This past week Survivor concluded its 42nd season with 24-year-old Maryanne Oketch taking home the $1 million prize and the title of Sole Survivor. Oketch was able to enjoy a blowout victory, convincing almost everyone in the jury to vote her way, and winning by a decisive 7-1-0 victory.
As fans have seen in previous seasons, not all final tribal councils are that decisive. Throughout the years, final tribal council have seen some of the best castaways go head to head in pleading their case to the jury. But through the past 42 seasons, fans have seen that some juries have a much harder decision than others.
Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance
This finale saw Jeremy Collins win the title of Sole Survivor in an unanimous 10-0-0 vote. But beating both Spencer Bledsoe and Tasha Fox was not as easy a feat as the vote may make it seem. All three of the finalists had strong arguments for their win, but . Though Bledsoe and Fox had both won their fair share of challenges, Bledsoe's arrogance proved to be his downfall while Fox just couldn't differentiate her game enough from Collins.
Collins ensured his victory by dropping the bomb that his wife was pregnant with a baby who may have been born while he was on the show. By keeping the secret throughout the game, he helped earn the decisive win by playing to the stacked jury's emotions. This strategy helped to shape the course of future final tribals as more recent winners have attempted to duplicate this same level of emotion.
Survivor: David vs. Goliath
In a 7-3-0 vote, winner Nick Wilson defeated fellow castaways Mike White and Angelina Keeley. Though the vote does not seem incredibly close, this final three had each boasted so many accomplishments that one of the toughest Survivor juries in the show's history was swayed by Nick's final plea. All three finalists were extremely persuasive in their words as earlier in the season fans saw Keeley bargain with Host, Jeff Probst, for more rice. But her persuasion couldn't compare to the fight that was put up by both White and Wilson.
Historically, contestants who are good with word their choices tend to excel in the final tribal, and this tribal council saw two of the best speakers as public defender (Wilson) and acclaimed screenwriter (White) went head to head. Though other final tribals have been closer in vote count, few have been as close in debate.
Survivor: Cook Islands
This season saw two Survivor legends go at it in the final tribal and even though fans may not have agreed, Yul Kwon beat Ozzy Lusth by a close vote of 5-4. With the Survivor themes of outwit, outplay, and outlast, this final tribal zeroed in outwit versus outplay as Kwon was arguably the poster child of outwit while Lusth set records as he outplayed. This season proved that it takes much more than just winning challenges to win the game of Survivor as Lusth lacked the social aspect of the game. Both castaways have come back to play again as Kwon took part in the legendary Winners At War season and Lusth played in Micronesia, South Pacific, and Game Changers, but neither have seen themselves back at a final tribal council.
Survivor: Kaôh Rōng — Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty
In one of the most controversial wins in the history of the show, Michele Fitzgerald took down fellow finalists Aubry Bracco and Tai Trang by a vote of 5-2-0. Many fans were upset with Fitzgerald's victory, but she proved her win was no fluke after she made it to the final tribal council of Winners At War. Fitzgerald is the only castaway to play the game multiple times without ever having being voted out.
Though this final vote saw a larger separation between first and second place than seen on other seasons, a main reason for that is for Michele's advantage that she won to be able to eliminate one member from the jury. This is one of the most impressive final threes of all time as that they all played again and all came extremely close to another win as Fitzgerald once again sat at final tribal, and Tang and Bracco came in fourth and fifth place in another incredibly challenging season, Game Changers.
Survivor: Winners at War
Any combination of castaways from this season would have made for an incredibly competitive final tribal council. Tony Vlachos was able to beat out other past winners, Natalie Anderson and Michele Fitzgerald by a vote of 12-4-0. The biggest jury in Survivor history, with almost every castaway making up the final jury, chose to award Vlachos's impeccable gameplay over the social and physical play by Fitzgerald and Anderson, respectively.
This final three truly each embodied one of the three: outwit (Vlachos) , outplay (Anderson) , outlast (Fitzgerald). Since the jury was filled with Survivor legends who can all separate the personal from the game, they were able to put any hard feelings aside and award Vlachos who had a hand in almost every single one of their exits.
Survivor: All-Stars
In quite possibly the most successful showmance in Survivor's long history, Amber Brkich (Mariano) sat next to her future husband, "Boston" Rob Mariano in the final tribal council. Though the two played extremely similar games, Amber ended up beating Rob by a close vote of 4-3. Most fans believe the reason that Amber beat out Rob was because of her likability, or more likely, his lack of it.
Amber was able to play a similar game to Rob, but without making enemies along the way. Some viewers think that Amber would not have been able to win without Rob, but the favor was returned to her when she was voted out second from Winners at War because of her tribe wanting to get at Rob.
Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites
The women of this season ran the show in one of the best alliances in Survivor history, known as "The Black Widow Brigade," sat not only as the final two in the final tribal, but also made up the final four. In the final tribal, Parvati Shallow beat her alliance member, Amanda Kimmel, by a close vote of 5-3. These two are no stranger to final tribal council as Kimmel also earned runner-up in her previous season, Survivor: China against winner Todd Herzog, and Shallow returned to final tribal in her following season, Heroes vs. Villains.
Both women's games were criticized immensely by members of the jury while Kimmel was called superficial and Shallow was pointed at as cunning and mean. This final tribal set the tone for future finales as the jury rewarded strategic game play over who they may have liked better as a person.
Survivor: Borneo
The first season of the show set a tone for now long-running, iconic series. But the win was not easy for the notorious first winner, Richard Hatch over Kelly Wiglesworth. Though he played a great strategic game, he did receive a lot of help from the jury, especially Sue Hawk, to secure the 4-3 win. Hawk made sure that the jury and the finalists were aware of her distain for both Hatch and Wiglesworth, but also proclaimed her intentions to vote for Hatch.
Other than Hawk, the other jurors were pointed in their questions and the first winner could have very easily been Wiglesworth. But what makes this tribal council competitive isn't the competition between Hatch and Wiglesworth, but more so with the jurors convincing each other how to vote.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
In a heavily debated finale tribal council, both within the game and within fans, Sandra Diaz-Twine took home her second win over other former winner, Parvati Shallow, and notorious villain, Russell Hantz. Though the final three consisted of all castaways from the villains tribe, Hantz proved to be the biggest villain of all as he alienated former castaways. Meanwhile, Diaz-Twine remained loyal and gained the trust of many members of the jury.
This tribal council was truly a showdown between Shallow and Diaz-Twine, two of the best to ever play the game. And though Diaz-Twine has come back to play multiple times, she has yet to make it back to a final tribal council as she is so poignant with her words, that sitting next to her in a final tribal almost automatically gives her a win.
Survivor: Ghost Island
In the closest final tribal council of all time, the voting resulted in a tie for the first and only time in the show's history. The tying castaways were two partners in one of the best Survivor bromance alliances ever, Wendell Holland and Domenick Abbate. To break the tie, Probst turned to the third place finisher who received zero votes, Laurel Johnson. Johnson cast her sole vote for Holland, securing his historic win.
It's surprising that a tie at the final tribal has never happened before, but with Holland and Abbate playing similar games, and both able to persuade the jury, against all odds it came down to a true split. Fans agree that Abbate deserves a second chance at the game since he was so close to a victory his first time around. Had Abbate won that tie-breaking vote over Holland, fans can only help but wonder how he could have affected the Winners At War season.