendary B Cap.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • Magnetic Anti-Villain
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • My Elimination Is Just the Beginning
  • Older and Wiser
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Boston Rob.
  • Self-Proclaimed Liar: In his boot episode, Rob tries to convince Jerri to stay loyal to him instead of joining up with Russell. Jerri makes it clear that she's tempted to vote against him, reasoning that his history is enough to show how untrustworthy he is. Rob good-naturedly admits that it's true that she can't trust him...except this occasion, where his back is against the wall and he has nothing to lose by being honest with her.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky
  • Team Dad
  • Too Clever by Half
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Especially noticeable with Russell around.
  • Worthy Opponent: Zig-zagged. Rob had little patience for Russell during the game, seeing him as the new kid entering the major leagues against several Survivor superstars. However, he also took Russell seriously as a threat that needed to be dealt with quickly and was aware that Russell could whip up support to get Rob sent home after Tyson was voted out. At the Survivor reunion, when asked by Jeff Probst how things might have turned out if the two had worked together, Rob briefly acknowledged that they probably would have gotten pretty far, but also critiqued Russell's game as incredibly flawed in how he prioritized getting to the end over actually making himself presentable as a winner.

    James Clement - China 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_james_clement.jpg
"I'm back here to do what I came to do the first time: Get to the end and make the money. So I'm definitely coming back to redeem myself."

    Tyson Apostol - Tocantins 

  • Anti-Villain: Type I.
  • Anti-Villainous Friendship: With Coach.
  • Bittersweet Ending: He got himself voted out of the game and caused the downfall of his closest ally Boston Rob as a result. But by going out relatively close to one another, Boston Rob and Tyson got to spend further time together on the pre-jury vacation trip, cementing a friendship that would last in the years after the game finished.
  • The Brute: Tyson was a key player in the challenges, and his blindside preceded a near-total loss of momentum the Villains suffered for the rest of the pre-merge.
  • Character Development
  • Disaster Dominoes: Him switching the vote started the chain of events that would lead to Russell getting to the end.
  • Elimination By Irony: Tyson is one of the most notable Tricksters in Survivor history, and with his elimination, the Trickster tricked himself when he overthought the vote and decided to vote for Parvati instead, thus enabling Russell's alliance to get Tyson voted out by skewing the numbers after his idol play on Parvati.
  • Epic Fail: Deciding on his own to go rogue thanks to overthinking things and breaking from the vote split singlehandedly causes the downfall of Rob's entire alliance.
  • Freudian Trio: The Tocantins trio. He is the Ego.
  • The Heart: YMMV whether or not it's true, but the council after his elimination considered him the bridge between Rob's team and Russell's team, saying his elimination marks a turning point.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Eliminated because of switching his vote to Parvati.
  • Lean and Mean
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Villain: Screwing the triple tie plan.
  • Religious Bruiser: He's mormon.
  • Spanner in the Works: Not only did he screw himself, he also crippled Boston Rob, who was in a position to take over the tribe. Tyson's screw up let Russell remain in the game and also cost Rob his biggest ally.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky
  • Token Good Teammate: Downplayed.
  • Too Clever by Half: Completely overthought how Parvati and Danielle were going to react to the vote-splitting, which led to him switching the vote.
  • The Trickster: Tyson's casting archetype
  • Worthy Opponent: Especially to J.T.

    Tom Westman - Palau 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_tom_westman.jpg
"I'm not in the shape I was last time, but I still think I can hang in there as tough as any guy next to me."

    Cirie Fields - Panama - Exile Island 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s20_cirie_fields.jpg
"People think they know me, they really don't know me. I'm a gangsta in an Oprah suit. But I'm not like, a mean gangsta, I'm a nice gangsta with a smile, you know?"

    Randy Bailey - Gabon 

    Stephenie LaGrossa - Palau 

    Jessica "Sugar" Kiper - Gabon 

Alternative Title(s): Heroes Vs Villains

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