Characters / Survivor: Winners at War

The Tribes

Dakal

• A House Divided: Dakal is divided between players who have played multiple times and are active members of the Survivor community led by Sandra, and players who have only played once and almost never met each other or other players, led by Yul.
• Sword and Gun: The latter part of this trope, as Dakal is a corruption of the Fijian word for gun.

Sele

• A House Divided: Sele is divided by Old-Schoolers (Danni, Ethan, Parvati, and Rob) and New-Schoolers (everybody else). This led to some trust issues in the tribe, hence some tribe losses.
• Butt-Monkey: Lost all but three challenges in the tribal phase.
• Sword and Gun: The former part of this trope, as Sele is the Fijian word for sword.

Yara

• Emerald Power: Aside from their challenge loss in their first Immunity Challenge, Yara became the dominate force of the three tribes.
• Odd Name Out: Dakal and Sele were the Fijian words for weaponry such as guns and swords. Yara's translation is harrow, which most commonly refers to a farming tool.
• Took a Level in Badass: After voting out Rob, Yara managed to win the next immunity challenge, sending both Sele and Dakal to Tribal Council. But then the Merge came...
• Total Party Kill: Nobody on Yara made it to Final Three.

Sole Survivor

Tony Vlachos

Tribe: Dakal —> Dakal —> Koru

Age: 45

From: Allendale, New Jersey

Previous Seasons: Cagayan, Game Changers

Winner of Survivor: Cagayan

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• The Ace: Evolved into one over the course of the season, as the holes in his previous games were patched and his strengths reached new heights. Many fans, commentators and former players now regard him to be the greatest who has ever played.
• Arch-Enemy: He winds up becoming this for Michelle, having voted off all of her allies, leaving her the last member of the opposing alliance.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Sarah seized power fairly early on in the merge, and have been working together to run the game since.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He shows very poor common sense by climbing an unstable ladder 20 feet high to get papayas, but later shows he's still got strategic chops by aligning with Sarah, but keeping it low key to avoid arousing suspicion.
• Cassandra Truth: When Natalie returns from Extinction, Tony is utterly convinced that she brought an idol with her. Ben and Sarah both dismiss this claim out of hand even though Tony refuses to back off. At Tribal Council, Natalie ends up proving Tony correct, much to the latter's chagrin.
• Chaotic Neutral: He is hardly a villain this time around all the chaotic things that he does is to be at a better position within the other tribemates. How he reacts to Sandra her ally being voted off? Feels happy and wants to vote with Denise the person they were trying to vote out. Fits all the four archetypes, the hedonist since he only cares for himself, the anarchist because he is willing to work with Sarah in order to take out big targets, the rebel for his flip flopping and the nutter because he is Tony.
• The Chessmaster: Tony ran the second half of the game with almost no opposition.
• Deadpan Snarker: When asked how winning Survivor changed his life he stated it bumped him into a higher tax bracket.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After his abysmal and short-lived stint in Game Changers, Tony ends up with a No-Damage Run win at Winners At War and becomes the second two-time winner of Survivor, making him the King of Survivor.
• Genius Ditz: Once you get past his crazy antics Tony is actually a really smart player the thing is that most of the time he is doing crazy antics.
• Hypocrite: At first, Tony is happy to have received an Extortion Advantage as that means he could screw somebody out of Fire Tokens. But when he finds out that it's being played against himself, he calls foul. Though to be fair, everyone else's advantage this season has at least benefited them. Tony had nothing to gain with his advantage.
• I Gave My Word: When it comes to paying back fire tokens, at least. Even when he learned Nick was planning to stab him in the back, he still gave him a token because Nick stepped down to give him immunity after being offered.
• Irony: Tony is a fast and distracted person, but managed to win an Immunity Challenge that required patience and focus. Even he lampshades how weird that is. He does it again in the next episode.
• It Only Works Once: Acknowledged in pre-game interviews. He called his strategy in Cagayan a "one-trick pony". However, he goes back to the spy bunker after seeing Rob voted out. Then come late in the merge, Tony goes back to his chaotic behavior from Cagayan. Ultimately averted, as he brought back many of his old tricks from Cagayan and won yet again.
• Keet: He's shown to be very excitable.
• Last of His Kind: He became the last man standing after Ben was voted out 5th.
• Manly Tears: He tears up after beating Sarah in the fire-making challenge in the Final Four.
• Mood Whiplash: When he receives the Extortion Advantage, he is ecstatic to find that the advantage requires a payment of six fire tokens to participate in the next Immunity Challenge or Tribal Council ... until he reads the bottom of the note stating that the advantage is being played against him.
• No-Damage Run: Tony didn't receive a single vote against him throughout the season.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The eccentric, manic red to Sarah's calm, practical blue.
• Snap Back: By the late merge, Tony came back to normal and is only looking for himself. Not only is he back looking for idols, but he's planning blindsides against his own alliance.
• Sole Survivor: Tony becomes the second two-time winner.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Sarah threatened her friendship with Tony after he voted out Sophie if he ever voted her out. After eliminating Ben she was emerging as a finale threat. With Natalie winning immunity and Tony beating Sarah in the fire challenge, not technically voting her out, he managed to win the season and keep his friendship with Sarah
• Team Killer: He's prone to voting out his own allies, such as Sophie and Nick.
• Took a Level in Badass: Tony is a physical player, but he lost individual Immunity Challenges in his first season as most are endurance challenges, focused based, and have puzzle components. All of which he lacked in Cagayan. But this season, he wins four individual Immunity Challenges, three of which emphasized balancing and focusing.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He is hardly a villain this time around and leans more into Chaotic Neutral. Yul even lampshades this at tribal council.
  Yul: I thought Tony was going to be an ass but he is actually a really caring guy.
  • He still invoked it in this season even when he returns to his Cagayan antics, the difference is that this Tony is universally loved tried to cheer everyone up and was trying to help everyone as a person, part of the reason of why Tony won without any votes against him, the reason of why he got away with playing a dominant game, Cagayan Tony wasn't trusted by most of the jury and his win was more in hindsight that no one took Woo seriously, WAW Tony was trusted by everyone and even the people that tried to take him out wanted to do it because they knew if he got to the end he would've won. Compare Cagayan Tony viciously clapping when Sarah got voted out and WAW Tony crying when Sarah got eliminated in the F4 fire making.
• Undying Loyalty: To Ben and Sarah. Tony had their backs the whole game.
• Weirdness Coupon: Tony's reputation and manic energy gives him a pass on a lot of his suspicious behavior, because it would be even more suspicious if he wasn't doing it. When he goes missing before a tribal council because he's rebuilt his infamous Spy Shack, the alibi he gives his allies is that he fell out of a tree looking for idols and they just accept it as Tony being Tony.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He got an earful from Sarah after blindsiding Sophie.

