Sex therapist and one of the two remaining members of Matsing after losing four straight immunity challenges. Absorbed to Kalabaw in Episode 5, then manages to become the Sixth Ranger to Kalabaw, somehow makes her way to the Final Three and win. Quite a good feat for one her age combined with being perhaps one of the unluckiest contestants to play the game.

---

• Action Mom
• Badass
  • Badass Bookworm
• Born Unlucky: Was placed with ill-fated Matsing and had to go through four straight tribal councils until she was absorbed into Kalabaw, which in turn saw two tribal councils and a medical evacuation. Yet despite that, she still managed to survive through to the merge and win the game - not so bad a feat for the first castaway in the series' history to attend every tribal council in a given season.
• Brainy Brunette
• Cool Old Lady: Especially in the water.
• Determinator: Attended every single Tribal Council in the game, a first in the series.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially towards Abi.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: And how!
• Expy: She's basically an older Stephenie LaGrossa, but more successful. She even prophetically compared herself to Stephenie in her pre-game interview.
• Foreshadowing: Monkeys were prominently shown throughout the season, while a Water Buffalo was shown from time to time. She is originally from the Matsing prior to being absorbed into Kalabaw. ^note Matsing and Kalabaw respectively means Monkey and Water Buffalo in Filipino
• Genius Bruiser
• Guile Heroine: Helped organize Artis' ouster.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With her husband.
  • Her dynamic duo with Malcolm is also this.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Malcolm, who looks young enough to be her son. She was even tearful when she voted him out.
• Jack of All Stats: While she wasn't seen as The Ace like Malcolm, Denise is still considered to be equally great at the physical, strategical and social aspects of the game.
• Lady of War
• Last of Her Kind: At the Final 3 she was both the last Matsing and Kalabaw member left.
• Magnetic Heroine: Even Abi-Maria, her Sitcom Archnemesis, voted for her to win the prize.
• Pintsized Powerhouse
• Plucky Girl: Attended every single Tribal Council in the game and won, a first in the series.
• The Smart Girl: Of Matsing.
• Sixth Ranger: To Kalabaw.
• Sole Survivor
• Woman in Black: Despite being from Matsing, the only blue outfit she has are her swimwear and pants.
• Worthy Opponent

Software publisher and alumnus of The Australian Outback, and the series' first forced evacuee, after passing out from inhaling smoke from a bonfire and burning his hands. On his first outing in 11 years, he still proves to be a capable player at age 50 - but we can kind of see how he had such an accident his first time around. While he made it to the Final Tribal Council, he and Lisa were ravaged by the jury for the moves they made and their supposed "Holier Than Thou" attitudes, and lost in the jury vote to Denise, 6-1-1.

---

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: He gets distracted in the middle of a conversation with Lisa by an ant.
• Badass Grandpa
• Bald of Awesome
• Big Eater: According to Artis, he eats them out of house and home, much to the latter's annoyance.
• The Bus Came Back
• Butt Monkey: Spent the first half of the game perpetually on the outs with his tribe, while constantly suffering painful injuries.
• Character Development: He is more matured compared to his stint in The Australian Outback, and also a little bit more strategic.
  • Subverted in one sense, however. Michael was widely disliked by his Tandang tribe this season, which might seem surprising at first, but if one recalls the episodes of The Australian Outback before his accident, he wasn't very well liked by Kucha either.
• Cool Old Guy
• Defeating the Undefeatable: He nearly beat Malcolm in several challenges. His victory in the final immunity challenge was the final nail in Malcolm's coffin.
• Drunk on Milk: Doesn't eat sugar in real life, so when he had his first soda in 30 years during a reward, it messed with his head a little.
• Freudian Trio: Of the three returnees, he is the Ego.
• Glass Cannon: Despite being The Klutz, he still proved himself as a great physical player.
• Graceful Loser
• Happy Dance: He does one leaving Tribal Council when Abi was voted out.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Due to being Innocently Insensitive, as well as (allegedly) being an Insufferable Genius Destructive Savior, he became unliked by majority of his teammates. During the final tribal, only Carter and RC made positive comments about him, with the former giving him his only vote to win (the latter voted for Lisa).
• Innocently Insensitive: While he had good intentions for the tribe, his actions/decisions doesn't translate well to most of his teammates. Artis' post-game revelation about their Noodle Incident doesn't help things.
• Irony: During the premiere of The Australian Outback, he claimed that anyone over 50 years old is a liability. That was 11 years prior, and he was 39 years old then.
• Keet
• The Klutz: If there was any possible way to injure himself, Michael found it.
• Last Name Basis
• Like Father, Like Son: His oldest child, Michael, other than sharing his name, also shares his tendency towards injuries. In the day he was there, he managed to injure himself climbing a tree with injuries across his arms and torso; the irony was not lost on Skupin, who was immensely amused.
• Loophole Abuse: One of the challenges required the contestants to balance a wooden statue in their hand while trying to knock the opponent's statue to the ground with their other hand. Probst never said that they couldn't simply toss their statue into the air and attack with both hands, so when his turn rolled around he did just that.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Played entirely straight.
• Nice Guy
• No Damage Run: Continues his trend from The Australian Outback - receives no votes to evict from the game.
• Older and Wiser
• Out of Focus: Surprisingly for a returning player, the only prominent screentime he received before the merge was in the premiere when his accident-prone nature was established and when other people were talking about him after that.
• Real Men Love Jesus
• Religious Bruiser
• Supporting Leader: On account of being Out of Focus.
• Team Dad: Shared the role with Artis for Tandang.
• Took a Level in Badass
• Zen Survivor

