Blindsides are what make Survivor great. That moment when someone goes from on top of the world to out of the game is the biggest emotional swing you’ll see on the show. And blindsides are often key game moments too, where the course of the game is swung drastically. Whether it be Earl dooming the Four Horsemen, Russell and Parvati ending Rob’s dominance of the villains with Tyson’s ouster, the black widows blindsiding Ozzy or Natalie Anderson breaking up the last family pair in the game, these blindsides were not only fantastic TV moments, but also changed the course of their seasons immensely.

Voting criteria:

• You decide what makes a Tribal worthy of your vote. Was it your favourite? The best? Most memorable? Most dramatic? It’s up to you. We’ve organized them by theme, but you’re under no obligation to pick the best blindside tribal to represent the Blindsides bracket.
• Tribal Council is defined as everything that happened in episode from when the tribe gets to Tribal Council through to the Final Words of the eliminated contestant. Things that didn’t make the air were out of bounds for consideration when putting the list together.
• For Final Tribal Councils, the reveal of the winner is out of bounds (except for the first Final Tribal). This takes place at a different time and place and is aired on a different episode.

Voting ends on Tuesday, March 29th.

1. Fall of the Horsemen vs 4. Tyson Votes Himself Out

 
1. The Fall of the Horsemen – Fiji, episode 10 “It’s A Turtle” vs 4. Tyson votes himself out – Heroes vs. Villains, episode 6 “Banana Etiquette”

Is it unfair to just show the GIF again? I feel it is like cheating if we just keep showing the gif. But maybe by not showing it, we aren’t giving Edgardo’s downfall it’s fair due. I mean the faces there say absolutely everything. The way Edgardo’s face falls. The way Alex is so cocky right beforehand. And then the way Earl is just smiling, knowing he absolutely owned that moment. And of course all this came after a furious bit of back and forth strategizing, trying to outsmart each other, using Dreamz as a double (triple?) agent, and then going for the unlikely choice. Which is why Edgardo’s face falls so far. Mookie and Alex were the obvious choices, Edgardo wasn’t, and then when it was Edgardo… well visual evidence would help best, wouldn’t it?

All this isn’t to say that Tyson voting himself out isn’t a great tribal. Another furious bit of strategizing led to the point where the Villains would be splitting the vote 3-3-3. Boston Rob was pulling the strings of the majority of the villains and had frozen out Russell and Parvati. But that is dangerous, and Russell played upon Tyson’s gullibility. It is still a little inexplicable that Tyson would change his vote because the 3-3-3 tie should have worked, but he did, throwing an extra vote on Parvati, allowing Russell to play his idol and Tyson essentially sent himself home by changing his vote. It is one of the most ironic moments in show history where Tyson achieved the exact opposite result than he intended by his actions. It may be one of the best strategic blunders we have ever seen on the show. But it never has a moment as viscerally thrilling as that damn Fiji GIF.

Read more about the Fall of the Horsemen in our 30 from 30 series.

2. The Black Widows Blindside Ozzy vs 6. Natalie Anderson Puts on a Show

 

2. The Black Widows Blindside Ozzy – Micronesia, episode 10 “I Promise” vs Natalie Anderson puts on a show – San Juan Del Sur, episode 14 “This Is My Time”

It is easy to forget because of his reputation (and his other appearances on the show) but in Micronesia, Ozzy was in a great position, strategically, socially, and of course physically. He even had an idol! Which is what makes this moment so great. Ozzy was on top of the world, feeling secure, and then BAM he has the rug pulled out from under him. It isn’t just a blindside; it is someone who was in a great position to win getting blindsided with an idol in his pocket. And that last look he shoots everyone as he is walking out? That is the old Ozzy rearing his head. You can only suppress your worst qualities for so long.

In contrast, Natalie’s move is all about putting on a show. It wasn’t strictly to make the move seem so flashy… but it was necessary for Natalie to move out of other people’s shadows. This is the move that made everyone on that jury realize how hard Natalie was playing. They may have liked her before, but now they also respected her. And that is what makes the moment great, she made a big move to sway a vote to where she wanted it, she impressed on the jury how hard she is playing, and she won a key ally for the rest of the game in Jaclyn. And also it was just a badass move. “Jaclyn did you do what I told you?” Established everything she needed the jury to know right there about who was running this game.

Read more about the Black Widows in our 30 from 30 series.

The Rest of the Bracket

Strategic Bracket

Theatrics Bracket

Historic Bracket