Runner-Ups

Natalie Anderson

Tribe: Sele —> Edge —> Koru

Age: 33

From: Edgewater, New Jersey

Previous Season: San Juan Del Sur

Winner of Survivor: San Juan del Sur

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• Action Girl: Her physical prowess has been repeatedly noted by other players on Edge of Extinction. She also ends up having the most accumulated tokens out of everyone, with a total of 14 tokens. She then beats everyone in the final Edge of Extinction competition to get back into the game, and wins the final immunity challenge.
• Awesome by Analysis: She figured out the code for the combo lock was the number of seashells that were hidden in the bamboo tubes.
• Back from the Dead: Natalie won her way back into the game, ultimately making it to the Final Tribal Council.
• Bittersweet Ending: Natalie was the first person voted out of Winners at War, and had to fight the longest and hardest to get back in. Despite losing the first challenge back in, she wins the second one, ultimately making it to the Final Three and ends up in second place. While she doesn't win, the fact that she goes from dead last to second is still something to be proud of.
• Family of Choice: Her and Jeremy, given how she describes their relationship almost like blood. This actually ended up being the reason she was targeted, as Adam pointed out that Natalie and Jeremy being a pair on the same tribe made them dangerous.
• Fatal Flaw: Her big mistake was choosing to take Michele to the final three - pitting Tony against Sarah. This was seen as a "Safe" move, and the jury didn't respect her choice to take Michele rather than forcing Michele to prove herself against Tony or even taking on Tony herself like Chris Underwood did in Edge Of Extinction.
• Final Boss: With all his major enemies out of the game and Michele having no means of beating the dominant alliance, Natalie serves as the last true threat against Tony.
• History Repeats: She was the first voted out in her second attempt on a reality show, just like how it went in The Amazing Race: All-Stars (2014). Since Nadiya was voted out of San Juan Del Sur first, this makes them the first team to be eliminated first from both Amazing Race and Survivor.
  • This was also her second time competing on a show with a twist of (potentially) $2 million as its prize compared to standard $1 million, after the "Double Your Money" twist in her first Race appearance with Nadiya in Season 21.
• Spanner in the Works: Everything seemed set for a Tony-Sarah-Ben Final Three, but Natalie's arrival and gameplay tore the dominant alliance apart leaving Tony as the only one to make the final three.

Michele Fitzgerald

Tribe: Sele —> Sele —> Koru

Age: 29

From: Hoboken, New Jersey

Previous Season: Kaôh Rōng

Winner of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng

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• Action Girl: She won two crucial immunities, which allowed her to shake up the game and ultimately make it to the Final Tribal Council.
• Arch-Enemy: Tony has been involved in or responsible for nearly every single ally Michele has lost over the course of the game, and she goes into the finale determined to vote him out.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As seen in her original season, Michele is a nice girl who can play a cut-throat game. This is best seen where she not only gets the New School Alliance to turn on Adam, but also prevents Boston Rob and Parvati from taking advantage of Adam's unpopularity by blindsiding their ally Ethan.
  • She also chewed out Nick for his move in episode 13, pointing out that he had just inevitably screwed them both and landed them on the bottom.
• Born Unlucky: Michele manages to beat Denise tribal council record, thanks to always being on tribes that are too incompetent, Michele eventually gets stuck in a position when everyone wants to vote her out but no one wants to vote her as part of the jury and when Natalie comes back it backfires since Natalie takes away possible jury votes that could have been going to her (Ethan, Jeremy, Parvati). And people who considered voting for her didn't in fear Natalie would win if they split the votes to make Michelle 2nd place (Danni, Adam, Nick, and Wendell all considered voting for her but didn't).
• Butt-Monkey: Nothing seems to go right for her after finding herself on a tribe with Wendell, her ex-boyfriend. First, her tribe loses immunity twice due to Wendell being a showboating jerkass, and he only takes a little bit of responsibility for said loses. Then, she suffers constant abuse at the hands of Wendell, after trying to patch things up by giving him a fire token (which eventually gets into Wendell's thick skull when he bequeaths the fire tokens to Michele and Nick), and when she seemingly has a perfect plan to blindside Adam, only other three people bite, and Wendell gets voted out instead, causing her to be on the outs. Even in the final tribal council, despite having a very respectable underdog story, she doesn't get a single vote.
• Bittersweet Ending: Michele came into Winners At War feeling like she didn't deserve her win due to the backlash and controversy she received, and fought her hardest from the bottom to make it to the end and win. While she didn't win, she did make it to the end and received validation from the other winners that she did deserve to be there, and ultimately that she did deserve her first win.
• Cassandra Truth: Michele seems to be the only one still in game who correctly realizes the threat Tony poses, as well as the fact he's playing everyone and in a tight alliance with Sarah and Ben, thus having his ideal final three. Sarah doesn't believe her when she tries to explain Tony's threat level, and Nick is eventually voted out after blindly following Tony and being let go when Michele couldn't be voted out.
• The Hero: Michelle is one of the nicest and most morally upstanding players of the season, and towards the end, she has become an Arch-Enemy for Tony.
• History Repeats: She wins the exact same challenge she won in Kaôh Rōng, complete with it being a come from behind victory.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: She wants to prove to her doubters that she deserved the title back in Kaôh Rōng. She mentions the controversy that she received after winning, but Rob told her not to worry about it too much.
• Out of Focus: Much like Wendell and Nick, Michele doesn't have as much screen time or focus compared to the other winners in the beginning. This changed Episode 3, where she spearheaded Ethan's blindside.
• The Smurfette Principle: After Parvati's elimination, Michele is the only female left in Sele.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Tried doing this for Jeremy who was initially the target in episode 12, by giving him her coin advantage that gave him a fifty-fifty chance of immunity at tribal. It didn't pan out due to the target changing onto Kim, but she still tried to help him.
  • This eventually happened to her in Episode 13; her fifty-fifty advantage kept her immune the first half of the episode, and she pulled out an immunity win the last half of the episode.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Subverted, as although she did fight from the bottom and made it to the Final Tribal Council, she didn't receive any votes and placed in third.
• Working with the Ex: After the tribe swap, Michele finds herself in a tribe with Wendell, her ex-boyfriend.