Former teen star famous for playing rebellious rich kid Blair Warner in the 1979-1988 sitcom The Facts of Life and another player for Tandang. In contrast to her colorful personality onscreen, she admits to being a quite introverted woman behind the camera, as well as a huge Survivor fan. One of the recurring themes of the season was Lisa trying to find it in herself to play deceptively, despite being as far away from a deceptive person as one could get. She ended up in a tight alliance with Michael, which made it all the way to the Final Tribal Council. Unfortunately, the two of them were ravaged by the jury for their supposed "Holier Than Thou" attitudes, and Lisa came a tied second with Michael, having been beaten by Denise in the jury vote 6-1-1.

---

• Ascended Fangirl: She's not only never missed a season, she's never missed an episode.
• The Chick: Of Tandang.
• Cool Old Lady
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: People expected her to be wishy-washy and disjointed at Final Tribal. Even though she lost to Denise, she put up a surprisingly strong Final performance, particularly in her answer to Penner.
• Easily Forgiven: For trying to blindside Malcolm.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor
• Genre Savvy: Originally planned to try and reach the end of the game with Abi and Pete, anticipating that they would be easier to go up against than anyone else. She eventually had to turn on them, however, once she realized the trust she put in them was not being returned.
• Graceful Loser
• Guile Heroine
• The Heart
• Heroine with Bad Publicity: Not as bad as Skupin, though.
• Hey It's That Girl
• Idiot Ball: She's way too honest, which caused her plan to blindside Malcolm to fail spectacularly and inadvertently gives him more power.
• Large Ham: During the final six.
• Loners Are Freaks: She was slow to form bonds with most of her tribemates, thanks to her introverted nature, which subsequently resulted in her being an outcast from the very beginning.
  • Later becomes Misunderstood Loner. As Tandang keeps winning challenges and avoiding Tribal Council, more of the bigger personalities start colliding and Lisa becomes the person everyone comes to with their problems.
• My Tribe, Right or Wrong: Zig-zagged - she initially wanted the original Tandang members to stick together, but only because she had a stronger chance of winning against most of them. She still stuck to her vow once she realized that Pete and Abi may not be loyal in return, but admitted it was because she doesn't want to sound hypocritical after preaching loyalty earlier in the game. However, once Artis had been booted and the power shifted, she turned on the remaining members of her tribe with Mike.
• Nice Girl: Easily the most friendly female of Tandang, and later Dangrayne. Even when she tried to blindside Malcolm, they reconciled quickly after Tribal Council.
• No Damage Run: Received no eviction votes.
• Pink Means Feminine
• Spanner in the Works: Achieved this in back-to-back episodes - first by accidentally finding Malcolm's hidden immunity idol and locking him into an alliance with her, and then by revealing he had it next episode, setting off a chaotic Gambit Pileup that ultimately got Jeff Kent eliminated.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad
• Team Mom: Of Tandang.
• Token Religious Teammate
• You Never Asked: Part of why she never revealed who she was.

A bartender and the physical powerhouse of Matsing, and one of its two last remaining members follow four straight immunity losses. Once it was just him and Denise left, they were absorbed into apposing tribes, where Malcolm finally found new life in the game due to being immediately accepted by his tribemates. His wit and physical prowess also became some of his defining features, and he used those skills to bring himself to the Final Four, where he ended up choking on an immunity challenge when he needed it most, and was sent home in 4th place when the other three feared him beating them in a jury vote.

Being one of the fan favourites of the season, he was soon invited back to play in Survivor: Caramoan.

