Okay… let’s beat a dead horse.
What really rubs me the wrong way regarding Russell is his childish need for validation. He desperately wants someone to admit he is the greatest Survivor to EVER play the game. He made this claim constantly threw out each of his two seasons and he continued to make the claim at the last reunion show… after he lost… for the second time!
And yes, even though I totally dislike the guy he made it to the final tribal council two seasons in a row. Survivor is a game of skill and luck… and making it to the final vote twice is a big deal, I will give him that. HOWEVER, he is not the first contestant to make it twice. Amanda, who made the jury in Heroes vs. Villains, made it to the final vote in back to back seasons the first two times she played the game.
Also, Russell’s birth into his second final tribal council was not an honor solely his. All three Survivors making it to the final vote this season, Russell, Pavati, and Sandra, were all making their second appearance at the final vote. PLUS, both Pavati and Sandra were previous winners making Russell claim of being the best a little egomaniacal. Great player? Yes. Is he the best player? No.
But these are just my opinions, right? Let’s put personal opinions aside and test Russell’s hypothesis that he is, in fact, the greatest Survivor EVER to have played the game. A few months ago we talked about the Olympics and how medals should be scored to determine which country was most victorious. I propose we use, roughly, the same formula.
We’ll keep the numbers simple and award 3 Points to anyone who’s won the game, 2 Points to anyone who’s made it to the final vote but lost/a runner-up, and 1 Point to anyone who’s made it to the jury. For the sake of the experiment, I will exclude any player who has only competed in one season since their overall score cannot be greater than three… I only plan to cover the contestants who have earned more than 3 Points.
Furthermore, I will break ties by taking the following into account, in order:
1. Fewest number of seasons played gets the edge.
2. Highest single season ranking get the edge.
3. Votes
Sounds simple enough? Math never lies, although it can be manipulated… but let’s see what these numbers tell us.
Let’s start with the Man, the Myth, the Russell. Having played twice and making it to the final vote both times Russell is worth 4 Points. How does this fair against the rest of the Survivors? Well, Russell… based on my math… is in 6th Place. That’s right! Only 6th Russell, sorry.
In 5th Place, I have Boston Rob’s wife Amber, who made it to the jury in seasons two (1 Point) and won ‘All Stars’ (3 Points) giving her a total of 4 Points. Since Russell and Amber are tied and both played two seasons, we have to look at Tie Breaker Method #2: Highest single season ranking. Amber is a former winner… so she gets the edge.
4th Place goes to J.T. Who also has 4 Points, from winning ‘Tocantins’ and making the jury in ‘Heroes v. Villains’. Since JT only played two seasons and is a former winner, we have to separate Amber and J.T. by Tie Breaker Method #3: Votes. When Amber won ‘All-Stars’ she received 6 out of 7 winning votes from the jury, However, J.T. received 7 out of 7 votes giving him the edge.
3rd Place goes to three season veteran Amanda. Although Amanda has never won the game her success is undeniable. She has been a runner up twice (4 Points) and she made the jury in ‘Heroes v. Villains’ (1 Point). Yes, the fact she has played three seasons give her an edge over others… however, Colby, James, Cirie, Jerri, Colby, Rupert AND Boston Rob have also played three seasons and NONE of them are able to boast more than three points.
2nd Place goes to Pavati, another three season veteran, who is the only survivor to score points in ALL three categories: She made the jury on ‘Cook Islands’ (1 Point), Won ‘Micronesia’ (3 Points) and was a runner-up on ‘Heroes v. Villains’ (2) Points, for a grand total of grand total of 6 points.
1st Place will probably surprise Russell quite a bit… because based on the numbers; Sandra is the most successful Survivor of all time. She has won the game twice giving her a total of 6 Points… and since she has only played the game twice, verse Pavati’s three times, Sandra wins the tie breaker against Pavati.
Wow… I’m such a nerd… BUT, I’m cool with that. As you can see… a simple mathematical exercise as proven Russell’s self-serving theory wrong… and in case anyone is interested, I ran a second test where the points were divided by the number of seasons they played to determine their final score… which still confirmed Sandra as the all time winner… but Pavati and Russell tied for second place. I threw this method out not because Russell scored so high, but because it unfairly penalized Survivors who had played three seasons. Instead I opted to have the number of seasons played the main tie breaker to give the edge to a contestant who was able to achieve the same level of play in a shorter period of time. In doing so, this formula rewards those who played fewer times while not penalizing those who have played more.
Nerd-tastic!
I can’t wait till next season.
