Well, that last round was chalk picks all the way for the historic bracket. I guess Andy did a good job at seeding or something. Now the final four must face off to see who makes it to the sweet sixteen. Will it still be the favorites, or will there be a (mild) upset? My money is on the top seeds, but your vote will decide it.

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 most historic tribal to represent the Historical 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. Snakes and Rats vs 4. The Purple Rock

 

1. Snakes and Rats – Borneo, episode 13 “The Final Four” vs 4. The Purple Rock – Marquesas, episode 13 “The Soul Survivor”

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh snap. One of the favorites to win the whole tournament versus our namesake? This is going to be a tough one. Or maybe not. The “Snakes and Rats” speech is not just one of the most seminal moments in Survivor history, but one of the most important and well-known moments in reality television as a genre. The first rock draw was a shocking moment and changed both the rules and gameplay of Survivor, but Sue’s speech changed god damn television. And that’s if we’re just considering one moment of that tribal council. I would be remiss to not mention Greg’s “pick a number” jury question, leading to the only memorable Kelly Wiglesworth moment in Survivor: Cambodia. Then of course, there’s that fact that this is the only tribal council with a winner announcement, which means it includes Richard Hatch winning the game with strategy, thus allowing the very show we love to still exist 31 seasons later.

But the Marquesas final four tribal did inspire the name of a pretty amazing podcast…

Read more about Sue’s speech in our 30 from 30 series.

Read more about the first rock draw in our 30 from 30 series.

2. No Votes Count vs 3. Kelley Wentworth Negates 9 Votes

 

2. No Votes Count – Cambodia, episode 14 “Lie, Cheat and Steal” vs 3. Kelley Wentworth Negates 9 Votes – Cambodia, episode 8 “You Call, We Haul”

Wentworth idol versus Wentworth (and Jeremy) idol. Record-breaking tribal council versus record breaking tribal council. Although even Savage would admit that more pleasure is taken watching him leave the game than Kimmi, that doesn’t mean his boot is going to run away with it.

There can be no accusations of recency bias for this matchup, even if I personally think the most recent moment should be the one to move forward. Because look, Kelley playing her idol and negating nine votes (the most ever!) was awesome. Basically, she’s a bad ass. But that final six… we may never see anything like that again. Two idols played, no votes count, and the dominant alliance manages to weed out their turncoat. An attempted blindside mixed with strategy and theatrics to make a historic tribal council. No votes count. It’s what inspired the creation of this bracket in the first place.

The Rest of the Bracket

Blindsides Bracket

Strategic Bracket

Theatrics Bracket