---

• The Ace
• Action Survivor: Played with - he's a competent physical powerhouse, so he's naturally considered a threat by the other players. He has nothing but a smooth tongue, a sharp mind and an amiable personality to help him stay afloat for much longer in the game.
• Affably Evil: Once he managed to survive Matsing's decimation, he started to get more and more powerful as the numbers dwindled. And all without having anything but a smile on his face.
• Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain: By the finale he's morphed into more of a "villain", albeit more in terms of gameplay than in his actual personality. He's a Type I Anti Villain in gameplay, but a Type II Anti Hero in personality.
• Anti-Villain with Good Publicity: Lisa and Denise even had a conversation where they remarked that Malcolm is the kind of person who would put his arm around you with a big smile on his face as he sticks a knife between your ribs, and later, after he comes to visit you in the hospital with flowers—still smiling!—you'd be left thinking, "That was so sweet of him to come visit me!"
• Adorkable: Shown to great effect come Final 7, especially at the auction.
• Ascended Fanboy: and how!
• Badass
  • Badass Longhair
• Big Brother Worship: His younger brother Miles mentions how he was always trying to follow in Malcolm's footsteps before going his own way.
• The Big Guy: Of all the tribes he was on. Also doubles as The Smart Guy for being a Genius Bruiser.
• Born Unlucky: Starts of on Matsing and loses almost every single pre-merge challenge.
• Breakout Character: Easily one of the most popular characters in a while. He was invited to play in the following season because of this.
• The Charmer
• The Chessmaster: Shown to be controlling Pete at the Final 10, performs an amazing Batman Gambit forcing everyone to be more careful about casting votes against him, and kept his idol despite the fact that everyone knows he has it. He also makes sure that Carter, Abi-Maria and Pete don't talk strategy while on reward with them.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: Having grown up watching the series (and eventually living the life), he proves this at the Final 10 through a daft combination of social prowess with Pete and managing to manipulate his entire tribe into not voting for him, despite there already being a plan in motion to oust him, not only keeping a grip on his hidden immunity idol but also ensuring trust in the people he was aligned with. He managed to get his way into the Final 4 with every single person singling him out as a physical and strategic threat.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally.
• The Determinator: Clawed himself up from the wreckage of Matsing into a position of power.
  • At the Final 5 immunity challenge, he fell off the crawl-bridge and had to go back to the beginning, putting him FAR behind the other four, and being the last one to even start to put his puzzle together. He came from behind to win it handily. And note that he did this despite already being completely safe at Tribal Council with the Hidden Immunity Idol.
• Earn Your Happy Ending
• Eleventh Hour Superpower: This is the reason by final 6 he became so hard to get rid of.
• Friendly Enemy: To Peter and Abi.
• Friend to All Children: Justified, as he was a teacher in Micronesia for a year.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was on one of the worst tribes in Survivor history pre-merge and was basically done for. Through some crazy strategy he makes the merge. At the merge he becomes the guy who controlled the entire game. Then even when he loses at the last minute he becomes an all-star. All on his first time playing.
• Genius Bruiser: Attended Dartmouth, an Ivy League College. Also an ex-football player.
• Guile Anti-Villian: While he is a powerhouse in the physical sense, his most dangerous attribute is his cunning mind as it has helped him avoid going home since the merge and got him to the Final 4 long since he was targeted.
• The Hero Dies
• Hidden Depths: Taught kids for a year in Micronesia.
• Hunk: Oh yes.
• I Let You Win: Held back in the challenges since the merge and let loose at the Final 6.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Denise, Lisa and Skupin.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy
• Looks Like Jesus: Skupin even commented on it at one point.
• Magnetic Hero: Has had everyone on his side at one point or another.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mr. Fanservice: Take Troyzan, mix him with Ozzy, and you get Malcolm.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Not particularly drastic, but in post-game interviews, he admitted to being slightly annoyed by his "golden boy" edit as it cut out many of his snarkier moments such as him spending half his time making faces at Abi-Maria.
• Nice Guy: To the point that he was immediately welcomed into his new tribe rather than being on the outs, as has happened before.
• Noble Demon: A bit villainous after the merge but still a really Nice Guy.
• Nothing Personal: After Lisa tried to have him blindsided to save Mike, Malcolm seemed to take it in stride and said this to her at Tribal Council.
• Ship Tease: With Angie.
• Sixth Ranger: To Tandang. Subverted as he was not only welcomed with open arms, he managed to help usurp the control of the tribe from RC and Mike to Abi and Pete.
• The Smart Guy
• The Snark Knight
• Tall, Dark and Handsome
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Talking Your Way Out: He manages to avoid elimination at the Final 10 simply by talking down anybody who considered voting for him, despite him being very much on the chopping block as an individual threat and a Hidden Immunity Idol in his possession. Lampshaded at the Final 4 where he mentions having to do damage control after every Tribal Council because people keep trying to vote him out and he keeps on having to talk everyone else down.
• The Strategist: He's very good at being this to the point where, come Final 8, he achieved a dangerous position of power, even with everybody else knowing he had a Hidden Immunity Idol in his possession.
• Too Clever by Half
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Stated by Denise at the beginning of the game.
• Worthy Opponent: The reason he was voted out before the Final Tribal Council - since Michael and Lisa didn't want him to win, they had no reason to take him.