The Jury (Post-Merge)

Sarah Lacina

Tribe: Dakal —> Yara —> Koru

Age: 34

From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Previous Seasons: Cagayan, Game Changers

Winner of Survivor: Game Changers

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• All for Nothing: Her dilemma about voting Ben out, as she was worried that Natalie would have an idol and that she and Michele would take another person out, thus depriving Sarah of a chance to make moves for her resume. Ben willingly allows her to vote him out in order for her to have a better chance at winning, but had Sarah just stuck with her vote for Michele, Michele would have been gone, Ben would have stayed and her chances of reaching Final Tribal would have been better. Voting Ben out, ultimately, cost her the game.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: She and Tony seized power fairly early into the merge, and have been working together to run the game since.
• Bittersweet Ending: Sarah ultimately lost the fire-making challenge against Tony in a neck-to-neck race, landing her in fourth. However, she finds new appreciation for the Game Changers gameplay, as she realizes that the backlash she got was never because she was a bad person using ruthless means to win, but rather that there was gender bias in Survivor that condemned her while praising someone like Tony for similar moves. And with that realization, she feels a weight lifted off her shoulders and feels proud for being a strong female player.
• Character Development: Her giving up her reward to Nick as a birthday present was in stark contrast to her cold-blooded "win at all costs" attitude from Game Changers.
• The Dreaded: In pre-season interviews, 5 of the winners have stated they would vote her out first. Parvati, of all people, even said she was scared of her.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: In-Universe players were unsure if giving up reward was strategic or genuine kindness, she revealed on Twitter she's allergic to Chinese food.
• Fatal Flaw: Much like Cagayan, overconfidence. Sarah's game was completely undone when she came to the conclusion that there was no chance Natalie could pose a threat. As a direct result of underestimating the first boot, Sarah's entire alliance save Tony fails to make it to Final Three.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: While Sarah was very angry at Tony for voting out Sophie, and that it could potentially sink her game, she ultimately forgives him and continues to have his back, but also warns him that if he votes her out they'll no longer be friends.
• History Repeats:
  • She won a Vote Steal Advantage for the second time ever (the first was in Game Changers). Also she technically had to steal the advantage from someone else to get it. The first time it was supposed to go to the person who sat out of the challenge (Michaela), but she found it first. This time she had to steal it from the torch of the other tribe.
    • Once again she used it correctly to take out a major physical threat.
  • Speaking of Game Changers, Sarah was sent to a brand new green tribe come a tribal swap.
• Irony: Tony had voted her out in their first season, and then Sarah had voted out Sandra in the second one. Now she's in an alliance with both of them.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: The fact that she gave up reward out of sheer niceness puts a target on her back thanks to the aggressive way she played in Game Changers.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike Tony, who likes to pull off double crosses and complex schemes, Sarah simply prefers to use her alliance's greater numbers to vote off her alliance's enemies.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm, practical blue to Tony's eccentric, manic red.
• Underestimating Badassery: Sarah's critical mistake was severely underestimating Natalie and assuming she didn't have an idol, even though everyone who has ever come back from the Edge is either gifted an idol, or can use Fire Tokens to buy one on reentry. This mistake cost her core alliance from going to Final Three, with only Tony making it to the end.
• Undying Loyalty: Sarah remained true to her alliance the whole game, and only voted Ben out because he permitted her to do so.
• You Go, Girl!: Much of her final gameplay and confessionals has her wanting to prove herself as a strong female player, and condemns the gender bias that made her feel so bad about her win in Game Changers.

