In order to reach the final day on Survivor, the castaways have to ensure that they make their mark early. If they want to guarantee a shot at winning the grand prize, then they need to show all the other players why they are worthy of the title of Sole Survivor - whether it is by playing the game or simply being themselves.
As many fans know, some seasons have ended in a tight race among finalists with the likes of Rob and Amber in All-Stars, Yul and Ozzy in Cook Islands, and Michele and Aubry in Kaoh Rong battling it out to the end. However, there have also been some finals that haven't even been close, with some players falling at the final hurdle by putting their foot in their mouths or failing to execute their game plan properly.
Woo Hwang (Cagayan)
Woo's first mistake was taking clear frontrunner Tony Vlachos to the end over Kass McQuillen in Survivor: Cagayan. His game self-destructed even more when he couldn't provide reasoning for his decision, other than that Tony deserved a spot in the Final Two over Kass. Since Woo failed to impressed the Jury, Tony was able to talk himself into a million dollars.
Stephenie LaGrossa (Guatemala)
Stephenie LaGrossa was seen to be one of the underdogs in Survivor: Palau. However, she soon fell from her pedestal when she decided to adopt a much dirtier and messier tactic the following season in Guatemala.
Competitor Danni Boatwright had her beat on all fronts; she was the underdog this time and she was kind to everyone. She played a great game and strategized enough to end up the last member of her alliance. Stephenie, on the other hand, wronged too many of her friends and came to such defense when questioned by the jury, which only gained Rafe's vote.
Albert Destrade (South Pacific)
Albert Destrade stuck by his day one alliance with Coach and Sophie throughout all of Survivor: South Pacific. However, his allegiance wasn't enough to crown him the winner.
The Final Tribal Council ended up being the Coach vs Sophie show, with Albert adding little to nothing to the event. Clearly frustrated, his chances of winning further plummeted when he tried to trash talk his former allies. He left with zero votes, unsurprising given his disastrous performance.
Amanda Kimmel (China)
Amanda and Todd played a very similar game in Survivor: China. The only difference was that the former was able to speak for it.
Amanda, for her part, turned into a lost puppy at Final Tribal. She couldn't defend her big moves or own up to the ones that got her a seat in the finals (i.e blindsiding James). Todd aced the jury questions, even shutting up the obnoxious Jean Robert. Going into the Final 3, Amanda stood a chance at getting first or second place, but unfortunately for her, ended the game in third.
Hannah Shapiro and Ken McNickle (Millennials v.s GenX)
Adam Klein won unanimously in Survivor's 33rd season, and it's no wonder why. His fellow finalists didn't exactly do a great job at proving why they should be the Sole Survivor instead of him.
Like many other contestants, Hannah got extremely defensive when called out by jury members, which made her look more disrespectful than confident in her own abilities. Ken McNickle might have stood a shot had he not sent home his closest ally, David Wright, after the last immunity challenge (which was something the jury saw as broken loyalty). What made it even worse was that Ken gave his speech was about why he was such a loyal person.
Stephen Fishbach (Tocantins)
From Alliance members to best friends, Stephen and JT made it all the way from Day 1 to Day 39 on Survivor: Tocantins. However, even these two friends ended up getting into a few fights after they realized how close they were to the final.
For instance, while Stephen was more of the mastermind behind his and JT's antics, he wasn't happy to be getting the full blame for all the lies and betrayal. Couple that with the fighting that ensued between the two of them following Taj's speech and JT's whisper that he should have taken Erinn with him to the end, fans got a very awkward blunder of an FTC performance by Stephen.
Katie Gallagher (Palau)
Survivor: Palau was firefighter Tom Westman's game to lose, and there was no way he was going to get defeated by 29-year-old Katie Gallagher.
Katie could have at least gotten a couple of votes if she had tried to appease the jury, but she didn't. She was exhausted, annoyed, and knew that Tom was going to beat her, so she outright refused to answer Janu's question. She even went as far as to say that she was confident she wouldn't be receiving her vote.
Amanda Kimmel (Micronesia)
Making it to the finals in back-to-back seasons also means that Amanda Kimmel earned two spots on this list.
Amanda's FTC performance in Survivor: Micronesia was slightly better than her previous season, this time she got three votes instead of only one. However, one of those votes was from her boyfriend, another from a real friend, and a third from someone who was terrified of Parvati. Amanda did almost as much as Parvati, but, once again, had nothing to show for it by once it came to the Final Tribal.
Phillip Sheppard (Redemption Island)
Survivor: Redemption Island's million-dollar cheque had Boston Rob's name on it practically since the merge, but Phillip Sheppard's performance at the end still didn't do him any favors.
Much like Palau's Katie, Phillip was rude and abrasive to the members of the jury who would decide which of their fellow castaways would be a millionaire. He talked over Ashley repeatedly and shouted "To Hell with you!" at Julie. Needless to say, Phillip did not win a million dollars.
Russell Hantz (Heroes v.s Villains)
Russell played Heroes vs Villains shortly after filming finished in Samoa, a game he thought he had won at that point.
His second Final Tribal went a lot worse than his first. Not only was the jury made up of heroes who hated him but the villains he had betrayed weren't impressed by his aggressive style of gameplay. They also found that his self-described 'weak' co-finalists were a lot smarter and better than him in every facet of the game. Russell ended up getting zero votes.