Inspiration During Pandemic: An Analysis of the King of Survivor’s Gameplay
It’s summer and I miss the beach big time. While stuck at home during the implementation of Enhanced Community Quarantine nationwide, the closest thing next to such coveted beach adventure is watching my favorite reality show ~ Survivor. Everytime I see a photo or two of some of the idyllic islands around Cebu, I always imagine myself being marooned in a remote cove, then endure a camp life for 39 days battling the elements, compete in adrenaline-pumping challenges, and eliminate other castaways in order to get to the end and ultimately earn the title of Sole Survivor. Basing on this daydream, there’s no denying that I’m such a big fan of Survivor, my inspiration during this cruel pandemic.
With the recent culmination of the 40th season and all-winners-edition of Survivor (Winners At War), it’s sad to admit that even the longest reality show in the world is not exempted from the troubles caused by Covid-19. The pandemic has disrupted the way Survivor usually end their show with a live reunion in a big stage full of Survivor finalists’ families and supporters. For obvious reasons, large crowd events are prohibited during this pandemic and so producers have to devised an alternative plan to read the votes and reveal the winner with the use of technology ~ Zoom. With that, the show must go on and conclude the finale with an epic finish.
For all fans of the show, we’ve seen that the greatest “Super Bowl” season of Survivor has just crowned Tony Vlachos as the first male two-time winner, the title of Sole Survivor and the $2 million prize, in the first ever virtual live finale night (with game master Jeff hosting in his garage and 20 players joining the reunion in their respective homes).
💪 Greatest of All Time 😎
There are two million reasons why Tony is hands down the greatest player, character and winner to ever play Survivor but I will only share a handful of my personal analysis of the King of Survivor’s gameplay. Just a trivia, he played three times (Cagayan, Game Changers and Winners At War) where he made it to the end and won twice. The only person to ever got him voted out was Sandra, the only other player to win twice (Pearl Islands & Heroes vs Villains). He’s been entertaining to watch and he can speak Llama. LOL.
Tony is killing it with dominance, his shenanigans and hilarious antics and above all, defying the odds thrown his way by the Survivor Gods. Despite being a known threat and having a huge target on his back since Day 1 (labeled as a lion), he perfectly played the ‘King of the Jungle’ card and got rid of all the hyenas (low profile players) that are threats to his game. He controlled his ‘chaotic’ self pre-merge and gradually evolved into a puppet-master by controlling the game post-merge.
He won four (4) individual immunity challenges, found an idol, dodged an extortion, managed the twists and fire tokens effectively, successfully utilized a “spy nest”, won a fire-making challenge, worked day and night to be ahead of anyone else, showed a level of control that’s just off-the-charts by orchestrating a huge blindside, dictated many of the votes, and is so charming that even if he flipped both sides, none of the jury felt burned by him. What a phenomenal mix of strategic, physical and social gameplay by a well-rounded player we have ever seen on the show. On top of that, he managed to get to the end with ZERO votes cast against him. In a season of all winners (WAW), just WOW!
What a flawless game Tony played. A tough battle yet he bested 19 other best players and finally emerged victorious in the war! Anyone could have won but Tony just simply made the best moves he could, he laid it all out there and pulled it off. Tony’s gameplay this season was perhaps the masterful performance of “outwit, outplay and outlast” in the history of Survivor ever. And finally, he got 12 of 16 jury votes on an ALL WINNERS Season (the highest votes so far). Totally impressive!
If Tony is not the KING OF SURVIVOR, then I don’t know who is. Huge congratulations Tony Vlachos!
Despite all the gloomy happenings in the world, I am glad that my favorite Survivor season so far ended on a positive note. I love that the finale is jam-packed, emotional and the greatest player of all time was rightfully crowned. I was inspired by Tony Vlachos’ next-level gameplay. If ever I would be a cast in a new installment of Survivor in the Philippines, I would certainly copy his strategy. Let’s see if I can pull it off.
Until then, I have to stay at home, write inspiring stories, defy the odds of the lockdown and ultimately survive the burn out caused by this unprecedented pandemic. Keep safe everyone!