A Brazilian-born business major student and member of Tandang. She began the game allying with RC, but paranoia quickly got the better of her and she lashed out against perceived "betrayal". After being manipulated by Pete, she was turned on RC and started to inadvertently alienate herself from her tribemates, and quickly became the villain of the season, with most of the post-merge being spent trying to get her eliminated. Eventually, her former tribemates turned on her and ousted both Artis and Pete, after which she lost all the power she had. After making it to the Final 5, she tried to get everyone to take her to the end because there was little chance of her winning a jury vote, but the threat of Malcolm winning his way into the end was too much on everyone else's minds, so she was booted over Denise at 5th place.

---

• Blondes are Evil: In the game.
• Break the Haughty: The fallout resulting from Peter's elimination sure did a number on her sanity and confidence.
• Character Development: After seeing herself on how wrong she acted during the game, she had a Heel Realization and Took a Level in Kindness by the time of the reunion. Abi even gracefully admitted it.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: The mere thought of RC being friends with Mike over her caused her to flip out.
• The Ditz
• Dumb Blonde: Shows her idol at tribal council for no real reason.
• Entitled Bitch
• Foreign Fanservice
• The Friend Nobody Likes: No one liked her and was not chosen for the reward challenge at the Final 9 because of being The Load. The only person who seemed willing to put up with her was Pete.
• Funny Foreigner: Unwillingly and unintentionally filled the role.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Especially at the Final 9, while trying to confront Lisa.
• Hypocrite: Turns on RC with a vengeance, thinking the latter has been looking for the hidden immunity idol behind her back, even going on an angry tirade about her "betrayal" at one tribal council. She conveniently neglects to mention that she already found it and shared it with Peter - all behind RC's back.
• Innocently Insensitive: Was originally portrayed as clueless as to how or why she was pissing off everyone else. But once she continued her behavior even after finding out nobody liked her, it became less than innocent.
• It's All About Me
• Jerkass
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Lazy Bum
• The Load: Sat out of every challenge but the first one before Matsing's dissolution. On one challenge where she did take part, her not grasping its rules actively worked against her team (though they won anyway).
• Male Gaze
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Although she is portrayed very negatively while on the show, her Ponderosa videos and social media feed support that she is actually a pretty nice person outside of the game.
• Ms. Fanservice
• Never My Fault
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By playing her hidden immunity idol at the Final 8, she negates the three votes cast against her - only to break a planned tie with her ally Pete, sending him over to the Jury and leaving her all alone.
• No Social Skills: Not quite as bad as the usual example of this trope, but it has been observed that one of her main problems is that she misses social cues like when to shut up and not interrupt people.
• Older Than They Look: She's in her early 30s.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: Some people didn't believe she was Brazilian because she's "too white" and blonde.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: To Denise.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Acted very arrogant at times, but it was revealed as the season went on that none of her tribemates, even close allies like Artis and Pete, didn't think very highly of her, seeing her as crude and obnoxious.
• Smug Snake
• Spicy Latina: Well, she is Brazilian.
• Ship Tease: With Pete and following his elimination with Malcolm.
• The Tease: Towards Peter and Malcolm though more the latter.
• Villainous Breakdown: Breaks down crying during Tribal Council at the Final 8 once she discovers that everybody at Dangrayne (save Pete) hates her, complaining that she doesn't understand English, let alone American customs, because she's Brazilian.
• Woman Child: She's pretty immature for a 32-year-old.

Track-and-field coach and a player for Kalabaw. Despite receiving the least amount of screentime of anyone who made the merge, the one thing every one of his tribemates could agree on when talking about Carter was that he was a great kid who nobody could say a bad thing about. He initially played second-fiddle to Jeff Kent before the merge, and after Jeff was eliminated he found himself working with Jonathan Penner. However, once Jonathan was eliminated he was left on his own, and after he lost immunity at the Final 6 he was put on the chopping block against Abi-Maria, and the desire to use Abi as a finals goat sent Carter home in 6th place.

---

• Ambiguously Gay: His appearance and some of his mannerisms (occasional limp-wristage, high voice) suggest this.
• Badass
  • Badass Adorable
  • Badass Teacher
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: A slow-learning, slightly effeminate castaway, right? Yes, except for outright winning two highly physical individual immunity challenges almost uncontested. Also part of why he had to go.
• The Big Guy: Of Kalabaw and later Dangrayne.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Beware the Quiet Ones
• Camp Straight: Alternative possibility to Ambiguously Gay above. In this case, he'd be an Expy of Tyson.
• Cool Teacher: A track-and-field coach.
• The Dragon: To Jeff Kent and, after Kent's elimination, Jonathan Penner.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Overlaps with Bishōnen. Also, he bears a strange resemblance to fellow tribe mate Dana.
• Dumb Blonde: With moments of genius sprinkled in sometimes, such as coming up with the idea that won his team the Philippine village reward.
• Dumb Muscle: He faltered at the mental challenges of the game, but tore through and won the physical individual challenges in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Fragile Speedster: Being a track and field coach, it comes with the career.
• Freudian Slip: When asking Penner who should they vote...
  "Penner or Katie? (Beat) I mean, Denise or Katie?"
• Hot Teacher
• Last of His Kind: Survived to become the last original Kalabaw member standing thanks to everyone else from his tribe being a bigger threat and a more desirable target than he was.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Nice Guy
• Out of Focus
• Shounen Hair
• Token Good Teammate: To Kalabaw.
• Worthy Opponent: More so in the challenges, which is why he was initially voted out over Abi.