Ben Driebergen

Tribe: Sele —> Yara —> Koru

Age: 36

From: Boise, Idaho

Previous Season: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

Winner of Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

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• Arch-Enemy: Has become this to Rob. And Adam. And now Jeremy.
• Character Development: Ben realizes that though he's excellent at finding idols, his social game suffers for it and needs improvement. By bonding with Denise and helping her find it, rather than just taking for it himself, he made her trust him and helped save himself when he was on the chopping block. And then his social game tanks later in the game, due to making many enemies and refusing to cooperate with others.
  • This development comes back in the Finale, where instead of burning social bridges to save himself as he did his original season, he lets Sarah vote him out because he genuinely loves her and wants her to win.
• The Dragon: He's this for Tony and Sarah, serving as a sort of enforcer and spy on their behalf...
  • Dragon with an Agenda: ...Although, he also has something of a tendency to go rogue and focus on pursuing his personal goals, even when doing so isn't in Tony and Sarah's best interest.
• Dramatic Irony: He won his season by keeping secrets, but the very first episode he caves and tells Boston Rob the plan against him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Out of all the contestants, he's the one whose had the most enemies in the game due to his poor social game. Jeremy calls him out for his inability to be flexible and even Tony, who wants to work with Ben, will go behind his back or strong-arm him into a vote because he doesn't fully trust him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Willingly allows Sarah to vote him off in order to secure her place in the game when Natalie has a Hidden Immunity Idol and can play it for herself or for Michele. Since no one knew who she was going to play it for, but he knew he was the target, he felt it was better to get voted out in a way that made Sarah look like she was a stronger player than just following Tony's lead.
• Hero Killer: Played a key roll in the blindsides of Rob, Adam, Kim, and Jeremy.
• Honor Before Reason: Much like Ian from Palau, Ben would have rather been voted out and retained Sarah's friendship than see her lose the game.
• Loose Lips: He exposed Danni's plan of voting out Rob, right to Rob's face. He does it again later when Kim goes after Tony, resulting in Nick being outed when he lied and causing Kim to go.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He offers to let Sarah vote him out to improve her resume, which she accepts. However, Ben would have proven to be much more useful at the Final Four, where he would almost surely have been picked to face off against Tony in the fire making competition, where he could either defeat Tony or throw it. Being voted out in fifth place ensured that Sarah or Tony had to win the challenge for both of them to make the finals.
• Senseless Sacrifice: He willingly gave up his game for Sarah, having been moved by her speech of feeling ashamed for her win because of the actions she took, despite players like Tony doing similar and receiving praise. She is then eliminated the next day, after having failed to beat Tony in the fire-making challenge.
• Still Got It: He helped Denise find a Hidden Immunity Idol on the second day. He even found another idol in the merge.
• The Stool Pigeon: He's constantly brought in on people's plans to blindside Tony and Sarah, and always rats those people out.
• Undying Loyalty: To Tony and Sarah, but a little more towards Sarah.

Denise Stapley

Tribe: Sele —> Dakal —> Koru

Age: 48

From: Marion, Iowa

Previous Season: Philippines

Winner of Survivor: Philippines

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• Boyish Short Hair: Cut her hair short in between seasons.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Once Natalie came back from the Edge, Denise's game completely derailed as the former played an idol to protect herself, while Tony and Ben played their idols out of paranoia. Because of that, the votes against Natalie and Ben were nullified, and Denise and Sarah were in the hot seat as they were the only one eligible for voting (as Michele wore the immunity necklace that night, she could not be voted out).
• Guile Hero: Still has it, had she not quickly befriended Sandra (despite Sandra knowing she was on the minority) Sandra wouldn't have given her the idol.
• Here We Go Again!: Fears that Sele would go the same route Matsing did back in Philippines after losing the first immunity challenge. Thankfully subverted when they win the second immunity challenge - and then double subverted as they continued to lose afterwards.
• History Repeats:
  • Went from a blue tribe to a red tribe. Although the situation of it is different (Philippines had her move into Kalabaw because Matsing was whittled down to just her and Malcolm. Here, she moved to Dakal due to a traditional tribe swap).
  • Also won the first merge individual immunity challenge where only one boy and one girl could win again.
• Horrible Judge of Character: For some reason she thought it was a good idea to give Parvati half of her idol. However, it is averted with Adam as he is a super fan with good advice and managed to prevent her giving the idol to Parvati.
• Red Baron: The Queen Slayer. A title she proudly inherited after she single-handedly voted out Sandra.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Adam, a platonic version due to Adam having the most common sense to know when to strike on Rob's alliance while Denise, though energetic, was planning on giving a piece of an idol to Parvati.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After she constantly loses every tribal immunity challenge in her first season, she finally wins a tribal immunity challenge in the second half of the first episode. And then after losing two more immunity challenges, the bone gets back to her as Sele won immunity in Episode 4.

Nick Wilson

Tribe: Dakal —> Sele —> Koru

Age: 28

From: Williamsburg, Kentucky

Previous Season: David vs. Goliath

Winner of Survivor: David vs. Goliath

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• A Birthday, Not a Break: While unmentioned until the following episode, it was Nick's birthday when the merge episode was filmed, as a gift he finally gets content but all the content he gets is making fun of his awkward social skills, they make him look like insane in the Immunity Challenge and he is on the chopping block (thankfully he doesn't get voted out)
• Ascended Fan: Admitted to having a crush on Parvati and Tyson being one of his idols.
• Butt-Monkey: The editing had not been kind to Nick this season, who has been repeatedly shown as weird, creepy, ineffectual and any big moves with his involvement has been downplayed to showcase other players.
• Control Freak: Similar to Natalie if a vote doesn't go his way he will do everything in his way to take them out.
• History Repeats: Much to his frustration, Nick loses the saucer Immunity Challenge as he did back in David vs. Goliath. At least this time it was by only one second rather than the Epic Fail it was before.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After betraying Jeremy and Michele by voting the former out with Tony's group, he was voted out the next tribal due to Michele winning immunity and Tony sticking with his group.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Subverted. He considers aligning with Parvati due to his past crush on her, but he thankfully wises up and instead votes her out in episode 6.
• Out of Focus: Much like Michele and Wendell, he's not really the focal of the early episodes. Near the end of the tribe phase and into the merge, Nick starts to get more attention. Though not all for the better.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The minute Michele became immune was the minute Tony and Sarah decided Nick could no longer stick around, due to how shady and flip-flopping he was.

