Characters / Survivor: Nicaragua

The Tribes

La Flor

• A House Divided
• Broken Ace
• Divided We Fall
• Floral Theme Naming
• One-Steve Limit: The team had two Kellys.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
• Youngsters: The original line-up.

Espada

• A House Divided
• Cool Sword
• Dwindling Party
• Elders: The original line-up.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The original members who made it to the merge.
  • Holly = Leukine
  • Dan = Phlegmatic
  • Jane = Sanguine
  • Marty = Melancholic
• One-Steve Limit: The team had two Jimmies.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork

The Sole Survivor

Judson "Fabio" Birza

• Badass Adorable
• Beware the Silly Ones:
• Born Winner
• Butt-Monkey: He almost got his face burned by fire, he gets his finger caught in a fishing hook, and he gets pinched by a crab among other things. And he won.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: And how! For most of the game, he seems like nothing more than a clumsy, amiable doofus. Then, with about three episodes to go^note (and you can literally spot the exact point in the game where he decides to do this), he abruptly drops the harmless act and morphs into an unstoppable challenge machine. He also subtly maneuvers Sash and Chase into not only voting off Jane, but also making themselves look like JerkAsses at tribal council (in full view of the jury).
• The Cutie: A male variant. He manages to look so adorable with that smile of his.
• Dumb Blond: Subverted, although he admits he does play that role sometimes. One example is when he's talking with Marty and he buys the whole "Marty is a literal Chessmaster" bluff.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: He starts out fairly average at challenges, but by the end, no one can beat him.
• Genius Ditz
• The Hero
• Hidden Depths: His challenge prowess near the end is surprising, considering at that point it's mostly puzzles. Also gave some surprising insightful comments during Purple Kelly's quit
• Important Haircut: In the reunion.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Marty and Dan.
• Keet
• Kid-Appeal Character: Incidentally, he's dressed in yellow, which is the color associated with the former Trope Namer.
• Kid Hero: He's 21 - and certainly looks the part!
• The Klutz
• Magnetic Hero: NaOnka, his Sit Com Arch Nemesis, voted for him in the end. Not to mention the people cheering at him to win in the finale.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Nice Guy: It ended up being one of the main reasons he won. One of the reasons Purple Kelly voted for him was because she didn't have the clothes to protect her from the cold and he lent her his jacket.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Big time. Perhaps one of the best people to pull this card next to Natalie White and Vecepia Towery.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Fabio. He was actually referred to as Jud in the first episode's intro sequence and his first confessional, but once his tribemates started calling him Fabio, the nickname stuck.
• Plucky Comic Relief: One of the few to ever end up winning.
• Sole Survivor: The youngest ever to do so.^note At the time of Filming, Fabio was 21 when he declared the winner, dethroning Jenna Morasca who was 22 when she was crowned the sole Survivor. Later, Sophie Clarke won the game and was younger than Fabio by about a month.
• Surfer Dude
• Took a Level in Badass
• Unlikely Hero: Who thought that this guy was going to be at the merge let alone win? Getting the fishing hook caught in his finger and not realizing crabs could pinch had people wonder if he'd get himself evacuated.
• Worthy Opponent: Some players thought he'd have been perfect to have taken out Russell and Rob (who, ironically, were in the next season).

Runners-Up

Chase Rice

• The Big Guy
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: On the one hand, he seemed to be reluctant or feel remorse every time he betrayed an ally or broke a promise. On the other, he just kept on doing it.
• The Dragon: To Brenda.
  • Dragon Ascendant
• Dumb Muscle: A borderline example.
• Good Ol' Boy
• Hero with an F in Good
• Mr. Fanservice: He certainly looks pretty good!
• Nice Guy: Tries to be one
• Noble Demon
• The Quisling: To the females.
• The Runner-Up Takes It All: He went on to sign a record deal and release three best-selling country albums after Survivor, even scoring two top 10 country hits. Only thing Fabio's done of note was getting a DUI
• Ship Tease: With Brenda.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome

Matthew "Sash" Lenahan

• Backstab Backfire: His refusal to give Brenda his immunity idol when she needed it ended up biting him in the ass during the final jury questioning.
• Butt-Monkey: Nothing seemed to work out for Sash during the game, most of his plans ended up falling apart, for a variety of different reasons, and eventually he ended up making it to the end and receiving no votes.
• Camp Straight
• The Chessmaster
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Unlike Chase, didn't really seem as remorseful to have done so.
• The Dandy: Wears an expensive-looking three-piece suit to the finale.
• Freudian Slip: He lets one out during Jill's boot episode when discussing his alliance and his immunity idol, which is lampshaded by Jeff.
  Sash: If there's a time when I lose trust in them-alright, I'm sorry. If there's a time when they lose trust in me...
• Hoist by His Own Petard: See Loophole Abuse. Allegedly, he tried to make Purple Kelly sell him to the jury. Unfortunately, she couldn't even justify giving him a vote herself.
• Idiot Ball: After the tribal shuffle, he immediately starts targeting Marty since he's the strongest strategically and has an idol. Eventually, it comes to a tie between Marty and Kelly B at tribal (Marty did not play his idol), and during the revote... he votes for Kelly, giving Marty ample opportunity to cause more dissent against him and Brenda.
• Jerkass
• Lean and Mean
• Loophole Abuse: Allegedly bribed Purple Kelly to quit so she could sell him to the jury - unfortunately, he did such a bad job when she supposedly tried to make him look good that she had no justification to vote for him so she was forced to vote for Fabio instead.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mistaken for Gay: By Shannon. Hilarity Ensues!
• Noble Demon
• Noodle Incident: Something involving Sash got edited out of the tribal council in Jane's last episode which all of the players are apparently under strict orders not to discuss. It's implied in both his and Jane's voting confessionals (available from CBS's website) ^note Jane's in particular shows obvious censoring, and it's notable that Jane abruptly changes her vote without explanation (from intending to vote Holly, which made the most strategic sense, to voting for Sash, even though she knew perfectly well his immunity idol would nullify it). It's been speculated that this may have contributed to him getting no votes at the end.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Sash.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Probably could have won in another season, but he's next to Chase who had a better social game, as well as Fabio who managed to force Chase&Sash to vote out their own allies.
• Poor Communication Kills: Tries pandering to the jury too much, and as a result gets no votes.
• Smug Snake
• The Smart Guy
• The Strategist
• Villain Protagonist
• Wink "Ding!": At the Final Tribal Council after Dan tells him "So you stop doing the wink."

Jury Members

Holly Hoffman

• Alliterative Name
• Badass Teacher
• Cool Old Lady: Jane minus a few years?
• Cool Teacher
• Foil: Stands in contrast towards NaOnka and Purple Kelly, who both quit, while she managed to recover from her own desire to quit.
• Guile Heroine
• Last of Her Kind: Last original Espada member and last woman in the game.
• Nice Girl
• Sanity Slippage: After voting off her friend Wendy, but she gets better.
• Team Mom

Dan Lembo

• Aside Glance: At the infamous Quitting tribal. When NaOnka was complaining about her joints hurting due to the weather, Dan, who suffered from a serious knee injury all game, gave her an incredulous look.
• Cool Old Guy: Dan was 63 and had many one liners in the game.
• Deadpan Snarker
  Beauty fades. Dumb is forever.
  • Non-Action Snarker
• The Determinator: If anyone was to quit the game, instead of it being two young women, it's amazing that the person who would instead last until the Final 5 with few complaints would be the 63-year-old man with two wrecked knees, can't do challenges, and likely would never win due to him being very financially fit. If anyone had reasons to quit, it was Dan.
• Dented Iron: For his age, he's pretty visibly ripped, but injured knee keeps him from running and jumping.
• Elimination Houdini: In-universe. See The Load.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Fabio.
• The Load: The reason other players let him get that far.
• Older Side Kick: By default, given that he is the oldest cast member (this season) alongside Jimmy J.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Slams Sash and Chase at the jury questioning.
• Team Dad
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Voted out in 5th place due to Fabio's immunity win and fear of him being a jury threat.

Jane Bright

• Action Mom
• Beware the Nice Ones: Extremely noticeable when she gets told that her alliance is planning to vote her out.
• Cool Old Lady: In. Spades.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Jane can get downright scary if she even thinks she's been betrayed or slighted. Her reaction to learning she was about to be voted out practically makes Lex look civilized. Namely, she flips them off, tells Sash not to look at her, insults them and their parents which she met that day and dumps all of their water out on the fire (nearly burning Dan in the process.)
• Happy Dance: Her "fish dance".
• Heroines Love Dogs: She's a dog trainer.
• Informed Ability: Her physical strength was mostly just grip strength, which makes sense as she's a dog trainer. Outside grip strength challenges, she was usually hindrance.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Chase.
• Irrational Hatred: Nurses a bitter grudge against Marty throughout the entire game, for reasons unknown. This includes ranting that he's a wretched scumbag at every opportunity, trying (with some success) to turn other players against him, and calling him a worthless failure as a father. When asked at the reunion, she claims that she felt Marty didn't respect her, even though he'd repeatedly told anyone who'd listen that Jane was the most dangerous player in the game.
• Large Ham
• Never Mess with Granny: She regularly beat men half her age in challenges. Not to mention what happened when she was told she would be voted out...
• Noodle Incident: Something certainly happened at her final tribal council, which CBS edited out from what was broadcast, and which all of the players are under orders not to discuss. According to rumors, she accused Sash of secretly offering (earlier in the game) to pay off her mortgage if she helped him win. He denied it, and there was no way of knowing which of them was lying. If true, it would've been illegal (and if not, it was slander), so CBS edited it out and ordered everyone to stay quiet. Evidently nothing more was done as they didn't want two more people being ejected after NaOnka and Purple Kelly quit.
  • There technically was no rule against bribery (At the time) but this particular instance would actually risk putting Sash in legal trouble.
• The Resenter: To Marty, somewhat inexplicably. The source of her resentment is never really explained, and he's clearly baffled by it.
• Sanity Slippage: After being told she's going to be voted off, she's FREAKING out.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: For some reason, Jane was not included in the pre-season cast assessment.
• Sit Com Arch Nemesis: To Marty.