Film/TV writer and alumnus from Cook Islands and Micronesia, now playing for Kalabaw in what he considers his third chance to win, after his first outing ended with eviction, and the second saw him forcibly evacuated due to a knee infection (the latter which served as his reason to enter this season). After initially having it good for the first half of the game, his rejection of a pact with Lisa and Michael, compounded with Abi-Maria winning immunity, meant that Jonathan was the only ideal target, and he was voted out once again in 7th place.

---

• Badass Grandpa
• The Bus Came Back
• Character Development: Plays a much better social game here than in either of his preceding seasons.
• The Chessmaster: Despite being a target from the very first day, he managed to survive well past the extinction of most of Kalabaw and into Dangrayne with his diplomacy skills alone.
• Cool Old Guy
• Dangerously Genre Savvy
• Determinator
• Fourth Wall Observer: Approaches this at the Final 9, when he tried to convince Lisa to turn against her alliance by asking her to consider what "story" she'd like to tell.
• Freudian Trio: Of the three returnees, he is the Id.
• Go Out with a Smile: And whistling too!
• Graceful Loser: Zig Zagged. He wasn't a Sore Loser when voted off, but he refused to hug the remaining players except Carter in his exit.
• Idiot Ball: Despite his Dangerously Genre Savvy moments, he made a few crucial blunders that cost him the game. It was his rogue vote for Abi that sent Jeff Kent in 9th place, and it was his refusal of Michael and Lisa's offer of an alliance that led them to make a final four deal with Malcolm and Denise.
• Large Ham
• Last Name Basis
• The Leader: Of Kalabaw.
• My Greatest Third Chance: He won his first individual immunity challenge in three attempts at the game, even lampshading the fact. This season is also regarded as when his social game was at his best, especially when he was targeted three times in a row.
• Nice Hat
• Noble Demon
• Older and Wiser
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To all three of the finalists - he calls Denise a bitch in more-or-less words, tells Skupin he'll never have his name written down.
• Spanner in the Works: Had he not won the Final 10 immunity challenge, the subsequent Tribal Council would have been far more predictable.
• The Strategist
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Team Dad: As seen when Dana was evacuated.
• Took a Level in Badass
• Took a Level in Kindness
• Warrior Therapist: See his talk with Lisa at the Final 9, where he helps her work out some of her issues while simultaneously trying to influence her vote to spare him.
• Worthy Opponent: The other players know how much of a threat he is which is why he is targeted to be voted out. Pete even compliments him for this when voting for him at the Final 9.
• Zen Survivor: Moreso than Michael and Russell, as he made it to the merge back in Cook Islands.

Ukrainian-blooded engineering graduate, fashion model and another power player for Tandang - or so he was initially billed. As time passed, his manipulative ways - not the least of which is pitting RC and Abi against each other - started to wane once he tried to bring Malcolm to his side, unaware that he's a lot smarter than he looked. He eventually gets booted out after Abi plays her hidden immunity idol, only to negate their 3-vote tie, putting him out of the game in 8th place.

---

• Beware the Quiet Ones
• The Chessmaster: He's billed as one at first, by managing to break up the trust Abi and RC had in each other by turning them against each other, but it just so happened that Jonathan and Malcolm were better.
• The Engineer
• Evil Gloating: Started to slip into this once he turned Abi and RC against each other, and later on once Tandang started to run the game.
• Friendly Enemy: To Malcolm.
• Genius Bruiser: He fills both The Big Guy and The Smart Guy roles for Tandang well.
• Genre Savvy: A step down from Dangerously Genre Savvy, as he did indicate to Malcolm he had an idol, while Malcolm didn't let on he had found the Matsing idol just under the buzzer. This indirectly contributed to his eventual downfall.
• Graceful Loser: His final words were nothing but nice things about Abi-Maria, whom everyone else loathed throughout the game.
• Hidden Depths: One would expect him to be much like the jock stereotype thanks to his looks and portrayed personality, but in real life he's actually a huge gamer and nerd, openly posting gaming pictures and World of Warcraft screenshots on his social media outlets.
• Idiot Ball: Things would've gone a lot differently had he followed Lisa's plan to blindside Malcolm instead of running right to him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Karmic Elimination: Had he treated Lisa and Michael better, or possibly had better control over what Abi-Maria told them, they might not have turned on him.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mr. Fanservice
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Abi-Maria's flirting doesn't work on him.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Was perfectly willing to let RC and Abi-Maria think he was nothing but a pretty face when he in fact contributed to their turning on one another.
• Older Hero Vs Younger Villain: Pete is the younger villain to Michael and Penner's older heroes.
• One of Us: See Hidden Depths.
• Ship Tease: With Abi.
• Smug Snake
• The Stoic
• Tall, Dark, Handsome and Snarky