Jeremy Collins

Tribe: Sele —> Dakal —> Koru

Age: 41

From: Foxborough, Massachusetts

Previous Seasons: San Juan Del Sur, Cambodia

Winner of Survivor: Cambodia

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• Big Damn Heroes: When all hope seemed lost for Sele, he landed his tribes 3 rings on the oars first, saving them from tribal council that night.
• Family of Choice: Him and Natalie, as Natalie describes their relationship as almost like blood. It shows, given how upset he is when she's voted out but happy she still has his back in Island of Extinction by receiving her fire token. In the second episode, he gets an advantage from Natalie that allows him to leave Tribal Council in session, and be immune from the vote, at the price of his vote for that Tribal Council.
• Happily Married: To his wife Val, who played with him in San Juan Del Sur.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jeremy decides to use his Safety without Power when things got to chaotic for him, leaving his alliance down to four. And then certain events led to Tyson, his ally, getting voted out by the opposing alliance.
• Sadistic Choice: Either he buys himself one more day by leaving tribal council at the cost of letting his alliance deal with the majority, or he stays in tribal council and risks being voted out if Kim plays her idol on the wrong person. He chooses the first, and Tyson ends up leaving.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Ends up using his Safety without Power advantage in the Final 10 Tribal Council when things got too chaotic for him.
• Properly Paranoid: Ben confirms in episode 11 that Jeremy was the original target in episode 10, meaning his choice to play his safety without power was the right call.

Kim Spradlin-Wolfe

Tribe: Dakal —> Dakal —> Koru

Age: San Antonio, Texas

From: 36

Previous Season: One World

Winner of Survivor: One World

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• Action Girl: She won her fifth individual immunity at the Final Ten, which is more than any other woman in the show's history and more than anyone on the season.
• All of the Other Reindeer: She was on the outs of her starting tribe, and was almost never asked to talk strategy.
• Attack Backfire: After realizing how much power Tony has, Kim tries to rally people around her to take him out. Not only does the plan fail after Tony wins immunity again (even then, Tony also has a hidden immunity idol so he could have played it for himself that night if he lost), but she gets voted out after Ben mentions to Tony about her usurpation.
• Bittersweet Ending: Kim came into the game with the reputation of being a perfect player who played a flawless game, and she admitted concern about living up to that reputation. In the end, while she lost she was happy that despite making mistakes and being flawed, she is still herself and she isn't defined by an ideal of perfection.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Her game was derailed when Jeremy used his Safety Without Power and Sarah used her Vote Steal in the same tribal.
• Death by Irony : She gets voted off in a similar way Troyzan got voted out, being one of the few people openly against the majority alliance? Check. Couldn't eliminate the player they were targeting thanks to an immunity win? Also Check. The player wanted to eliminate her from the get go? Triple check.
• Idiot Ball: Drops out of a challenge where she had a one-in-three shot at a immunity, just to get some peanut butter and cookies.
• Ineffectual Loner: Ironically, like her previous nemesis Troyzan, Kim is completely on her own with her back to the wall and little to no cracks for her to exploit to get into the majority.
• Irony: Last time Kim played, she was calling the shots and decisions while in the majority. Now? She's in the minority and feels alienated when nobody wants to talk strategy with her.
• Living Lie Detector: She's shown to almost always know when someone is lying to her and when she's in danger. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save her.
• The Social Expert: She slowly but surely worked herself up from the bottom of her starting tribe and into a leadership position in the merged tribe.

Sophie Clarke

Tribe: Dakal —> Yara —> Koru

Age: 29

From: Santa Monica, California

Previous Season: South Pacific

Winner of Survivor: South Pacific

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• Bittersweet Ending: She got eliminated with an idol in her pocket, though she ended up being proud of the game she played and earned the respect of many fans who considered her an undeserving winner.
• Boring, but Practical: She was never the one calling all the shots, but she had major input on the decisions being made. Not as exciting as Sarah's or Tony's gameplay but it got her deep into the game until Tony deduced her as a potential threat to win.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's still got it since South Pacific. When asked who she'd vote out first, she said Sarah, stating she doesn't know what comes after from going cop to criminal but it can't be good.
• Didn't See That Coming: Was completely stunned that Tony blindsided her at Tribal.
• Out of Focus: Just like before. However, this was justified in the final tribal council - Sophie was absent from the penultimate tribal council due to sickness, and during the final tribal council she was still recovering. One look at her in the rain shows just how miserable she was.

Tyson Apostol

Tribe: Dakal —> Edge —> Koru

Age: 39

From: Mesa, Arizona

Previous Seasons: Tocantins, Heroes vs. Villains, Blood vs Water

Winner of Survivor: Blood vs. Water

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• Back from the Dead: Or rather, back from the Edge. Tyson managed to win his way back into the game thanks to conserving his energy with food and buying an advantage.
  • Back for the Dead: ...Only to be voted out again 6 days later.
• Bittersweet Ending: Gets voted out again 6 days after he returned, but managed to finally reach the family visit where he was reunited with his wife and daughter.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Him buying peanut butter instead of an advantage or an immunity idol might seem like a stupid idea but eventually that peanut butter kept him enough energy to win back the EOE challenge.
• Cassandra Truth: He manages to figure out that Yul has created an alliance of one-time players, but his attempts to warn his fellow multiple returnees (and Kim) fall on deaf ears.
• Deadpan Snarker: Gets several good cracks at Tony when he's bumbling his way up the ladder.
• Flipping the Bird: Flips off the Fire Token counter when he heads back to the Edge of Extinction. Though given Tyson's attitude, he meant it out of jesting as he had no Fire Tokens to will.
• Good Parents: He adores his children, and nearly cried during confessional when he admits he doesn't like to be away from them too long and already misses them. Showcased especially during episode 10.
• Graceful Loser: When he was first voted out, he bequeathed his fire token to Nick who idolized him in spite of being voted out by him.
• Happily Married: To his wife Rachel, who played with him in Blood vs. Water.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Tyson publicly suggesting Sandra as the first boot ended up backfiring on him hard, as no matter how much he tried to take it back and suggest they keep each other as shields, she couldn't trust him and ended up voting against him the second time Dakal went to tribal.
• History Repeats: His first elimination is similar to what happened in Heroes Vs. Villains''. Second person voted out of his tribe? Check. Was he wearing a red colored buff when it happened? Check.
• Last of His Kind: He's the only Old-School player to make it to the merge (granted he did have to win his way back into the game after spending a few days on the Edge).
• Yank the Dog's Chain: He was sent back to the Edge just six days after fighting his way back in the game.