Ben "Benry" Henry

• The Big Guy
• Large Ham
• Mr. Fanservice
• Nice Guy
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Benry.
• Out of Focus
• Two First Names
• We Hardly Knew Ye

"Purple" Kelly Shinn note (Quit)

• All There in the Manual: Thanks to her Living Prop edit, most of her confessionals can only be found through videos on the CBS website. Despite the first impression of her being that of a living Barbie Doll, a lot of what she says and does shows there's a lot more underneath.
  • Evidently she voted for Fabio because he was nice enough to give her his jacket, and she quit because she didn't have many clothes.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: See Irony.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple
• Irony: Production gave her the worst edit of any castaway in any season, to make an example of a quitter. She became one of the most well known contestants overall, and had a Survivor term named after her. (Purple editing, for players that don't get a good edit).
• Living Prop: To the point of parody.
• Loophole Abuse: Sash allegedly bribed her so she would quit, and then try to sell his story on the jury - unfortunately, since he did such a bad job answering her question, she was forced to vote for Fabio, since there was no justification for voting for him.
• Ms. Fanservice: Production certainly thought so, judging by her little yellow dress.
• Nice Girl: What everyone in the cast had to say about her after the season.
• Non Game Play Elimination: Purple Kelly immediately quit after NaOnka did.
• One-Steve Limit: With Kelly B.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Purple Kelly. (Even after Kelly B. was voted off!)
• Out of Focus: Done by the editors as revenge for quitting - especially since she didn't do anything to impact the season storyline like NaOnka did. Kelly managed to have less screentime than the victims of Rob, Russell, and Coach's Reign of terror.
• Purple Is Powerful: Subverted big time when it came to her edit.
  • Played Straight when one takes a closer look. She was always in the power alliance, she made it very far despite having minimal clothing, almost everyone in the cast liked her, and editor's attempts to make her invisible instead made her extremely well-known among the fanbase.
• Two First Names: Albeit one sounds foreign.
• The Voiceless: Probably had fewer confessionals than anyone in Survivor history who got as far as she did. Inadvertently lampshaded by Chase when they wind up in conversation on a reward trip, and he remarks that she never seems to say anything.

NaOnka Mixon note (Quit)

• Alpha Bitch: She acted as the superior woman on La Flor.
• The Bully: She bullies many people in her tribe, including a girl who has an artificial leg.
• The Brute: For Brenda's Alliance.
• Evil Teacher: She's a gym teacher.
• Gave Up Too Soon: The gist of her decision to quit the game comes off like this, because NaOnka's motivation to do so is not a medical emergency, exhaustion, or personal crisis back at home... but self-pity. People watching in the Jury, her own tribe, and even Probst himself felt like they gave her too much credit and were shocked that she would simply drop out of the game and leave everyone in the lurch.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She goes off on people on the slightest provocation
• Hate Sink: The editors portrayed her as a very despicable and unkind woman and devoted most of her screentime to make her look like one.
• Hypocrite: She wanted to be a huge game player and coveted the hidden immunity idol to use for herself and play the game as brutally as Russell Hantz did but then she decides to quit while still having an idol in her pocket, which she gives to Chase.
• It's All About Me: Blatantly seen on many occasions. It’s most obvious when she refused to give up her movie reward to someone else even though she admitted that she wanted to quit the game. Some of the tribe mates even called her out in their confessionals as a selfish woman.
• Jerkass:
  • Jerk Jock: She is a gym teacher after all.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
• Kick the Dog: Even after announcing that she was going to quit the game at the next tribal council, she refused to step out of a reward so that her whole tribe could get some much-needed food. Holly, who had been desperate to finally get a reward, volunteered to make the sacrifice in her place.
  • Her treatment of Kelly B is generally this.
• Non Game Play Elimination: Her quitting is one of the most infamous in the show's history.
• Pet the Dog: She's the Sit Com Arch Nemesis to Fabio. However, at one point, she actually pulls him aside at a Reward challenge to get him on board with a blindside (Which was agreed on as being a good move by Fabio), and later on, she casts her vote for Fabio to win.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: While we have seen bigoted players in the past, such as Roger Sexton and Ben Browning, she's the first one to have been vocally ableist.
• The Resenter
• Sassy Black Woman
• Sit Com Arch Nemesis: With Fabio.
• Smug Snake
• Spanner in the Works: Her quitting utterly destroyed Sash's ideal final three, given that she was an easy goat to use.
• Token Evil Teammate: In an alliance with Gray-and-Gray Morality, NaOnka's behavior stands out.