Computer engineer, cancer survivor and player for Tandang. Aligned with "villains" Pete and Abi after RC was pushed out of the group. Was targeted at the Final 9 because he was the least likely of the three to have Tandang's idol, and was ultimately voted out in 9th place.

---

• Angry Black Man: Thanks to his Perpetual Frowner status, it's easy to confuse him as such. He even mentioned that he had come across like this at the reunion.
• Badass Grandpa
• Bald of Awesome
• The Big Easy
• The Big Guy: Of Tandang.
• Cool Old Guy
• Bling of War: His gold earring.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially toward RC, Michael, and Abi.
• Go Out with a Smile: Left in a pretty respectable way, especially compared to Jeff Kent who left before him.
• Graceful Loser: His post-elimination speech was very gracious, going so far as to complement Penner for outwitting him, a surprising contrast to the near-constant complaining that had been seen from him up to that point.
• Grumpy Old Man: Sometimes crossed into this.
• Karmic Elimination: The vote at the Final 9 was between him and Penner. The 2 remaining Matsing and Kalabaw members voted for him, while Tandang voted for Penner - except Michael, who he complained about quite a lot during his entire stay.
• Mighty Glacier
• Noodle Incident: Something certainly happened between him and Michael that lead to their strained relationship. He eventually explained it on Twitter as due to Michael's supposed arrogance in building a structurally unstable shelter, which Mike denies. Make of it what you will.
• Out of Focus
• Perpetual Frowner: According to him, his relaxed face is a scowl, which made him look like he was perpetually angry at something.
• The Resenter: Of Michael, though he was happy for him when the the former won immunity.
• Team Dad: Shared the role with Skupin for Tandang.
• Zen Survivor: He survived Stage 4 cancer, after all.

Former Major League Baseball player, five-time All Star, 2000 National League MVP and a player for Kalabaw. Desired to get rid of Penner since the beginning, and tried voting him out the first chance he got. This ended up backfiring on at the next Tribal Council: Penner ended up winning immunity, and in the resulting scramble, the very people he schemed with to vote Penner out end up voting him out instead in 10th place.

---

• Badass Moustache
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: See Villain with Good Publicity below.
• Disc One Final Boss
• Enemy Mine: From the very beginning he had intended to get rid of Penner, but despite this they formed a strong alliance for the first half of the game. He quickly turned on him after they made it to the merge, however
• Entitled Bastard: Former professional baseball player, which made for a contrast with Lisa Whelchel, who like Kent was moderately famous before Survivor but who was way nicer to her fellow contestants.
• Game Breaking Injury: Subverted. While it's played up in both the advertisements and the episodes that his twisted knee might hinder him or have him taken out of the game, it barely came up after the second episode.
• Karmic Elimination: Stopped Penner's plan to join RC and Skupin because he doesn't want returning players to go far. When Tandang targets him and he needs the returning players to vote with him, Skupin votes with Tandang against him at 5, while Penner chose to vote against Abi over Pete (as the rest of Kalabaw did), averting a 5-5 tie that carried the risk of Kent remaining in the game.
• Good Ol' Boy
• Jerk Jock: And how!
• The Lancer: Of Kalabaw.
• Older Than They Look
• Properly Paranoid: Believed Dawson was on to him and his past as a ballplayer just because she brought up sports at camp, so he convinced his alliance to boot her to keep it a secret. Luckily for him, he helped eliminate the one person in the game who knew who he was.
• The Resenter: While majority of the castaways are against returning players, Jeff seems to despise them in a very different level.
  "I don't want Russell, Skupin or Penner to win."
• Retired Badass
• Revenge Before Reason: Refused to ally with Penner against Pete solely because he was a returning player. That cost him dearly.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves
• Smug Snake
• The Starscream
• Token Evil Teammate
• Two First Names
• Unknown Rival: Was obsessed with getting Penner out. Penner had no clue.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Brutally played straight: As a professional baseball player, Jeff Kent was widely reviled as an asshole by teammates everywhere he played and generally had a horrible reputation as a human being. However, he was a solid baseball player who largely kept most of his darker beliefs (such as being his homophobia, going so far as to contributing funds to an anti-gay legislation for a state he didn't even live in) on the downlow and who lucked up in that he spent most of his days playing alongside Barry Bonds, who was an even bigger Jerk Ass than Kent, which allowed Kent to downplay his reputation professionally for the bulk of his career. As such, Jeff Kent received a favorable edit from the producers and was widely liked by his teammates, though the bulk of his teammates were uninterested in baseball and as such, only knew him from the press release given about his career and Kent surgically removed the only player who showed any interest in sports, simply on the FEAR that she MIGTH have heard one of the many stories horror stories about him.