Adam Klein

Tribe: Sele —> Yara —> Koru

Age: 28

From: Los Angeles, California

Previous Season: Millennials vs. Gen X

Winner of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Despite being in a different tribe in Yara, he's well aware that he's not fitting in especially with Ben, Sophie, and Sarah being extremely close. He even states on many occasions all three don't talk strategy with him. It's actually surprising he didn't vote with Rob in that case.
• Arch-Enemy: To Ben beginning with the tribe swap and their time on Yara.
• Ascended Fan: Probably the biggest Superfan of the contestants this time around.
• Big Damn Heroes: When all hope seemed lost for Sele, and it seemed like they were going to Tribal Council, again he musters his strength and gets the final key, allowing Sele to catch up and get a come-from-behind victory, proving his worth to his tribe.
• Beware the Nice Ones: In spite of being a genuinely nice guy, especially out of the game, Adam has played one hell of a game, despite almost getting voted out a few times, even trying to play both sides in Episode 3, causing his tribe to turn on him. But when he proved his worth, several decided to bury the hatchet and work with him.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Fits all categories. He's type 1 anti hero because nothing seems to go right for him, type 2 because he's a paranoid cynic, and types 3 and 4 because he's willing to make moves at all costs.
• The Determinator: When his tribe seemed to be inches away from Tribal Council, Adam jumped with all his might, and eventually got the last key they needed to go to the puzzle portion. Rob finally got the puzzle down and Sele won their second (out of five) challenges.
• Defiant to the End: Adam fought til the very end, arguing and calling everyone out, and even thinking an ornament on the voting podium could be a hidden idol at tribal and going for it. And while he knew it would make him look ridiculous, he still tried and was applauded by Jeff for doing so.
  Adam: It was worth a shot.
  Jeff: Always.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Ever since he tried to play both sides and got caught, his tribemates have been frequently commenting on a surprise change in work ethic, as well as all wanting him gone. Cemented by him getting the boot shortly after Wendell due to everyone seeing him as shady.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Like Denise, he thought he could play both sides and get away with it, so he told Rob and Ethan that he was voting Parvati out.
• Jewish and Nerdy/Geek Physique: He's got the physique of a skinny nerd down, plus he's Jewish which you can find out by watching his interview in Millennials vs Gen X, he was also in a Revenge of the Nerds style alliance with Mari in his old season, and even made a final five with fellow Jewish castaway David Wright.
• Missing Mom: His mother died prior to the Millennials Vs Gen X reunion of cancer.
• Not So Above It All: He tells Rob and Ethan he plans on voting out their ally Parvati, it nearly gets him voted out.
• Reality Show Genre Blindness: Tells Ethan of his plan to vote out Parvati despite knowing Edge of Extinction is in play this season. Now that Ethan is out, if he finds an idol to sell to Parvati while on Edge of Extinction, he can save Parvati from being voted out.
  • Returns in the fifth episode where he and Ben give up a numbers advantage to vote out Rob. Granted, this is Boston Rob we're talking about, but the very fact both Sarah and Sophie have advantages, one of which can nullify a vote, maybe it was better keeping Rob around, especially if Yara loses the next challenge.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In Episode 7, he is utterly convinced that someone on Yara has an idol. He is correct, except he doesn't suspect the one person (Sophie) who actually does have it, instead turning his sights on Ben and Sarah.
  • Happens again on his boot episode where he is convinced there's an idol at tribal, but told the wrong person (Michele) who's been trying to get him out since Day one. Throwing Sarah's name out was the final nail in his coffin. There IS an idol, but it's with Sophie.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Denise, a more platonic version. He calls her out for dumb decisions and seems to be planning a coup on Rob's alliance if the previews are anything to go by.
• Sore Loser: Played with. He doesn't seem to show any disdain towards the remaining castaways for essentially voting him out, but he does say "Screw all you guys" (Although judging by his tone of voice he was most likely joking). He still gives a fire token to Denise, showing he still trusted her.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Had he not pulled his weight and got the keys when he did causing a surprise come-from-behind victory for Sele, he likely would have been the one going home.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While he wasn't really mean, just shady, after getting caught playing both sides, his game goes back to the nice Adam we know from Millennials vs Gen X. Highlights include helping a seemingly injured Michele in spite of her voting for him before, and doing it again for the merge TC.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Thinks that the podium piece is an immunity idol once again this has been used (but in South Africa and in the Australian versions not in the American one)
• Wham Line: When he votes out Wendell he delivers one:
  '"It’s between you and me tonight. I know that. Do you?"
• Too Dumb to Live: His reaction to Denise's suggestion of giving half the idol to Parvati. Ironically, he would tell Rob about the plan to blindside Parvati, baffling the latter.