Brenda Lowe

• Affably Evil: Brenda was very polite and amiable for someone who was called the Black Widow, King Cobra and Black Mamba all rolled into one.
• Alpha Bitch
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
• The Chessmaster
• Disc-One Final Boss: Like Marty, an extremely competent player taken out right at the merge.
• Femme Fatale: A very beautiful woman who states right of the bat that she plans to use it to her advantage.

• Ms. Fanservice: She is quite beautiful and this is noticed immediately.
• Ship Tease: With Chase.
• Smug Snake
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: Got blindsided by everyone when they saw her as a threat.
• Twofer Token Minority: She is Asian (Chinese) and Hispanic (Bolivian).
• The Vamp
• Worthy Opponent: Was viewed as this by pretty much everyone, especially Marty.

Marty Piombo

• Affably Evil
• The Chessmaster: He even claims (to Fabio) to be a literal one. He was making it up, although Fabio apparently bought it.
• Cool Old Guy: Marty was on of the smarter contestants of the season.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Was totally screwed by the unexpected tribal switch, after meticulously maneuvering himself into control of his tribe. Up to that point he was arguably a favorite to win the game. Afterwards he was basically a dead player walking, although he did manage to barter his immunity idol for a temporary stay of execution until the merge.
• Disc-One Final Boss: One of the most competent players, taken right out at the merge.
• Large Ham
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Fabio.
• The Man Behind the Man: Definitely seemed to be The Leader of Espada, but nominated Tyrone to be the team leader, possibly for this reason.
• Manipulative Bastard
• The Strategist
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky
• True Companions: With Jill.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: It failed.

Alina Wilson

• The Cutie
• Informed Ability: At merge, she's public enemy number one. Exactly why?! Chances are, she was just annoying people.
• Ms. Fanservice: She was a model after all.
• Nice Girl: Pretty much the only person who treated Kelly B. with respect.
• Two First Names

Voted Out

Jill Behm

• Cool Old Lady: Actually won the first individual immunity challenge.
• Nice Girl
• True Companions: With Marty, throughout the entire pre-merge.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Eliminated at the worst possible time. Got no screentime at the reunion (there's even rumors she didn't even attend the reunion).

Yve Rojas

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
• Cool Old Lady
• Ms. Fanservice
• Older Than They Look: She's 41.
• Out of Focus
• Spicy Latina
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Yve was eliminated at perhaps the worst time in the game. The first two or so survivors are at least spoken to at the reunion - people eliminated right before the merge? Almost never see them unless it was a Shocking Elimination of some kind or Non-Gameplay Elimination. Jeff Probst didn't even look at her at the reunion. Shame since she probably had the best chance of winning next to Jane on her tribe.

Kelly Bruno

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
• Artificial Limbs
• Butt-Monkey
• The Chew Toy: For NaOnka.
• Handicapped Badass: Holds world records in amputee running.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Why NaOnka was an overall bitch to her.
• Nice Girl
• One-Steve Limit: With Purple Kelly.
• Two First Names
• You Go, Girl!

Tyrone Davis

• Cool Old Guy
• Older Than They Look: He's 42.
• Team Dad
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness

Jimmy Tarantino

• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Why he was voted out of the game.
• Glory Seeker
• Jerkass
• One-Steve Limit: With Jimmy J.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Jimmy T.
• Sour Supporter
• Smug Snake
• Surrounded by Idiots: His feelings about Espada tribe

Jimmy Johnson

• A Father to His Men
• Alliterative Name
• Cool Old Guy: Jimmy J was the oldest person of the season and is a very likable person.
• Dead Star Walking: Was used heavily in promotions for the season, owing to his celebrity status mentioned above, but only manages to make it three episodes before being voted out.
• One-Steve Limit: With Jimmy T.
• The Strategist
• Team Dad

Shannon Elkins

• The Cassandra: He does call Chase out for floating between multiple alliances and going back on their deal. Which Chase does several times throughout the course of the game.
• Deep South: Shannon is from Louisiana.
• Establishing Character Moment: Asking Sash if he was gay.
• Gender-Blender Name
• Hot-Blooded
• Jerkass
• Jerk Jock
• Sacrificial Lion
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky

Wendy DeSmidt-Kohlhoff

• Farm Girl
• Scheherezade Gambit: It failed.
• Talkative Loon: It's especially obvious when she has probably the longest confessional in Survivor history explaining how she'd probably get out because she talks too much.

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