Investment banker and a major player for Tandang. While she was initially in a position of power, with a solid alliance with Abi-Maria, Pete and Michael, Abi-Maria and Pete pulled a coup once Malcolm arrived, sending her original game crumbling to the ground. At her first Tribal Council, in the merged tribe, Jonathan played his hidden idol, blocking the five votes that would have eliminated him, and caused her to fall through the trapdoor on four, eliminating her at 11th place.

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• Action Girl
• Aloof Dark Haired Girl
• Alpha Bitch: Subverted big time.
• Brainy Brunette
• Butt Monkey: Was bullied by most of Tandang for majority of the pre-merge game (one explanation for Nice Character, Mean Actor below), and then became the first person voted off the game at her first and only tribal council.
• Femme Fatale
• Fun with Acronyms
• Fur Bikini: Wears a (fake) leopard-skin designed swimsuit.
• Hidden Depths: She's actually a member of her college's swimming team.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Lisa.
• The Lancer: Of Tandang.
• Male Gaze
• Ms. Fanservice
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Many stories have popped up about RC and her behavior both on the show and off the show, but listing them all would take up an entire page - what can be said, however, is that RC received a much more generous portrayal than someone who acted like she did off-camera should have.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: RC
• Statuesque Stunner
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Zettai Ryouiki

2011 Miss Delaware and a player for Kalabaw. After being forced to align with Dana and Dawson thanks to Penner pulling in Carter and Jeff, Dana's sudden sickness and her unwillingness to cause a tie to save Dawson end up leaving her to the odd woman out. Despite Carter and Jeff debating the possibility of voting Jonathan out before the merge, they end up voting out Katie instead in 12th place.

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• Aloof Dark Haired Girl
• The Chick: Of Kalabaw.
• An Elimination in the Limelight
• Lady in Red: Justified as it is Kalabaw's color.
• The Load: Was a major liability in some of the challenges.
• Ms. Fanservice: Goes with being a former beauty queen.
• Out of Focus
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
• Self-Deprecation: Quite a few after her performance during the fifth immunity challenge.
• Statuesque Stunner
• We Hardly Knew Ye
• What Beautiful Eyes

An insurance saleswoman and member of Kalabaw. The only person on Kalabaw to recognize Jeff Kent, she was forced to align with the other females once Jeff and Carter aligned with Penner, but her game came crashing to the ground after Dana was evacuated, and once Jeff realized she knew who he was, she was the first target, and the first person voted out of Kalabaw in 13th place.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Apparently, she's half African-American and Half Caucasian.
• Lady in Red: Justified as it is Kalabaw's color.
• Last Name Basis: "Dawson", and she even refers to Jeff Probst in the same way. (Helps that she's playing with a player that is also named Jeff, to help circumvent confusion.)
• Loony Fan: Of Jeff Probst himself, as she took the opportunity once she was voted out to hug him seemingly against his will. Then during the reunion show, the minute Probst addressed her she ran up and gave him a big smooch on the lips.
• Poor Communication Kills: Hinting that she knew who Jeff Kent was did much more damage than outright telling Kalabaw.
• She Knows Too Much: Played a role in her boot, as she knew about Jeff Kent's past.
• Three First Names

Cosmetologist and a power player for Kalabaw. While she was initially a well-liked, well-respected member of her tribe, she was stricken with illness shortly after the tribe dissolution, and the medical team was called in to check on her. While they told her she could stay in another 12 hours before checking up on her condition again, the pain was too much for her and she agreed to pull herself out of the game for her personal health, finishing up in 14th place.

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• Action Girl
• Bifauxnen
• Face of a Thug
• I Coulda Been A Contender
• Lady in Red: Justified as it is Kalabaw's color.
• Older Than They Look
• Nice Girl
• No Damage Run: Technically, she never had to go to tribal council, and therefore, received no votes throughout the season.
• Non Gameplay Elimination: Although she did not have a life-threatening condition, she pulled out due to concerns about her recovery time. Pretty shocking for one of Kalabaw's strongest players. As a result, she was considered to have "Quit", but Probst was a lot more sympathetic than he normally is to people who quit.
• Straight Gay
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Blacking out twice from dehydration during his outing in Samoa and being forcibly evacuated, Philadelphia attorney Russell comes back with a mission to win the second time around. Unfortunately, his pushy, loud-mouthed attitude didn't win him many friends in the tribe, who only kept him around for 10 days because they needed his experience. Their loss in four straight challenges also didn't help his temper and sanity. Come the fourth tribal council, Russell was shocked when Malcolm and Denise, whom he thought were now gunning for each other (and believing himself a swing vote), instead joined forces (which was their plan all along) to boot him out of the game in 15th place.