Wendell Holland

Tribe: Dakal —> Sele —> Koru

Age: 35

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Previous Season: Ghost Island

Winner of Survivor: Ghost Island

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• Asshole Victim: He smugly thought he could control his tribe after Yul's blindside, and his cruel mistreatment of Michele obviously didn't fall on deaf ears. Due to the majority of the merged tribe voting him out due to being sick of his antics and his treatment of Michele, it is kinda hard to feel bad for him.
• Character Development: After losing out on immunity on his original season because he didn't call out to Jeff, Wendell refuses to let it happen to him again so he always calls out to Jeff reight before he finishes a puzzle to make sure Jeff is looking.
• Good All Along: Despite his villain edit, castaways in interviews and social media have nothing but nice things to say about Wendell. Videos of him in Ponderosa show him being charming and likable. He and Michelle in actuality are good friends throughout the game and afterwards.
• Jerkass: By episode 7, he's firmly placed himself in this territory.
  • Jerkass to One: Is especially more condescending toward his ex-girlfriend Michele.
• Kick the Dog: Michele gave him a Fire Token to try to bury the hatchet between them only for him to continue to mistreat her.
• The Load: His cockiness and showboating has cost his tribe two challenges.
• Oral Fixation: Likes to have a tooth pick in his mouth.
• Out of Focus: Despite being one of the freshest in peoples' memories and having one of the most iconic victories, having won a tie vote, he's had little involvement in both the gameplay and confessionals. This keeps going until the tribe swap, where his less than desirable traits are shown.
• Smug Snake: He starts getting really cocky around episode 6, and even blows the challenge for his tribe while gloating.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Compared to Ghost Island, Wendell is a lot more cockier and arrogant, which gets worse when he's in the presence of his ex-girlfriend Michele.
• The Unfair Sex: Michele spend most of her screentime in Episode 5 complaining about her and Wendell's falling out, but Wendell is never given any screen time to share his side of what happened. Then Episode 6 reveals a cocky side to him which may explain why Michelle complained so much about the fallout of her relationship with Wendell.
• Working with the Ex: After the tribe swap, Wendell finds herself in a tribe with Michele, his ex-girlfriend.

The Jury (Pre-Merge)

Yul Kwon

Tribe: Dakal —> Sele

Age: 44

From: Los Altos, California

Previous Season: Cook Islands

Winner of Survivor: Cook Islands

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• Anti-Villain: Overlaps both Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain some people could argue he is an Anti Hero since he wants to donate all the money to ALS research while having a cutthroat game others could argue he is an Anti Villain because he is part of a power alliance taking out threats with paranoia but his villainy is for a good cause.
• The Chessmaster: Yul has controlled the vote at both Dakal tribal councils with no one but Tyson the wiser. However, both Michele and Nick realize the power he could have come the merge, and blindside him in the next tribal council.
• Darker and Edgier: His game is much more cutthroat this time around than his previous outing.
• Death by Irony: Is responsible for voting off Parvati because he convinced Nick and Wendell she was a huge threat moving forward and she is dangerous. Try to guess the reason Yul got blindsided?
• Disc-One Final Boss: Yul was the schemer that was basically running Dakal for most of the first half. However, just before the merge, his allies realized that if he made it to the end, he was basically guaranteed a win and voted him off.
• Hidden Depths: His reason for coming back was to play for fellow Cook Islands castaway Johnathon as the latter's wife is suffering from ALS.
• Hidden Villain: In-Universe, nobody on Dakal knows that he is the leader of the Connectionless Alliance, even though he has dictated two votes so far. Tyson was the only one that clued in, but nobody believed the latter.
• Manipulative Bastard: It was him who started the whole paranoia towards the "Poker Alliance", which ended up making Kim, Tyson and Amber targets and eventually caused Amber to be voted out.
• Too Clever by Half: His plan to steal Wendell's Fire Tokens only got him pegged as a threat. Although the others might have already intended to vote him out before that point because he was the last old-school player left in the game and the other three might have already known that he was a huge threat.

Parvati Shallow

Tribe: Sele —> Sele

Age: 36

From: Los Angeles, California

Previous Seasons: Cook Islands, Micronesia, Heroes vs. Villains

Winner of Survivor: Micronesia

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• Advantage Ball: Subverted. She bought an Idol Nullifier from Tyson, but when she was eliminated, the advantage lost its power.
• Arch-Enemy: Adam, after finding out from Rob that he was gunning for her.
• The Dreaded: Adam, naturally knowing her game inside out, from being a superfan, and realizing she is hands-down one of the biggest manipulators this season, decides to gun for her due to her reputation. Eventually, she's eliminated when the three Dakal men decide to put their votes against her the first chance they have.
• Happily Married: To former Samoa contestant John Fincher, whom they share a daughter with.
• History Repeats: Like in Cook Islands, Parvati was voted out by Yul Kwon, and his current alliance.
• Older and Wiser: Lampshades this. Since Heroes vs. Villains, Parvati has gotten married and gave birth to a baby daughter. She knows the flirtatious game she played years ago will not work anymore, but is willing to play the mom game in order to win.
• Women Are Wiser: In the same episode that we see Rob, Adam, and Ben confrontational because of them blindsiding each other, Parvati befriends Michele at the first moment setting aside that she blindsided her.

Rob Mariano

Tribe: Sele —> Yara

Age: 43

From: Pensacola, Florida

Previous Seasons: Marquesas, All-Stars, Heroes vs. Villains, Redemption Island

Winner of Survivor: Redemption Island

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• Acrofatic: Tyson calls him a "portly chap" and believes Rob could not sprint around the Edge and find the Fire Tokens hidden on the mountain. Unbeknownst to Tyson, he finds three of them.
• Arch-Enemy: To Ben. Also to Adam as of episode 3.
• Badass Boast: When he collects three fire tokens in a single challenge:
  "Three out of four! [If] we're in the Majors I'm batting .750, I'm the best that's ever played!"
• Butt-Monkey: His wife gets voted out almost as soon as she lands on the island, and after that, his alliance of old-schoolers fractures, leaving him with very little power. Come the tribe swap, his adversaries Adam and Ben quickly dispose of him after he tries taking control again.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Despite being a massive threat some players were unwilling to vote him out because he makes for an ideal shield. As a result, his enemies targeted his allies to keep him alive but powerless.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Got stuck with Ben and Adam on the tribe swap, along with two Dakal members who had no interest in working with him.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: His attempt to use his old "buddy system" strategy to retain his footing on his tribe, which just alienated his tribemates even more.
• Didn't See That Coming: He quickly loses his smile when he realizes that Ethan was being voted out, and is left stunned that the New Alliance blindsided him.
• Happily Married: He is the husband of Amber.
• It Only Works Once: His "buddy system" strategy did not work here as he was voted out unanimously because of it.
• Large and in Charge: He has noticeably put on some weight and is still calling the shots in his tribe.
• The Leader: He is the undisputed leader of Sele.
• The Social Expert: Rob has been playing Survivor for nearly two decades, so he knows how to work his charm on his teammates to do what he wants.
• This Means War!: When he correctly deduced Sandra was responsible for Amber's elimination