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• Angry Black Man: Justified due to his tribe losing the first four back-to-back immunity challenges.
• Badass Longhair
• Black Dude Dies First: The first returnee to be Voted Off The Island.
• Boisterous Bruiser
• The Bus Came Back
  • Back for the Dead
• Butt Monkey
• Character Filibuster
• Cool Old Guy
• Despair Event Horizon: Come his first straight immunity loss, all he could do was sit on the beach, pray, even as his chances of staying longer in the game, let alone making it to the merge, slowly ebbed away.
• Dramatic Irony: In Samoa, he was The Leader of the dominant Galu tribe pre-merge.
• Dreadlock Warrior
• Failure Hero
• Freudian Trio: Of the three returnees, he is the Superego.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The only reason he managed to hang on for ten days is because Matsing needed his experience.
• Full Name Basis
• Genre Blindness: Survivor is a game where people take the word "trust" with a grain of salt. Alas, Russell is too quick to trust Malcolm and Denise when they approached him with an offer to vote "the other", not thinking for a second that they may have him on their minds.
• Mighty Glacier
• My Greatest Second Chance: Subverted, but being Voted Off The Island was still better than a med-evac, wasn't it?
• The Perfectionist: Lampshaded by the man himself.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Under his leadership, Matsing lost four straight immunity challenges, decimating the entire tribe except for Malcolm and Denise.
• Sanity Slippage: Oh, man, after that fourth loss, by a hair...
• Serious Business: He went into a month-long depression after losing Survivor which lasted even to the live reunion.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: His entire Survivor experience could be seen as this.
• Standardized Leader: While he initially dismissed the idea of being a tribe leader again, he relapsed into leader mode.
• Supporting Leader: While he is the Standardized Leader of Matsing, Malcolm is the tribe's front-runner.
• Team Dad
• Third-Person Person: He does this in one of the Tribal Councils.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He wasn't a Jerkass per se, but frustrations due to constantly losing in immunity challenges caused Russell's negative personality to show.
• Zen Survivor

The youngest of the 18 castaways, Angie, a college student, model and beauty queen, barely looks fit for surviving in the middle of nowhere. And throughout her eight days in the game it shows: she comes across as nothing but a bimbo and a flirt to Matsing's resident hot guy Malcolm, and nigh-useless when she tried to contribute to her tribe. Despite doing everything she could to prove her more worthy of staying than Russell, she was voted out in 16th place.

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• Butt Monkey
• The Chick: Of Matsing.
• The Cutie
• The Ditz/Dumb Blonde
• Faux Action Girl: it's pointed out by her tribemates that thanks to losing back-to-back challenges as a tribe, she was forced into attempting and failing at being an Action Girl in order to keep the team afloat.
• Gag Boobs
• Go Out with a Smile
• Hero Worshipper: On one interview she said she idolized Jud "Fabio" Birza, because like her he was also dismissed as a Dumb Blond, only to storm his way into the prize. It doesn't work her way, unfortunately.
• Male Gaze
• Ms. Fanservice
• Ship Tease: With Malcolm.
• The Tease: According to Roxanne.
• True Blue Femininity: Justified as it is Matsing's color.
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Seminary student and an outspoken member of Matsing, being the first to suspect something going on between Malcolm and Angie. That, however, came back to bite her when they targeted her for elimination, and she was voted out in 17th place.

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• The Cassandra
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Though her complaints included things like the tribe does too much work around camp.
• Eliminated By Genre Savviness
• The Lancer: Of Matsing.
• Religious Bruiser
• True Blue Femininity: Justified as it is Matsing's color.
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Tire repair boy and the first person voted out of the season. During the first tribal council, Zane made a gamble to volunteer for eviction by taking the blame for their loss in the first immunity challenge (after running short of breath, which he attributes to withdrawal symptoms from smoking) just to see who would want him around. And it worked too well: the entire tribe, then rearing to boot Russell out, instead voted him off in 18th place.

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• The Chessmaster: Inverted; seeing as he applied a checkers term to a statement of him being this trope, he's probably never played chess in his life.
• Didn't Think This Through
• Face of a Thug
• Grease Monkey
• Idiot Ball: While the tribe was fully prepared to vote out Russell first, he pulled his Wounded Gazelle Gambit a little too well.
• Mr Fix It
• Nice Cap
• Precision F-Strike: He walked out muttering "Son of a bitch!" in response to his own plan backfiring.
• We Hardly Knew Ye
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tried this to stay safe and get rid of Russell. Failed.