Ethan Zohn

Tribe: Sele

Age: 45

From: Hillsborough, New Hampshire

Previous Seasons: Africa, All-Stars

Winner of Survivor: Africa

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• The Determinator: Ethan nearly passed out during the Edge of Extinction challenge in Episode 4, but he persevered and managed to complete it.
• Heroic RRoD: Despite being a formidable physical player in his first two seasons and not being much older than Amber and Danni, having cancer twice took a massive toll on his health causing him to burn out during the physically taxing wood carrying challenge.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Survived cancer twice.
• Karmic Jackpot: As Ethan reveals, one of the charties he helped fund created the exact cancer fighting drug he would happen to need years later and saved his life. Argubaly his chain of good karma is kicked off by Ethan playing hacky sack with some kids all the way back in Africa.
• Morality Pet: Is one for Parvati and Rob both are known as the most infamous schemers and manipulators in this game but their niceness to Ethan both pre Edge and post Edge is genuine.
• Nice Guy: By far the nicest guy on all the cast, he is such a nice guy that when he tells Rob that he sucked at the challenge Rob can't be mad, taken even further on a deleted scene where Parvati has to slap Ethan twice because he genially feels bad for voting out Danni.
• Sacrificial Lion: Serves as this for Rob's alliance, being both strong and universally liked by his tribe, but voted out to make sure Rob and Parvati didn't have any power.

Danni Boatwright

Tribe: Sele

Age: 43

From: Shawnee, Kansas

Previous Season: Guatemala

Winner of Survivor: Guatemala

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• The Bus Came Back: More for Danni specifically as not only has it been 15 years since she has last played, this is the first time someone from Guatemala has returned for another season (and no, Stephenie doesn't count since she already played before in Palau).
• Genre Savvy: Realized that a clue on Edge of Extinction refered not to past challenges this season, but to one on the last season Edge was in play.
• Sanity Slippage: She went crazy in the second episode over fears she was on the outs.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: She becomes convinced she's on the outs and begins planning a blindside against Parvati to secure her place in the tribe. This move only puts her on the outs.
• Too Dumb to Live: Due to paranoia, Danni told Ben about the Old-School Alliance, while Ethan (her alliance member), was in earshot. This cost her the trust of everybody and she was promptly sent to the Island of Extinction.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her exposure of the secret Old School Alliance not only got herself voted out, it ultimately led to the entire alliance being decimated pre-merge.

Amber Mariano

Tribe: Dakal

Age: 40

From: Pensacola, Florida

Previous Seasons: The Australian Outback, All-Stars

Winner of Survivor: All-Stars

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• Bittersweet Ending: How leaving EOE felt to her she got to expirience the whole EOE adventure (minus two days) but in a way it makes her a better person since for once in her life she is able to relax and enjoy the moment.
• Epic Fail: Her EOE challenge.
• Happily Married: She is the wife of Boston Rob. Unfortunately this went against her as Dakal voted her off because of it.
• Older Than They Look: She's 40, but still looks the same as she was 16 years ago. She even lampshades it during tribal council.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When trying to solve the combination, she thought the numbers on the crate were the combo.

Left the Edge

Sandra Diaz-Twine

Tribe: Dakal —> Dakal

Age: 44

From: Riverview, Florida

Previous Seasons: Pearl Islands, Heroes vs. Villains, Game Changers

Winner of Pearl Islands and Heroes vs. Villains

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• History Repeats: Like in Game Changers she was voted out on Day 16, even lampshading that she got screwed on the same day as before.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She gave Denise her idol for her to play it in hopes that Denise can get rid of a target Sandra wanted gone....only for Denise to get rid of Sandra instead.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: She knows she'll never get back into the game and walks away with her head held high.
• The Last Dance: As she stated in Episode 3, this will be her last season before she retires from Survivor.
• The Load: Lampshaded when she asks to sit out again to which a bewildered Parvati replies with "You should change your name to bench Sandra". Her social game remains as brilliant as ever though. Ironically, her tribe might have won that challenge had she not sat out.
• Morality Pet: A rare anti-villainous version. She serves as the main motivator to her tribe of Dakal.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: She did actually participate in the first immunity challenge with Sophie, and won against Danni and Michele.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Sandra could not live down the fact that Tyson threw her name out there; leading to her eliminating him.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Leaves the Edge of Extinction as soon as she arrives, knowing that she cannot win a reentry challenge and doesn't like the idea of walking up a huge cliff for rice.
• Team Mom: For Dakal. When she's not participating in challenges, Sandra is often seen cheering her team and making sure they stay focused, and at camp she's becoming a provider for her tribe as seen when her trap for the fish worked. Yul, who initially seemed indecisive on whether or not they should keep Sandra, quickly changed his tune and declared they had to keep her for morale. Sandra even states in confessional how she wants to prove her worth to the tribe, wanting her last outing to be her best.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Giving her Idol to Denise in episode 6 gets her eliminated by that same idol.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She's a lot less cut-throat this season, and is seen being very supportive of her tribe. She even buried the hatchet with Tony and Sarah.
• Woman Scorned: Was not happy to see Rob as he never told her back on Island of the Idols he would compete for one more season. This more or less influenced her vote towards Amber, Rob's wife.